Why You Should Always Wait To Transfer Points

I was procrastinating due to uncertainty in my travel plans, rather than a possible devaluation, but I'm glad I waited nonetheless! Ultimately I plan on using them for short haul economy trips, so the devaluation doesn't affect me. I'll only be transferring in the low to mid 5 figure range, anyway.

I'm facing another decision which is somewhat similar, but where the conservative choice is to make plans earlier. I'm planning a trip to Europe and want to return on Lufthansa F using Aeroplan miles. I've booked Lufthansa F before so I'm familiar with the release of the seats at T-14 days, etc., but there is still a bit of uncertainty there. The question I have is whether to book a backup option in advance (e.g., Austrian Airlines J at T-90 days) and then pay the change fees when LH F opens up (90 CAD for each ticket), or just take a gamble that we can find SOMETHING that gets us back in the states when we are close in. Is it worth 180 CAD to ensure a good seat? Possibly, but I'm not sure at this point.

Anyway, this was not quite the same as the points transfer situation you described, but I find that this hobby brings up lots of situations that have time-components that greatly affect decisions.

actually I had just redeemed 115k avios and have nothing else to book, so I'm ok! But it would suck if I hadn't, as I expect with everyone trying to spend their miles as soon as possible it'll get hard to find availability.

@Michael - Only you can know how important it is to have a set return date. I would, if I was travelling with kids or had any vacation constraints. It just seems like a no brainer to have a viable reurn booked that you are happy with and if a better seat becomes available you take it. Are you seriously going to risk potentially paying way more for a last minute seat or using points on a less desirable return seat ie: in Y for $200 on a major TATL trip?

Sure, there's optionality, but I went ahead and transferred anyway since 40% of six-figures is an awful lot and domestic sub-2000 mile trips on AA were always my intended redemption for my Amex points. So I looked at January 31, the transfer deadline, as if it were a mandatory exchange date. All holders, absent earlier exercise, would be be given new options worth 40% less.

Forget that.

I went ahead and transferred the six figures to BA. I already know I will use those on the AA LAX - JFK route. BA doesn't charge close in redemption fees and 26,786 MR points for AA F on that route is almost as good as the old US Airwyas 50k for round trip on 3 class trains con F. I love that service!

@UnitedEF - You might want to check your math again. BA will now be charging 50k miles each way to fly from LAX - JFK in F on AA. All partner awards are redeemed at the peak time rates.

Hi Travis,

I liked this explanation, thanks! Sounds like I should hold off on transferring given I don't really know exactly when I can go vacation. Is it still possible to book BOS-DUB with the old chart values? Would like to do that trip.

Also, how far in advance does it take to book a reward seat usually? From Seattle area to Asia (HK or Tokyo) for example. Thanks!

The devalued "pricing" only kicks in 28th April so there's still time to book tickets at the old prices, should you find availability. Therefore, my take is now is probably the time to transfer and redeem rather than transfer at a later stage (and redeem at a higher price!).

Tom:

"So I looked at January 31, the transfer deadline, as if it were a mandatory exchange date. All holders, absent earlier exercise, would be be given new options worth 40% less."

I love it!

Michelle:

To be clear, I'm saying that when a transfer bonus is announced, and you decide that you want to take advantage of it, you should hold off until the last day to actually execute it. In other words, I definitely encourage you to take advantage of the 40% bonus if you think you can get good value, I'm just saying that it was better to wait until the end of the promotion period to make the transfer.

The deadline is now only days away, so HOPEFULLY there won't be any more bombshells dropped on us. I'd like to think that at this point we have all the information that is going to be available.

@Travis,

You said you were dissipated about the loss of the 50,000 Avios redemption between dublin and boston but if you redeem your avios via iberia plus you can redeem the route for 42500 avios (as lucky mentioned in a post earlier today)

Looks like you're worried about the Gamma and the Theta of your MR points. All of which could be solved with some Delta hedging...

See what I did there?

@Oliver: Aer Lingus does not partner with Iberia Plus.

Has anyone had any success finding BOS-DUB business class space on Expert Flyer? There looks to be very little (if any) right now. Anyone know if there is any pattern to how Aer Lingus releases this space?

@Scott Castle

Bro, you clearly would have been gammaed.

I transferred 190,000 Amex points to ANA for two business class tickets JFK-NRT a day before the announced 40% BA transfer bonus. I was somewhat pissed at the time as I probably would have transferred them to BA instead. Now I don't feel so bad 🙂

That ANA award 75K, 85K or 95K business class from the east coast to Tokyo is still one of the best freakin' awards out there in my opinion.

Scott -- Awesome!

@mww: I was trying to book this for my outbound to Europe, and after calling BA I couldn't find ANY availability in J on BOS-DUB (or BOS-SNN or JFK-DUB for that matter) for the entire month of May. It looks like it is getting more difficult to find seats, particularly during the peak travel months. I don't know if they release space closer in or if there is any other pattern to it, though.

@Stephan: most likely I will play it safe, given that we don't do big international trips that often. It's not the bad use of points I'd be most disappointed with, it would be a Y seat on at TATL flight. Besides, I've always wanted to try out Austrian Airlines J.

I actually feel liberated by the devaluation. Now that J\F travel redemption is preposterous, I am, to quote WN, "free to move about the country". With a discounted sizable Avios balance, all my domestic Y travel will be on AA/US/AS until it's gone.

This was exactly my approach. I'm still weighing what to do. I was planning to transfer all my MR to use for business class on Cathay from Chicago to Hong Kong, but this is now 105,000 per person instead of 70,000, and there are 3 of us. I think I will still transfer them all, as I have always struggled to find value in the other redemption partners. Thoe short haul AA awards are still unbeatable, and using the Avios for TATL in Y is not unbearable.

Hi- I frequently travel to Milan, (Pisa and Geneva also) from nyc area. I am having difficulties finding award flights without huge surcharges etc. I transferred amex points to my ANA account 1 year ago for 2 awards, no tickets yet. Still have plenty of amex points (ultimate rewards too) but is it a good idea to transfer to avios for these destinations? Can anybody help? thanks!

I'm in for 50k=70k!

@ amy -- If you can fly airberlin and book before April 28 then it could make sense, since they have no fuel surcharges on airberlin. Otherwise it probably doesn't make sense, though.

Travis,

I don't necessarily agree that this is as cut and dry as you think it is. This "option" is not a contract, like it is in finance, and you never actually "buy" it, which means the "seller" of this option can at its discretion remove the option at any time.

I don't have an example but I believe this has happened in the past where Amex would end the bonus early. Why? Because BA sold as many miles to Amex as it cared to sell at that price point and time.

I think you have to balance the risk of a devaluation with the risk of missing the opportunity completely.

Thanks,

Clint D --

That is a valid point, and I actually thought of mentioning it. But in this case, I would put the odds of Amex ending the promotion early as very slim -- it has a defined end date and it doesn't say anything about limited quantities. Plus, Amex is a reputable company, so I don't see them damaging their reputation by pulling it early. They knew it was going to be widely popular.

So that's why I didn't consider it. But the point is valid. Thanks for bringing it up.

Re the loss of the 50k option to europe in biz class...are you referring to BA redemptions on EI? I didn't see where that was going away- or is it just the 50k for biz? As a person living in BOS, the 25k to DUB has been a cheap/easy way to get to europe, hope it's not going away