In order to diversify your rewards and avoid devaluations, I recommend earning transferable points currencies whenever possible. These points are racked up with programs like Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou, etc.
Continue reading: When Are Speculative Points Transfers Worth It? Here’s My Strategy…
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I understand you frequently use Flying Blue and Lifemiles, but do you really to speculatively transfer to these two programs? With Flying Blue, nearly every month or two there is a transfer bonus offer from one of the transferrable currency programs, so no speculative transfer seems necessary. Lifemiles runs a promotion to sell its miles nearly every couple of months and transfer bonuses tend to be small from Capital One or Citi, that makes transfers unnecessary, and costly, especially from Citi as its points can be transferred to AA, a much more valuable mileage currency than Lifemiles.
@ Tony -- In the case of Flying Blue, I absolutely do. For example, you say that almost every month or two there's a bonus to Flying Blue. That doesn't match my experience. Between the beginning of November 2025 and the end of April 2026 (a full six months), none of the major points currencies offered a bonus on Flying Blue transfers, best I can tell.
I had actually forgotten to make a speculative transfer prior to that, and then had to make several Flying Blue transatlantic redemptions with just 1:1 transfers. As soon as we saw a transfer bonus again in May, I immediately moved over a huge chunk of points.
Do you count Bonvoy points as a transferrable points currency, or do you feel they're primarily a hotel program? I feel they are underrated as a way to acquire MileagePlus miles.
@ ChrisDD -- Technically they certainly are, but in practice I have a hard time viewing them that way, at least in a traditional sense. The issue is that there's no way to efficiently earn Bonvoy points through everyday credit card spending. If you ask me, that makes it really hard to actually rack up lots of these rewards, and that makes it different than points with Amex, Chase, Citi, etc.
Agree. I took advantage of transferring Bonvoy to MileagePlus when they were running the extra 10k promotion. Took about 3 months to receive the promo miles fwiw.
@ lucky While not necessarily speculative, I may be canceling my only Citi card when my AF comes up early next year. If I do, I will be definitely transferring those points out beforehand to some program that I can make use of them!
Don’t speculate on Avianca Lifemiles anymore. Business awards are far too thin consistently.
I know some went all-in for that JAL promotion, and some for Flying Blue, too, but, Ben’s right, for the most part: “you shouldn’t move your transferable points currencies to a specific partner until you’re ready to book your ticket.” And, also, please ensure that what you found isn’t a phantom (like, some airlines are notorious for such errors... *staring at Alaska*)
I would say if you have under 1mm total transferable points the idea of speculatively transferring is risky at best.
If you have over 1m transferable points, a speculative transfer to a program that you use, on average, 1 or more times per year could be a good idea.
For me I can see doing speculative transfers to FB, Aeroplan, Avios and Virgin. Hard to imagine doing a speculative transfer anywhere else.