Whoa: Amex Offering A Dozen Transfer Bonuses

Whoa: Amex Offering A Dozen Transfer Bonuses

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The Amex Membership Rewards program occasionally offers transfer bonuses, whereby you receive more points when you transfer your Amex points to an airline or hotel partner. However, these are usually offered one at a time.

For the month of September, the program is offering a dozen transfer bonuses all at once. I wanted to post a reminder of this, as today is the last day to take advantage of this amazing offer.

Amex transfer bonuses galore in September

At the moment the Amex Membership Rewards program in the United States is offering bonuses on transfers to a dozen airline and hotel partners all at once. Here are the transfer bonuses for the month of September (valid for transfers between September 1 and September 30, 2022):

  • Transfer Amex points to Aer Lingus AerClub with a 25% bonus
  • Transfer Amex points to Aeromexico Club Premier with a 20% bonus
  • Transfer Amex points to Air Canada Aeroplan with a 15% bonus
  • Transfer Amex points to Air France-KLM Flying Blue with a 25% bonus
  • Transfer Amex points to Avianca LifeMiles with a 15% bonus
  • Transfer Amex points to British Airways Executive Club with a 25% bonus
  • Transfer Amex points to Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles with a 20% bonus
  • Transfer Amex points to Qantas Frequent Flyer with a 20% bonus
  • Transfer Amex points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club with a 30% bonus
  • Transfer Amex points to Choice Privileges with a 25% bonus
  • Transfer Amex points to Hilton Honors with a 30% bonus
  • Transfer Amex points to Marriott Bonvoy with a 20% bonus

If you’re going to transfer points, make sure you double check that you see the transfer bonus you’re expecting reflected at the time that you make the transfer. See here for how long Amex points transfers take.

Some cards earning Amex Membership Rewards points offer multiple points per dollar spent in some categories, so when you combine that with transfer bonuses, points will add up really quickly.

Transfer Amex points to British Airways with a 25% bonus

Which of these transfer bonuses are worth it?

Very broadly speaking, here are some of the programs to consider transferring points to, factoring in the general value of the programs plus the transfer bonuses:

Transfer Amex points to Virgin Atlantic with a 30% bonus

Will I make speculative Amex points transfers?

Above I shared my take on which transfer partners are most valuable, though how am I personally approaching this offer, with no immediate need for transfers in mind? Well, I have already transfered some Amex points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, for a redemption in Air New Zealand business class. That was a great value.

Beyond that, I do plan on making some speculative transfers, as I have a healthy balance of Amex points at the moment, and I can see myself getting value from these promotions. I think there are two speculative transfers I plan on making before this promotion ends.

First of all, I think I’ll transfer a good number of points to Air Canada Aeroplan:

  • It’s not often we see transfer bonuses to Aeroplan, so this opportunity is pretty special
  • My balance of Aeroplan points is low right now, though in the past year I’ve transferred points from Amex several times without a transfer bonus
  • Aeroplan is valuable not only for the ability to redeem on Star Alliance partners, but also for the ability to redeem on other Aeroplan partners, like Air Serbia, Etihad, Gulf Air, Oman Air, and more (and the list keeps on growing)
  • While there are all kinds of creative routings and stopover opportunities, if nothing else a transatlantic first class redemption on Lufthansa will typically cost 100,000 Aeroplan points, so that’s ~84K Amex points with the bonus, which is great
Aeroplan points are useful for Lufthansa first class

I also think I’ll speculatively transfer a smaller number of points to Air France-KLM Flying Blue:

  • Flying Blue is so useful for transatlantic business class redemptions on Air France and KLM, which is often readily available when other programs don’t have availability
  • I’ve burned through a lot of Flying Blue miles in the past year, so my past redemption patterns suggest I’ll need more of these miles
  • While we see a fair number of transfer bonuses to Flying Blue, a 25% bonus is solid
Flying Blue miles are useful for transatlantic flights

There are two other transfer partners I would typically consider for speculative transfers, but don’t plan on using right now:

  • While I would also transfer some Amex points to British Airways Executive Club for short haul redemptions, I still have several hundred thousand Avios, so don’t have a need to do that right now
  • While I’m tempted to transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club for redemptions on All Nippon Airways, I don’t have any immediate plans to travel to Japan, so that’s a bit too niche for me to take advantage of
I’d love to return to Japan, but am trying to be realistic

In general I’d only recommend making a speculative transfer if you think you’ll be able to book travel within six months or so (though it depends on your exact situation).

Bottom line

At the moment the Amex Membership Rewards program is offering a dozen different transfer bonuses, including to some of my favorite Amex transfer partners. It could make sense to speculatively transfer some points here (that’s exactly what I plan to do), given the opportunities available.

If you’ve been considering taking advantage of this but haven’t done so yet, this is your last chance.

Do you plan on taking advantage of these Amex transfer bonuses? Which partners are you interested in?

Conversations (30)
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  1. iamhere Guest

    Hardly enough of a bonus to get excited over.

  2. TOMM FJELLBERG Guest

    I tried to make use of this,transfering from AMEX Dollar card,but the Amex rep in the UK said on the phone this was not possible and transfered only 1-1
    i had 130000 points which i wanted to Transfer tol AF/KLM,but now i did it to Finnair instead

  3. TravelinWilly Diamond

    Does anyone know how easy/difficult it is to get 1st class Air France awards?

    I know all about the restrictions etc., just don’t know how avail. award space is generally.

    1. TravelinWilly Diamond

      NM, it looks like first class award seats are wide open globally, so my question has been answered.

      Thank you, me!

  4. Airfarer Diamond

    I quite like KLM but the miles requirement for business is getting a bit silly. I may move some Amex to VS but KL, not this time.

  5. ST Guest

    Is this limited to members in the United States? Have a few cards as a Canadian and I'm not seeing any sort of bonus offered.

  6. Ray King Guest

    Is this a targeted offer or open to all AMEX cardholders ? Thanks for your help !

  7. Curt Guest

    I'm salty about this, because I didn't know the bonuses were coming, and transferred 200k to British for upcoming travel. I guess September is historically a big transfer bonus month? Next time I'll know better.......

  8. Ferdinand Magellan Guest

    This is quite a depreciation of Amex points. Just in the past year, there have been 40% transfer bonuses to four different partner airlines, but the top, here is 30%. The even bigger problem, after you do the transfer with bonus, is astronomical redemption rates. When, for instance, did it become standard for the airlines to demand 200K+ miles for a business-class seat from the US to Australia/NZ? Did I miss that memo?

    1. iamhere Guest

      That's the point. So they are not offering much this time I might as well wait.

  9. Jon Guest

    tried to transfer points to aeroplan (66,000 = 75,900) points but online didn't work. Said I had to call.
    I called and did it and only received 66,000 points.
    AMEX initially said sorry you're screwed when I called back.
    Aeroplan also said that it's AMEX's problem.

    Almost lost the flight, transferred an extra 9,000 just so I could book the ticket, but still out 15% bonus.

  10. KeNgKrUpS Guest

    Last time transfer bonus to BA was a whopping 40% !!!
    This time only 25%? No thank you.

    1. DaHonestBruva Guest

      Stop bit@#ing! Last time this, last time that...So much has changed over the course of just 1 year.

  11. Trey Guest

    Anyone able to find 2 award seats on ANA (Y+ or C) to/from US in 2023? It appears only single seats on most flights - even thru their own program.

    1. Andrew Guest

      Even if you do, it's going to be $900 in taxes, fees, and fuel surcharges for a round trip in business or First starting October 1st. It's really getting out of hand and it's a devalue without devaluing the points.

    2. Andrew Diamond

      Ugh, that's awful. Is that on a single ticket?

    3. Andrew Guest

      Yes, for a single ticket. Not the exact price, but the fuel surcharges alone will be $847 (round trip for one person) and then you have the other taxes and fees. I feel like it’s almost not worth it for business class anymore. Still a deal for first class, but it’s so hard to find. I’m determined to make my October booking work even if I have to go to Vietnam instead of Japan if they don’t open up.

    4. jon Guest

      I just booked seattle to vietnam on ANA, only 1 ticket was available on the 16th of this month.
      Total cost including points value was ~800, can't imagine paying $800 in extra fees, what a rip.

  12. Tommy Rock Guest

    I feel like I found a Hilton redemption unicorn.. just leveraged the MR bonus to book Tru by Hilton for an upcoming baseball weekend in Atlanta at over 3.5 cpp value, not including the two day value adds for free parking near the stadium and free breakfast x4.

  13. Andrew Guest

    There have been single F awards available to and from ORD. I haven't seen two F awards. I was able to book two F awards out of JFK for next month, so hopefully they open up!

    1. Andrew Diamond

      The sweet spot seems to be JAL F two weeks out right now. Just booked a single ticket SFO -> NRT with AA points and bought another ticket from NRT -> ICN.

      I wouldn't bet on them opening up next month. Clearly they're in the business of signaling they are reopening while ensuring it's as hard as ever to actually make it happen.

    2. Andrew Guest

      The most recent postings on flyertalk make it seem like you can go if you submit an itinerary to a tourism company and they approve it, so you can book everything solo they just need to know where you are on any given date and which hotel you are staying at. I believe you can't stay at Airbnb's. If you test positive, you would also report to the tourism company.

    3. Andrew Diamond

      I read that you'd have to arrange the flight and hotel through them. I wonder if someone has a trip report on this working as you describe...

    4. Andrew Guest

      The new changes are going into effect on September 7th, so it hasn’t happened yet. It was just announced yesterday. I’m crossing my fingers!

    5. Todd Guest

      Not true. You only need a travel agent to get the ERFS, then you can apply for a 90-day Visa . I got mine and it was very simple. Several bloggers have written about their experience and given precise how-to steps. The Prince of Travel's post is the one I followed.

  14. Chad Guest

    Not showing any bonus for me on the transfer screen, and can't find a link announcing this promo.

  15. Daniel Guest

    For ANA, I haven’t seen a single F award available through the end of schedule from any US city. Has anyone else been able to see anything?

    1. Carrie Guest

      Daniel,

      I have seen several on lifemiles at the last minute. Check from LAX,
      ORD and SFO. Perhaps this tool may be helpful to you. When searching on lifemiles, use the dropdown menu and choose ANA. Right now, it seems that's the only way to get it to show up.

      https://awards.pnr.sh/

    2. bcxb Guest

      Nope. That redemption is dead and has been for a while. Even J is pretty hard to find now.

    3. Lee Guest

      I couldn't find any availability either on both business and F awards on ANA, United, Aeroplan, etc. ANA has everything "waitlisted." Does anyone know how reliable that is? And the fuel charges are a whopping $800+ per ticket!

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

TravelinWilly Diamond

NM, it looks like first class award seats are wide open globally, so my question has been answered. Thank you, me!

1
Jon Guest

tried to transfer points to aeroplan (66,000 = 75,900) points but online didn't work. Said I had to call. I called and did it and only received 66,000 points. AMEX initially said sorry you're screwed when I called back. Aeroplan also said that it's AMEX's problem. Almost lost the flight, transferred an extra 9,000 just so I could book the ticket, but still out 15% bonus.

1
Andrew Guest

Even if you do, it's going to be $900 in taxes, fees, and fuel surcharges for a round trip in business or First starting October 1st. It's really getting out of hand and it's a devalue without devaluing the points.

1
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