Whoa: Amex Offering A Dozen Transfer Bonuses

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.

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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.

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:

• Air Canada Aeroplan — fantastic for Star Alliance and other partner redemptions, as I love having stopovers on one-way awards for 5,000 additional points, and we don’t often see transfer bonuses to the program
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue — great for transatlantic business class redemptions on Air France and KLM, as other SkyTeam partners don’t have access to nearly as much award space
• Avianca LifeMiles — useful for simple Star Alliance routings, especially in markets where pricing is better than through Air Canada Aeroplan
• British Airways Executive Club — great for short haul redemptions, as well as for some partner long haul redemptions
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club — most useful for All Nippon Airways first and business class redemptions, which is a real sweet spot of the program

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 transferred 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

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

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

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?