The Amex Membership Rewards program has just introduced its latest transfer bonus, valid for the next several weeks. With a specific use in mind, this has the potential to be a phenomenal deal.
In this post:
Transfer points to Flying Club with a 40% bonus
The American Express Membership Rewards program in the United States is offering a 40% bonus on points transfers to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. This promotion is valid for points transfers through Tuesday, December 31, 2024.
Ordinarily points transfer at a 1:1 ratio (in 1,000 point increments), while through this promotion you’d get 1,400 Flying Club points for every 1,000 Membership Rewards points transferred.
For context, Amex seems to offer a transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club two or three times per year. So far this year we’ve seen a couple of 30% transfer bonuses, so a 40% transfer bonus is even better than usual, and not one that we’ve seen for quite some time.
- 4x points at restaurants, on up to $50,000 in purchases annually
- 4x points at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases annually
- 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or through amextravel.com
- $325
- Access to Amex Offers
- Redeem Amex Points Towards Airfare
- $375
- Earn 5x points on flights purchased directly from airlines or through Amex Travel (up to $500k/year)
- $200 Annual Uber Credit
- Amex Centurion Lounge Access
- $695
- Earn 1.5x on purchases of $5,000 or more in a single transaction on up to $2MM per calendar year
- Redeem Points For Over 1.5 Cents Each Towards Airfare
- Amex Centurion Lounge Access
- $695
- 2x points on purchases up to $50k then 1x
- Access to Amex Offers
- No annual fee
Should you transfer Amex points to Virgin Atlantic?
Virgin Atlantic is definitely a frequent flyer program with more niche redemption opportunities. In addition to being able to redeem Flying Club points for travel on Virgin Atlantic, there’s also good value to be had for redemptions on Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, and Delta.
With Flying Club having recently moved to dynamic award pricing, there are actually better value redemption opportunities on Virgin Atlantic than ever before. For example, you can book Upper Class across the Atlantic starting at just 29,000 points one-way, and that doesn’t even factor in the transfer bonuses. I consider this to be one of the best award sweet spots out there.
Beyond that, Virgin Atlantic has several airline partners, some of which are more lucrative than others. See my guide to the best uses of Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points. Personally this is an offer that I plan to take advantage of with a speculative transfer, since I know I’ll get use from these points eventually, and I might as well get a 40% bonus.
For what it’s worth, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points don’t expire, with no activity required to keep them alive.
Bottom line
At the moment Amex is offering a 40% bonus when you transfer points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. This is definitely more of a niche program, but with a specific use in mind, there’s a lot of value to be had.
With the 40% bonus, award travel on Virgin Atlantic will be an even better value. There’s also lots of value to booking on partners, ranging from SkyTeam airlines, to Air New Zealand, to All Nippon Airways.
Do you plan on taking advantage of this Amex transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club?
Do the transferred points expire? do you need to use them by a certain date?
Does it make sense to do this if i am traveling from US to Europe? and are there expiration dates in the miles once they become virgin red miles?
What is the best way to search partner availability? Would like to see if any Asia flights are available for May 2025 but Virgin’s calendar doesn’t show this
It's been a while since I logged into VS. Searched for close-in awards from SFO and LAX. No business (of course), but a decent economy fare, assuming I like transferring throw CDG.
In my experience, you're doing your points dirty if you transfer them from Amex.
Sorry, SFO and LAX to TYO.
Virgin new changes are a definite plus. We just booked 2 tickets BOS to LHR for 10,500k plus $109 each in premium economy. Definitely worth a speculative transfer.
It's great for short routes in Europe.
Farewell ITA.
Anyone know if T-14 NH J is still blocked? Without that I don't have much reason to transfer to VS.