The Amex Membership Rewards program has just introduced its latest transfer bonus, valid for the next few weeks. With a specific use in mind, this has the potential to be a good deal.
In this post:
Transfer Amex points with a 30% bonus
The American Express Membership Rewards program in the United States is offering a 30% bonus on points transfers to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. This promotion is valid for points transfers through Thursday, December 29, 2022.
Ordinarily points transfer at a 1:1 ratio (in 1,000 point increments), while through this promotion you’d get 1,300 Flying Club points for every 1,000 Membership Rewards points transferred.
For context, Amex seems to offer a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club two or three times per year. Prior to this, we had already seen two transfer bonuses so far this year from Amex to Virgin Atlantic — one in March and one in September.
- 4x points at restaurants
- 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
- $250
- Earn 4x Membership Rewards points on airfare purchased directly from airlines
- Access to Amex Offers
- Redeem Amex Points Towards Airfare
- $295
- 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.
If you want to redeem Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points for travel on Virgin Atlantic, here’s what you can expect to pay in terms of roundtrip award costs to & from London:
Route to/from UK | Economy | Premium Economy | Upper Class |
|---|---|---|---|
Israel | Standard: 18,000 Peak: 22,000 | Standard: 32,000 Peak: 40,000 | Standard: 56,000 Peak: 66,000 |
India | Standard: 20,000 Peak: 40,000 | Standard: 35,000 Peak: 55,000 | Standard: 75,000 Peak: 95,000 |
USA – Northeast (Boston, Newark, New York JFK, Washington DC) | Standard: 20,000 Peak: 40,000 | Standard: 35,000 Peak: 55,000 | Standard: 95,000 Peak: 115,000 |
Caribbean | Standard: 20,000 Peak: 40,000 | Standard: 35,000 Peak: 55,000 | Standard: 115,000 Peak: 135,000 |
USA – Midwest & South (Atlanta, Miami, Orlando) | Standard: 25,000 Peak: 45,000 | Standard: 45,000 Peak: 65,000 | Standard: 95,000 Peak: 115,000 |
Nigeria, China & Hong Kong | Standard: 25,000 Peak: 45,000 | Standard: 45,000 Peak: 65,000 | Standard: 115,000 Peak: 135,000 |
South Africa | Standard: 25,000 Peak: 45,000 | Standard: 50,000 Peak: 85,000 | Standard: 115,000 Peak: 135,000 |
USA – West (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle) | Standard: 30,000 Peak: 50,000 | Standard: 55,000 Peak: 75,000 | Standard: 135,000 Peak: 155,000 |
Generally Virgin Atlantic’s redemption rates are on the high side, at least for Upper Class. On top of that, there are significant carrier imposed surcharges (plus the UK Air Passenger Duty), especially for travel in Upper Class. You can expect that a roundtrip itinerary from the US to UK will run you about $1,000, in addition to all the points.
Beyond that, Virgin Atlantic has several airline partners, some of which are more lucrative than others. Probably the best use of Flying Club points is for travel in ANA first & business class. You can find the redemption rates below.
Paying 95,000 and 120,000 points (respectively) for business and first class roundtrip between the United States and Japan is a phenomenal value to start with. Then when you consider the 30% transfer bonus, that means you’re just paying 74,000 and 93,000 Amex points, respectively.
All Nippon Airways’ new first & business class are amazing products as well. The major catch is that availability can be really tough to come by.
Bottom line
At the moment Amex is offering a 30% 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 30% bonus, some might find it worthwhile to book on Virgin Atlantic for the convenience. Virgin Atlantic is good about releasing business class transatlantic award availability, so if you value the convenience of a nonstop and don’t mind paying the carrier imposed surcharges, there’s value there.
However, the real value here is booking with partners. The single best value is for travel on All Nippon Airways, as you could fly ANA first class roundtrip to Japan for 93,000 Amex points, assuming you can find availability.
Do you plan on taking advantage of this Amex transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club?
Just a small detail that was overlooked... this is an Amex transfer bonus but you said "Then when you consider the 30% transfer bonus, that means you’re just paying 74,000 and 93,000 Chase points, respectively." Chase??
Dude, business class 787s in ANA are *NOT COOL* - you can see every other passenger in the cabin. The leg-box is tiny. 50% of the cabin has no wall to the aisle.
Buyer beware when you see a last minute award flight from the west coast, these planes are the rage now.
$2000 for taxes from jfk to london in addition to 105000 miles??
ridiculous!
And award travel on VS counts towards status.
9K one-way intra-Europe business class on AF/KL, or 4K in economy, (both as of earlier this year at least) can also be a pretty solid deal.
This promo can be pretty lucrative if you use the points for other airlines besides Virgin. I did this promo when Chase offered it and was able to snag 60k business Portland to Amsterdam on Delta. With the 30% promo, it was only 45k points which is a steal. Of course your mileage may vary in terms of availability on Delta.
I am curious - why are these promotions continually offered to US based account holders and never non-US based AMEX holders?
I find it quite frustrating and to be honest a little unfathomable - surely AMEX being one global brand COULD offer the same promotion to all its holders?
It is exactly the same as the amount of airline transfer partners available. There are far far more airline frequent flyer programs to transfer AMEX...
I am curious - why are these promotions continually offered to US based account holders and never non-US based AMEX holders?
I find it quite frustrating and to be honest a little unfathomable - surely AMEX being one global brand COULD offer the same promotion to all its holders?
It is exactly the same as the amount of airline transfer partners available. There are far far more airline frequent flyer programs to transfer AMEX miles to that non US based account holders.
I too am bemused by the frequency with which this happens for US cardholders and its relative rarity in Australia. I can't speak for other countries. I've seen bonus Amex offers here, occasionally, and only for Virgin Australia. It would be nice if there were an occasional bonus on the [few] other airlines available for MR transfer here (Singapore or Cathay would be nice, and I suspect there are Emirates, Virgin Atlantic and some others...
I too am bemused by the frequency with which this happens for US cardholders and its relative rarity in Australia. I can't speak for other countries. I've seen bonus Amex offers here, occasionally, and only for Virgin Australia. It would be nice if there were an occasional bonus on the [few] other airlines available for MR transfer here (Singapore or Cathay would be nice, and I suspect there are Emirates, Virgin Atlantic and some others whose members would welcome one).
Additional airlines would be nice too, but I can deal with only having a relatively small number of options as the ones we have are, for the most part, the most likely ones for us to be interested in. (Flying Blue would be nice though!)
Interchange fees are much lower outside the US (often by law), and the credit card business is much less lucrative, hence fewer/less interesting promotions for customers.
That's true, but it already results in lower earning rates, so it's galling that there are also fewer bonuses. What it says is that in the US they could afford to return more to card holders but they only do it occasionally and dress it up as some sort of bonus.