Among hotel loyalty programs, one thing that makes Marriott Bonvoy points unique is the ability to (fairly) efficiently convert them into airline miles. While most major hotel loyalty programs allow some sort of opportunity to convert hotel points into airline miles, it typically represents a very bad value.
In this post I wanted to take a look at the opportunity to convert Marriott points into airline miles, and whether it’s worth it.
In this post:
Basics of Marriott’s points to miles transfer option
It’s possible to convert Marriott Bonvoy points into airline miles, with your choice of 39 different frequent flyer programs. Let’s take a look at which partners Marriott Bonvoy has, what the transfer ratios are, etc.
Marriott Bonvoy points to airline miles transfer ratio
Marriott Bonvoy points generally convert into airline miles at a 3:1 ratio, and with most partners you get 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points you transfer.
In other words, 60,000 Bonvoy points will convert into 25,000 airline miles (including the 5,000 bonus miles). You can take advantage of that bonus of 5,000 miles multiple times, meaning that you can convert Marriott Bonvoy points into airline miles at a ratio of up to 2.4:1.
Note that you can transfer a minimum of 3,000 Marriott Bonvoy points and a maximum of 240,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per day. So if you want to transfer more than 240,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, you’ll want to do so over multiple days.
Marriott Bonvoy’s airline mileage transfer partners
Here are the 39 airline frequent flyer programs you can transfer your Marriott Bonvoy points to:
- Aegean Miles+Bonus
- Aer Lingus AerClub
- Aeromexico Club Premier
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Air China PhoenixMiles
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- Air New Zealand Airpoints
- Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- American Airlines AAdvantage
- ANA Mileage Club
- Asiana Airlines Asiana Club
- Avianca LifeMiles
- British Airways Executive Club
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- China Southern Sky Pearl Club
- Copa Airlines ConnectMiles
- Delta SkyMiles
- Emirates Skywards
- Etihad Guest
- Frontier Miles
- Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club
- Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles
- Iberia Plus
- InterMiles
- Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Korean Air SkyPass
- LATAM Pass
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Saudia Alfursan
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
- TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
- Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- United Airlines MileagePlus
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer
- Vueling Club
Note that there’s one exception to the 3:1 transfer ratio, which is that Marriott Bonvoy points transfer to Air New Zealand Airpoints at a 200:1 ratio. This simply reflects the different scale of Air New Zealand’s rewards currency.
There are also a few exceptions to the 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 Bonvoy points transfered:
- For transfers to American AAdvantage, Avianca LifeMiles, Delta SkyMiles, and Korean Air SkyPass, you don’t receive 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 Bonvoy points transfered, so the ratio is 3:1 regardless of how big your transfer is
- For transfers to United MileagePlus, you actually receive 10,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 Bonvoy points transfered, meaning the transfer ratio in the right increments can be 2:1
Marriott Bonvoy airline mileage transfers aren’t instant
With the major transferable points currencies, converting points into airline miles is typically an instant process. So it’s worth being aware that Marriott Bonvoy points don’t convert into airline miles instantly. Rather transfers generally take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks.
I’d consider this to be a major weak point of this opportunity. I generally recommend converting points into airline miles in situations where you have a specific use in mind, and that could be a situation where you find award space on a particular flight.
Obviously that’s not exactly useful here, since it could take a couple of weeks for the transfer to happen, and odds are that whatever award availability you were looking at will be gone at that point.
Are Marriott Bonvoy mileage transfers worth it?
While I think converting Marriott Bonvoy points into airline miles could represent a good value, it’s not how I choose to redeem my Bonvoy points.
To briefly crunch some numbers, as stated above, I value Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each. At a 2.4:1 transfer ratio (60,000 points per 25,000 miles), that’s like “paying” 1.68 cents per airline mile, which is a pretty decent cost.
Why do I choose not to convert Marriott Bonvoy points into airline miles?
- Marriott Bonvoy points can’t efficiently be earned through credit card spending, so your only options to earn them efficiently are through hotel stays, or by buying Bonvoy points (typically at a higher cost than what I value them)
- I earn transferable points currencies for my credit card spending, so I’d rather use points earned with Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, or Citi ThankYou, for flights, since I can earn those points at a faster rate with credit card spending
- I’d rather use my Marriott Bonvoy points for luxury hotel stays where there’s outsized value with the points
- In theory the one situation where it could make sense to transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to airline miles is for programs that don’t otherwise partner with the major transferable points currencies; however, even there I don’t think it’s terribly compelling
So I absolutely don’t think anyone is off base for choosing to convert Marriott Bonvoy points into airline miles. However, it’s not how I choose to redeem my points, and I don’t think the value is there for most.
It’s more of a last resort redemption option, if you’re truly unable to get value elsewhere. In fairness, that might just be the direction the program is headed. While Bonvoy points have been significantly devalued over the years for hotel redemptions, the mileage conversion options have remained mostly consistent.
Bottom line
It’s possible to convert Marriott Bonvoy points into airline miles with over three dozen programs. While this is the best hotel points to airline miles transfer ratio that you’ll find with any program, it’s still not how I’d choose to redeem my Bonvoy points.
Yes, I appreciate the “insurance” that this redemption option provides, since it essentially creates a floor value for Bonvoy points. However, Bonvoy points are hard to efficiently earn through anything other than hotel stays, so I prefer to save them for hotel stays. I’d rather convert credit card points currencies into airline miles.
Where do you stand on the value of Marriott Bonvoy airline mileage transfers? Have you ever redeemed Bonvoy points this way?
"To briefly crunch some numbers, as stated above, I value Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each. At a 2.4:1 transfer ratio (60,000 points per 25,000 miles), that’s like “paying” 1.68 cents per airline mile, which is a pretty decent cost."
Then say why you do not convert points to miles. Another reason is because you can redeem for something much higher value with Marriott directly. 2:1 ration is like 50% of the points.
From a Canadian perspective Bonvoy points are basically the only way to transfer points to airlines other than Air Canada, BA, CX. (Ignore WS).
Credit cards that offer airline points are basically Aeroplan (various banks) and Avios (RBC). AMEX Rewards only has only a few partners and some only transfer at 0.8.
So the only transfer to SQ is via Bonvoy. Aeroplan is partners with EK and Etihad but their points rewards are astronomic if...
From a Canadian perspective Bonvoy points are basically the only way to transfer points to airlines other than Air Canada, BA, CX. (Ignore WS).
Credit cards that offer airline points are basically Aeroplan (various banks) and Avios (RBC). AMEX Rewards only has only a few partners and some only transfer at 0.8.
So the only transfer to SQ is via Bonvoy. Aeroplan is partners with EK and Etihad but their points rewards are astronomic if you can find them (AC hides redemptions from Canadians).
Note to Ben - Alaska had a Canadian Master Card. As of September 1 the card will no longer be an AS Credit Card (from mbna) and for the balance of "our" membership year remaining the card will accumulate AS points and will allow their transfer. The mbna card was sold to TD. Years ago there was an AAdvantage card from TD Bank but they cancelled that one as well.
But after that no more US Airline cards in Canada even though a hell of a lot of us BC types use it almost exclusively for Mexico and SW US travel (with AC you have to travel through Toronto for Mexico)!
Thought you might want to post it as a humorous item so Americans can appreciate their plethora of credit card points options.
Converted to SQ Kris Miles, it was quick
I'm genuinely curious about how this is different from Starwood Preferred Guest? When the programs merged, my Starwood points were converted to Bonvoy points at a 3:1 ratio--and Starwood used to offer 5,000 bonus points on 20,000 point transfers. Bonvoy points are much easier to come by than Starwood points were with the elite bonuses, but is the biggest difference that Bonvoy points aren't three times as easy to come by as Starwood points were?...
I'm genuinely curious about how this is different from Starwood Preferred Guest? When the programs merged, my Starwood points were converted to Bonvoy points at a 3:1 ratio--and Starwood used to offer 5,000 bonus points on 20,000 point transfers. Bonvoy points are much easier to come by than Starwood points were with the elite bonuses, but is the biggest difference that Bonvoy points aren't three times as easy to come by as Starwood points were? I'd argue they might be. Otherwise, it's slightly confusing to me that this blog used to tout SPG so much, but has since not talked much about Bonvoy transfers to airline partners.
to bad you cannot transfer united miles => marriott points....
I moved some Marriott points over to Flying Blue a few months ago and the transfer was completed within two hours; the bonus points took a couple of days.
Just a data point, nothing more.
Your information on Marriott -> United transfers is out of date. It's 3:1 like most other programs with a 10k bonus every 60k miles, meaning if you transfer in multiples of 60k, it's effectively 2:1.
https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/redeem/travel/points-to-miles.mi
@ FormosaTPE -- Good catch, thank you! I updated the post to reflect that.
It's the only way to transfer points into AAdvantage as Chase/Amex/Citi/Cap One branded cards cannot transfer into AA. I transferred ~20,000 Bonvoy points (from Amex Bonvoy Card spend) to AAdvantage last year to "top up" my AAdvantage account so we can book 2 intra-Asia JAL business class tickets (Tokyo to Saigon) for 30K each... fantastic deal...