American Express recently announced a 40% bonus on all Membership Rewards transfers to Avios partners. This includes the British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, and Aer Lingus Aerclub programs. Which means when transferring AMEX points to Avios you’ll receive 1,400 Avios for every 1,000 Membership Rewards. In my previous post I detailed sweet spots for redeeming British Airways Avios for short-haul, domestic American Airlines flights. This transfer bonus makes those deals even more valuable!
Luckily, this promotion is running until November 15th. So there are several weeks to take advantage of the deal. In my experience the transfer completes instantly. However, I always recommend searching for award availability first prior to speculatively transferring points.
Additionally, Chase Ultimate Rewards allows points to transfer to these same Avios programs. Consider transferring AMEX points to Avios using this promotion along with Chase points as a method to pool Avios.
Example Itineraries
A few weeks ago I posted these short-haul routes that you can normally redeem for 7,500 Avios one way or 15,000 roundtrip. However with this promotion they only cost ~5,000 Amex points one way or 10,000 roundtrip.
- Chicago to Atlanta, Newark, or Orlando
- Dallas to Cabo, Chicago, Las Vegas, or Phoenix
- Los Angeles to Portland, Salt Lake City, or San Francisco
- New York to Montreal, Nashville, or Savannah