This is a quick reminder that today is the last day to receive a 50% bonus when transferring points from your American Express Membership Rewards account to your British Airways Avios account. For those that use their British Airways points often (note: you do not actually need to fly BA for the points to be valuable!), this is a great way to increase your point balance and can get you a good value out of your Membership Rewards points.
Unfortunately though, the transfer ratio is no longer 1:1 and instead it is 250:200 (meaning 250 Amex points = 200 BA Avios points). With the promo you are ultimately transferring at a 250:300 ratio. This devaluation took place exactly a year ago, and this 50% promo is closer to a 20% bonus if you look at the transfer ratio pre-devaluation. You can learn more about this here.
Also, redeeming your British Airways points went through a slight change earlier this year. For the most part, it affected those that like to redeem their points for upgrades and to fly to Europe with a layover (the 2nd segment from London to somewhere else in Europe is now charged as its own separate award). I personally use most of my British Airways Avios points on partner airline American Airlines.
So is this a good promotion? A 50% bonus is a great offer especially when transferring to a very desirable and valuable point currency. This is the highest offer we’ve seen in the past year, so I do not foresee it coming around again too soon.
Will I be transferring my points? I personally have a healthy British Airways point balance and would prefer my American Express points to be a little more flexible. Once points are transferred over to British Airways you cannot transfer them back and decide to use them elsewhere.
Should you transfer your points? It really depends on how you like to redeem. Many people get a great value with their British Airways Avios points and sometimes it is a program that is overlooked since it is not a US-based loyalty program. If you are new to the British Airways program, check out this series to see if the program works for you.
- Overview of the British Airways Avio Program
- Earning and Redeeming a British Airways Companion Ticket
- Canceling Flights Booked with Avios
- Creating a Household Account with British Airways
- Top 10 Redemption Opportunities for British Airways Avios Points
Will you be transferring any points over?
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still not enough considering the bogus fuel charges
Hate the fuel surcharges, but my wife and I fly them first class pretty much every year, with a companion pass. Depending where and when we go, it takes about 150,000 Avios for 2 round trip first class tickets, and about $2000 or so. I really like BA, love the Concorde room, and have usually had excellent service ftom the crew. So I transferred 68,000 MR’s to get roughly 80,000 Avios. We’re flying with them next May to Paris, first class, staying at the Park Hyatt Vendome for 4 nights with the sign up bonus from 2 Chase cards, then back to London. We’ll stay the first night at the Hilton on Trafalgar Square with the free night certificate we’ll earn shortly from the AMEX Hilton card, thanks to your article. I was targeted, my wife wasn’t.