Our “Famous Card Explorer”

I suggest reviewing historical transfer bonuses from Chase and American Express to Air Canada Aeroplan as you might find that bonuses are more common than you think. 20% is the “standard” offer we see the most, though Chase did offer a flat 30% in late 2022.

Aeroplan sweet spots: No fuel surcharges; just a $39CAD booking fee. Lap infant just $25CAD. Can book Star Alliance flights as well as partners like Etihad and Emirates. Add a stopover for just 5,000 miles! Award pricing is not necessarily the best there is, but is consistently fair.

A business class award on a partner (not on Air Canada metal as that is dynamically priced) from the East Coast to Europe would be 70,000 points (as an example), which would be 56,000 Chase points with this promotion.

It’s worth noting that Blackstone is taking a minority stake in Aeroplan and private equity investments don’t tend to align with what’s best for the customer, so I’d be extra cautious about speculative transfers here.

Despite devaluations, Hilton points can be quite valuable, especially using the 5th night free on awards if you have Silver Elite status or higher as that increases your value both by giving the 5th night free and because resort fees and room tax are waived on award stays.

Data point: We just stayed 5 nights in Lake Como at the Grand Hotel Victoria (SLH). It was 130,000 points a night, 5th night free. 520,000 points total and the room was 1,500 Euro a night. That’s about $8,700 in value (and whatever you think of the cash rate, the hotel is impeccable and perfectly located and that is what it costs!) for 520,000 points. So we got 1.7 cents per Hilton point in value in this case. (Note, I believe that particular hotel is now 170,000 points a night.)

Generally, we value an Amex point at 1.7 cents and a Hilton point at 0.5 cents and while those values are an average, with a 5th night free award you can definitely do well transferring 1,000 Amex points for 2,600 Hilton Honors points as I showed you above.

Our advice is to run some sample searches for potential redemptions to see the value you’re likely to get before transferring. Note that Standard Reward night rates can be as high as 250,000 points / night. That said, at the 30% level is where I personally am comfortable transferring at least some speculatively.

Keep in mind that if you have any Free Reward Night Certificates (valid on any Standard Reward night) which can be earned with a Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (each anniversary year and after $30,000 and also after $60,000 spent in a calendar year) or the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (earned after $15,000 spent in a calendar year), you can add before or after a 5th night free award for a longer stay.

This still remains about the only award you would book with Iberia (you may find other instances where Iberia remains cheaper on its own metal) but keep in mind the biggest flaw of the Iberia program:

Award travel on partner airlines booked with Iberia Avios is non-refundable!!

That said, generally you want to move your points to British Airways first for the most flexibility – since you can move from there to Finnair, which has some great redemptions, or Qatar (note new restrictions on booking Qatar awards beyond yourself). I just booked an actual Iberia award and I’ll add that the website is full of glitches that can make booking even an Iberia award on Iberia quite painful.

See this post on the transfer bonus to British Airways Avios for more on the Finnair program.

Reminder: We now maintain an incredibly comprehensive Transfer Partner Matrix that tracks not just where every currency transfers but also notes any current transfer bonuses.

I suggest reviewing historical transfer bonuses from Chase and American Express to Air Canada Aeroplan as you might find that bonuses are more common than you think. 20% is the “standard” offer we see the most, though Chase did offer a flat 30% in late 2022.

Aeroplan sweet spots: No fuel surcharges; just a $39CAD booking fee. Lap infant just $25CAD. Can book Star Alliance flights as well as partners like Etihad and Emirates. Add a stopover for just 5,000 miles! Award pricing is not necessarily the best there is, but is consistently fair.

A business class award on a partner (not on Air Canada metal as that is dynamically priced) from the East Coast to Europe would be 70,000 points (as an example), which would be 56,000 Chase points with this promotion.

It’s worth noting that Blackstone is taking a minority stake in Aeroplan and private equity investments don’t tend to align with what’s best for the customer, so I’d be extra cautious about speculative transfers here.

Despite devaluations, Hilton points can be quite valuable, especially using the 5th night free on awards if you have Silver Elite status or higher as that increases your value both by giving the 5th night free and because resort fees and room tax are waived on award stays.

Data point: We just stayed 5 nights in Lake Como at the Grand Hotel Victoria (SLH). It was 130,000 points a night, 5th night free. 520,000 points total and the room was 1,500 Euro a night. That’s about $8,700 in value (and whatever you think of the cash rate, the hotel is impeccable and perfectly located and that is what it costs!) for 520,000 points. So we got 1.7 cents per Hilton point in value in this case. (Note, I believe that particular hotel is now 170,000 points a night.)

Generally, we value an Amex point at 1.7 cents and a Hilton point at 0.5 cents and while those values are an average, with a 5th night free award you can definitely do well transferring 1,000 Amex points for 2,600 Hilton Honors points as I showed you above.

Our advice is to run some sample searches for potential redemptions to see the value you’re likely to get before transferring. Note that Standard Reward night rates can be as high as 250,000 points / night. That said, at the 30% level is where I personally am comfortable transferring at least some speculatively.

Keep in mind that if you have any Free Reward Night Certificates (valid on any Standard Reward night) which can be earned with a Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (each anniversary year and after $30,000 and also after $60,000 spent in a calendar year) or the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (earned after $15,000 spent in a calendar year), you can add before or after a 5th night free award for a longer stay.

This still remains about the only award you would book with Iberia (you may find other instances where Iberia remains cheaper on its own metal) but keep in mind the biggest flaw of the Iberia program:

Award travel on partner airlines booked with Iberia Avios is non-refundable!!

That said, generally you want to move your points to British Airways first for the most flexibility – since you can move from there to Finnair, which has some great redemptions, or Qatar (note new restrictions on booking Qatar awards beyond yourself). I just booked an actual Iberia award and I’ll add that the website is full of glitches that can make booking even an Iberia award on Iberia quite painful.

See this post on the transfer bonus to British Airways Avios for more on the Finnair program.

Reminder: We now maintain an incredibly comprehensive Transfer Partner Matrix that tracks not just where every currency transfers but also notes any current transfer bonuses.

I absolutely love JAL Mileage Bank. Just two days ago, I had a tweet go pretty viral about how I used just 42,000 JAL miles and paid $285 in tax for an Air France Business Class flight on their newest product from CDG to JFK when Air France Flying Blue wanted over 90,000 miles + $600 in fees. The guide will also point out that you can get great deals on one way flights but *killer* deals on round trip flights. And of course, if you are skilled you can grab First Class or Business Class on JAL itself at 360 days out (you have to be quick, though!)

Importantly, you cannot transfer points into JAL Mileage Bank from Capital One until your Mileage Bank account has been active for 7 days, so create that account right away whether you have a transfer in mind today or not.

Transfers should be instant.

JAL also offers a Round The World award (appealing now that ANA’s RTW is no more), but note that JAL miles “hard expire” 36 months from the date you earn them.

Need more Capital One Miles? We have 5 cards that earn Capital One Miles here.

Remember that with Capital One cards that earn cash back, you can convert the cash back into transferable miles as long as you have any of the Miles-earning cards.

I absolutely love JAL Mileage Bank. Just two days ago, I had a tweet go pretty viral about how I used just 42,000 JAL miles and paid $285 in tax for an Air France Business Class flight on their newest product from CDG to JFK when Air France Flying Blue wanted over 90,000 miles + $600 in fees. The guide will also point out that you can get great deals on one way flights but *killer* deals on round trip flights. And of course, if you are skilled you can grab First Class or Business Class on JAL itself at 360 days out (you have to be quick, though!)

Importantly, you cannot transfer points into JAL Mileage Bank from Capital One until your Mileage Bank account has been active for 7 days, so create that account right away whether you have a transfer in mind today or not.

Transfers should be instant.

JAL also offers a Round The World award (appealing now that ANA’s RTW is no more), but note that JAL miles “hard expire” 36 months from the date you earn them.

Need more Capital One Miles? We have 5 cards that earn Capital One Miles here.

Remember that with Capital One cards that earn cash back, you can convert the cash back into transferable miles as long as you have any of the Miles-earning cards.