Maximize Your Points with Transfer Bonus Alerts

Amex is running a very short transfer bonus for Member Week to Marriott Bonvoy. Unfortunately, it’s not a very compelling offer, despite the short timeframe.

For one, an Amex point is worth around 2.5X a Marriott Bonvoy point. So you are getting 25% more while you’d need a 150% bonus to breakeven on point value.

For another, we have seen various transfer bonuses from Chase and American Express to Marriott Bonvoy many times before, racing from 20%-50%, so this is not even at the high end of the range. So this bonus isn’t going to be compelling for most.

As always, there can be exceptions and you might find a 5 night stay (5th night free) where the transfer makes sense, so do the math – but you likely do not want to transfer speculatively unless you are a Bonvoy pro and believe you will exceed value you can get via other, higher value, partners.

This transfer bonus is being run on the Qatar side, so you will not see the bonus offer on the Citi ThankYou website. 

This bonus offer is valid for Point Transfers completed between 02/16/25 12:01 AM ET and 03/15/25 11:59 PM ET

Terms and Conditions for Citi Strata Premier™, Citi Prestige®, AT&T Access More Cardholders in the US:

• For the Avios Points promotional offer, you will receive 1.2 Avios for every 1 ThankYou Point transferred during the promotional period listed above. The normal conversion rate is 1 Avios for every 1 ThankYou Point transferred. For example, if you transfer 1,000 ThankYou Points, you will receive a total of 1,200 Avios.

While it’s always hard to recommend speculative transfers, Hilton points have gotten more attractive since integrating SLH hotels into Hilton Honors (See Dave’s musing about his thinking on how Hilton points may be becoming more valuable and this more recent article about the extreme value in SLH and other high end Hilton brands.). The integration is already providing exceptional value at properties with rates in the $1,000 – $2,000 a night range for, on average, 130,000 points a night. So, it appears his musing has become a reality.

And as long as you have at least the lowest tier Hilton status, the 5th night is free on any award and resort fees are also waived on award stays.

The transfer bonus promotion is active from March 1st, 2025 at 12:00am ET until March 1st 2025, 11:59pm PT in the Bilt Rewards app or website.

Bilt Blue members will receive a 150% transfer bonus (1 Bilt = 2.5 Hilton Honors) and Bilt Silver, Gold, and Platinum members will receive 200% (1 Bilt = 3 Hilton Honors)

Note that while this may appear to trounce the current transfer bonus from American Express Membership Rewards to Hilton Honors, Hilton defaults to a 1:2 transfer ratio while Bilt is only 1:1.

For example, under the current Amex 25% bonus, due to the default rate being double Bilt’s, this equals 2.5 Hilton Honors for 1 Amex point – or the same as Bilt’s base bonus. Silver/Gold/Platinum are getting 0.5 more points than this, but are also trading much more valuable Bilt points.

I think this only likely makes sense if you are short on Hilton points and don’t have Amex points to transfer either.

As I’ve said before, Hilton points have gotten more attractive since integrating SLH hotels into Hilton Honors (See Dave’s musing about his thinking on how Hilton points may be becoming more valuable and this more recent article about the extreme value in SLH and other high end Hilton brands.). The integration is already providing exceptional value at properties with rates in the $1,000 – $2,000 a night range for, on average, 130,000 points a night. So, it appears his musing has become a reality.

It may take up to 24 hours to get the bonus miles which are being offered by Lifemiles rather than Amex.

Exact end time is February 28th, 2025 (11:59 PM GMT-6).

Details of the transfer bonus are here on the Lifemiles website. The bonus is being solely offered by Lifemiles and therefore you will not see the offer on the American Express website.

That said, I do not think almost anyone should be taking advantage of this offer.

Two weeks only – Ends Feb 17, 2025

While they had a transfer bonus for 40% that ended at the end of November, you may still find 20% worthwhile if you have a trip to book now…

KEEP IN MIND: Virgin Flying Club has moved to a dynamic pricing for awards. In some cases we are seeing extreme value like 29,000 point Business Class awards from the US to London. In other cases, the prices have risen dramatically.  Run some searches before transferring.

It’s also worth Virgin Atlantic transfer bonuses are fairly frequent between various programs. See historical transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic here. This is the 8th transfer bonus in the last year from a bank program to Virgin Atlantic.

Best Uses of Virgin Flying Club points:

In September, Bilt offered a transfer bonus to Avianca Lifemiles at a flat 50% bonus for all.

This round is tiered by status. with Blue, Silver, Gold, and Platinum members getting 20%, 40%, 50%, and 100% respectively.

A 100% bonus is tempting and I’m sure many Platinum members will jump on it, though the lower tiers are a bit less compelling. I still wouldn’t speculatively transfer even at 100%, but that’s just me.

Avianca is a Star Alliance partner that does not pass along fuel surcharges, however:

Keep in mind that Avianca recently devalued their program.

Also see: Downsides of the LifeMiles program.

With frequent website issues, terrible customer support, and change/cancel fees of up to $200 a ticket, it’s just not for me. But “expert Lifemiles users” that are familiar with all the negative quirks, may find the 50-100% bonus very tempting. I would not consider the lower tiers.

Get 20% Bonus Aeroplan® points when you transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards® points between 12:00 AM ET on December 4, 2024 and 11:59 PM ET on January 15, 2025.

Chase Aeroplan Cardmembers can get up to 30% bonus Aeroplan points (20% from the limited time offer and 10% for being a Cardmember). To get the additional 10% bonus, Chase Aeroplan Cardmembers need to transfer a minimum of 50,000 points or more from Chase Ultimate Rewards® to Aeroplan, up to a maximum of 25,000 bonus points per calendar year.

This is the 3rd transfer bonus this year of 20% from Chase to Aeroplan.

Aeroplan sweet spots: No fuel surcharges; just a $39CAD booking fee. Lap infant just $25CAD. Can book Etihad and Emirates as well as Star Alliance flights. Add a stopover for just 5,000 miles!

Get 20% Bonus Flying Blue Miles when you transfer Ultimate Rewards® points between 12:00 AM ET on December 4, 2024 and 11:59 PM ET on January 15, 2025.

This is the 5th transfer bonus from a credit card rewards program to Flying Blue this year, all ranging from 20% – 25%.

Flying Blue rates are variable, so run a search before transferring. When you get lucky, business class from the US to Europe can run as low as just 50,000 Flying Blue miles. That would be just 42,000 credit card points during this promotion!

Flying Blue is often the best way to book Virgin Atlantic Upper Class from the US to Europe and beyond, due to the lowest taxes of any way to book Virgin Atlantic, however with Virgin’s new dynamic pricing you really have to compare the pricing on both programs as it can now be cheaper with Virgin in some cases. Flying Blue can also book Delta, KLM, and other SkyTeam members when Saver award space is available.

Get 70% Bonus IHG One Rewards points when you transfer Ultimate Rewards points between 12:00 AM ET on December 4, 2024 and 11:59 PM ET on January 15, 2025.

This is the 3rd transfer bonus from Chase to IHG One Rewards this year. One was 60% and one was 80%. This is right in between at 70%.

My same thinking applies whether 60%, 70% or 80%.

Do some sample searches before considering this bonus as we value an IHG point around 0.4 cents and a Chase point around 1.75 cents making the math here hard to justify. It’s a bit better if you have an IHG Premier or IHG Business Premier credit card which gives the 4th night free on awards.