How often do airline and hotel programs offer transfer bonuses?

Let’s say that you have a healthy stash of transferable points like Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards. You see that there’s a 30% transfer bonus to a specific travel partner that lasts one month only. Should you transfer?

If you have an immediate high-value use for the points, then you absolutely should. But what if you don’t have a near-term need for the points but you’re still confident you’ll use them to good value eventually (what we call a speculative transfer)? While we normally advise against transferring points speculatively, it can be a good idea with a program that you use often. After all, who doesn’t want an additional 20-40% in value?

The question then becomes, “How long will I have to wait until the next transfer bonus rolls around?” If it’s likely to come back soon, then there’s no need to hurry. If the bonus is a rare event, then it could be worth considering taking the plunge now.

Fortunately, we keep a running list of transfer bonuses, both current and expired, on our Current Transfer Bonuses page.  Just for larks on a sunny afternoon, we dug through that list to find which bonuses are common and which are rare.

Airlines

Greg previously published a salacious expose on the airline programs that you’re most likely to see hawking their wares to a transferable points partner. No surprise, the most “promiscuous” programs are some of the most frequently-bonused as well.

Frequent (bonus) Milers (5+per year)

Air France / KLM Flying Blue (~5-6/year)

The current Membership Rewards bonus is the sixth transfer bonus to Flying Blue this year, one for each of the major programs that it partners with, which seems to be the general flow that it’s held to over the last several years.

When will we see the next bonus? If Air France holds to the current pattern, then this will be the last one this year. We’d expect the next one to appear in the Spring of 2026.

Avianca LifeMiles (~5 to infinity and beyond/year)

The recent 25% transfer bonus from Citi ThankYou Rewards was the seventh transfer bonus to Avianca LifeMiles this year. However, Avianca seems to be on a one-year-on, one-year-off cycle. In 2022 and 2024, it was a respectably frisky 5 and 6. In the odd years, it went crazy: 11 transfer bonuses in 2021, 13 in 2023, and 7 in 2025. Either way, there’s no need to hurry to get in on the current transfer version, as another one should appear soon.

When will we see the next bonus? Within the first two months of 2026.

Avios (~5 to infinity and beyond/year)

Multiple award programs share a common currency called Avios: British Airways, Aer Lingus, Loganair, Finnair, Iberia, and Qatar. Since it’s possible to move points from one program to another, it makes sense to lump all of the transfer bonuses to any of these programs together. In other words, when there are transfer bonuses to both British Airways and to Aer Lingus at the same time, we only count that as one. Similarly, if there’s a transfer bonus to Iberia early in the year and one to Qatar late in the year, those would count as two separate Avios transfer bonuses.

In 2025, we’ve seen ten transfer bonuses, ranging all the way from 20-100%. In previous years, it was more common to have 4-5 transfer bonuses, with the recent additions of Qatar and Finnair improving our options.

When will we see the next bonus?  I think we may see one more bonus from one of the major currencies before the year is out.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club  (6-9/year)

Virgin Atlantic probably takes the “crown” as the most frequent “bonuser” from year to year. The recent 30% bonus from Citi ThankYou Rewards is the sixth that we’ve seen this year…and that was after nine bonuses in 2024.

When will we see the next bonus? Virgin Atlantic has offered transfer bonuses from Membership Rewards in December several times over the last few years. We’ll go out on a limb and predict that we’re going to see another one this year.

On occasion (1-4/year)

Air Canada Aeroplan (2-3x/year)

Historically, Amex has offered a small transfer bonus (10% to 20%) to Aeroplan about once per year, but we haven’t seen that happen since 2022. Instead, it’s primarily been from Chase Ultimate Rewards and through hotel programs.

When will we see the next bonus? Chase has done an end-of-the-year Aeroplan bonus each of the last three years, which makes us think that we’ll see one coming up in the next six weeks or so.

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (~1-2/year)

We haven’t seen anything higher than a 20% bonus to Cathay Pacific since 2018. Lately, it’s been primarily 10-15%…and we haven’t seen any this year. The previous two years, we’ve also seen Cathay run bonuses from four different programs at the same time, along with another mid-year promo with Citi.

When will we see the next bonus?  We haven’t yet seen Asia Miles do its usual multi-partner jamboree of transfer bonuses this year. In 2024, it happened at the end of the year in December; hopefully, we’ll see that again this year.

Slower than molasses on a winter’s day (less than 1 per year)

AeroMexico

Capital One and Citi transfer 1:1 to Aeromexico. However, that’s usually an unattractive option, even with a transfer bonus, as AeroMexico charges more for its awards than many other programs. Amex Membership Rewards, though, transfers 1,000:1,600 to Aeromexico, and so a transfer bonus from Amex might be interesting.

When will we see the next bonus?  It’s hard to say. We’ve seen two transfer bonuses to Aeromexico during the Spring of the last three years. So, probably next April or May? Luckily, we’re not missing out on much in the meantime.

Qantas

After nothing for a couple of years, we saw one transfer bonus in 2024 and two more in 2025. Hopefully, we’re back to a new normal of at least 1-3 per year.

When will we see the next bonus? Hard to say, but likely next Spring before the Australian winter.

Hotels

Accor Live Limitless (1 per year)

Accor is an interesting program, as points are worth a fixed value of 2 Eurocents each (~2.16 cents at current exchange rates). With that kind of value, transferring from any program would be an awesome deal at 1:1. Unfortunately, Capital One and Citi both transfer at 2:1, while Bilt is slightly better at 3:2. Citi has been running a yearly 50% bonus to Accor, effectively making the transfer worth around 1.5 cents each. That’s not dynamite, but it’s one of the better opportunities if you’re looking to dip your toes in the Live Limitless program.

When will we see the next bonus?  Unless Bilt uses Accor for another Rent Day bonus, we anticipate that the next Accor bonus will be from Citi in the first half of next year.

Hilton Honors (2 or 3 per year)

We’ve seen two or three transfer bonuses each year from Amex to Hilton. In the past, the amount has varied between 25%, 30%, and 40%. In 2025, they were all 25%. Amex’s standard transfer ratio to Hilton is 1000 to 2000, so a 25% bonus bumps that up to 1000 to 2500.

When will we see the next bonus?  Probably early in 2026.

IHG (~1-2 per year)

IHG is a 1:1 transfer partner of both Bilt and Chase, but it’s a terrible idea to use either of them. IHG points are routinely on sale for 0.5 cents each, so you’d get a much better return on your Ultimate Rewards by cashing them out at 1 cent each and then buying the IHG points.

When will we see the next bonus?  Probably early next year, but don’t be tempted.

Marriott Bonvoy (~3 per year)

Recently, we’ve seen 3-4 Marriott transfer bonuses per year, 2 from Chase and 1-2 from Amex. This year, we saw a whopping six, including a hefty 65% bonus from Chase Ultimate Rewards in June.

When will we see the next bonus?  The current 30% bonus from Amex will likely be the last one this year.

Wyndham (~1 per year)

We’ve now seen two years in a row with two 20-25% transfer bonuses from Citi ThankYou Rewards to Wyndham. This can be attractive for those who use Wyndham points for vacation rentals, but much less so now that Wyndham’s partnership with Vacasa is ending.

When we will see the next bonus? Next Summer, same bat time, same bat place.

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