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American Express is offering a limited-time 40% bonus when transferring Membership Rewards to British Airways Avios (and thus to Aer Lingus, Iberia and Qatar). With the bonus, the transfer rate is 1 MR – 1.4 Avios.
We don’t know many details about this, as the American Express site is super wonky today. Nick was able to find the offer in incognito mode, but none of us can actually get into our accounts to see the details.
Amex appears to be getting back up and running now. There were some initial problems with folks not seeing the bonus listed on actual transfer portal, but I believe that was a site glitch. It’s on the main transfer page and and on the portal for my wife’s account and mine.
With the recent addition of Qatar, however, this could be a nifty win. BA recently lowered their pricing on Qsuites to/from Doha to 70,000 Avios, meaning 50,000 MR points will get you there. Some Qatar awards are still cheaper through Qatar directly, see Stephen’s post on transferring here. Keep an eye out for Aer Lingus (both their site and via BA). We found a bunch of availability last week on Alaska and United from July through the Summer…worth seeing if something pops up in the near future that’s bookable with Avios.
The Deal
- Transfer American Express Membership Rewards to British Airways Avios and get a 40% bonus (1 MR – 1.4 Avios).
Key Terms
- Minimum transfer is 1,000 Membership Rewards points.
- 1000 Membership Rewards points =
10001400 Avios - Membership Rewards point transfers that result in more than 999,000 Avios will not be accepted.
- Redeem for this exclusive offer from 12:00 a.m. MT on 4/1/2022 to 11:59 p.m. MT on 5/15/2022 to receive 40% additional Avios. Additional Avios will be awarded at the time of transfer.
h/t: (reader jeph36 and Jingxuan)
Best uses
- Business class to Europe from 34K one-way via Iberia. This is probably my favorite Avios redemption and have one booked this year already. Iberia charges as few as 34K miles off-peak for one-way in business class on its own flights from New York, Boston, Chicago, or DC to Madrid during off-peak season. The fuel surcharges are quite reasonable and they also run seasonal promotions (usually during the Winter) where the prices drop down even further.
- Business class South America from 22K one-way via British Airways. I've used this once and availability can be tricky to find. But when you can find it, BA has excellent pricing for shorter distance non-stop American Airlines award flights.
- Long Haul Business Class on Qatar Airways. After Qatar's addition to Avios, BA lowered many of their award prices on Qatar. It's now possible to travel between the United States and Doha in business for only 70,000 Avios with minimal surcharges.
Things to know
- Avios Purchases are processed by Points.com and DO NOT count as airfare.
- Avios can be easily transferred between Aer Lingus, Iberia and British Airways
- Avios expire after 36 months of no activity
- British Airways has near-extortionate fuel surcharges when flying on BA metal. It's best to keep Avios for use with partners or the Iberia Plus
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Hi, Is this just for US accounts as I cannot see this offer for my UK based account? Could someone possibly send me the link to the page please?
I just booked Qatar Atl-Syd for 2 for 240,000(171,000)+ $470 for next March and have First Class on Doh-Syd on A380. First time! Feel this was great redemption at .10/point
How long does it typically take to transfer from AMEX to BA avios? I did a transfer yesterday and it still hasn’t shown in my BA account..
I’m having issues as well.. usually it’s been instant.. I’ve done 5-7 small transfers since yesterday and only two have randomly gone through instantly.
Same here. I did a transfer today and expected it to go through instantly as usual but it hasn’t. Now I’m hoping that the flights I was planning to book will still be available when the points show up. I wish I had checked here first before doing the transfer.
Update: the transfer completed sometime overnight, and the flights were still bookable this morning. Phew!
Finding Iberia availability in J SFO<->MAD is impossible
What’s the best way to take advantage of this from Italy to JFK in October in Business?
If you can find Iberia business class from Spain to JFK and if you can transfer from BA to Iberia (some restrictions requiring activity in both accounts at least 30 or 90 days before) then Iberia is the best bet.
BA will work, but will cost both more in Avios and in flight charges.
(I’m specifying business Spain to JFK because there’s not much difference between economy and business from Italy to Spain and also it’s a much shorter trip.)
So just find a cheap flight from Italy to Madrid? Do you know the lap infant policy with the business flight and approx fees/fuel charges? I was also thinking of flying MXP to JFK on Emirates for 30k, but do you think I’d have a better experience in Iberia business? I’ve only flown Iberia premium economy.
I just did the 30% bonus, and now 40%! well..only did 2000 points. Let’s see an Aeroplan bonus again!
Anyone know if Qatar has more award space available when booking direct than they make available to partners?
I’d like to know as well, also I tried to look at award space availability on Qatar’s website and it doesn’t show you the redemption costs unless you have 50% of the points needed. Is there a way around that limitation?
Work around for this is you can first search the itinerary you are looking for (cash price) then there is an option at top for “Book with Avios”, it will have you login, take you back to cash results, then hit “Book Award” button at top where book with Avios button was, then it will show the award prices. Alternatively, the mobile app doesn’t seem to care, can search awards and see prices with almost no Avios, at least it has for me.
I assume this means we can also transfer these avios from BA to Qatar through the avios program. I’m looking at a flight to Australia or NZ and the Qatar calculator says it is 20,000 points less through Qatar than BA. Does this sound right? Also, unless I’m doing something wrong, Qatar won’t let me search for the actual flight I want unless I have enough avios to book it. Is that right or do you just need some minimum threshold of avios to search award flights on the Qatar site?
Yep! Here’s all the info.
Work around to search on Qatar without enough Avios is you can first search the itinerary you are looking for (cash price) then there is an option at top right for “Book using Avios”, it will have you login, take you back to cash results, then hit “Book an award flight” button at top right where book using Avios button was, then it will show the award prices. Alternatively, the mobile app doesn’t seem to care, can search awards and see prices with almost no Avios, at least it has for me.
The AerClub 40% offer shows up on my main account page. When I go to the transfer points page, both AerClub and BA show the 40% bonus without being incognito.
Ditto, I can see both BA and AerClub bonuses (plus the Bonvoy one mentioned) without Incognito.
Great news! I was just searching for flights on BA for AA or AS flights. If I get the offer, I’ll go ahead and transfer even if I can’t find flights I want right away.
Has anyone else had a hard time booking AA business class with/through BA site because it seems I never find business class availability on BA site.
Yes, that seems to be normal. I just keep checking when I know there’s biz/1st class awards on AA. Sometimes they eventually show up on BA and sometimes they don’t. I’ve never called BA to see if they can be booked that way. Might be worth a try, or maybe someone can weigh in.
Thanks for the update. I got from my AMEX account. And yes, the AMEX website is weird today. Anyway I managed to get to the transfer page with the following info:
1000 Membership Rewards points =
10001400 AviosMembership Rewards point transfers that result in more than 999,000 Avios will not be accepted.
Special Offer: Get 40% more Avios when you transfer Membership Rewards points through 5/15/22. See Special Offer Terms*
I found it in incognito mode and not in regular mode. Additionally, in incognito, there is Bonvoy of 1,000 to 1,250 points and Aer Lingus Aerclub of 1,000 to 1,400 points.
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* Special Offer Terms & Conditions
Terms and Conditions for the Membership Rewards® program apply.
Visit membershiprewards.com/terms for more information. Participating partners and available rewards are subject to change without notice.
The value of Membership Rewards points varies according to how you choose to use them. To learn more, go to http://www.membershiprewards.com/pointsinfo.
You must be enrolled in British Airways Executive Club in order to participate in this offer, visit https://www.britishairways.com/travel/register-now/public/en_gb to enroll. American Express is not responsible for availability of flight, accommodations or any other rewards in the British Airways Executive Club. Once you have transferred Membership Rewards points, they become subject to the Terms and Conditions of the British Airways Executive Club and cannot be transferred back to your Membership Rewards program account. Taxes, fees, charges and surcharges, including airline surcharges, apply on British Airways Executive Club redemption flights and upgrades. See British Airways Executive Club Terms and Conditions for details. Individual air carrier restrictions may apply.
Minimum transfer is 1,000 Membership Rewards points. Redeem for this exclusive offer from 12:00 a.m. MT on 4/1/2022 to 11:59 p.m. MT on 5/15/2022 to receive 40% additional Avios. Additional Avios will be awarded at the time of transfer.