Transferable points programs graded A to F

• Credit Card Welcome Bonuses
• Credit Card Upgrade Bonuses
• Credit Card Category Bonuses
• Credit Card Referrals
• Amex Offers
• Miscellaneous Other

I particularly love that the no-fee Blue Business Plus card offers 2X everywhere on up to $50K spend per year (then 1X), and points earned with the card are fully functional (i.e. they can be transferred to airline and hotel partners).  Amex also has great food-related earnings with the Amex Gold Card, which earns 4X points at US Supermarkets (up to $25K in purchases, then 1X) and 4X at restaurants worldwide.

Amex supports point transfers to Choice Privileges (1 to 1), Marriott (1 to 1), and Hilton (1 to 2).

Unfortunately, none of the supported hotel programs reliably offer better than 1 cent per point value (or half a cent per point value with Hilton), so it’s rare for these transfers to make sense.  That said, Amex frequently offers transfer bonuses to Hilton and Marriott which can make these transfers worthwhile under the right circumstances.

Details about Amex transfer partners can be found here.

Amex is the only program that supports transfers to Delta SkyMiles and Hawaiian Airlines.  Often Delta runs award flash sales that offer very good value, usually for economy flights.  Hawaiian Airlines rarely has good award prices, but it’s good to at least have that option.  Unfortunately, Amex charges a small fee to transfer points to any US based airline.

Via airline partnerships, Membership Rewards points can be transferred to a number of foreign airlines in order to get excellent award prices for flying domestic.  Examples include Avianca LifeMiles or Singapore KrisFlyer miles for flying United; British Airways or Iberia Avios for flying American; Virgin Atlantic or Air France for flying Delta; and Singapore KrisFlyer miles or British Airways Avios for flying Alaska.

Details about Amex transfer partners can be found here.

Amex offers quite a few partners that make it possible to redeem miles for very high value international awards. These include Air Canada Aeroplan, ANA, Avianca, and more. Best of all, Amex frequently offers transfer bonuses that can greatly increase the value of your points.

For details on using miles for luxury flight awards, see our “Best ways to get to…” series.

Amex doesn’t allow point sharing with other people. You can indirectly share points, though: you can transfer your points to another person’s loyalty program as long as that person is an authorized user on one of your Amex Membership Rewards cards.

More details can be found here.

All you need is one Membership Rewards card open in order to keep all of your points intact. Even better, Amex has a couple of no-fee cards that give you full power to transfer points as needed.

Details here.

Capital One doesn’t currently have any U.S. domestic airline transfer partners.

Capital One “miles” can be transferred to a number of foreign airlines in order to get sometimes excellent award prices for flying domestic.  Examples include Turkish, Air Canada, or Avianca LifeMiles for flying United; British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Etihad Guest, or Qantas for flying American; and Air France for flying Delta.

Details about Capital One transfer partners can be found here.

Capital One offers a number of partners that make it possible to redeem miles for very high value international awards. These include Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca, Cathay Pacific, EVA Air, Turkish, Virgin Atlantic, and more.

For details on using miles for luxury flight awards, see our “Best ways to get to…” series.

Capital One lets you share points with anyone, anywhere.  Awesome.

More details can be found here.

With Chase, you can earn Ultimate Rewards points through credit card signup bonuses, spend-category bonuses, friend referrals, and even through bank account and/or mortgage promotions.  Chase consistently has very high signup bonus offers for their cards, especially their business cards.  Plus, they have great category bonuses.  The best may be from the Chase Ink Business Cash card which earns 5X for cell phone, cable, and internet service and 5X at office supply stores, and 2X at gas stations and restaurants.  Office supply stores such as Staples, Office Depot, and OfficeMax sell gift cards for other merchants, as well as bank gift cards. By purchasing gift cards from these stores, you can earn 5X rewards in far more categories of spend.

One downside to Chase’s program is the fact that they won’t approve new credit card applications if you’ve signed up for 5 or more cards (with any bank) in the past 24 months.

Another downside is that, unlike Amex, Capital one, and Citi, they don’t have a 2X everywhere option.

Chase has very good coverage of domestic airlines. They support 1 to 1 transfers to United, Southwest, and JetBlue.

Additionally, via airline partnerships, Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to a number of foreign airlines in order to get excellent award prices for flying domestic.  Examples include Singapore KrisFlyer miles for flying United; British Airways or Iberia Avios for flying American; Virgin Atlantic or Air France for flying Delta; and Singapore KrisFlyer miles or British Airways Avios for flying Alaska.

Details about Chase transfer partners can be found here.

Chase has fewer foreign airline partners than the other programs, and they’re missing some of the best options for booking international business or first class awards.  That said, the addition of Air Canada Aeroplan was a big step in the right direction and so I moved this score up from C to B.

For details on using miles for luxury flight awards, see our “Best ways to get to…” series.

Chase allows you to share points, but only with a person in your household.

More details can be found here.

Citi’s biggest downfall in this category is that they don’t offer many signup bonuses.  Plus, if you sign up for one Citi ThankYou card, you have to wait 24 months after receiving the welcome bonus before you can qualify for another one.  On the other hand, their cards offer fantastic earnings on spend. The fee-free Citi Double Cash Card offers 2 ThankYou points per dollar on all spend, and the fee-free Custom Cash card offers 5x on the category you spend most within a billing cycle (on up to $500 spend).  Plus, the Citi Premier Card offers 3X at grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, air travel, hotels, and travel agencies.

Additionally, Citi makes it possible to earn points when redeeming points!  With the Rewards+ card, you will automatically get 10% of your reward points back (up to 10K points per year) when redeeming ThankYou points from the Rewards+ card or from any card who’s ThankYou account has been combined with your Rewards+ card.

For more, see: Citi’s awesome trio: Double Cash, Premier, Rewards+.

Citi frequently offers targeted spend bonuses and, even better, will often offer great retention bonuses if you simply call and ask.

JetBlue is Citi’s only US-based airline transfer partner.

Additionally, via airline partnerships, ThankYou Rewards points can be transferred to a number of foreign airlines in order to get excellent award prices for flying domestic.  Examples include Turkish or Avianca miles for flying United; Cathay Pacific for flying American; Virgin Atlantic or Air France for flying Delta; and Singapore KrisFlyer miles for flying Alaska.

Details about Citi transfer partners can be found here.

Citi offers quite a few partners that make it possible to redeem miles for very high value international awards. These include Avianca, Etihad, EVA Air, Turkish, Virgin Atlantic and more.

For details on using miles for luxury flight awards, see our “Best ways to get to…” series.

Like Capital One, Citi lets you share points with anyone, anywhere.  That’s great.  Unfortunately, shared points expire after 90 days, so don’t transfer until you have a plan for how to use the points.  Also, Citi has a 100K per year sharing limit.

More details can be found here.

With Citi, if you cancel a card you’ll lose all associated points even if you had pooled together your points with a card you still have open.  This is extremely confusing and counter-intuitive.  Instead, the only good way to keep points alive when you want to avoid an annual fee is to downgrade to a no-fee ThankYou card such as the Rewards+ Card.  Note: Downgrading to the Citi Double Cash will not keep your points alive.

Details here.

Brex’s only US transfer partner is JetBlue.

Via airline partnerships, Brex points can be transferred to a number of foreign airlines in order to get sometimes excellent award prices for flying domestic.  Examples include Avianca LifeMiles for flying United; Cathay Pacific for flying American; Air France for flying Delta; and Singapore KrisFlyer miles for flying Alaska.