American Express have started to send cardholders a notice of changes coming to their American Express membership rewards cards. Starting October 1st, when you transfer 250 American Express membership rewards points you’ll receive 200 British Airways Avios points. Currently you can transfer 1,000 American Express membership rewards and receive 1,000 British Airways Avios, basically they are decreasing the transfer rate by 20% but they are allowing you to redeem in smaller chunks.
This is a pretty massive devaluation and somewhat perplexing given that American Express offered a transfer bonus of 40% that ran from December 15th, 2014 till January 30th, 2015. I can only imagine that they had to renegotiate their contract and received less than favorable prices on purchased points, no doubt Chase was putting pressure on as well. Below is a history of transfer bonuses American Express has offered for Avios (you can view a full list for all transfer partners by clicking here).
- December 15th, 2014 – January 31st, 2015: 40%
- October 15th – December 31st, 2013: 20%
- April 22nd, 2013 – June 7th, 2013: 35%
- December 3, 2012 – January 14, 2013: 30%
- August 28th, 2012 – September 27th, 2012: 40%
- March 15, 2012 – May 31, 2012: 50%
- March 1, 2012 – March 31, 2012: 50%
- November 28, 2011 – January 31, 2012: 30%
- June 1, 2011 – July 31, 2011: 50%
- February 2, 2011 – March 31, 2011: 40%
- November 2, 2010 – December 31, 2010: 30%
- April 1 – June 30, 2010: 20% (only for Platinum & Centurion cardholders)
My recommendation? Cross your fingers and hope American Express offer another transfer bonus before October 1st, if it gets to late September and they haven’t offered anything then transfer any points you need over. Also keep in mind that Avios are a transfer partner for Chase UR points at a rate of 1:1, Diners Club & SPG points can also be converted to Avios.
A full list of the American Express transfer partners can be viewed below.
| American Express Membership Rewards Transfer Partners | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Airline Partners (1:1 Unless Otherwise Noted) | |||
| Delta SkyMiles | AeroMexico Club Premier (1:1) | Air Canada Aeroplan | KLM/AirFrane Flying Blue |
| Alitalia MilleMiglia Club | ANA | Asia Miles | British Airways Avios |
| Emirates | EL AL Israel Airlines (50:1) | Frontier | Hawaiian Airlines |
| Iberia Plus | jetBlue (1.25:1) | Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | Qantas |
| Virgin atlantic flying club | Etihad | Aer Lingus | Avianca Lifemiles |
| Hotel Partners (1:1 unless otherwise noted) | |||
| Choice Privileges | Hilton Hhonors (1:2) | Marriott (1:1) |
Hat tip to Travel with Grant
If one is still just transferring 1:1 then couldn’t they just transfer to Iberia and then to BA? I don’t see a devaluation on Iberia transfer and it is still one of the transfer partners for MR. Or am I missing something?
Unless you are a Delta flyer, which admittedly is a lot of us, this leaves MR with only a few decent options. It seriously devalues MR for me.
I guess Krismiles and Fly Blue are okay, but they are niche players that are easy to get with TYP.
Aeroplan is meh, I can already get United miles easily. The Avios ‘backdoor’ to AA was useful.
And the opportunities for churnable Amex bonuses are so few!
This reminds me of the Woody Allen Annie Hall line about airplane food “The food is terrible, and the portions are too small.”
IMO this reduces the benefit for people who are focused on churning/MS, but there is still a lot of value to be had from bonuses if you haven’t already taken them. And of course any points you have now will still be valid.
Krisflyer is very, very useful if you like making a few different stops on a trip or you know how to maximize. I actually booked (from NY) a round trip to Cuba, round trip to Hawaii, and one-way to Panama City for under 55K total recently.