American Express just announced a 50% bonus offer when transferring your American Express Membership Reward points to your British Airways Avios account. For those that use their British Airways points often (note: you do not actually need to fly BA for the points to be valuable!), this is a great way to increase your point balance and can get you a good value out of your Membership Rewards points. You can transfer your points here through October 10, 2016.
Unfortunately though, the transfer ratio is no longer 1:1 and instead it is 250:200 (meaning 250 Amex points = 200 BA Avios points). With the promo you are ultimately transferring at a 250:300 ratio. This devaluation took place last October, and this 50% promo is closer to a 20% bonus if you look at the transfer ratio pre-devaluation. You can learn more about this here.
Also, redeeming your British Airways points went through a slight change earlier this year. For the most part, it affected those that like to redeem their points for upgrades and to fly to Europe with a layover (the 2nd segment from London to somewhere else in Europe is now charged as its own separate award). I personally use most of my British Airways Avios points on partner airline American Airlines.
So is this a good promotion? A 50% bonus is a great offer especially when transferring to a very desirable and valuable point currency. This is the highest offer we’ve seen in the past year, so I do not foresee it coming around again too soon.
Will I be transferring my points? I personally have a healthy British Airways point balance and would prefer my American Express points to be a little more flexible.
Should you transfer your points? It really depends on how you like to redeem. Many people get a great value with their British Airways Avios points and sometimes it is a program that is overlooked since it is non a US-based loyalty program. If you are new to the British Airways program, check out this series to see if the program works for you.
- Overview of the British Airways Avio Program
- Earning and Redeeming a British Airways Companion Ticket
- Canceling Flights Booked with Avios
- Creating a Household Account with British Airways
- Top 10 Redemption Opportunities for British Airways Avios Points
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