Transfer Bonuses
Two new transfer bonuses were released today. One is good, but not as good as it used to be and the other probably is to be avoided. Let’s take a look.
Iberia Avios Transfer Bonus
American Express has a new transfer bonus and while it is good and has some value, it isn’t as good as we have seen before. Through 12/15/16 Amex is offering a 50% bonus on transfers from Membership Rewards to the Iberia Avios program. Instead of the normal 1:.8 transfer ratio, with this bonus, transfers are credited at 1:1.2.
How to Transfer Membership Rewards to Iberia
American Express makes transferring Membership Rewards to their partners easy. To transfer your points, simply login to your Membership Rewards account and click on the transfer option under “travel”. You will see all of the transfer partners listed and the Iberia Plus 50% transfer bonus will be automatic. Keep in mind that you will need to link your Iberia Avios account before you can transfer points. The minimum you can transfer is 250 points.
Analysis
While this is a true 50% bonus, it sort of hurts considering there was a time in the not so distant past that you could transfer at a 1:1 ratio without a bonus. Iberia Avios are slightly different than British Airways Avios and each program has a few sweet spots, but they are mostly the same.
Both programs have short haul redemptions at 4,500 Avios and both are distance based. Thankfully if you prefer one or the other, you can transfer points between the programs as long as your accounts have been open for 90 days. Here is a great article that explains transfers between the programs.
Citi ThankYou to Hilton Transfer Bonus
Citi also announced a transfer bonus of their own. Through 2/8/17 transfers from ThankYou to Hilton HHonors will be done at a 1:2 ratio instead of the normal 1:1.5. While doubling your points is sometimes a good thing, I think the value of a Citi ThankYou point is roughly 3-4X a HHonors point. Unless you have a very specific way to use the points or simply need a quick top up, I would avoid doing this.
Conclusion
We can always look to better deals in the good old days, but we must live firmly in the present. While I would love to once again get 1.4-1.5 Avios for my Membership Rewards points, that isn’t feasible. 1.2 points isn’t terrible and if you maximize the sweetspots of either Avios program, then it is actually a very good deal. Oh, and save your ThankYou points.
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We flew on Iberia from ORD to MAD last month is business class. I’d do that again in a heartbeat. And Iberia’s low cost carrier Vueling, were really cheap miles (5,000 Avios + $21) from Granada to Barcelona, but a very nice product. I expected something horrible like RyanAir. Because we booked with miles, we got free checked bags and priority boarding. If we had paid cash, those were extra charges.