American Express is just about getting ready for the holiday season at the moment. In this, they partner with all the major hotel chains. Earlier in the year, they partnered with Hyatt and Hilton Hotels for offering statement credits. They also ran Hilton and Marriott Transfer bonuses of 50% recently. Now, American Express is offering 25% statement credits on Marriott stays in select countries. This new promotion is showing up in the Amex Offers in your personal Amex website, and you need to log in to see the details and if you have been targeted.

After the fabulous transfer bonuses with Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy, American Express now is offering a 25% bonus with British Airways Avios. The promotion, which kicked off a few days ago, is offering a straight 25% bonus on transferring your Membership Rewards points to British Airways, with the points being received in your BA Executive Club account by December 31, 2019.

The normal transfer ratio between American Express Membership Rewards points and BA Avios points is 2 MR = 1 Avios, so for this promotion, you get 1.25 Avios with your Membership Rewards transfer.

The following cards offer the ability to transfer points to Marriott Bonvoy:

• Personal Cards
  • The American Express Centurion Card
  • The American Express Platinum Card
  • American Express Gold Card
  • American Express Platinum Reserve Credit Card
  • The American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card
  • The American Express Gold Credit Card
  • The American Express Membership Reward Credit Card
• Corporate Cards
  • The American Express Gold Corporate Card
  • The American Express Green Corporate Card
  • The American Express Platinum Corporate Card

How to transfer Membership Rewards to British Airways Avios?

You would first need to register your BA Executive Club Account with Membership Rewards before you make the transfer go through. You will get an email back from American Express stating that your BA account has been successfully registered. This could take a day or two. If you already have made a transfer in the past, you don’t have to add your number again.

Amex to BA Avios Bonus Terms & Conditions

Membership Rewards point transfers must be made in increments of 600 points with a minimum transfer requirement of 1,200 points for each transfer. At the regular redemption rate, 1000 Membership Rewards points = 500 Avios. From 12:00:00 am IST on November 1, 2019, until 11:59:59 pm December 31, 2019, when you transfer Membership Rewards points to Avios you will receive 25% more Avios on the total number of Membership Rewards points transferred. For example, if you transfer 1,000 Membership Rewards points to Avios, you will be credited a total of 625 Avios. Please allow up to 10 business days to receive Bonus Avios to your British Airways Executive Club Account. A maximum of 900,000 Membership Rewards Points per account can be transferred per calendar year (January to December). The points can be transferred to the Basic CMs Avios account only and cannot be transferred to someone else.

Should you transfer?

Avios are some pretty valuable currency if you’re based where I am. The whole gamut of oneworld partners can be booked using Avios. For instance, I’ve used 37,500 Avios per head to book a business class ticket between Hong Kong to Mumbai.

In 2015, during my #redcarpettrip, I used Avios for a short-haul redemption between Washington DC and New York at only 4,500 Avios in Economy (since changed to 7,500). Even with 7,500 Avios, I redeemed them while being in the USA for trips between New York and Washington DC, and 4,500 Avios between Dublin & London per head.

And of course, I redeemed a 100K Avios per head for a trip in British Airways’ 787-9 between London and Mumbai on First Class on the trip to London and Dublin this year. The APD did pinch, but it was still a deal as compared to paying full price.

Should you transfer?

There are so many partner airlines that BA deals with, such as Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Alaska Air, American Airlines and so on, that it is a very good offer in my view. I would even be transferring some points speculatively, even though I already have a six-figure balance in my Avios kitty right now with all the flying I’ve been doing on British Airways recently. Also, clubbed with the current 50% off on Avios Redemptions, this is a double-dipping sort of promotion.

How to generate Membership Reward points?

American Express has been offering some generous promotions recently, which you can benefit from if you want more Membership Rewards Points.

• American Express Membership Rewards Card is currently being offered free, which gets you 4,000 Membership Rewards for sign up (subject to min. spends), and then for four transactions of INR 1,000 per month, you get another 1,000 Membership Rewards points.
• If you want a large boatload of Amex Membership Rewards points, here is a special offer getting you 110,000 Membership Rewards points on signing up for the American Express Platinum Card. 

Bottomline

While your mileage may vary, I do recommend transferring some points to Avios, since these kinds of big bonuses do not come very often.

What do you make of the Amex Avios Transfer Bonus? Will you be able to use it?