American Express just advised me that the 50% BA transfer bonus is back for American Express Cardmembers that participate in the Membership Rewards program. This is one of the offers I look forward to (just like the RBC Avion 50% bonus that should be coming soon again) especially since the base transfer rate was increased to 1:1. What does this mean? Well you can redeem for my too often mentioned YYZ-NYC roundtrip flight for only 6,000 Membership Rewards points
as that flight can be had for 9,000 Avios* (or $3,000 in spending on the
Amex Gold Rewards Card), I believe no other card can match that little of spending for that flight! Or you can get business class to Europe from Toronto for 65,334 Membership Rewards Points but you will have to tack on BA's large fuel surcharges, but once again if all that spend came from the Gold Rewards Card (as little as $32,667) spending $600-$900 in fuel surcharges is way better than spending thousands of dollars more on another card to reach a business class reward flight level. Remember people its all about the EARN (or what you spend to get the miles) and the BURN, not just one of those two! Too many blogs focus on one or the other but not both combined. Anyway enough of that, here are the details of the offer as provided by Amex:
50% more Avios!
From March 1 to 31, 2013, 1,000 Membership Rewards® points = 1,000 1,500 Avios.
For more details or to transfer visit
membershiprewards.ca
* Updated this post for greater clarification
Legal Terms and Conditions:
From March 1 to March 31, 2013, when you transfer Membership Rewards points to Avios you will receive 50% more Avios points on the total number of Membership Rewards points transferred. For example, if you transfer 1500 MR points to Avios, you will be credited a total of 2250 Avios points. Please allow up to 5 working days to receive Avios points in your British Airways Executive Club Account. British Airways is responsible for fulfillment of this offer. Membership Rewards point transfers must be made in increments of 100 points with a minimum transfer requirement of 1,000 points for each transfer. 1,000 Membership Rewards points = 1,000 Avios points. Avios are subject to British Airways Executive Club terms and conditions.
Thanks for the heads up, it's on FlyerTalk too and now I'm debating how much MR to transfer
ReplyDeleteMaybe for a CX Business award from YYZ to Asia (110K Avios R.T.? as it shall be cheaper than Aeroplan J + YQ
That's a great redemption choice. I am also debating on a transfer, just need to figure if I have enough for wherever my family of four wants to go.
DeleteSorry I forgot to mention that CX Business Awards from YYZ-HKG is 140,000 Avios.
DeleteSo, let me get this straight...
ReplyDeleteI recently got the American Express® Business Gold Rewards Card. I'm working on the $3,000 minimum spend to earn 25,000 bonus Mileage Rewards. That'll give me 28,000 Mileage Rewards. So, I could transfer that to become 42,000 Avios points. I could use that for SEVEN round trip flights YYZ to NYC?! Really??!
- jerry305
No 42,000 membership rewards points will get you 7 round trips (6,000 MR = 9,000 Avios). For 42,000 Avios you could get 4 round trips which is still a great deal!
DeleteHi Jerry I updated the post for great clarification explaining the the 6,000 MR points will get 9,000 Avios which is the amount for the round-trip YYZ-NYC flight.
DeleteOh. Oops. You're right, that's still a pretty fantastic deal. Thanks.
Delete- jerry305
Even for Canadians, one of the best uses of Avios is for short-haul American Airlines flights. You don't have to transfer a large number of MR points to get AA flights.
ReplyDeleteI have 400K MR points. Is it worth moving all of it or worth spreading around to other FF programs (waiting for Aeroplan promo)? My main concern is if any major changes to Avios my points will get de-valued.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe we will see a devaluation for awhile with Avios as it hasn't been too long since they changed the whole program.
DeleteAs to redeeming all of it I would decide what award tickets you think you may want from Avios in the near future and only convert the amount you need to get the awards.
Generally it is safer to keep the points in MR for flexibility because once you transfer you can't transfer back.
I am trying fo find where you can use Avios to book a flight from Deroit DTW to Tampa or Orlando. The BA site won't do it and I can't find where on the AA site. I'm no dummy, but this whole process seems confusing as I am getting different error messages.
ReplyDeleteThis does seem like a great promo and we do many US short haul and medium haul flights.
Anyone have a direct link to this or something I can do. I understand if a can get the flight under 1150 miles it uses less Avios. Tampa and Orlando are right close to that amount.
Thanks, Jay.
For DTW to Florida you may have to call into BA to see if they can do the redemption. You can't do it on the AA site as that is only for AAdvantage members.
DeleteWorks for me when I go to the executive club site and login ( need an executive club number to collect avios) just like going to aeroplan instead of Air Canada.
ReplyDeleteJust signed in the executive club site, and I get same message, "We are unable to find seats for your journey". Now, I have the AA site open and there are flight available for 12.5 K each way under mile SAAver. I probably have to phone them. Example is DTW to TPA April 11 to 18. I notice different point costs as well, which is an AA thing. If it is as easy as the BA chart for Avios ie. 1150 miles or less is 7500 Avios one way, then I'm all about the Avios, but bottom line seems to be I have to phone them.
ReplyDeleteJay.