I always like you to know about transfer bonuses from flexible currencies to frequent flyer programs. Never because you should (almost) ever speculatively transfer just because of a bonus, but because if you are contemplating a booking on one of these airlines, you want to make sure you transfer in from the one offering the bonus points!
In this article
Chase Ultimate Rewards –> Virgin Atlantic
This bonus is good until May 15th, 2022.
We’ve covered how to spend Virgin Atlantic points ad nauseous on this blog.
The best use of Virgin Atlantic points is a Round trip to Japan on ANA in Business or First Class. Round trip in First is just 110,000 – 120,000 miles, which is absolutely fantastic for more than 24 hours in ANA First Class.
You can also fly to/from continental Europe (but not the UK) for just 50,000 miles each way in business class if Delta has Delta One partner award space.
Using partners KLM or Air France to Europe can still be a decent deal as well, for example New York to Amsterdam on KLM in Business Class for 48,500 Virgin points + $296 in tax. Or New York to Paris for 48,500 points + $315.
You can also mix awards on Virgin + Delta/KLM/Air France.
Citi ThankYou –> Air France Flying Blue
You’ll get 25% more Flying Blue points when you transfer from Citi ThankYou until May 20, 2022.
Flying Blue got a bit better recently with the addition of a 25% discount on awards for kids aged 2-11. While mostly dynamically prices, you can certainly get some great deals to Europe using Flying Blue.
If you get really lucky, you may be able to stack the transfer bonus with a Promo Reward.
Amex Membership Rewards –> Avianca LifeMiles
Until May 31st, you’ll get a slight bump of 15% when transferring your Membership Rewards to Avianca. Transfer bonuses to Avianca must be the most common of all transfer bonuses. They have them seemingly all the time from one partner or another.
There are some major pros and major cons to Lifemiles
The pros are that they don’t tack on fuel surcharges, meaning that you can book a First Class Lufthansa flight without any of Lufthansa’s own surcharges which can top $500 one way and for just 87,000 Lifemiles (versus, for example, 113,000 United miles for the same flight) and 63,000 miles for Business Class.
Cons include how hard it is to make any changes at all once ticketed and that the site sometimes shows phantom award availability.
Especially noteworthy is how abysmal is has been for people to deal with Lifemiles lately. Hours long phone calls (if you can get someone at all), run arounds, months and months for refunds on cancellations, and even service fees deducted from refunds. Trying to make changes may even be worse than cancellations.
I would keep this in mind should you have a Star Alliance flight to book, but I wouldn’t ever advise transferring speculatively.
Most of you by now know what the pros and cons are, so really I’m just advising of this transfer bonus….
Other Notes on Avianca Lifemiles
- LifeMiles Awards – Changes and Cancellations: What You Need to Know (And It’s Bad!)
- Best Uses for Avianca LifeMiles (Analysis Inside)
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card ENDS by NOV 14, 2024: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Plus, get up to $300 in Chase Travel statement credits in the first year of account opening for any purchases made on Chase Travel. How to apply for this offer.
Thoughts?
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New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
