Three 40% Membership Rewards Transfer Bonuses: British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus

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American Express is offering a 40% bonus on transfers from Membership Rewards to British Airways through October 1. They’re also offering the same 40% bonus on transfers to Iberia and to Aer Lingus, all of which are owned by the same company. I find that you need to log in to your Membership Rewards account to see the transfer bonuses.


Amex Needs to Fix the Display for the Iberia 40% Transfer Bonus

After Chase renewed its deal to issue the British Airways cred card, American Express reduced its transfer ratio from Membership Rewards to British Airways and to Iberia. Then two years ago one-to-one transfers were restored. They’ve since run 40% transfer bonuses during summer 2017 and 2018.

Well that 40% bonus is back to both British Airways and Iberia. There’s no limit to your taking advantage of this bonus, and the bonus points instantly included in the transfer.

  • British Airways points are best used on short distance awards
  • Iberia is best for transatlantic business class on their own flights (lower points prices, and reduced fuel surcharges)
  • Aer Lingus is mostly useless as a program, unless you’re looking to upgrade Aer Lingus flights
  • Points can be transferred between Avios programs that have had some activity (including points transfers)

Iberia offers great deals on transatlantic business class for fewer miles and very low fuel surcharges.

This offer is available for two whole months, so there’s plenty of time to take advantage of it. And of course Chase points transfer to British Airways and to Iberia also so there’s additional opportunities to top off an account with points from a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card.

I consider this a useful transfer bonus, but would not move over a ton of points because of it without a clear vision for how the points will be used.

(HT: One Mile at a Time)

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Got all these offers PLUS the 30% bonus on the Hilton transfer!

    1000 Membership Rewards points = 2600 Hilton Honors Points

  2. Two other observations regarding the use of these transferred miles:

    (1) I’ve seen availability for BA awards at Iberia’s website that I haven’t seen at BA’s own website.
    (2) If you spend $30K on the BA Visa card and get the 2-for-1 certificate, transfer from Amex is the best way to reach the total number of miles you’ll need for a C or F 2-for-1 award (with those awful fuel surcharges, alas).

  3. “They’ve since run 40% transfer bonuses during summer 2017 and 2018.”

    I also seem to recall a 50% bonus once a few years ago.

    This repeated 1000 MR>1400 Avios offer is pretty much the reason I collect MRs. Can be an amazing deal.

  4. Don’t you have to pay a bunch of taxes when using British Airways miles? Has anything changed?

Comments are closed.