67% Bonus (40% Rebate) on American Express Membership Rewards Transfers to Delta

by The Points Guy on July 25, 2011 · 72 comments

in American Express,Delta

WOW! 50% plus MQMs was pretty good, but those offers have been limited to first time transferees, so the rest of us were stuck with measly 40% bonuses.

Today Amex/Delta announced an interesting 40% rebate (registration required). For every 50,000 Amex points you transfer to Delta, you get 20,000 back.

40% back = 67% bonus

So in essence 100,000 Delta miles = 60,000 Amex points (100,000 – 40,000 in rebates), the trick is that you need to have the increment of 50k in Amex points and pay the excise fee ($60 per 100k transferred, though currently not being charged due to US government budget meltdown). So you get 40,000 extra Skymiles for transferring 60,000 Amex points (after rebate) – basically a 67% bonus when all is said and done.

Under the 40% promotion, you were looking at 100,000 Delta miles = 72,000 Amex points.

In the end, this is a better deal, though I would still rank the 50% bonus and 25,000 MQMs as a better deal (if you are eligible for it). The rebate certificates won’t be sent until 6-8 weeks after the transfer (though it says registration, I think that’s wrong), so you should still weigh this transfer option versus the 50% British Airways bonus that expires August 1, 2011. I wrote a comparison piece on BA vs. Delta here.

If you don’t have any American Express Membership Rewards points, the Platinum Card currently has a 25,000 point bonus ($450 annual fee, but lots of benefits as I listed here), and it may be possible to bump that to 100,000 per the comments on this post. If you’ve been an Amex customer in the past, you should be allowed to advance yourself up to 60,000 points as a Platinum cardholder, free of charge (you just need to earn them back within the next year). Check out this post on maximizing Delta awards – it may take a little effort, but amazing Delta awards can be had at reasonable prices – especially when you factor in these transfer bonuses/rebates!

Promo details:

TRANSFER MEMBERSHIP REWARDS POINTS TO MILES AND GET UP TO 40% POINTS BACK.

Congratulations, you have successfully registered. For every 50,000
Membership Rewards® points you transfer through September 30, 2011, you’ll
be rewarded with a certificate for 20,000 Membership Rewards points–that’s
a 40% bonus back to you.

Bonuses earned with this promotion will be fulfilled in the form of an electronic bonus certificate and will be sent to qualified members by email 6-8 weeks after registration. Be sure you update your profile at delta.com/profile so we have your correct email address on file.

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  • Chananya

    Might be a dump question: If I transfered 160,000. will I still get the rebate for 60,000. Or is it just when done in exact 50,000 increments?

  • John

    I have Amex Points and a Delta Credit Card. If I use the 50% bonus offer, I get 127500 Delta miles for 85000 Amex Points.
    I can then cash it for 1150$ worth Amex Gift Cards thro Delta Mall. Delta Mall has 11000 miles for 100$ gift card (only for Delta Credit Card holders).

    This is better then cashing it thro Amex Membership rewards.

  • Anonymous

    160,000 will get 60,000 in rebates. It doesn’t have to be exact

  • Anonymous

    Correct

  • Josh Berk

    I maybe confused here but hypothetically lets say I have 100,000 MR points to transfer

    Under the 50% bonus + 25,000 MQM’s if I were to transfer the 100,000 points to delta I would end up with 150,000 delta miles

    Under this offer 40% MR back if I were to transfer 100,000 MR points I would have a total of 100,000 delta and 40,000 MR points. How is this a better deal?

  • Josh

    I maybe confused here but hypothetically lets say I have 100,000 MR points to transfer

    Under the 50% bonus + 25,000 MQM’s if I were to transfer the 100,000 points to delta I would end up with 150,000 delta miles

    Under this offer 40% MR back if I were to transfer 100,000 MR points I would have a total of 100,000 delta and 40,000 MR points. How is this a better deal?

  • Anonymous

    I think the 50% and MQMs is better if you are transferring at the 100k+ level. However not everyone is and not everyone is eligible for the 50% bonus.

    That being said, its still a 67% delayed bonus vs an instant 50% bonus

  • Anonymous

    Still dont you end up with more miles with the 50% rather than the 67%.

    For the 40% MR back promo for 50,000 MR you end up with 50,000 Delta and 20,000 MR. Giving a total of roughly 70,000

    With the 50% delta for 50,000 you end up with a total of 75,000.

  • Anonymous

    Think about it on simpler terms
    The rebate gets you 50k Delta miles for a total outlay of 30,000 Amex points. A 20,000 bonus on 30,000 points used = 67% bonus
    30,000 points transferred at a 50% bonus would only equal 45,000 points.

    Both are good, but 67% is better.

  • Anonymous

    Because MR points are worth much more than Delta miles. You can’t treat them as equals in the equation

  • Anonymous

    I think you made a mistake in the second part of your example. In the first part you say the person has 50,000 which he transfers (granted he gets 20,000 back). in the second part only 30,000 which he can transfer. To keep it consistent wouldn’t you have to have the person transfer 50,000 with the 50% equaling 75,000 not 45,000. Thanks so much, dont worry im dropping it after this comment. Sorry for my confusion

  • Anonymous

    No worries! I know this gets tricky.
    Well if person A only used 30,000 Amex points in the equation, why would you let person B use 50,000? I understand person A in the beginning used 50,000, but when all was said and done they used 30,000 Amex points to get 50,000 Delta miles and person B would have used 30,000 Amex for only 45,000 Delta miles.

  • cvoice

    Just transferred 100k MR points with the 50% bonus for a total of 150k delta miles. Still have another 100k MR points sitting in Amex account. Wanted to do the 67% for these 100k points, so registered with delta for this promotion as well. Now I see both promotions in my delta account. Now, this makes me a little worried – will delta honor the 67% promotion since I’ve already done the 50%?

  • Cannh36

    Do Membership Rewards points expire if I cancel my Amex PR card and that’s the only MR points-earning card I have?

  • Asdfasdfasd

    I’m getting a bad feeling that you only get 1 20k cert for each >50K transferred at a time.

    So 50k = 20k and 100k =20k and 150k =20k

    I will fight this if it happens, but that’s the impression I got from amex rep when writing “where’s my cert” online inquiry.

    The rep kept referring to the 20k cert for the 100k transfer… grrrr

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  • Mzmirski

    I have 76000 AMEX points but i will get 20000 delta only since I can only transfer in 50000 increments correct?

  • Btjlajaunie

    i was talking to an AMEX MMR rep yesterday and she said that the bonus back was a maximium of 20k per transfer 50k and over, not 20k per 50k. Could you please clarify?

  • http://twitter.com/DeltaElvisFan Michael Sinn

    I was just advised on Sunday Oct 9th that they are working on getting out the e-mails to everyone.
    They hope to have them done by Oct 14th. Did anyone get an e-mail yet?

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  • LGR58

    I cannot find the sign up page for this promotion unless I am missing something. I don’t get what is shown in the picture above when I click the supplied link, only the terms and conditions page. Can somebody help please? Thanks

  • thepointsguy

    This promo has expired

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