American Express Membership Rewards Adds Qantas as Its 19th Airline Transfer Partner

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.

American Express Membership Rewards points are already one of the most valuable transferable currencies in TPG valuations due to the wide range of valuable transfer partners. And now, MR points just got a little more valuable with the addition of a new 1:1 airline transfer partner: Qantas.

As discovered Friday morning by Dan’s Deals, the Oneworld airline was added to the list of transfer partners on the Membership Rewards website:

While Membership Rewards typically requires members to transfer points to partners in increments of 1,000 MR points, you can transfer points from Membership Rewards to Qantas in increments of 500 points. That can be especially helpful for when you need to top off your Qantas account for a redemption.

Even better, in TPG testing, the points are transferring immediately from Membership Rewards to Qantas.

This addition makes 22 transfer partners of American Express Membership Rewards -- 19 airline programs and 3 hotel programs. TPG currently values Membership Rewards points at 2 cents apiece, but he doesn't have a valuation of Qantas Points (yet).

This adds a fourth option for accumulating or topping off your Qantas account. Membership Rewards joins Citi ThankYou Points (1:1 ratio, 2-day transfer), Marriott Bonvoy (3:1 ratio, <48-hour transfer time) and Capital One (2:1.5 ratio, 24-hour transfer time).

How to Transfer Miles

As noted above, you can transfer Membership Rewards points to Qantas in increments of 500 points at a 1:1 rate. But first, you’ll need to link your Qantas account to Membership Rewards before you can transfer. I was able to instantly link my accounts.

For the test, I chose the minimum transfer of 500 points:

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When I initiated the transfer, I received the following message:

We are processing your points transfer to Qantas Frequent Flyer. For Qantas, transfers normally occur immediately, but please allow up to 48 hours.

By the time that I logged out of my Qantas loyalty account and logged back in, the points had already posted -- confirming that the transfer was indeed immediate:

How to Earn Membership Rewards Points

If you’re excited about this new transfer partner, there are currently some lucrative ways of earning Membership Rewards points:

• The Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 100,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 on purchases on the Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Plus, earn 10x points on eligible purchases on the Card at restaurants worldwide and when you Shop Small in the U.S., on up to $25,000 in combined purchases, during your first 6 months of Card Membership.
• American Express® Gold Card: 60,000 Membership Rewards points welcome bonus for spending $4,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. Plus earn 4x points at restaurants and at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases; then 1x) and 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com.
• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 120,000 points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of card membership. Additionally, earn 5x points on flights and prepaid hotels on American Express Travel.