40% Bonus for Transferring American Express Membership Rewards to Avios

American Express and Avios just teamed up to make your Membership Rewards even more rewarding. As confirmed by American Express, all cardholders will receive a 40% bonus when transferring Membership Rewards points to British Airways Avios, Iberia Avios or Aer Lingus Avios.

This means you’ll get 1,400 Avios for each increment of 1,000 Membership Rewards points you transfer. Thanks to an improvement to the transfer ratio in 2017, Membership Rewards points typically transfer at a 1:1 ratio to Avios. Remember, you’ll need to be logged into your American Express account to check if you can utilize the deal.

British Airways Avios is one mileage program that some love to hate. And that’s understandable if you’re just looking at using Avios to fly transatlantic on British Airways flights. The BA fuel surcharges wreck the value for most rewards.

But by taking advantage of the distance-based sweet spots in the Avios redemption program, I’ve gotten more than 12 cents per Avios in value on Iberia premium economy flights and often get more than 6 cents per Avios from short-haul intra-Europe flights. A TPG reader got almost 9 cents per Avios in value on American Airlines flights, while TPG’s Loyalty and Engagement Editor Richard Kerr has scored more than 10 cents of value for flights in the Caribbean.

There are also many ways to snag nonstop American-operated flights using British Airways Avios at lower rates than you’d pay through the AAdvantage program, and the program can also be a great option for short-haul flights from Oneworld hubs. And with an extra 40% Avios, now’s a great time to consider a transfer from Amex Membership Rewards, especially since the Avios should post instantly.

While British Airways Avios are ideal for short nonstop AA-operated flights, Iberia Avios are ideal for when you’re flying round-trip and need to make a connection to get where you’re going. For example, round-trip flights totaling between 1,000 and 2,000 flight miles cost just 17,000 Iberia Avios. Although booking American Airlines awards through Iberia was unavailable for about a month, Iberia has fixed the bug and award bookings are currently available.

If you don’t currently have a card that earns American Express Membership Rewards points but don’t want to miss out on a transfer bonus like this in the future, there are a few great options currently available, each with hefty welcome bonuses:

• The Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you use your new card to make $5,000 in purchases in your first three months (though you may be targeted for a higher bonus using the CardMatch tool; offer subject to change at anytime). Terms Apply.
• American Express® Gold Card: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases on your new card in your first six months of card membership (though you may be targeted for a higher bonus using the CardMatch tool; offer subject to change at anytime) Terms Apply.
• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 85,000 bonus points after you spend $15,000 on qualifying purchases within your first three months of Card Membership. Terms Apply.

This story has been edited to reflect that the bonus is 40%, not a targeted offer of 40% to 50% as originally reported.