Amex offering targeted 10%-20% bonus when transferring points to Aeroplan
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
American Express has launched a new transfer bonus for those with Membership Rewards-earning cards. The targeted deal offers a 10% to 20% bonus when transferring Amex Membership Rewards points to Aeroplan, Air Canada's rewards program. There's no specified end date for this deal, and Amex points usually appear instantly in your Aeroplan account after a transfer has been initiated.
Normally you can transfer Amex points to Aeroplan at a 1000:1000, or 1:1 ratio, but with this deal, you'll earn either 1,100 or 1,200 Aeroplan miles for every 1,000 Amex points you move. Note that this offer is targeted, so it may not appear in your account. TPG Points & Miles Reporter Carissa Rawson received the offer for 20% (along with the previously existing 40% British Airways Avios transfer bonus), but others may only be targeted for 10%.
Aeroplan miles are one of the more useful mileage currencies in the Star Alliance. You can book flights on partner carriers in premium cabins at great rates, especially to Europe, though in many cases you will have to pay fuel surcharges. However, it only takes 55,000 miles for a one-way business-class award to Western Europe — that means you'd only need to transfer 50,000 Amex points with the 10% transfer bonus, or 46,000 with the 20% bonus.
Related: How to maximize Aeroplan miles
That means you could be flying in United's new Polaris business class for as few as 46,000 miles, and when redeeming miles for United awards, Aeroplan doesn't add significant surcharges.
On the other hand, if you're willing to shell out some serious cash for the surcharges, you can fly Lufthansa first class for 70,000 Aeroplan miles, or just 59,000 miles with the 20% Amex transfer bonus. In either case, you'll pay about $780 in surcharges for one direction.
So check your Amex account to see if you've been targeted for this transfer bonus, and if you've been missed this time, don't fret, as Amex consistently runs transfer promotions with its airline partners. In this year alone, we've seen transfer bonuses for Cathay Pacific's Asia Miles, Avianca, JetBlue, Air France-KLM's Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic, Aeromexico and, most recently, Hawaiian Airlines. And as noted above, right now you can transfer Amex points to British Airways, Iberia or Aer Lingus Avios and earn an impressive 40% bonus in the process — that promotion ends on Oct. 1, 2019.
Don't have any Amex points? You can earn Membership Rewards points with a wide variety of American Express cards, including:
- The Platinum Card® from American Express— Earn 100,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Terms apply.
- American Express® Gold Card — Earn a 60,000-point welcome bonus after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first six months of account opening. Terms apply.
- The Business Platinum Card® from American Express — Earn 120,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Platinum Card within the first three months of card membership. Terms apply.
Additional reporting by Carissa Rawson
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