Chase Is Offering A 30% Bonus For Points Transfers To British Airways

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In a move that we haven’t seen before, Chase has just introduced a 30% bonus for Ultimate Rewards Point transfers across to the British Airways Executive Club.

Historically Chase hasn’t offered transfer bonuses to any of its Ultimate Rewards partners so this is a significant moment in the history of transferable points and, with a bit of luck, it may signal the start of Chase offering transfer bonuses to other partners too.

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The current transfer bonus to British Airways runs through to 16 June 2019 so there’s no immediate rush to transfer points across….and that’s probably just as well as there are a few things you’ll need to bear in mind and consider before deciding to transfer points across.

  • British Airways adds high surcharges to awards booked on its own aircraft as well as the aircraft of many of its partners so just because you see awards available doesn’t meant that you’re getting a great deal.
  • Avios can be transferred out of the British Airways Executive Club into Iberia Plus and Aer Lingus (as long as your accounts have been open for a minimum of 90 days and have seen some activity) and Iberia and Aer Lingus can often offer better redemption options than BA.
  • Some of the better Avios redemption options are on short-haul routes which attract low taxes and surcharges – don’t assume that long-haul premium cabin bookings are the best way to go.
  • Don’t transfer points across to the BAEC without a solid plan for how you’re going to use them because (a) you may realise that the transfer wasn’t such a good idea and (b) we haven’t had an Avios devaluation in a while so you never know when the next one will hit.

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Be Careful & Don’t Rush In

While transfer bonuses are always nice to see it’s important to keep them in perspective.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are a versatile and valuable currency and Avios are neither of those two things so you should be very sure about the value you’ll be getting from any Avios you generate from this offer before you decide to cash out some Ultimate Rewards Points.

Personally I value Avios at around 1.0 cent each while I value Ultimate Rewards Points (UR) at 1.5 cents each so I would have to be able to see an opportunity to book an Avios award (or multiple Avios awards) which offer(s) outsize value before I’d be happy to consider converting UR points to Avios.

It may also be worth pointing out that Iberia is currently running a sale (through tomorrow, 24 April) in which it’s selling Avios at 1.4 cents each so, for some people (those who have other uses for their UR balance), that may offer a better way of topping off an Avios account.

Bottom Line

It’s fantastic to finally see Chase offering a transfer bonus to one of its partners and let’s hope this is the start of more such bonuses to come (I’d love a transfer bonus to Hyatt).

a 30% bonus for transfers to the British Airways Executive Club is a pretty nice deal but it’s not a deal that everyone should be jumping on – I strongly advise everyone to be very sure of the value they’ll be getting out of the Avios they generate before committing to a transfer.

Here’s a link to a post showing how to enact a Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer to airlines.

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