Convert Amex points to Avios with a 30% bonus

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Finally, it’s back. A month later than I expected, American Express has brought back a bonus for conversions to Aer Lingus, British Airways, and Iberia Avios that we last saw launched 13 months ago.

30% bonus for converting to Avios

Transfers between American Express Membership Rewards and Aer Lingus/BA/Iberia are usually instantaneous, but Amex warns that some transfers may take up to 48 hours.

These are the key terms of the offer as viewed for transfers to British Airways (transfers to the other two programs follow the same rules):

• You must be an eligible Membership Rewards Card Member enrolled in the British Airways Executive Club in order to participate in this offer.
• If American Express Rewards Checking and/or American Express Business Checking are your only Membership Rewards® Products, you are not eligible for this offer at this time.
• American Express is not responsible for availability of flight, accommodations or any other rewards in the British Airways Executive Club.
• Once you have transferred Membership Rewards points, they become subject to the Terms and Conditions of the British Airways Executive Club and cannot be transferred back to your Membership Rewards program account.
• Taxes, fees, charges, and surcharges, including airline surcharges, apply on British Airways redemption flights and upgrades.
• Minimum transfer is 1,000 Membership Rewards points.
• Redeem for this exclusive offer from 12:00 a.m. MT on 8/1/2024 to 11:59 p.m. MT on 9/30 to receive 30% additional Avios.
• Additional Avios will be awarded at the time of transfer.
• Generally, transfers are immediate but please allow up to 72 hours for the transfer to be completed.

Full terms and conditions can be found on the Amex Membership Rewards transfer to partners page.

How does this compare to recent Avios transfer bonuses?

The 30% bonus offer that launched today matches the offer we saw published back in July 2023, but it isn’t as good as the 40% offer we saw published in April 2022, so it’s probably safe to say that the days of 40% bonuses for conversions to Avios are behind us (at least until the next event that puts pressure on airlines and fares).

Should you convert to Avios?

Possibly.

I value Membership Rewards points at a conservative 1.5 cents each while I value Avios at just 1 cent each so, based that alone, a 30% bonus isn’t really worth considering.

Sometimes, however, the numbers don’t tell the whole story, and there will be circumstances where you can get significantly more value out of Avios than the 1 cent at which I value them, and that’s where this bonus may come in useful.

Key things to remember

Firstly, Aer Lingus, British Airways, and Iberia may all use Avios as their primary currency, but because they don’t all levy the same surcharges, it’s possible that you’ll find that one program offers you a better deal than the other.

Secondly, Avios can be moved between Aer Lingus, British Airways, and Iberia free of charge (as long as your accounts are deemed to be active), so it doesn’t really matter to which airline you transfer your Avios.

Thirdly, Aer Lingus, British Airways, and Iberia have been joined by Qatar Airways and Finnair as airlines that use Avios as their currency of choice and they both offer different redemption options and attach different surcharges to their awards.

Avios can be moved to/from a Finnair account or Qatar Airways account and British Airways, so any Avios that you generate from an Amex conversion can also be used to book awards directly through Finnair or Qatar Airways.

Short-haul bad news

Short-haul flights have almost always been where I’ve got most value out of the Avios that I use, but thanks to a string of recent devaluations, the number of Avios needed for short-haul bookings on various carriers has now increased significantly.

The shortest flights on American Airlines & Alaska Airlines (up to 650 miles) now require 12,000 Avios for Economy Class (instead of 7,500 Avios), so while these routes once offered a great way to get good value out of Avios (especially when fares were high), now you may well be better off using American Airlines or Alaska Airlines miles on these routes.

Short-haul flights on LATAM were also recently devalued, as were short-haul flights on Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines (JAL), but despite this wave of bad news, there are still ways to get outsize value out of an Avios balance.

Short-haul good news

Generally, I consider Avios as a currency that I use to save me money rather than a currency with which I’m going to book any truly aspirational short-haul awards, and if you look at it like that, things look a lot brighter.

Within Europe, for example, some routes can be stunningly expensive to book (especially when schools are out) and because British Airways limits the taxes & fees charged for Avios bookings on these routes, they can offer great value for Avios holders.

Let’s say, for example, that I’d like to fly between London and Cyprus with British Airways next spring, I could find myself being asked to up to £696 for a hand baggage only fare or £763 for a standard fare (a ludicrous price for an intra-Europe route).

Using Avios, however, I can book the exact same flights for 21,500 Avios + £35 in taxes/fees/surcharges.

Even without the transfer bonus I would be getting at least 3.9 cents of value out of each Membership Reward points or Avios I used to book this flight.

With the 30% bonus however, I would only need to transfer across 17,000 Amex points to make this booking, and that would see me get at least 5.0 cents of value out of each Membership Reward point that I used.

That’s a stunning return.

Yes, that could be viewed as an extreme example, but if you check pricing between London and destinations like the Canary Islands, Greece, and Cyprus during school vacations, you won’t find it too hard to replicate the example above.

Also, good short-haul deals aren’t limited to flights within Europe.

Australia is another country/region in which Avios can be but to great use on some of the shorter flights where pricing for Economy Class starts at just 6,000 Avios + ~US$31.00 and where Business Class flights start from just 12,500 Avios + US$31.36.

Considering a Business Class flight between Sydney and Melbourne can often cost at least AU$549/US$360 …

… without the transfer bonus you can get at least 2.6 cents of value out of each Membership Reward points or Avios used to book this flight.

With the 30% bonus however, you would only need to transfer across 10,000 Amex points to make this booking, and that would see you get at least 3.28 cents of value out of each Membership Reward point that used.

Even someone who values Membership Rewards points at 2.0 cents each would have to concede that this represents a great deal.

The Qatar Airways option

Historically (and with the exception of a few Iberia options), I haven’t ever really considered Avios to be a great currency when it comes to long-haul awards as often, the surcharges that come attached to such awards destroy any potential value.

With Qatar Airways Privilege Club, however, that’s not really the case.

With Qatar Airways charging from just 50,000 Avios (+ ~$110 in taxes/fees) for a one-way Business Class fare between Doha and Hong Kong (for example) …

… someone using this transfer offer would need just 39,000 Membership Rewards points to make that booking.

Also, with Qatar Airways charging from just 75,000 Avios (+ ~$110 in taxes/fees) for a one-way First Class fare between Doha and Hong Kong (for example) …

… someone using this transfer offer would need just 58,000 Membership Rewards points to make that booking.

Given that I value Amex points at 1.5 cents each, the cost of these two bookings (including taxes/fees) could be said to be $695 and $980 respectively.

Most people would probably agree that this is amazing value for a 8+ hour flight in Qatar Airways Business or First Class.

Note: You will require fewer American Airlines Miles and less cash to book these flights through AAdvantage, but as AAdvantage Miles are harder to generate than Membership Rewards points or Avios, this may or may not be important to you.

The Finnair option

Finnair only recently started using Avios as its loyalty currency and when it came onboard, it gave Avios users another low surcharge option on long-haul fares.

For example, a Finnair Business Class awards from anywhere in the US to Helsinki start at just 62,500 Avios + surcharges.

Someone using the current Amex transfer bonus could book either of the awards shown above for just 49,000 Membership Rewards points, so if you value Amex MR points at 1.5 cents each (as I do), you could say that the cost of booking these awards (including taxes/fees) would be $875.50 and $879.10 respectively.

Given the high cost of Business Class fares originating in the US, both could be considered to be very good deals.

Bottom Line

The 30% bonus offer that launched today matches the offer we saw published back in July 2023, but it isn’t as good as the 40% offer we saw published in April 2022, so it’s probably safe to say that the days of 40% bonuses for conversions to Avios are behind us (at least until the next event that puts pressure on airlines and fares).

There can definitely be value in transferring Membership Rewards points over to Avios while there’s a 30% bonus on offer, but you should only be doing this when you have a plan for Avios you’ll be generating.

Nobody should be generating Avios in the hope of using them at some vague point down the line as there’s no knowing what will happen with the currency before the Avios get used (just take a look at the recent short-haul devaluations that we’ve seen).

If, however, you can see an award that you’d like to book and the numbers makes sense, transferring Membership Rewards points to Avios to allow you to book that award could save you a lot of money and net you a great deal.