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Chase surprised the miles and points world in the last week of April when it launched its first ever Ultimate Rewards transfer bonus. Now, almost 8 weeks later, the 30% bonus on transfers to the British Airways Executive Club is about to end.
The current transfer bonus to British Airways runs through to Sunday 16 June 2019 so you have a little under 3 days to make the most of it….but that doesn’t mean you should do anything rash. There are a few things you’ll need to bear in mind and consider before deciding to transfer points across.
- American Express has targeted some of its cardholders for bonuses of between 40% and 50% when they move Membership Rewards Points over to the British Airways Executive Club so, if you’re in the targeted population, that may be a better option for you.
- British Airways adds high surcharges to long-haul awards (for awards booked on its own flight and most awards booked on partner airline flights too) so just because you see that awards available doesn’t mean that they offer a good 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 as that’s generally not the case.
- Don’t transfer points across to the BAEC without a solid plan for how you’re going to use them because (a) you may come to realize that the transfer wasn’t such a good idea (there’s no going back once you’ve enacted a transfer) and (b) we haven’t seen an Avios devaluation for quite some time so you never know when the next one will hit.
Make Sure You Do The Math
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 while Avios is neither of those two things – you should be very sure about the value you’ll be getting from any Avios you generate by transferring UR points to British Airways.
I value Avios at around 1.0 cents each while I value UR Points at 1.5 cents each so you should make sure that you’ll be getting outsized value out of the Avios you generate from any UR Points transfer.
Bottom Line
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 (if you’ve been targeted for an Amex transfer bonus that’s probably the better deal).
If you have a plan for the Avios you generate via this transfer bonus you shouldn’t go too far wrong but make sure you’ve worked out the math and don’t transfer points on a whim – you’ll be much better off with a stockpile of UR Points than you’ll be with a large Avios balance.
Here’s a link to a post showing how to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Chase’s airline partners.
