Last Day To Convert AMEX Points To Avios With A 40% Bonus

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American Express has been offering a 40% bonus on Membership Rewards Points transfers to the British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus and Aer Lingus’ Aer Club since the beginning of August, but today is the last day to take advantage of this offer.

AMEX Membership Rewards points usually transfer over to the various Avios loyalty programs in a ratio of 1,000:1,000 so, until the end of today, the transfer ratio is enhanced to 1,000:1,4000…but is this a good deal?

Should You Transfer Points Across To Avios?

I value Membership Rewards Points at 1.5 cents each while I value Avios at just 1 cent each so, based on that and nothing else, a 40% bonus doesn’t appear to be worth considering…but sometimes the numbers don’t tell the whole story.

There will be times where you can get significantly more value out of Avios than the 1 cent at which I value them (I got over 1.8 cents of value out of each Avios I used for a redemption earlier this year) so, if you have a solid plan for the Avios you’ll generate by converting Membership Rewards points, there’s every chance this could be a bonus worth considering.

Some of the more popular and very short routes within the US (like New York to Washington D.C.) cost just 7,500 Avios + $5.60 in taxes and fees, while the cash rates can sometimes come in at well over $300 one way:

If you can use Avios to book such a flight you would be in a situation where 7,500 Avios would save you approximately $360 (based on the fares above) so you would be getting 4.80 cents of value out of each Avios.

That’s not bad going if you generated each Avios from Membership Rewards points valued at just 1.5 cents each.

More often than not it will be on short-haul routes where you’ll find your best chance to get a lot of value out of your Avios balance so, if you’re planning to use any Avios you create (from this offer) for long-haul redemption, I’d urge you to do the math and work out just how much value you’re actually getting.

Bottom Line

There’s definitely value to be had in transferring Membership Rewards points over to the British Airways Executive Club while there’s a 40% on offer but you should only be doing this when you have a plan for Avios you’ll be generating.

I’ve maintained for a while that we’re overdue an Avios devaluation and nothing that I’ve seen in recent months has changed my mind. If I’m right (it’s going to happen one day!) it will be disappointing if you’re left holding a large number of Avios in your BAEC account because you chose to stockpile for no good reason at all.

By all means generate some Avios from this promotion if the math works in your favor but make sure you use them up sooner rather than later.