Got a stash of transferable points but find yourself still shy of that dream getaway? Don't write it off just yet.
Banks like American Express, Capital One, and Chase routinely roll out bonuses when transferring points to a specific airline or hotel partner, meaning you don't have to transfer as many points as you normally need to book an award flight. Think of these transfer bonuses as a way to get free miles.
Just how good of a transfer bonus you'll get will vary from bank to bank and program to program, but you can generally expect to see bonuses in the range of 10% to 40% – sometimes even more. They're typically offered for a limited time, and it can be tough to keep track of them all, especially if you have transferrable points with multiple credit card companies.
Here are all the current transfer bonuses available as of publication, broken down by bank.
| Transfer from | Transfer to | Bonus | Expires | More info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chase | British Airways, Aer Lingus & Iberia Avios | 30% | Oct. 31, 2024 | Full details |
| Chase | Marriott Bonvoy | 50% | Nov. 15, 2024 | |
| Citi | Avianca LifeMiles | 25% | Oct. 19, 2024 | |
| Citi | Etihad Airways | Up to 40% | Oct. 31, 2024 | Tiered-bonus from Etihad's side (full details) |
| Citi | Qatar Avios | Up to 35% | Oct. 31, 2024 | Bonus is on Qatar's side (full details) |
| Citi | The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) | 25% | Oct. 19, 2024 | Points transfer 1,000:250 (with bonus) |
| Marriott | Air Canada Aeroplan | 15% | Oct. 31, 2024 | Points ordinarily transfer 3:1 (read our guide) |
Wondering why you should transfer your points? Read up on how it can help you book flights for less!
Taking advantage of these transfer bonuses can be critical to getting even more value out of your points. But there are a few things you'll want to keep in mind before rushing to transfer your points.
Here's the most important one: These transfers are a one-way street. Once you send the points to an airline partner, you cannot get them back to your Capital One, Chase, or other credit card account. That means you'll generally want to have a redemption in mind (and make sure the flights you want are actually available to book) before transferring your points.
Time and time again, we've seen loyalty programs devalue their points by raising award rates with little to no warning. The best way to safeguard against these sudden devaluations is to keep your points safe (and flexible) in your bank account until you're ready to use them.
Read next: When Does it Make Sense to Speculatively Transfer Your Points?
And keep in mind that you'll still have to pay taxes and fees on when booking an award ticket. For some airlines, those fees are negligible. But others charge much more when booking award flights with points and miles – especially if you're flying business or first class with your miles.
Let's take a closer look at each of the current transfer bonuses and how you might want (or not want) to use them.
See our master list of credit card transfer partners!
30% Bonus on Chase Transfers to Avios
Chase is offering a 30% bonus when moving points to a trio of Avios-using airlines: British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia. This transfer bonus is available through Oct. 31, so you've got all month to take advantage of it.
With this transfer bonus, you can take one of the cheapest ways to fly business class to Europe and make it even cheaper. By flying Spanish flag carrier, Iberia, you can get from one of several U.S. gateways to Madrid (MAD) for just 34,000 Avios plus $130 in taxes and fees one-way – or less than 27,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards when combined with this transfer bonus.
Why not fly like this rather than back in economy when you can do it using fewer points?
Read our full review of Iberia business class!
The key to booking these awards is focusing on off-peak travel dates, from cities like Boston, Washington D.C., New York City, and Chicago to Madrid. Since Iberia has a generous definition of what's considered off-peak, you can find these ultra-low rates for a good majority of the year. Only late June through mid-September and the winter holidays (plus a few more random dates throughout the calendar) will trigger higher peak pricing.
Flying lie-flat to Europe for 27,000 points and $130 in fees is tough, if not impossible, to beat. But there are other options.
Thanks to Qatar Airways' adoption of Avios, the floodgates are open to book Qatar's world-leading Qsuite business class seats using Chase points. Factor in this 30% transfer bonus, and you can do it for fewer points.
Here's the easiest route: You could book a simple nonstop from many cities in the U.S. over to Doha (DOH) for just 70,000 British Airways Avios. Sadly, both Qatar and British Airways recently raised taxes and fees on these business class redemptions. What was once a $100-or-so charge has increased to roughly $235. That's a small price to pay to fly the world's best business class, if you ask us.
Once you find the award availability you want, transfer 54,000 Chase points to your BA account, and book it. Done. It doesn't get much cheaper or easier than that.
But if you want to take it next level and connect elsewhere – Dubai (DXB) or Muscat (MCT) in the Middle East, Cairo (CAI), or maybe even the Maldives (MLE) or Seychelles (SEZ) in Indian Ocean – you'll want to turn to Qatar Airways Avios. Tacking on another another leg to one of these other destinations will only raise the cost to 75,000 or 85,000 Avios … and a few bucks more in taxes and fees.
And even though Chase isn't offering this bonus on transfers to Qatar, you can easily combine your Avios balances between British Airways and Qatar.
Get even more ideas for how to use this bonus by reading our guide!
50% Bonus on Chase Transfers to Marriott Bonvoy
Chase is currently offering a 50% transfer bonus when moving Ultimate Rewards points to the Marriott Bonvoy Rewards program. This transfer bonus is live until Nov. 15, so you've got nearly six weeks to take advantage.
It's easy to see a 50% bonus and get excited but be warned that not all points are created equal – and this is especially true with hotel points like Marriott's. Still, if you have a particular hotel in mind and need to top off your account with a few extra points in order to make it a reality, transferring Ultimate Rewards to Marriott with a 50% bonus is certainly better than the usual 1:1 ratio.
The key to ending up on the right side of this transfer bonus is to always do the math before booking. Since you can redeem points through the Chase Travel portal at a rate of 1.25 cents per point with the *chase sapphire preferred* or 1.5 cents per point with the *chase sapphire reserve*, that should be your baseline for determining the value that you're getting with this transfer bonus.
Looking at a one-night stay in downtown Minneapolis, I see that I can book the Minneapolis Marriott City Center for 23,000 Bonvoy points per night. If I didn't already have any Bonvoy points in my account, I'd need to transfer 16,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards with the current transfer bonus in order to have enough points to book this stay.
Since I have the *chase sapphire preferred*, I could also book this hotel through the Chase Travel Portal and get 1.25 cents per point towards the cost of my stay. In this situation, that would end up costing me a little over 19,000 Ultimate Rewards for the one-night stay. By instead using the current 50% transfer bonus to Marriott, I'm going to be out of pocket fewer points than I would by booking through the travel portal.
But the math changes if I had the *chase sapphire reserve* and got 1.5 cents per point for booking through the Chase Travel portal instead. In that case, I'd be able to book this room for under 16,000 Ultimate Rewards per night, making it a toss-up.
Another thing to consider when deciding how to book is your elite status level – or lack thereof. If you book through the Chase Travel Portal you won't receive any elite benefits, earn points, or get elite-night credits for your stay. To some travelers, this won't matter at all, but to others, it could be a total dealbreaker.
Up to 35% More Avios on Citi Transfers to Qatar
Right now, you can transfer Citi points to Qatar Airways Privilege Club through the end of October and receive a 25% bonus. Plus, earn a bonus of 10,000 Avios for every 100,000 points converted. This means is you transferred 100,000 Citi ThankYou Points to Qatar, you'd end up with 135,000 Avios for a whopping 35% bonus.
Critically, you won't see this bonus when you log into your Citi account: It's processed after the fact on Qatar's end. There's one problem with this transfer bonus though: Qatar says that all bonus Avios will be reflected in your Privilege Club account by Nov. 15, meaning that whatever award you're eyeing may be gone by the time you're able to book. So proceed with caution if you're planning to take advantage of this transfer bonus.
For example, if you send over 50,000 ThankYou points from your Citi account, Qatar's Privilege Club will separately kick in 12,500 more Avios – bringing your grand total to 62,500 Avios.
While not always the case, Qatar Avios have quickly become the best way to book the airline's outstanding Qsuites business class seats due to practically non-existent partner availability. By utilizing this transfer bonus, you'd only need to transfer 56,000 Citi ThankYou points to Qatar to book a one-way ticket from the U.S. all the way to Doha. And trust us … it's worth every single point.
Since you can combine Avios across all the different types of accounts that earn and use them, this bonus can also be useful for those looking to book awards with British Airways or even help you snag cheap Iberia business class seats to Europe.
But if you've got both Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou points, you'd probably be better off taking advantage of Chase's current 30% bonus instead.
25% Bonus on Citi Transfers to Avianca
The Citi transfer bonuses continue with a 25% boost when moving points to Avianca LifeMiles, now through Oct. 19. Unlike the bonus with Qatar Airways, this one is coming directly from Citi – meaning you'll see it when logged into your account.
If you're unfamiliar, LifeMiles is the quirky yet underrated mileage program of South American carrier Avianca. While customer service can be spotty at best and even its IT is hit or miss, you put up with it because few airline programs offer cheaper ways to book flights using miles around the globe – with low cash taxes and fees, too.
This is still true even after the airline devalued awards to Europe and Asia earlier this summer. In fact, some awards actually go cheaper..
While almost every other business class flight across the pond now runs you 70,000 miles each way, you can currently book United Polaris business class from Newark (EWR) to London-Heathrow (LHR) for just 45,000 miles. At 22,500 miles each way, economy is drastically cheaper on that same route, too.
By taking advantage of this 25% transfer bonus, the price drops to just 36,000 miles for that same one way award!
Other Star Alliance business class flights to Europe that typically cost 70,000 miles each way, works out to just 56,000 Citi ThankYou points with this transfer bonus.
Bottom Line
Transfer bonuses can be a great way to get more value from your points and help you realize your dream vacation even sooner. These bonuses are constantly coming and going, so it's important to stay up-to-date on the current promotions before moving your points to ensure you're not leaving any free points on the table.
But it's always best to keep your points flexible until you're ready to book. Due to constant loyalty program devaluations, transferring points without an immediate plan to use them will rarely be a good option.
Hi! This is super helpful, thank you! Quick question – do you simply need to transfer the points from the card to the hotel or airline stated above by the deadline/deal expiration, or do you need to actually travel between the transfer bonus announcement and their expiration date? Thank you!
Hi Amy. You just need to transfer them. No requirement to use them by the expiration date for the transfer bonus.
Thanks for sharing! I didn’t realize my Citi card was ineligible for points transfer until I read “To take advantage of this bonus you’ll first need to have a card that earns transferable ThankYou points like the Citi Premier® Card.” So although I am disappointed to not have flexible use of those ThankYou points, now I know to spend instead on my more flexible cards!
Flying Blue charges as LITTLE as 50k for biz to Europe. Redemptions increase significantly from that amount.
Hi we’ve accumulated a lot of Capital One Venture points over the years. Are they transferable or should I have the Venture X or Amex or other cards instead? Ty!
They are also transferrable – identical, in fact, to the Venture X. Capital One just isn’t quite as generous with transfer bonuses as other banks, which is why you don’t see them in this story. Here’s our guide on Capital One transfer partners.
Please advise when they are any good transfer bonus from Chase!