Jasmin Baron, CEPF

Updated

8 hours ago

Insider's experts choose the best products and services to help make smart decisions with your money (here’s how). In some cases, we receive a commission from our our partners, however, our opinions are our own. Terms apply to offers listed on this page.

American Express Membership Rewards cardholders can transfer points to partners with up to a 40% bonus for a limited time. American Express; Insider

• Amex is offering up to a 30% bonus on Membership Rewards points transfers to 12 travel partners.
• Airline partners include British Airways, Air Canada, and Virgin Atlantic through September 30, 2022.
• Hotel programs include Hilton Honors (through September 30), Marriott Bonvoy, and Choice Privileges through October 31, 2022.
• Read Insider's guide to the best travel rewards credit cards.

One of the best ways to squeeze the most value from your flexible rewards points is by transferring them to airline and hotel partners to book award travel. 

The deal gets even sweeter if there's a bonus that improves the transfer ratio, but these are typically infrequent and rarely apply to more than a handful of partners at a time.

Just like this time last year, American Express Membership Rewards has launched a wide-ranging transfer bonus promotion with a dozen airline and hotel partners. These bonuses vary by partner, and include popular programs like British Airways, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Air Canada Aeroplan, Marriott Bonvoy, and Hilton.

All US cardholders are eligible, but these transfer bonuses are only available for a limited time — most expire at the end of September (exceptions being Marriott and Choice, which end on October 31, 2022). Here's a rundown of all the available partners to help you decide if transferring Amex points with this bonus is worth it for you.

We're focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won't be worth it if you're paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it's important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.

Amex transfer bonus promotion

If you have an American Express card that earns Membership Rewards points, you have access to 20 airline and hotel transfer partners. In most cases, the standard transfer ratio is 1 Amex point to 1 airline mile or hotel point, with a few exceptions.

Amex's new transfer bonus promotion includes nine airline and three hotel programs — and the bonus ranges from 15% to 30%, depending on the partner. Here's the full list:

For airline partners and Hilton, these bonuses are available through September 30, 2022. With Marriott Bonvoy and Choice Privileges, you have until October 31, 2022, to transfer with a bonus.

You'll see the transfer options when you sign in to your American Express account:

The list of bonuses will show up under "Offers" on the transfer partner list in your Amex account. American Express

As with any other Amex Membership Rewards transfer, there's a minimum transfer amount of 1,000 points, and transfers must be in 1,000-point increments (except Qantas, which has a minimum transfer amount of 500 points, and 500-point increments).

Which Amex cards earn Membership Rewards points?

American Express issues personal and small-business cards that earn Membership Rewards points. All US Membership Rewards cards qualify for these transfer bonuses.

Amex Membership Rewards: Personal cards

Amex Membership Rewards: Small-business cards

Should you transfer Amex points with a bonus?

It might be tempting to take advantage of these transfer bonuses to your favorite airline or hotel partner, even if you don't have immediate travel plans. If you know you'll definitely redeem rewards from one of these programs in the future, transferring with a bonus now could save you points on a redemption when you're ready to travel.

Some of these bonuses can make award chart sweet spots even more lucrative. For example, it normally costs 26,000 British Airways Avios points to fly round-trip on Aer Lingus in economy class between the US East Coast and Ireland (already a great price). With the 25% bonus, you'd only need to transfer 21,000 Amex points to British Airways to get the Avios required for this award.

That's a steal for a round-trip flight to Europe. Even better, the same pricing applies to using British Airways Avios points for flights on American Airlines or Alaska Airlines from the US West Coast to Hawaii. 

It's important to remember that once you move Membership Rewards points to a partner program, you can't transfer them back — so don't make a transfer unless you're sure you'll have a use for the points or miles down the road. 

Once you transfer your points, they become subject to the expiration policy of the partner program. Although Amex Membership Rewards points don't expire as long as your account is open and in good standing, many airline and hotel miles or points will expire after a certain time has passed without activity in your account.

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to keep your points and miles from expiring — including transferring points from flexible programs like Amex, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Capital One miles, or Marriott Bonvoy.