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, Chase, and Capital One 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Express | Aeromexico | 20% | May 31, 2024 | Points transfer 1:1.92 with bonus |
| American Express | Hilton | 40% | May 31, 2024 | Targeted bonus, not available to all cardholders. |
| American Exrpess | Virgin Atlantic | 30% | May 31, 2024 | Read our guide |
| Chase | Marriott | 40% | June 15, 2024 | Read our guide |
| Chase | Virgin Atlantic | 30% | June 15, 2024 | Read our guide |
| Citi | Turkish | 50% | June 15, 2024 | Bonus is credited after the promotion ends |
| Citi | Qatar Avios | 30% | May 31, 2024 | Full details |
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 Amex Transfers to Virgin Atlantic
American Express is currently running a great promotion with Virgin Atlantic, offering a 30% bonus when transferring American Express Membership Rewards points to your Virgin account. This bonus is good until May 31, and is widely available so long as you've got a card that earns Membership Rewards like the *amex gold* or *amex platinum*.
Even after a sudden devaluation to one of our favorite workarounds for bookings Delta flights for fewer points, there are still plenty of great ways to use Virgin points to get to Europe and elsewhere around the globe.
Here's an example of how you can use this transfer bonus to save on a trip to Europe next summer. We recently found wide-open availability from many U.S. cities on Delta nonstop flights booked through Virgin Atlantic. With this bonus, you'd only need to transfer 47,000 Amex points to book flights that would otherwise cost $1,200 or more! And best of all, these flights are Delta main cabin economy tickets, so you can bring a free carry-on and checked bag without paying extra.
Looking to stay closer to home? Delta flights under 500 miles in distance are still only 7,500 Virgin points one-way. Factoring in the current 30% transfer bonus, you can easily take a quick weekend getaway for fewer than 12,000 Amex points roundtrip.
If you're looking to take advantage of this bonus from American Express, it runs through the end of May!
Read more: Save Big on Short Delta Flights by Booking with Virgin Atlantic Instead!
30% Bonus on Chase Transfers to Virgin Atlantic
Chase is currently offering a 30% bonus when transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards to your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club account. If you've been contemplating a transfer, you've got more than a month to capitalize on this bonus – it's set to expire on June 15!
Whether it's short Delta flights within the U.S. or cheap transatlantic tickets to Europe, there are so many great ways to use a big Virgin transfer bonus like this one.
Here's one of our favorites: Again and again and again, we've been unearthing outstanding award availability to use points to book business class on carriers like Air New Zealand. Just a few weeks back we found wide-open award space flying from Houston-Intercontinental (IAH) to Auckland (AKL) this spring, summer, and fall.
And Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is the cheapest way to book these seats … by far.
The airline charges just 62,500 points each way for an Air New Zealand business class redemption between the U.S. and New Zealand. Factor in this 30% transfer bonus, and 48,100 Chase Ultimate Rewards are all you need to book!
Unfortunately, you also can't book these awards online at VirginAtlantic.com – you'll have to call the airline at 1-800-365-9500 and feed an agent the route and dates you want to book. Wait for the airline to confirm your flights are available before transferring your Chase points to Virgin.
Read our full guide to this transfer bonus and all the great ways to use it!
40% Bonus on Chase Transfers to Marriott Bonvoy
Chase is currently offering a 40% transfer bonus when moving Ultimate Rewards points to the Marriott Bonvoy Rewards program. This transfer bonus is live until June 15, so you'll have more than a month to take advantage of it.
It's easy to see a 40% 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 40% 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 17,000 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 40% 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 the cheapest option.
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.
50% Bonus on Citi Transfers to Turkish
Right now, Turkish Airlines is offering a whopping 50% bonus on transfers from Citi to the airline's Miles & Smiles loyalty program. This big bonus could be a great opportunity for anyone looking to get extra value out of their Citi ThankYou points but there are a few “gotchas” to be aware of.
First things first, it's important to note that you won't see this bonus when logged into your Citi ThankYou account: It's processed after the fact on Turkish's end. And more importantly, you won't receive your bonus miles until after the promotion ends on June 15. This means that unless you make a transfer at the tail end of the campaign, it's almost certainly going to be a speculative transfer with no promise of your desired flight still being available to book.
The maximum bonus that you can earn from this promotion is 50,000 bonus miles – meaning a transfer of 100,000 Citi ThankYou points would yield you 150,000 Turkish Miles & Smiles, after the bonus.
So what are Turkish Miles & Smiles good for? After a recent devaluation, Turkish miles won't take you as far as they once did.
But there's still decent value to be had – especially with a big transfer bonus like this. Nonstop business class flights from North America to the airline's hub in Istanbul (IST) can be had for 65,000 miles one way. With this bonus, you'd only need to transfer 44,000 Citi ThankYou points to make it happen – less than what it cost before the price hike.
If you're looking to go beyond Istanbul, it gets more costly though. The most recent devaluation didn't just raise rates, it also moved to charging per segment. This means that while you could previously connect in Istanbul before continuing on to Europe for the same price, that's no longer the case. A one-way business class flight to Europe will now cost a whopping 90,000 Turkish miles – or 60,000 Citi ThankYou points, accounting for the 50% bonus.
For travelers looking to stay closer to home, one of the best sweet spots in the world of travel had long been the ability to use Turkish miles to book domestic United flights for just 15,000 miles roundtrip – including to far-flung (and pricey) destinations like Hawaii and Alaska. That price went up to 20,000 miles roundtrip with the recent devaluation, but it's still a tremendous deal.
If you're looking to take advantage of this big, 50% bonus you've got until June 15, 2024!
30% More Avios on Citi Transfers to Qatar
Right now, you can transfer Citi points to Qatar Airways Privilege Club through the end of May and receive a 30% bonus. You won't see this bonus when you log into your Citi account: It's processed after the fact on Qatar's end.
For example, if you send over 50,000 ThankYou points from your Citi account, Qatar's Privilege Club will separately kick in 15,000 more Avios – bringing your grand total to 65,000 Avios. There's one problem with this transfer bonus though: Qatar says that all bonus Avios will be reflected in your Privilege Club account by June 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 taking advantage of this transfer bonus.
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 54,000 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.
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.