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Hello from Singapore! I’m currently on a little trip around Asia and needed to move some points around. When I opened up my Amex account this afternoon, I discovered a 40% transfer bonus to Avios ( BA, Aer Lingus, and Iberia). Specifically, mine says that the offer will be ongoing until October 1st, 2019.
Personally, I find the most value in short haul flights either in economy, or regionally within Asia on the likes of Cathay or Japan Airlines, to be the most valuable. Keep in mind that BA doesn’t allow Zone 1 redemptions in the USA and they price in at Zone 2. Here’s the redemptions I tend to use most often:
- Zone 1 ( 1-650 Miles )
- Economy: 6k
- Premium Economy: 9k
- Business: 12,500
- First: 24,000
- Zone 2 ( 651 – 1150) )
- Economy: 9k
- Premium Economy: 12,500
- Business: 16,500
- First: 33k
This means you could fly in Cathay’s Biz, like this A350 below, for just 16,500 on the flight between Hong Kong and Bangkok ( 1050 miles ). That’s just 12k points with this transfer bonus.
Another incredible sweet spot is roundtrip on Iberia, which I did last year, in business class from ORD and the East Coast for just 68k miles. That’s 49k when you factor in the transfer bonus. Yes, 49k ROUNDTRIP in business class on Iberia’s all aisle access, business. That’s just ridiculous. Read our review here.
If you’re short on American Express points, or looking to optimize or expand your wallet, check out the the 5 American Express Cards that I keep, and links to their current offers. We explain why we have them, and the roll they play in keeping us flying high and flat.
- American Express Platinum
- American Express Gold
- American Express Business Platinum
- American Express Blue Business
- American Express Blue Business Plus
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Points Boost
- each account anniversary you’ll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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