Guide to Transferring Points

When looking for deals on points, you always want to check the loyalty program directly (this is especially true if you are looking to redeem for business class flights). That is because, many times, you will find that booking through the airline or hotels loyalty program will cost you many less points than booking through the portal.

(Skip to Section V if you just want to know how to transfer your points)

I. Knowing Which Cards Will Allow You to Transfer

There are two major things you need to understand first:

1. You will need to make sure you have a credit card with points that allow transfers. (Not all of them do). 
2. Not all credit card points transfer to the same airlines and hotels. Because of this, some points are considered much more valuable than others. To get my full chart that shows you which points transfer to which partner airlines and hotels, click HERE.

II. Which Credit Cards Offer Transferrable Points

American Express Membership Rewards (AKA "MR" Points or "MRs")

For American Express cards, as long as the card earns Membership Rewards (also known as MRs), it will allow you to transfer to partner airlines and hotels. 

(If you’re looking for an American Express credit card, check out our Favorite American Express Cards. Just keep in mind, if it is co-branded, meaning has the name of a hotel or airline on it, it will not earn Membership Rewards points that can be transferred, it will earn points directly with that hotel and airline alone. Most people get the best earn out of the American Express Gold Card because of the increased earning rates).

Chase Ultimate Rewards (AKA "URs")

With Chase, you can only transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards (also known as URs) if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or Chase Business Ink Preferred. If you have any card that earns Ultimate Rewards points, you can actually combine the points with your card that allows transfers (EXCEPT for the Chase Business Ink Premier, this is the only card that offers points that can only be used for cash back). So, instead of cashing out the points, you can combine them with the card that allows transfers to help you book that amazing vacation that will very often get you much more value than the cash. 

As a side note, you can also combine Ultimate Rewards points with household members. So, you and your spouse can combine your points to share.

Capital One Miles

Capital One allows transfers from the following cards:

• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
• Capital One Venture One Rewards Credit Card
• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
• Capital One Spark Miles for Business

Citi Thank You Points

Citi has Thank You Points (often referred to as TY points). You are able to transfer your Thank You points if you have at least one of the following cards:

• Citi Strata Premier
• Citi Double Cash Card (limited transfer partners, info in link)

Of note, you can also easily transfer points there from excellent no annual fee complements like the Citi Rewards+ Card, Citi Custom Cash Card, and Citi Double Cash Card.

Bilt Rewards

Bilt currently only offers one credit card and it does allow transfer of its points.

Wells Fargo Rewards

Wells Fargo is new on the scene of transferrable points. They offer two cards that allow you to transfer your points to partner airlines and hotels, the Wells Fargo Autograph Card and Wells Fargo Journey Card. These cards earn “Wells Fargo Rewards.” 

If you own one of these two cards and also have a Wells Fargo card that earns cash rewards, you can convert your cash rewards to earn Wells Fargo Rewards. 

*Note: to easily see which credit card points transfer to which airline and hotel loyalty programs, take a look at my transfer chart HERE

III. Why Do I Want to Transfer?

Credit card portals give you a fixed value for your points. For example, Chase values their Ultimate Rewards points based off of which card you have. If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, your points are worth 1.25 cents per point and if you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve, they are worth 1.5 cents per point. So, Chase will calculate the cost of the flight, then tell you how many points you need by giving you the value of 1.25 cents per point (if you have a Preferred). Whether this is a good deal will vary when looking at economy. Sometimes you can luck out and find good deals in the portal, but sometimes you’ll do better if you go through the airline. If you’re looking to book Business Class, this will often be a huge difference, since many times, international Business class flights start at $3,000+ each way.

With airlines, the points price is not based on the cash price. Its based on their own valuations since  they operate their own points and values. Because of this, you will often find much better deals by looking at the points cost through the airline. I have, personally, booked business class flights between 48,000 points - 90,000 points + taxes and fees many times (for 9+ hour flights) that would normally retail for $3,000 - $5,000.

I do want to make a note about Business Class flights. When many people say they want to fly “first class,” they are often thinking of the big seats that lie flat. And many times, you can get this with Business Class. The reason I recommend Business Class over first class is because they are way less points, but with all the benefits While there are some differences, many airlines offer lie-flat seats and top notch service in their business class cabins. Many airlines don’t even have first class and just offer business class on their flights, so it’s exactly what most people expect when saying they want to fly “first class.”

IV. Making Use of Transfer Bonuses

All of these banks offer transfer bonuses from time to time. That means for a limited time, they will GIVE you extra points just for transferring them to a particular airline or hotel. For example, last year, American Express was offering a 30% Bonus to transfer Membership Rewards to AirFrance/ KLM Flying Blue program. Because KLM often has great deals, I started searching. I found a great deal from the US to Norway for only 56,000 points per person + $250. With the transfer, this meant I only needed to transfer 44,000 points per person! 

While technically I would actually need 43,077 points/ person, you can only transfer your points in 1,000 point increments. So, you cannot transfer 43,077 points, you can transfer 43,000 or 44,000. If you don’t have any points, you’d obviously need to transfer 44,000 since transferring the 43,000 points would leave you short.

If you ever want to do the math to figure this out, you take the number of points that you need and divide it by 1.[first number of bonus]

So, if I needed 100,000 points, and there was a 30% bonus, I would input into my calculator:

100,000 / 1.3 = 76,923

In this example, unless I already had 77 points or more in the account, I would need to round up and transfer 77,000 (because I can only transfer in 1,000 point increments) to get enough points and book that flight.

If you go into the section where you will transfer, you will see any bonus you are eligible for.

V. How Do I Transfer?

Each credit card is different, but as far as I’m aware, all allow you to transfer from your account on a laptop, or on the app. You will need your loyalty account number for the program you want to transfer to. For some of the banks you will need to link your account. Not to worry, this is quick and easy and it’s free to set up loyalty accounts.

Here is step-by-step how to transfer from each bank:

American Express:

On the app: 

1. Log in to your account
2. Click on “Membership” at the bottom
3. Select “Redeem Rewards” under “Membership Rewards Points”
4. Under Travel, you will see “Transfer Points,” select this button
5. This takes you to the page showing all transfer partners and where you can select to transfer

On the Website:

1. After you log in, you will see “Membership Rewards” points on the right just underneath your balance. Click on “Explore Rewards”
2. At the top, in dark blue, you will see options, choose the dropdown “Earn and Redeem”
3. In the dropdown, select “Transfer Points” at the bottom
4. This takes you to the page showing all transfer partners and where you can select to transfer

Find the program you want to transfer to. If you have not already, you will need to link your loyalty account with the program in order to transfer.

Chase:

On the App:

1. Log in to your account, then find a card that allows you to transfer. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve. Then click on that card. 
2. Scroll down to “Benefits and Rewards” where you can click on the “>” and it will take you to the next screen. 
3. You will then see 4 circles below you points balance that says “More” underneath. Click on “More” and a drop down will appear that says “Transfer points to partners.” 
4. Click on the “Transfer points to partners”
5. This takes you to the page showing all transfer partners and where you can select to transfer

On the website:

1. Log in to your account, then find a card that allows you to transfer. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve. Then click on that card.
2. On the right, you will see your points balance with “Redeem >” next to it, click that.
3. At the top, Click on the three dots (all the way to the right)
4. Then select “Travel” > “transfer points to partners”
5. This takes you to the page showing all transfer partners and where you can select to transfer

Find the program you want to transfer to. If you have not already, you will need to link your loyalty account with the program in order to transfer.

Citi: 

On the App:

1. Log in to your account, scroll down to “thankyou from citi” where it shows your points balance. 
2. Click on the “>”. Then you will be taken to a page where there will be blue circles underneath with different options. 
3. Click on the 5th one over titled “Points Transfer”
4. This takes you to the page showing all transfer partners and where you can select to transfer

On the Website:

1. Log in to your account. Scroll down slightly, and on the right, you will see “thank you from Citi” where it shows your points balance. 
2. Click on “View/ Redeem.” You will get to Rewards Details page. 
3. If you scroll down, you will see 4 blue circles. Do not select any of these, select “More ways to redeem” below them. That will take you to a new page. 
4. On the top right of that page, you will see “More Ways to Redeem,” hover over this and you will see “Points Transfer.” 
5. This takes you to the page where you can choose which program to transfer to. 

Capital One:

1. Log in to your account. Under your card balance and recent transactions, you’ll see your points balance, and next to it, you’ll see “View Rewards.” 
2. Click on “View Rewards”
3. Select “Convert Rewards.” 
4. This takes you to the page where you can choose which program to transfer to. 

Bilt Rewards

This is probably the simplest one, you simply log into your account, click on travel at the bottom (in the app) then “transfer” at the top and you will see all the programs you can transfer to.

Wells Fargo

I do not have a Wells Fargo account. From what I’ve read it is fairly simple, you log in, go to “Use Rewards”, and Rewards Points Transfer.

VI. Advice and Words of Warning

DO NOT DO "TEST" TRANSFERS!!

Often times, people are nervous about transferring a ton of points so they will do a "test" transfer of a small amount, then a larger one. The problem is, this is also what hackers do when they're stealing your points! So, if you do this, you are running a big risk of the transfer getting held up in limbo for multiple days! This could cause you to lose out on that trip you're trying to book. Just don't do it. Do the math and transfer it all the first time. Of course, you may make a mistake and could need to transfer more points over, and that should be fine. The larger amount first, then a smaller amount will have a MUCH higher likelihood of going through. (But don't take this as a way of me telling you to transfer a larger amount first, then a smaller amount! Just don't do them absent a mistake).

Set Up Your Loyalty Accounts

The FIRST thing you should be doing is going through all your transfer partners for every points currency that you have and setting up your loyalty accounts. This is because new accounts can result in a delay of points transfers. So, you want it to be ready when you find that great deal. 

This happened to us. We found a great deal on Air Canada. My husband didn’t have a loyalty account, so we quickly set one up. He submitted his transfer, and it got held up for 3 days because the account was new. Lucky for us, the flight was still there, but it easily could have been gone, simply because we didn’t set up a loyalty account sooner! This isn’t everyone’s experience, but why risk it?

Be Aware of Transfer Times/ Delays

While most transfers are immediate, some aren't. Every once in a while, they will take longer depending on the program, or for no reason at all. I haven’t had any issues since the Air Canada debacle (I discussed above) about 3 years ago, but you never know. And if this happens, and the seats are gone, you’re out of luck. Transferring is a one-way street and you can’t transfer your points back. So, they will be stuck with that program, even if you aren’t able to use them. It makes sense to call the airline and make sure the award flight you are seeing actually exists and is not a “phantom flight” that can often occur. (Meaning a points flight is showing that doesn’t actually exist). Some airlines will even hold the flight for you while the points are transferring over.

Always Be Prepared for Worst Case Scenario

If the unfortunate situation of transferring your points over, only to be unable to book, does happen to you, read the expiration policy so you don’t let your points expire. Also remember any “qualifying” activity will usually keep the points from expiring, and this can be as easy as purchasing something through their shopping program. For example, I once bought a song off of itunes for .99 cents through Aer Lingus's shopping site. They then gave me about 5 points for using their shopping portal, thus, keeping my points from expiring (because of the “activity”).

Follow Me on Social Media for More!

If you have not already, please follow me on Instagram @thepointsflygirl and Tiktok @thepointsflygirl (although I am much more active on Instagram) to keep up with tips, specials, bonuses and all things points, miles, and budget travel, and feel free to comment on posts and DM me with any questions. 

Happy Travels!