Why bother transferring at all?
The short version
- • Card points (Amex MR, Chase UR, Citi TY, Cap One) move 1:1 into airline programs.
- • A portal booking pays ~1–1.5¢ per point. A good transfer pays 4–8¢.
- • Find the award seat first. Transfer second. Never the other way round.
- • Transfers are one-way and permanent. There is no undo button.
Your card's travel portal will happily take your points at about a penny each. That's the easy option, and it's the reason most people never get the value they were promised.
Transferring means moving those points into an airline's own program and booking an award seat there instead. Same points, different door. A business class seat to Europe might cost $4,000 cash, 400,000 points in a portal, or 60,000 points transferred to the right program.
That gap is the entire hobby. Everything below is just how to find it safely.
The five steps
1. Find the seat first
This is the whole game. Award seats are limited — if you transfer before confirming one exists, your points are stuck in an airline program you didn't want. Award Flight Sweet Spotter shows which awards are live right now and what they should cost.
2. Check who transfers there
Not every currency reaches every program. Amex can't reach United; Chase can't reach Delta. The Transfer Portal is a grid of who goes where.
3. Look for a transfer bonus
Issuers run 20–40% bonuses regularly. A 30% bonus turns 46,000 points into 60,000 miles — the same seat for a third less. Live bonuses show up right in the transfer grid.
4. Transfer only what you need
Move the exact number for that booking, not a round number. Airline miles devalue; flexible card points don't. Leftovers are stranded.
5. Book immediately
Most transfers land in minutes, some take days. Award seats disappear. Book the moment the miles arrive.
The one mistake that actually costs money
Transferring speculatively.
Someone sees a 40% bonus, moves 100,000 points to an airline “to have them ready”, then finds no seats. Those points are now that airline's miles forever — they can't come back, can't go to another program, and will devalue on the airline's schedule, not yours.
A bonus is only a bonus if you had a booking to make. Otherwise it's a discount on something you didn't want.
Which points transfer
Five currencies do most of the work:
- Amex Membership Rewards — the widest partner list, especially internationally.
- Chase Ultimate Rewards — the only one reaching both United and Hyatt.
- Capital One Miles — broad, and easy to earn on flat-rate spend.
- Citi ThankYou — strong on Turkish and Avios.
- Bilt — earns on rent, reaches both American and Alaska.
There's also Rove Miles, which you earn by booking travel rather than with a card — useful if you can't open one, but a narrower set of partners.
Do this now
- Add your balances — takes two minutes, and every tool gets smarter afterwards.
- Open Award Flight Sweet Spotter — it marks the awards you can already book and names the transfer to make.
- Bookmark the Transfer Portal and check it before every transfer.
Ready to put this to work?
Find an award seat worth transferring forFrequently asked questions
Can I transfer points back if I change my mind?
No. Transfers are one-way and permanent. Once Chase points become United miles they are United miles forever — they cannot return, and they cannot move to another airline. This is why you find the award seat before you transfer, never after.
How long do transfers take?
It varies by program. Many are instant or within an hour; some take one to three business days. Because award seats can vanish while you wait, book the moment the miles land — and never assume a slow partner will be fast this time.
What is a transfer bonus worth?
A 30% bonus means 46,000 card points become 60,000 airline miles — roughly a third off that award. Bonuses run regularly, so if your trip is flexible it is worth waiting for one. But only transfer when you have a seat to book: a bonus on points you cannot use is worth nothing.
Should I transfer points to have them ready?
No. This is the most common expensive mistake. Speculative transfers strand your points in one airline program, where they lose the flexibility that made them valuable and devalue on that airline’s schedule. Keep points flexible until a specific seat is confirmed.
Do all cards transfer 1:1?
Most do, but not all. A few partners use worse ratios — Amex to JetBlue is 5:4, for example — and hotel transfers are often unfavourable. Check the ratio before you move anything; our transfer portal shows the partnerships and any live bonus.