Understanding Transfer Bonuses

Did you know that banks have transfer bonuses a few times a year? These are super important to look out for because you can get fantastic redemptions when they happen.

What is a transfer bonus?
When banks offer an “extra” bonus for transferring points to a specific travel partner.

How do I know when there is one?
When you login to your credit card account and go into the “transfer points”/”transfer to travel partners” section, you’ll see it. Here are a couple examples from past bonuses…

**This picture is NOT current, therefore these are NOT current transfer bonuses, it’s just used to show the example. Transfer bonuses are constantly changing**

So.. how does this work?
Let’s say you need 48,500 points to book a flight on Virgin Atlantic. If you transfer points to Virgin Atlantic during a 30% transfer bonus offer, you’ll only need to transfer 37,308 points. This saves you OVER 11,000 points!

A simple equation to figure out the discount:
If the ticket is 48,500 points needed. And you have a 30% transfer bonus, you’ll use this equation:
48500 divided by 1.3 = 37,308 miles needed
If this ticket is 65,000 points needed. And you have a 25% transfer bonus, you’ll use this equation:
65000 divided by 1.25 = 52,000 miles needed

A few things to keep in mind

You can’t really “time” bonus transfers. However, they often happen on the 1st of the month or the 15th.
It is normally recommended not to speculatively transfer points even though there’s a good bonus. The reason is because once you transfer them, it’s permanent. They become airline miles and you can’t undo it if you see a better flight deal elsewhere.
Some airlines seem to get more bonuses than others (Flying Blue & Virgin) but I’ve seen & used them for Aeroplan and British Airways too!
Sometimes there are transfer bonuses to hotels. I only recommend these if you need to “top off” points for a reservation. I don’t find these to “usually” be good redemptions.

Questions? Please never hesitate to reach out! You can always find me on instagram or through my site.

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