I’m a HUGE fan of American Express’ rewards program, Membership Rewards (MR) for a couple of reasons. MRs can be transferred to the following programs:
- Air Canada Aeroplan at a 1 to 1 ratio
- British Airways Avios at a 1 to 1 ratio
- Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles at a 1 to 0.75 a ratio
- Alitalia’s MilleMiglia Miles at a 1 to a 0.75 ratio
- Delta’s Skymiles at a 1 to 0.75 ratio
- Etihad Guest Miles at a 1 to 0.75 ratio
The most prevalent program for Canadians is of course Aeroplan points but the beauty of MR points is that you now have the option of transferring to a multitude of partners.
Now most of the points I earn are through credit card sign ups and credit card spend so if you are going to earn 1 point per dollar spent, why wouldn’t you earn in a currency that provides you with more flexibility.
If you earn in MR, you then can look for flight availability across 6 different program rather than be stuck in just one program. This gives you immense flexibility which is why I value MRs at a higher rate than almost any airline program out there.
How Long Does It Take?
Let’s say you find availability for a reward flight you want to take. That’s great but it does you no good if you can’t convert your MR points to the program in which you found availability. According to the Aeroplan website, transfer times depend on the program. I will list them below from fastest to slowest:
- Air Canada Aeroplan – up to 30 minutes
- Delta Skymiles – up to 30 minutes
- Etihad Guest – up to 3 business days
- British Airways Avios – up to 5 business days
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles – up to 5 business days
- Alitalia MilleMiglia – up to 5 business days
As you can see, transfer times vary quite dramatically depending on the program.
In today’s topic, we are focusing in on transferring MRs to Aeroplan.
How Long Does It ACTUALLY Take?
Well, I’ve taken the liberty of transferring some points and capturing it on a screencast for you to see how long it takes in practice.
