Amex Membership Rewards 40% transfer bonus to British Airways and Aer Lingus

Amex Membership Rewards is currently offering a 40% bonus transfer offer to British Airways Executive Club and Aer Lingus AerClub through October 1, 2019.  We have seen a number of transfer bonuses before from Amex to British Airways Avios points, though the promos don't often last as long as 2 months.  A transfer ratio of 1.4:1 is excellent as Avios are one of the best currencies for short-haul travel on Oneworld partners such as American Airlines, Japan Airlines, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, and other partners like Alaska Airlines.



BA uses a distance-based award chart for both BA awards and partner awards.  They unfortunately just underwent a devaluation, but there are still many sweet spots on their award chart, especially with the 40% transfer bonus.

The following is their award chart for travel on British Airways:

Zone // Flight Distance	Economy Off Peak // Peak	Premium Economy Off Peak // Peak	Business Off Peak // Peak	First Off Peak // Peak
Zone 1 1-650 miles* *Not available in North America	4,000 // 4,500	5,750 // 6,750	7,750 // 9,000	15,500 // 18,000
Zone 2 651-1150 miles	6,500 // 7,500	9,500 // 11,250	12,750 // 15,000	25,500 // 30,000
Zone 3 1151-2000 miles	8,500 // 10,000	12,750 // 15,000	17,000 // 20,000	34,000 // 40,000
Zone 4 2001-3000 miles	10,000 // 12,500	20,000 // 25,000	31,250 // 37,500	42,500 // 50,000
Zone 5 3001-4000 miles	13,000 // 20,000	26,000 // 40,000	50,000 // 60,000	68,000 // 80,000
Zone 6 4001-5500 miles	16,250 // 25,000	32,500 // 50,000	62,500 // 75,000	85,000 // 100,000
Zone 7 5501-6500 miles	19,500 // 30,000	39,000 // 60,000	75,000 // 90,000	102,000 // 120,000
Zone 8 6501-7000 miles	22,750 // 35,000	45,500 // 70,000	87,500 // 105,000	119,000 // 140,000
Zone 9 7001+ miles	32,50 // 50,000	65,000 // 100,000	125,000 // 150,000	170,000 // 200,000

And the following is their award chart for travel on Oneworld and partner carriers, including Alaska Airlines:

Zone // Flight Distance	Economy	Premium Economy	Business	First
Zone 1 1-650 miles* *Not available in North America	6,000	9,000	12,500	24,000
Zone 2 651-1150 miles	9,000	12,500	16,500	33,000
Zone 3 1151-2000 miles	11,000	16,500	22,000	44,000
Zone 4 2001-3000 miles	13,000	25,750	38,750	51,500
Zone 5 3001-4000 miles	20,750	41,250	62,000	82,500
Zone 6 4001-5500 miles	25,750	51,500	77,250	103,000
Zone 7 5501-6500 miles	31,000	62,000	92,750	123,750
Zone 8 6501-7000 miles	36,250	72,250	108,250	144,250
Zone 9 7001+ miles	51,500	103,000	154,500	206,000

As you can see above, the minimum number of Avios required for travel in North America is 9,000 miles each way in economy for a nonstop flight up to 1,150 miles in distance, which amounts to 6,429 Amex MR, though these points need to be transfer in 1,000-point increments.  AA and Alaska Airlines both fly to many regional routes out of their hubs that fall within this distance.  BA also has very modest cancellation/change fees, and does not impose close-in ticketing fees so you could use 7k Amex MR to book a last minute nonstop trip for say SFO-SAN or as far as SFO-DEN.  California airports to Hawaii all fall within Zone 3 at 13k Avios, which is about 9,286 Amex MR.

But perhaps the biggest value of these short-haul routes falls in areas outside of North America like Japan, Australia, Hong Kong.  Pretty much every domestic flight from Tokyo with the exception with Okinawa would be 6k Avios, or only 4,286 Amex MR.  In addition, a short-haul international flight with lieflat seats in business class like HKG-TPE on Cathay Pacific would be only 12.5k Avios (8,929 Amex MR), which is pretty much the lowest amount of points possible to secure lieflat business class seats anywhere on the planet.

Yes, HKG-TPE is only a 1 1/2 hour flight.  But biz class suites, superior lounge access, and biz class catering for <9k Amex MR?  I'm in.

Bottom Line

This is a great Amex promo.  Though I wouldn't recommend transferring points speculatively without the actual need for booking a flight, this would be a great opportunity if you're planning on short-haul trips in the near future or even in the last minute as Amex MR transfer to Avios instantaneously.