It’s been a tough year for us points ballers. Another devaluation is around the corner. This one is particularly annoying because it involves speculatively taking points from my MR account and putting them into my Avios account, a program that has had some ‘enhancements’ that weren’t great. As a rule, moving points without a specific booking in mind from a general account to a specific hotel/airline account is rarely a good idea because of such devaluations.
However, due to an unexpectedly large MR balance thanks to recent applications I feel I have no choice but to take advantage of Amex’s present 1:1 transfer ratio which expires on October 1st. The alternative is waiting around for Chase’s 100k British offer to resurface (though I haven’t seen it for years) or transfer some URs which I am against because they have become extremely valuable following the Hyatt Diamond Challenge.
Avios are great for short-haul flights like the one I took from Yangon to Hong Kong so having a healthy balance would come in handy. Currently, I only have 26k Avios which is why I’m tempted to move 74k to get to the mythical 100k figure. At the same time, 74k is only 20k away from Singapore suite-class.
Who’s doing what? Let me know.
With the frequency of transfer bonuses that Amex runs for Avios, you might be better off waiting until the next 30-40% bonus and getting more than a 1:1 transfer ratio. This is assuming that after the deval they will continue to run frequent BA transfer bonuses.
It’s been awhile since their last bonus. Having said that, I didn’t consider if they would have a transfer bonus that would at the very least bring it back to 1:1. Hmm that makes this even more annoying to contemplate.
Agreed — they haven’t had a good bonus in a while. I transferred quite a few MR to BA during the 40% bonus ~8 months ago, so I’m sitting on a healthy balance there. I also have 110k MR in my account with another 100k on the way, and just finished my HGP Diamond challenge as well so I’m trying to save my UR for Hyatt stays. Difficult decisions!
ahah cheers to diamond challenge! ill have 370k MRs after the plat biz, personal, and biz gold but those damn British are so handy. maybe i’ll just settle for chase’s 50k offer. i had the 100k years ago. what to do? ha