Credit Card Points are a great way to lessen the out of pocket cost when you travel. Most major credit card issuers allow you to transfer credit card points to airline and hotel partners. This is the best way to get outsized value from your points that you have.
If you’re new to credit card points, transferring them to a travel partner can feel overwhelming. In this post, I’ll break down the process step by step, removing the stress and guesswork so you can transfer your hard-earned points with confidence.
Important Things to Consider
One of the last things that you want to do is make a major mistake with the points that you have earned. So, here are a couple of different things to keep in mind before you go to hit that send button.
Have a Redemption in Mind
Having transferable points is a great advantage when booking flights or hotel stays, as it gives you flexibility and access to multiple loyalty programs. However, once you transfer credit card points to a travel partner, the process is irreversible. It’s essential to be sure of your decision before making the transfer.
You want to make sure that you have a redemption in mind before you transfer credit card points to a specific program. This protects you from having a program devalue their points before you get a chance to use them.
For example, you decide to transfer 75,000 points wanting to try to find a great deal on a hotel stay. You hold off on making the reservation and before you know what hit you the program decides to up the cost for each night stay by 10,000 points. Now you have points stuck in a program that you can’t move back out of the program.
Make Sure There is Availability
Phantom flights are when a flight looks like it can be booked but in reality it can’t. This usually happens when a partner airline shows a flight from another airline but in reality it isn’t there. You want to make sure that the flight is actually available before you transfer credit card points. The best way to make sure that the seat isn’t phantom space is by calling the airline of the loyalty program you are using to make sure the seat is available.
Know what cards transfer to travel partners
Not all of the credit cards that are issued by a bank have transferable points. It’s important to know what cards can and can’t in a given program. For example, the Chase Freedom Unlimited and Chase Freedom Flex are considered cash back cards and their points can’t be transferred.
One way around this is by having a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve. You can combine your points from the Flex or Unlimited onto your Reserve card and then transfer the points to a transfer partner.
Steps on How to Transfer Credit Card Points
Now that you know what pitfalls to avoid when you transfer credit card points, let’s dive into how to transfer credit card points effectively to maximize their value.
Sign Up for Airline and Hotel Loyalty Accounts First
The first thing that you need to do before you transfer credit card points is setting up a loyalty account with the different airline and hotel partners. It doesn’t matter if you have a trip planned with them or not. The rule is the sooner you sign up the better off you’ll be. It’s totally free to sign up for a loyalty program and it only takes a few minutes.
The following are some popular domestic programs to sign up for.
- Delta Air Lines Skymiles
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
- United Airlines MileagePlus
- Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- American Airlines AAdvantage
- World of Hyatt
Some of the best credit card points redemptions are with foreign airlines. Some of the most popular foreign loyalty programs include:
- Air France/KLM Flying Blue
- British Airways Executive Club
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Avianca LifeMiles
Once you sign up for an account most loyalty programs will allow you to transfer points right away. For example, my daughter set up a Hyatt account and was able to transfer Chase Ultimate reward points to her Hyatt account minutes later. For some accounts it may take a day or two before you can transfer points.
Also, make sure that the name on your credit card account and the name on your loyalty account match exactly. If they don’t match exactly, you will probably have issues transferring your points. Ask me how I know. It can be kind of a pain to change your name on accounts. Again, ask me how I know.
Add Loyalty Numbers to Your Credit Card Account
Once you have your loyalty account number for a particular airline or hotel, you can add it to your credit card account. Chase, American Express, Citi, and Bilt will save your loyalty number once you add it to your account.
Here are the steps to follow to add your loyalty number for each one of the different banks.
American Express: Rewards and Benefits > Earn and Redeem > Transfer Points
Chase: Redeem > Travel > Transfer Partners
Bilt: Travel > Transfer
Citi: Travel > Points Transfer
Capital One doesn’t allow you to save your loyalty number, so you’ll need to add it each time. Chase makes you go through the process of transferring your points to a particular loyalty program. Your loyalty number will be saved without actually making the transfer.
Search for Flights for Point Redemptions (Check Paid Flights)
Once you’ve completed the steps above, you can start searching for flight redemptions. There are several ways to do this. One option is to go directly to the airline’s website. Unlike hotels, where booking must be done through their official site, flights often have more flexibility in how you search and book.
Next, you can also go to airline alliance partners with a particular airline. For example, a good way to book Delta flights is through Virgin Atlantic. At the time of this writing, there are no bank programs that allow you to transfer points to American Airlines. Transferring points to British Airways is a great way to book American Airline flights.
There are some great tools that help you search for flights. Some of my favorite ones include: PointsYeah, Point.me, and Seats.aero. I have written a post about PointsYeah that you may want to check out.
Each of these sites has strengths and weaknesses. PointsYeah and Seats.aero have free and paid versions. If you have an American Express card that earns Membership Reward points, you have free access to Point.me. You can access the site at point.me/amex. It will search for flights for all of the American Express transfer partners.
Before you transfer credit card points to a travel partner, check to see how much paying cash for the flight is. It may be a better deal to book the flight with cash versus using points. You can do this by using a site like Google Flights. I have written a post about different features of Google Flights.
Another option is looking at the bank’s travel portal, if it has one, to see if the flight may take less points booking through the portal versus transferring the points to a travel partner.
Calculate How Many Points to Transfer
Most but not all credit card points transfers are at a 1:1 ratio which means for every point you transfer a point is added to your loyalty account. The transfers must be done in increments of 1,000.
How to Calculate Transfer Bonuses
On occasion banks will offer transfer bonuses to particular programs. Even on more rare occasions the transfer partner will offer a transfer bonus. These transfer bonuses usually range from 20%-40%.
So, if a bank is offering a 40% transfer bonus to a travel partner, you would receive 1,400 points when you transfer 1,000 points from the bank.
As a former teacher, I know that some people don’t like to do math but let me give you some easy steps to follow to figure out how many points to transfer with a transfer bonus.
- Determine how many airline miles or hotel points you need to book the flight or stay.
- Subtract any miles or points that you may have in the account already.
- Take the total points that you need for the booking and divide it by one plus the decimal of the transfer bonus.
For example, if you need 70,000 points for the booking and the transfer bonus is 40%, you’d divide 70,000 by 1.4. When you do that, it comes to 50,000 exactly.
- If it doesn’t work out evenly, you will need to round up to the nearest thousand since credit card companies make you transfer points in increments of 1,000.
Transfer Points
Once you know how many points you need to transfer, you can proceed with the transfer. You can follow the different flows that I shared earlier in this post to get to the place to transfer points.
Most of the time the transfer that you make will be instantaneous but some may take longer. For example, I have transferred points to Southwest, United, Hyatt, and Virgin Atlantic and all but one of them has been instantaneous. The one that wasn’t only took about 2 minutes. I helped a friend transfer points to Air Canada and the transfer took 24 hours before it showed up in their account.
A word of caution: Avoid transferring a small number of points as a test to see if they go through. In most cases, you won’t be able to transfer the rest immediately, as banks impose waiting periods to prevent fraud.
Book the Flight or Stay
Once the transfer is complete and you see the points in your account, book your flight or stay as soon as possible. Many airlines and hotels use dynamic pricing, meaning rates fluctuate frequently. Locking in your reservation right away ensures you get the deal you planned for.
Final Thoughts
As you can see it isn’t hard to transfer credit card points. Not only isn’t it hard but it can definitely help you make the most of the hard earned credit card points that you have so that you can travel more.
If you’re interested in learning more about credit card points, travel itineraries, exciting destinations, and smart ways to save on travel, be sure to visit my travel blog Travelwidstom.
