Can You Enter Your Alaska Mileage Number as Flying Blue
Today we want to address one of the most common questions we get asked both here on the blog and in our Facebook community, Award Travel 101.
"C an you combine points and miles from different frequent flyer programs?"
Imagine you want to redeem miles from your Alaska Mileage Plan account for flights, but you're a little short. However, you do have plenty of miles in your American AAdvantage account you could transfer to reach your redemption. Can you transfer miles between Mileage Plan and AAdvantage?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. You cannot transfer miles between frequent flyer programs and retain their value.
Unlike flexible rewards currencies, which transfer to a range of airline and hotel programs, airline miles can't be transferred to another frequent flyer program (with a few exceptions listed below).
Is It Possible to Transfer Miles Between Frequent Flyer Programs?
Technically, yes. Should you do it? No. Except for transferring Avios between British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus, the methods that allow you to move miles between programs cost more than the transaction is worth, stripping your miles of any tangible value.
Transferring Avios
The first method applies solely to Avios. Avios is the rewards currency used by AerClub, BA Executive Club, and Iberia Plus. You can transfer Avios earned in all three programs at a 1:1 ratio via a central Avios.com account, and redeem the combined points for award flights and more. Transferring Avios from BA to Iberia or Aer Lingus can be a great way of avoiding BA's overpriced fuel surcharges.
Transferring Miles via Points.com
Another option is to use Points.com, which allows transfers between select rewards programs. The killer here is the exchange rates.
You can exchange miles between the following programs on Points.com:
- Delta SkyMiles®
- Frontier Airlines FrontierMiles (temporarily unavailable)
- HawaiianMiles
- Icelandair Saga Club
- JetBlue TrueBlue®
- IHG Rewards
- MeliáRewards
- Trident Privilege
While Points.com doesn't charge you a fee to transfer between programs, the exchange rates are atrocious. For example, if you exchange 10,000 JetBlue TrueBlue points for Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles, you will receive just 3,706 HawaiianMiles. We consider both miles to have about the same value. So, you're losing almost two-thirds of the value of your miles in the transfer.
If you have no use for a particular type of points or miles, points.com may be a good way to convert them into something you can use. But it's almost always better to find a way to use the points—rather letting a bad exchange rate erase most of their value.
Transfer Miles via Multiple Rewards Programs
The last method is to convert miles to another frequent flyer program by routing them through various rewards programs that have transfer agreements. For this example, we've used WebFlyer.com to calculate the exchange ratio between American AAdvantage miles and Delta SkyMiles.
The best outcome from the seven options available is transferring American miles to Diners Club Rewards at a 2:1 ratio (losing half your miles), and then transfer Diners Club Rewards to Delta SkyMiles at 1:1, leaving you with half the miles you invested at the outset.
- 10,000 American miles @ 2:1 —> Diners Club points = 5,000 points
- 5,000 Diners Club points @ 1:1 —> Delta SkyMiles = 5,000 miles
Again. Not a recommended use of your miles. But, it could be helpful in a pinch.
Book Partner Airlines with Your Miles
The good news is that you shouldn't need to transfer miles between programs to get where you want to go. While your miles may be locked into your AAdvantage account, you can book flights on any of American's dozens of partner airlines using your AAdvantage miles. You can redeem American miles to fly partner airlines like Japan Airlines, Etihad, or Cathay Pacific to destinations that American doesn't fly.
How does this work in practice?
- Search for partner award availability on AA.com or another Oneworld website
- Book the partner award on AA.com — or by calling the AA Reservations Center if the award can't be booked online
- Fly the partner airline booked with your American AAdvantage miles
Related:
- Which Flights Can I Book with Miles – Understanding Award Availability
- Airline Alliances & Partnerships – A Beginners Guide
- How to Find Partner Award Availability – A Complete Guide to Where to Search and How to Book
The Value of Collecting Transferable Rewards Currencies
Ultimately, if you're not collecting transferable rewards currencies, you're throwing away a good portion of the value gained from credit card spend. Hotel points and airline miles lose value when transferred to other programs due to poor transfer ratios. Whereas, flexible points transfer to a variety of partners at a 1:1 ratio (3:1 for Marriott), allowing you to cherry-pick the best value redemptions from each program and maximize the value of your points.
Flexible currencies tend to offer higher earning rates on credit card spend via well-thought-out bonus categories and a greater selection of cards to suit different spending patterns. There are four flexible bank rewards programs and one hotel program we think offer outstanding value for transferring points:
Chase Ultimate Rewards
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- Chase Freedom Flex℠
- Chase Freedom Unlimited®
- Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
- Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
- Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
American Express Membership Rewards
- The Platinum Card® from American Express
- American Express® Gold Card
- American Express® Green Card
- The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
- The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express
Citi ThankYou Rewards
- Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card
- Citi Premier® Card
- Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card for College Students
- AT&T Access Card from Citi
- Citi Prestige® Card (no longer accepting applications)
Capital One Venture Miles
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
- Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card
- Capital One Spark Miles for Business
- Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business
Marriott Bonvoy
- Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card
- Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Credit Card (no longer accepting applications)
- Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card (no longer accepting applications)
Each program has high-value transfer partners that can exponentially increase the value of your points if used wisely.
Final Thoughts
If you travel often, it's hard to avoid having your points spread out across multiple frequent-flyer programs. You can't transfer these miles to other frequent-flyer programs, but you can use them to book partner awards across a variety of carriers and destinations.
If you have any questions or you think we've missed a transfer method, please reach out in the comments.
AwardWallet Tip of The Day
Did you know you can filter the accounts in your AwardWallet profile by program? If you want to view only a subset of your loyalty accounts tracked by AwardWallet, use the Accounts Filter to display only the accounts you're interested in at the moment.
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Source: https://awardwallet.com/blog/can-transfer-miles-frequent-flyer-programs/
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