[Last Chance] 50% Avios Transfer Bonus Means 21k Membership Rewards for Roundtrip to Hawaii

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250 Membership Rewards will transfer to 300 British Airways Avios from now until 11:59 p.m. CT on October 10, 2016. The normal transfer rate is 250 Membership Rewards = 200 British Airways Avios, so this transfer bonus will get you 50% more Avios.

For only 25,000 Avios and $11, you can fly roundtrip on American Airlines or Alaska Airlines planes in economy from the West Coast to Hawaii. Here are the possible routes.

That means with the current transfer bonus, you could convert 21,000 Membership Rewards to 25,200 British Airways Avios (transfers must be in increments of 250) to book yourself a roundtrip to Hawaii if you live in one of the cities listed above. That is an unbeatable deal.

And that’s not all Avios are great for.

Other High Value Avios Redemptions

British Airways Avios are very valuable for short, direct flights without fuel surcharges (i.e. American Airlines flights within the Western Hemisphere, Alaska Airlines flights, Aer Lingus flights, airberlin flights, and British Airways flights within Europe).

If you have had a British Airways Avios and Iberia Avios account open for three months, you can transfer freely between them. This is extremely useful when you consider:

• You pay much lower fuel surcharges when redeeming Iberia Avios on Iberia flights as opposed to British Airways Avios
• You can redeem Iberia Avios on American Airlines flights (but not Alaska–they’re not partners). The price of an Iberia Avios award depends on the total distance flown, not the distance of each segment flown like British Airways Avios. They are not priced per segment so you are not penalized for connections. So if you’re taking a short trip but it requires a connection, an Iberia award will probably be cheaper. The only downside is that when redeeming Iberia Avios on American Airlines, you must book roundtrip awards as no one ways are allowed.
• For any of the dates not highlighted in red on these calendars, you can fly Business Class between New York or Boston to Madrid on Iberia for only 34,000 Iberia Avios.

And neither British Airways nor Iberia Avios collect last minute award booking fees.

Speculative Transfers

I value Membership Rewards at 2 cents each, and Avios at 1.6 cents each. That makes 1,000 Membership Rewards worth $20 and 1,200 Avios (which is how many Avios you would get from transferring 1,000 Membership Rewards)  worth $19.20.

I’d rather have $20 (the Membership Rewards) than $19.20 (the Avios), so I probably wouldn’t transfer speculatively, but that margin is extremely narrow. This transfer bonus is a good deal, no doubt about it. Plug in your own valuations of Membership Rewards and Avios to figure out if a speculative transfer is worth it to you.

Bottom Line

Until 11:59 p.m. CT on October 10, 2016 you can turn 250 Membership Rewards into 300 Avios. This 50% transfer bonus represents huge savings over the normal transfer rate of 250 Membership Rewards to 200 Avios.

Transfer Bonus Terms & Conditions