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Through January 14, you can transfer 1,000 Membership Rewards to 1,300 Avios. The transfer are hard-coded into the Membership Rewards transfer page, meaning you don’t have to know any special codes.
All my posts about Avios are contained here: milevalue.com/category/avios. The one-sentence cliff notes are to use Avios for direct itineraries, ideally short flights, and do what you can to avoid the nasty surcharges.
Incredible redemptions include 12,500 + $2.50 oneway from the west coast to Hawaii, 7,500 Avios and $33 from Johannesburg to Capetown, and 4,500 Avios +$2.50 on any American flight under 650 miles.
Here is a list of Avios redemptions from three cities:
Avios bookings of AA economy grant priority AAccess to security.
I won’t transfer speculatively because Avios transfer bonuses are frequent and this year has seen 50% and 40%. But this is currently the best value for Membership Rewards.
Hat Tip One Mile at a Time
One of the major benefits to me is the possibility of using Avios for unexpected last-minute flights on AA, since there are no close-in fees. Earlier this year I unexpectedly needed to fly domestically with 24 hours notice due to a death in the family. My choices were:
9k Avios
25k AAdvantage miles plus a close-in booking fee
$600 cash
Great value with Avios.