American Express Membership Rewards 25% Transfer Bonus to British Airways Avios – Ends September 30, 2015

Through September 30, 2015, transfers from American Express Canada Membership Rewards Points to British Airways Avios will be at a 1:1.25 ratio.

This means instead of transferring 25,000 Reward Points you will get 31,250 – quite a nice savings.

With flights starting at just 4.5K Avios in coach and 9K Avios for a lie-flat business seat there are some real steals with Avios.

The 25% bonus that means that a coach award will start at just 3,600 Membership Rewards Points and a Business award will start at 7,200 Membership Rewards Points.

This is great news for us Canadians as the US program has a 1000:800 ratio coming up in October.

Avios is the loyalty program for British Airways. This airline flies from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal to cities in Europe. Additionally, they have a code-share with WestJet that lets you earn Avios.

One major benefit of the Avios program is that you can combine Avios points from different Avios schemes (British Airways) into one family member’s accounts. This can make it easier to redeem your acquired points.

The Avios program works on distance, so you can find some great buys.  A one-way flight between Toronto and New York can be had for only 4,500 Avios points (9,000 round trip), compared to 15,000 Aeroplan Miles for the same flight (round-trip).

Here are some good value redemptions with Avios:

• Vancouver, BC (YVR) to Los Angeles, CA (LAX), 15,000 Avios
• Toronto, ON (YYZ) to Miami, FL (MIA), 20,000 Avios
• Victoria, BC (YYJ) to Seattle, WA (SEA), 9,000 Avios
• Calgary, AB (YYC) to Dallas, TX (DFW) 20,000 Avios
• Edmonton, AB (YEG) to Seattle, WA (SEA) 9,000 Avios

Even a trip to Hawaii from Seattle is only 25,000 Avios round-trip!

Positives:

• No blackout dates for redemption.
• Can create a Household Account that enables you to share your Avios with the other members of your household for free.
• Fantastic redemptions with Avios on short-haul flights (Montreal or Toronto to New York or Chicago, Calgary or Edmonton to Seattle) using American Airlines or Alaska Airlines (9,000 round trip).
• The taxes are next to nothing (except for standard airport fees).

Negatives:

• No retail partners in Canada to earn extra Avios.
• Charged for extra stopovers as an additional flight.
• Major fuel surcharges charges.

One of easiest ways to earn Membership Reward Points with very little cost is the Gold Rewards Card (comes with 25,000 free bonus miles after spending $500 the first 3 months).

Here is a link to the promotion.