American Express just advised me that the 50% BA transfer bonus is back for American Express Cardmembers that participate in the Membership Rewards program. This is one of the offers I look forward to (just like the RBC Avion 50% bonus that should be coming soon again) especially since the base transfer rate was increased to 1:1. What does this mean? Well you can redeem for my too often mentioned YYZ-NYC roundtrip flight for only 6,000 Membership Rewards points as that flight can be had for 9,000 Avios* (or $3,000 in spending on the Amex Gold Rewards Card), I believe no other card can match that little of spending for that flight! Or you can get business class to Europe from Toronto for 65,334 Membership Rewards Points but you will have to tack on BA’s large fuel surcharges, but once again if all that spend came from the Gold Rewards Card (as little as $32,667) spending $600-$900 in fuel surcharges is way better than spending thousands of dollars more on another card to reach a business class reward flight level. Remember people its all about the EARN (or what you spend to get the miles) and the BURN, not just one of those two! Too many blogs focus on one or the other but not both combined. Anyway enough of that, here are the details of the offer as provided by Amex:
50% more Avios!
From March 1 to 31, 2013, 1,000 Membership Rewards® points = 1,000 1,500 Avios.
For more details or to transfer visit membershiprewards.ca
* Updated this post for greater clarification
Legal Terms and Conditions:
From March 1 to March 31, 2013, when you transfer Membership Rewards points to Avios you will receive 50% more Avios points on the total number of Membership Rewards points transferred. For example, if you transfer 1500 MR points to Avios, you will be credited a total of 2250 Avios points. Please allow up to 5 working days to receive Avios points in your British Airways Executive Club Account. British Airways is responsible for fulfillment of this offer. Membership Rewards point transfers must be made in increments of 100 points with a minimum transfer requirement of 1,000 points for each transfer. 1,000 Membership Rewards points = 1,000 Avios points. Avios are subject to British Airways Executive Club terms and conditions.