American Express Membership Rewards To British Airways Avios Transfer Devaluation Effective 10/01

Mamzerim. Nuff said.

Would you say Avios are appreciating or Amex points are depreciating?

@Mark:
Well it seems that BA must be renegotiating pricier contracts, hence the change in the BA card earnings and the AMEX transfer ratio.

Hopefully Starwood and Chase Ultimate Rewards can keep things in check…

What are the chances that there should be bonus transfers before october

Avios and transfer bonus was pretty much only reason I was using amex plat as go to card

Change isn’t easy but I can’t see a reason not to switch over to the new spg card without a foreign fee

@Curious:
Small.

@yudig:
Indeed, though spending on the Plat card never made much sense.

It’s still a good deal. The question is can Amex take any more hits to its program? Costco, Jetblue, lounges, ect…

Any reason to think they won’t make the same deal with chase? Or did they just do that with the 1ppd, so the next one won’t be for a while?

What about UK?

Didn’t BA devalue their award chart recently as well?

This seems like just another way that airlines are devaluing miles. First they make their award charts more expensive, and then they devalue transferable points relative to their miles. Dan do you think we’ll see this become a trend with other airlines in the near future?

So does this mean the value of ba will increase?

@AsherO: Actually depends how you look at it i start paying MUC-LON 8K RT instead of 9K after the “devaluation” 😉

Noooooooooo!!

AMEX will have to change the Iberia transfer rate as well?? Otherwise you can easily get around this by moving to Iberia and then transferring from Iberia to BA

@AsherO:
Their business/first chart, yes.

@Israeli:
I don’t think so. This should be a one-off. Perhaps forced by Chase?

@a:
Indeed, Iberia is included in the deval.

best way is ink buy visa gc in staples do all your reg shopping,,,

Using the EDP, a $1000 spend will still net you 1200 Avios.

The AA & United points match is looking better and better each day!

15,000 AMEX points for United Business class jfk to LAX –

Even though it was 25,000 saver on Uniteds website – AMEX charged ONLY 15,000 points for BUSINESS CLASS since it was an “UP” Fare.

Not sure what that was but I was not asking questions 😉

Plus its a paid fare from AMEX so it earns United points on the flight 🙂

Dan, Thanks for everything! Will the rates for Avios redemption on US Airways flights go up after the merger with American is completed?

@tt:
True.

@Username:
Indeed.

@mh:
No way that program makes it out of beta without massive changes.

@Chacham:
No.

Mass transfers incoming…
@Dan: Can you please write a post up on the “up” fares? Or is it privileged info?

Why offer a 40% bonus and then 6 months later reduce the transfer ratio ? How can you explain these erratic actions?
Separately, can you elaborate here about the United Business First Class JFK-LAX first class for 15,000 Amex points or should this better be discussed elsewhere ?

@srulky:
@Jeff:
AMEX targeted a small number of people with a very lucrative way to redeem their points. It’s not applicable to 99.9% of folks, so I haven’t covered it.

And I don’t think it’ll stick around as people have been booking $50K tickets and making global services with 150K points. It’s just silly.

The only explanation I have for the ratio is that BA is raising the rates they charge for Avios. Or that Chase is forcing BA to do this to AMEX.

Maybe there will be am Amex Transfer Bonus before the devaluation as a way to attract speculators to transfer and after the drop offer less to those who really need Avios. Does this sound like sound reasoning ?

“Or that Chase is forcing BA to do this to AMEX.”

On that note Chase is becoming increasingly aggressive. Yesterday I fielded a 15 minute call from Chase where a rep basically told me I should spend more on my Ink and not use my AMEX gold . The rep then listed all my recent expenses charged to the ink card on the phone. It was kind of creepy.

OMG!!!! Another reason to open an SPG card. Any idea if starwood transfers to M&M Lufthansa?? (since its now the cheapest way on business NYC-LAX via united)

@Jeff:
Unlikely.

@Eliezer:
It does.

Do you know if this devaluation will be happening in Canada as well?

Due to the poor transfer ratio and product customer experience on BA (web site, award fees, award availability, business class product), for me, it’s no longer worth transferring from MR or UR to Avios, except, generally, for ultra-short flights. I’l be burning through my Avios, topping them off with MR prior to 9/30, then calling it quits.

Do you really get such a great value for chase points transferring them as apposed to redeeming them for travel at 1.25 cents a point? Award charts are constantly being devalued and availability is a major pain. I wish there was a better free award flight availability search engine. Btw are the staples visa gift cards worth it after visa spending edge dumped staples? Now you’re paying $6.95 for a thousand points, assuming they have $200 ones when you go. Is it worth the hassle over one point a dollar when using you’re card to shop instead of buying gift cards? You get a list of benefits when you purchase items directly on your card. Seems like vgc’s are only worth it to hit spending thresholds now.

@mh: How do you use Amex points on United>?

How do i book a united flight with Amex?

You don’t. Unless you get ridiculously lucky and they email you and tell you that can.

@Dan: Are there no tricks how to transfer Amex points to be used on United.com?