The best flexible rewards programs: Comparing Amex, Chase, Citi and more
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One of the best tricks miles and points enthusiasts use is concentrating their efforts on collecting transferable points to use for award tickets, hotel stays and more. Instead of focusing on earning points in a specific frequent flyer or hotel guest program, those who collect transferable points have many more options for how they use them. That’s because you can choose to transfer your points to dozens of different rewards programs.
Flexible points programs include:
- Chase Ultimate Rewards points
- Amex Membership Rewards points
- Citi ThankYou points
- Capital One miles
- Marriott points
Many of the best travel credit cards won’t lock you into one particular airline or hotel. Let’s look at why transferable points are a great deal, and figure out which currency best fits your travel style.
Which flexible points program is best?
Here’s a quick look at each program.
| Program | Number of partners | Average point value | Good redemption | Top card |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Ultimate Rewards | 13 | 1.7 cents | Transfer to Hyatt | Chase Sapphire Reserve® |
| Amex Membership Rewards | 22 | 1.8 cents | Business class flights | The Platinum Card® from American Express |
| Citi ThankYou points | 16 | 1.7 cents | Flights to Hawaii | Citi Prestige® Card |
| Capital One miles | 17 | 1.2 cents | Erasing paid travel | Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card |
| Marriott points | 43 | 0.8 cents | Nights with Marriott | Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card |
The information for the Citi Prestige card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Chase Ultimate Rewards points
Where to start?! If you’re new to miles and points, Chase Ultimate Rewards is a terrific place to start collecting transferable points. I’m talking about this one first because it’s the most likely to be a fit for you.
First, it’s extremely easy to earn Chase points. The cards offer great bonus categories, and the welcome bonuses are generous, too. For example:
- Chase Sapphire Reserve® – 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening
- Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card – 100,000 bonus points after you spend $15,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening
The program has excellent transfer partners that can net you a relatively effortless return per point of 1.7 cents. You can stay at amazing Hyatt properties, fly business class to Europe on United Airlines or hop around the country with Southwest. It offers the best mix of travel styles. Whether you’re looking for a stay in five-star hotels or just need a coach ticket to visit the family for Thanksgiving, Chase points will serve your needs.
These points are especially good for newbies because you can choose to redeem them at a flat rate through the Chase Travel Portal. The value you’ll get depends on the card you have (between 1 and 1.5 cents each), but there’s no transferring points or anything else remotely complicated. You just reserve your airfare or hotel through the portal (just like you would an online travel agency like Expedia or Orbitz), and at checkout, you can choose how many points you want to use to offset the final bill. If you have either of the top-tier Chase Sapphire cards, Chase’s travel portal offers much value for your points than compared to other bank’s travel portals.
Another great thing about this program is that the travel protection benefits that come with Ultimate Rewards-earning cards make them go-to travel credit cards for booking flights, anyway. Earning insanely valuable points is just a bonus!
There are very few cons to this program. Perhaps the only downside is that it doesn’t include some of the best airline transfer partners for jaw-dropping business class sweet spots around the world (which other programs do). We’ll cover that soon.
The best Chase transfer partners depend on your goals. But it’s possible to receive the best value by transferring to:
- Hyatt
- Iberia
- Singapore Airlines
- United Airlines
Note: Emirates and Virgin Atlantic are also fantastic options for niche premium cabin sweet spots.
Read our post on the best ways to use Chase points.
Below are all the cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points, as well as whether you can transfer them to travel partners. If a card cannot transfer to a travel partner, you can simply transfer those points to one of your cards that does have this ability, and then onto a transfer partner.
| Chase Ultimate Rewards Card | Do Points Transfer to Travel Partners? |
|---|---|
| Chase Freedom | No |
| Chase Freedom Unlimited | No |
| Chase Sapphire (no longer available) | No |
| Chase Sapphire Preferred Card | Yes |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve | Yes |
| Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card | No |
| Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card | No |
| Chase Ink Bold (no longer available) | Yes |
| Chase Ink Plus (no longer available to new applicants) | Yes |
| Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card | Yes |
| Note: Points earned from the Chase Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Sapphire, and Ink Business Cash cards can only be transferred to travel partners if you also have a Chase Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, Ink Business Preferred, Ink Plus, or Ink Bold card. |
The information for the Chase Freedom has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Amex Membership Rewards points
Amex Membership Rewards is hands-down the best program if you’re looking for premium airline seats. You can book aspirational seats like a first class Lufthansa seat to Europe, business class to Japan on ANA, business class to Europe on multiple Star Alliance carriers, first class to Australia on Etihad, and much more — for comparatively rock-bottom award prices. And not only are the prices cheap, but these are some of the best first and business class products on the planet. Lap-of-luxury, $10,000+ cash priced, onboard bar, top-shelf champagne kinds of flights.
Another huge win for Amex Membership Rewards is that the points are easy to earn. Amex issues tons of Membership Rewards earning cards, and many of them have good welcome bonuses and are good for ongoing earning due to bonus categories, too. Here are some examples:
- American Express® Gold Card – 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first six months of account opening
- The Platinum Card® from American Express – 100,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 on purchases within the first six months of account opening
- The Business Platinum Card® from American Express – 120,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases with your Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.
- American Express®️ Green Card – 45,000 points after spending $2,000 on purchases within the first six months of card membership.
Amex points are all-stars, and it’s hard to knock them for much. However, the program does possess many “fluff” transfer partners that serve very little purpose in the miles and points game. Yes, they’ve got 22 partners in all, but the majority of them aren’t good deals. They’re either too obscure to be valuable, or their award flights are too expensive.
These points also aren’t quite as valuable as Chase points outside of transferring to partners. Amex has their own travel portal, but you’ll only receive a value of 1 cent per point. The exception is if you have The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, which offers a 35% points rebate when booking with your selected airline or if you’re buying a business class ticket (up to 500,000 points per calendar year).
One big rule to remember is that you can only earn the welcome bonus on each specific Amex card one time, per person, per lifetime. So, for example, if you’ve had The Business Platinum Card® from American Express in the past, you cant earn its bonus again. However, you’d still be eligible to earn the intro offer on The Platinum Card® from American Express, since they’re different products (and assuming you’ve never had that particular card before either).
If you’re looking for a first or business class seat to Japan, Australia, Spain, Greece, or many other bucket-list destinations, this is your program. Here are the top Amex transfer partners:
- Air Canada
- ANA
- Iberia
- Delta
- Etihad
- Singapore Airlines
- Virgin Atlantic
Read our post on the best ways to use Amex points.
There are several cards that earn Amex Membership Rewards points, both personal and small-business.
| Personal cards | Business cards |
|---|---|
| American Express® Gold Card | The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express |
| The Platinum Card® from American Express | American Express® Business Gold Card |
| American Express®️ Green Card | The Business Platinum Card® from American Express |
| Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card from American Express |
Citi ThankYou points
Citi ThankYou points aren’t the best flexible points out there for most travel goals. But it’s got one mother of a transfer partner that makes the program worth investing in: Turkish Airlines. Turkish is part of the Star Alliance, so you can book flights on other Star Alliance carriers like United, ANA and Lufthansa with Turkish miles.
You can fly to anywhere within the U.S. on United Airlines for 7,500 miles each way in coach — and 12,500 miles in business class. Turkish also defines “domestic” as Hawaii. Yeah, you can fly to Hawaii in coach for 15,000 Turkish miles round-trip or 25,000 miles in business class round-trip. If you don’t know anything about award flights to Hawaii, just know that those are some stellar rates. I just booked a one-way flight from Honolulu to Newark in business class for later this year (transcontinental lie-flat seats, too). You can also get some killer deals to Europe.
If your travel goals lie primarily in the U.S. and Hawaii, you should be collecting Citi ThankYou points — perhaps exclusively.
In general, you won’t be eligible for the sign-up bonus on a Citi ThankYou points-earning card if you’ve opened or closed a card within the same brand of cards (i.e., another ThankYou points card) within the past 24 months. But the terms vary for each card, so be sure to read the fine print on the application before you submit it. For example, you aren’t eligible for a Citi ThankYou points bonus you’ve earned a sign-up bonus with or opened or closed any of these cards in the past 24 months:
- Citi Rewards+® Card
- Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card (no longer available)
- Citi Premier® Card
- Citi Prestige® Card
These rules are more stringent than Chase, but at least there isn’t a once-per-lifetime rule. Read our guide on earning the same sign-up bonus more than once on how to navigate the rules.
If you earn Citi ThankYou points, stick with these airlines when transferring your points:
- Turkish Airlines
- Avianca
- Singapore Airlines
- Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)
Again, for niche routes, Emirates and Virgin Atlantic are good options for your ThankYou points.
Below are the cards that earn Citi ThankYou points. Note that the Citi® Double Cash Card also earns rewards that can be converted into ThankYou points if you have a Citi ThankYou points earning card with an annual fee. Just transfer your rewards to that card, and they instantly become ThankYou points. The information for the Citi Double Cash Card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
| Card | Intro bonus | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|
| Citi® Double Cash Card | None | $0 |
| Citi Premier® Card | Earn 80,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first three months of account opening | $95 |
| Citi Prestige® Card | Earn 50,000 ThankYou points after spending $4,000 in the first three months of account opening. | $495 |
| Citi Rewards+® Card | Earn 15,000 ThankYou points after spending $1,000 in the first three months of account opening. | $0 |
| AT&T Access Card from Citi | Earn 10,000 ThankYou points after spending $1,000 in the first three months of account opening. | $0 |
| Citi Rewards+ Student Card | Earn 2,500 ThankYou points after spending $500 in the first three months of account opening. | $0 |
Capital One miles
In respect to transferring your rewards to other loyalty programs, there aren’t many bright spots within the Capital One miles program. If you work hard, you may be able to find a deal. But get this — that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
See, Capital One miles originally didn’t transfer to any programs. They were created to work similarly to cash back: purchase travel on your Capital One card and simply erase it from your balance without ever having to pay it. Fortunately, you can still do this with the Capital One Purchase Eraser. Redeeming your miles with this method will give you a return of 1 cent per point. This is still (almost always) the best way to use Capital One miles. It’s by far the simplest rewards currency to redeem if you take the Purchase Eraser route.
That being said, if you try a bit you can get solid value when transferring to the right partners and booking flights that are in a rewards program’s sweet spot.
The reason Capital One miles are harder to redeem for good value is because all transfer ratios are lousy — you won’t do better than a rate of 3:2 (3 Capital One miles = 2 airline miles). It’s not easy to get a value above 1 cent per mile.
Also, there are fewer ways to earn Capital One miles than with most other currencies. They have just four cards that earn miles, and they have no bonus categories. You’ll never earn more than 2 miles per dollar.
If you must transfer Capital One miles, here are the best value propositions:
- Accor
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Avianca
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Singapore Airlines
- Qantas
Read our post on the best ways to use Capital One miles.
Here are the cards that earn Capital One miles.
| Credit card | Sign-up bonus | Annual fee | Earning rate | Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card | Earn 100,000 bonus miles when you spend $20,000 on purchases in the first 12 months from account opening, or still earn 50,000 miles if you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. | $95 | 2 miles per dollar on every purchase | Capital One Venture review |
| Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card | 20,000 miles after spending $500 on purchases within 3 months of account opening | No annual fee | Unlimited 1.25 miles per dollar on every purchase | Capital One VentureOne credit card review |
| Capital One Spark Miles for Business | 50,000 Capital One miles after spending $4,500 on purchases within the first three months of account opening | $95, waived the first year | 2 miles per dollar on every purchase | Capital One Spark Miles review |
| Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business | 20,000 Capital One miles after spending $3,000 on purchases within 3 months of account opening | No annual fee | 1.5 miles per dollar on every purchase |
The information for the Capital One Spark Miles, Capital One Spark Miles Select has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Marriott points
Marriott points are easy to earn. If you stay at Marriott hotels with any regularity, you realize how quickly you can earn hundreds of thousands of points. And if you don’t, the cards have solid bonus categories to help you establish a stash in no time. The cards also have healthy welcome bonuses, such as:
- Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card – Earn three free nights (each night valued up to 50,000 points) after spending $3,000 on purchases in your first three months from account opening.
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card – Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 in purchases within the first three months of card membership. Plus, earn up to $200 in statement credits for eligible purchases made on your new card at U.S. restaurants within the first six months of card membership.
The biggest strength of transferring Marriott points is this: You’ve got exponentially more airline transfer partners than any other program to choose from. Like, 43 airlines. Airlines that no other program can transfer to, such as Alaska Airlines and American Airlines. This means that collecting Marriott points is like collecting every single useful airline currency.
Here’s the bad news. Marriott points offer the worst transfer ratio on the list. Nearly all airlines require a 3:1 ratio (3 Marriott points = 1 airline mile). But the rapidity in which you can earn them might make it bearable.
Also, if you transfer your Marriott points in increments of 60,000, you’ll get an extra 5,000 airline miles deposited into your account. This is huge! That means if you transfer 60,000 points to Delta, you’ll receive 25,000 miles. That greatly improves the transfer ratio.
These are the best Marriott transfer partners, in part because their miles are hard to get anywhere else:
- Air Canada
- Alaska Airlines
- Asiana Airlines
- Japan Airlines
- Turkish Airlines
- American Airlines
Read our post on the best ways to use Marriott points (spoiler: it’s not necessarily transferring them to airlines).
These are the cards that earn Marriott points.
| Marriott Bonvoy credit card | Welcome bonus | Best card for |
|---|---|---|
| Marriott Bonvoy Bold™ Credit Card | Earn 30,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. | Best no annual fee Marriott card |
| Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card | Earn 3 free night awards (each valued at up to 50,000 bonus points, for a value of up to 150,000 total points) after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Plus, earn 10X total points on up to $2,500 in combined purchases at grocery stores, restaurants, and gas stations within the first 6 months from account opening. | Best mid-tier Marriott credit card |
| Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card | Earn 75,000 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points after you use your new card to make $3,000 in purchases within the first three months. Plus, earn up to $200 in statement credits for eligible purchases at U.S. restaurants within the first six months of card membership. | Best Marriott card for benefits and perks |
| Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card | Earn 75,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points after you use your new card to make $3,000 in eligible purchases within the first three months of card membership. Plus, earn up to $150 back in statement credits on eligible purchases made on your new card within the first three months of card membership. | Best Marriott card for small businesses |
Handy chart for converting flexible points to airline miles
| Airline | American Express Membership Rewards points | Chase Ultimate Rewards points | Citi ThankYou points | Capital One miles | Marriott points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aegean Airlines | 3:1 | ||||
| Aer Lingus | 1:1 | 1:1 | 3:1 | ||
| Aeroflot | 3:1 | ||||
| Aeromexico | 1:1.6 | 1:1 | 2:1.5 | 3:1 | |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 1:1 | 2:1.5 | 3:1 | ||
| Air China | 3:1 | ||||
| Air New Zealand | 200:1 | ||||
| Alaska Airlines | 3:1 | ||||
| Alitalia | 1:1 | 2:1.5 | 3:1 | ||
| Al Nippon Airways (ANA) | 1:1 | 3:1 | |||
| American Airlines | 3:1 | ||||
| Asiana Airlines | 3:1 | ||||
| Avianca | 1:1 | 1:1 | 2:1.5 | 3:1 | |
| British Airways | 1:1 | 1:1 | 3:1 | ||
| Cathay Pacific | 1:1 | 1:1 | 2:1.5 | 3:1 | |
| China Eastern | 3:1 | ||||
| China Southern | 3:1 | ||||
| Copa | 3:1 | ||||
| Delta | 1:1 | 3:1 | |||
| El Al | 1,000:20 | ||||
| Emirates | 1:1 | 1:1 | 1:1 | 2:1 | 3:1 |
| Etihad | 1:1 | 1:1 | 2:1.5 | 3:1 | |
| Flying Blue (Air France & KLM) | 1:1 | 1:1 | 1:1 | 2:1.5 | 3:1 |
| EVA Air | 1:1 | 2:1.5 | |||
| Finnair | 2:1.5 | ||||
| Frontier | 3:1 | ||||
| Hainan Airlines | 2:1.5 | 3:1 | |||
| Hawaiian Airlines | 1:1 | 3:1 | |||
| Iberia | 1:1 | 1:1 | 3:1 | ||
| Japan Airlines (JAL) | 3:1 | ||||
| Jet Airways | 1:1 | 3:1 | |||
| JetBlue | 5:4 | 1:1 | 1:1 | 2:1.5 | 6:1 |
| Korean Air | 3:1 | ||||
| LATAM | 3:1 | ||||
| Lufthansa | |||||
| Malaysia Airlines | 1:1 | ||||
| Qantas | 1:1 | 1:1 | 2:1.5 | 3:1 | |
| Qatar Airways | 1:1 | 2:1.5 | 3:1 | ||
| Saudia | 3:1 | ||||
| Singapore Airlines | 1:1 | 1:1 | 1:1 | 2:1 | 3:1 |
| Southwest | 1:1 | 3:1 | |||
| TAP Portugal | 3:1 | ||||
| Thai Airways | 1:1 | 3:1 | |||
| Turkish Airlines | 1:1 | 3:1 | |||
| United Airlines | 1:1 | 3:1.1 | |||
| Virgin Atlantic | 1:1 | 1:1 | 1:1 | 3:1 | |
| Virgin Australia | 3:1 |
Again, the conversion rate for Marriott points becomes 3:1.25 when you transfer in increments of 60,000. That’s because you will receive a 5,000 mile bonus when transferring 60,000 Marriott points at a time.
Bottom line
If you’re looking for the most flexibility when redeeming points for free travel, you should invest in transferable points. They transfer to dozens of hotel and airline programs, and you don’t need to move them until you’re ready to book a trip.
Transferable points programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards points, Amex Membership Rewards points, and Citi ThankYou points give you lots of options for how to use your points. It’s easy to earn these rewards through credit card spending because most cards in these programs have category bonuses that can get you extra points for every dollar you spend.
Which is your favorite transferable points program? Let us know in the comments below. And subscribe to our newsletter for more miles and points info delivered to your inbox once per day. You’ll be a pro in no time!
Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)
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