Limited Time: AMEX Membership Rewards 30% Airline Transfer Bonus

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Via IAD Gr8 on Twitter, you can get a 30% bonus when you transfer AMEX Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic through November 30, 2017.

I’ll share the details of this offer.  And help you decide whether it’s worth it for you!

Earn 30% Bonus Virgin Atlantic Miles

Link:   AMEX Membership Rewards 30% Bonus on Transfers to Virgin Atlantic

Through November 30, 2017, you’ll earn 30% more miles when you transfer your AMEX Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic.  So you’ll get an extra 300 Virgin Atlantic miles for every 1,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points you transfer.

You can earn AMEX Membership Rewards points with cards like The Business Platinum® Card from American Express, Premier Rewards Gold, personal Platinum card, and more!

Is This Deal Worth It?

Link:   Virgin Atlantic Award Chart

Usually, I do NOT recommend transferring AMEX Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic unless you have a specific award trip in mind.  Because you’ll pay high fuel surcharges on Virgin Atlantic award tickets, including many partner award tickets.

Plus, it’s usually NOT worth booking Virgin Atlantic coach award tickets, because the taxes and fees are often close to the cost of a paid flight!

That said, it could make sense under certain circumstances.

For example, you can book Delta award flights with Virgin Atlantic miles with no fuel surcharges (excluding flight originating in Europe).  And you can fly round-trip from the mainland US to Hawaii for just 40,000 Virgin Atlantic miles.

Or if you want to fly First Class to Europe!

A one-way First Class ticket from New York (JFK) to London costs 47,500 Virgin Atlantic miles plus ~$502 in taxes and fees.

With this 30% bonus offer, you could transfer 37,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic miles and have more than enough for this award ticket (37,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points + 11,100 mile bonus = 48,100 Virgin Atlantic miles).

That’s not a bad deal, because airlines like American Airlines charge 57,500 miles plus taxes and fees for a one-way Business Class ticket to Europe.  And you’ll pay high fuel surcharges if you redeem American Airlines miles for flights on British Airways. And don’t forget, you could transfer AMEX Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic and use them for award flights on partner Hawaiian Airlines, without paying fuel surcharges.  Or transfer your Virgin Atlantic miles to Hilton at a 2:3 ratio, and save money using your points for otherwise expensive hotel stays.

Bottom Line

You’ll earn a 30% bonus when you transfer AMEX Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic through November 30, 2017.

But I don’t recommend transferring AMEX Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic unless you have a specific trip in mind.  Because they add big fuel surcharges to their own (and many partner!) flights.