Capital One, Citi, Chase, AmEx and Bilt Transfer Bonus History
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If you have a credit card that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards®, American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One, Citi ThankYou or Bilt Rewards points, you hold valuable travel rewards because the points can be transferred to airline and hotel partners. Once transferred, those points can be used to book award flights and hotel nights. The best time to move over those points is when the credit cards run transfer bonuses.
Although most point transfers are at a 1:1 ratio, when there's a transfer bonus, you can get much more out of your points. If you have a redemption in mind and there’s a transfer bonus happening, you could book an award for even less that what it usually costs.
We’ve put together a list of current and past transfer bonuses (since 2017) to give you an idea of which partners offer bonuses most often, and when they happen. Although there’s no way of knowing when the next transfer bonus will be, looking at the transfer bonus history could provide some insight.
AmEx transfer bonus history
American Express Membership Rewards can be transferred to 18 airlines and three hotels.
AmEx has more airline and hotel partners than Chase, Citi and Capital One. In addition, AmEx has typically offered more transfer bonuses than all the other programs. There is no way to predict that this will continue into the future, but AmEx does consistently offer transfer bonuses to its partners.
AmEx transfer partner | Bonus end date and bonus percentage |
---|---|
Aer Lingus Aer Club |
|
Aeromexico Club Premier |
|
Air Canada Aeroplan |
|
Air France-KLM Flying Blue |
|
Avianca LifeMiles |
|
British Airways Executive Club |
|
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles |
|
Choice Privileges |
|
Emirates Skywards |
|
Etihad Guest |
|
Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles |
|
Hilton Honors |
|
Iberia Plus |
|
JetBlue TrueBlue |
|
Marriott Bonvoy |
|
Qantas Frequent Flyer |
|
Qatar Airways Privilege Club |
|
Singapore KrisFlyer |
|
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club |
|
Cards that earn American Express Membership Rewards points
If you’d like to take advantage of these transfer bonuses, you’ll first need to get a credit card that earns AmEx Membership Rewards points. American Express offers numerous personal and business cards, including those without an annual fee that accumulate these valuable points.
Here's a sampling of two personal and two business cards that earn Membership Rewards points.
$695.
$325.
$695.
$0.
• 5 points per $1 on flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel, on up to $500,000 spent per year.
• 5 points per $1 on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel.
• 1 point per $1 on other eligible purchases.
Terms apply.
• 4 points per $1 at restaurants worldwide (on up to $50,000 in purchases per year).
• 4 points per $1 at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 in purchases per year).
• 3 points per $1 on flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel.
• 2 points per $1 on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases made through American Express Travel.
• 1 point per $1 on other eligible purchases.
Terms apply.
• 5 points per $1 on flights and prepaid hotels booked American Express Travel.
• 1.5 points per $1 in key business categories and eligible purchases of $5,000 or more (on up to $2,000,000 in purchases per year).
• 1 point per $1 on other eligible purchases.
Terms apply.
• 2 points per $1 on the first $50,000 in purchases each calendar year.
• 1 point per $1 on purchases above $50,000 in a calendar year.
Terms apply.
Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply.
Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply.
Earn 150,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $20,000 in eligible purchases on the Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply.
Earn 15,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply.
Those who already have some points and are looking for suggestions should be happy knowing that American Express has some excellent transfer partners, including Air France-KLM, ANA, Air Canada and many others.
» Learn more: Which American Express card is right for you?
Chase transfer bonus history
Chase Ultimate Rewards® points can be transferred to 11 airlines and three hotels.
Chase doesn’t offer transfer bonuses very often, and only a few of its programs have participated, with British Airways bonuses offered most frequently.
Chase transfer partner | Bonus end date and bonus percentage |
---|---|
Aer Lingus |
|
Air Canada Aeroplan |
|
Air France-KLM Flying Blue |
|
British Airways Executive Club |
|
Iberia Plus |
|
IHG One Rewards |
|
JetBlue TrueBlue |
|
Marriott Bonvoy |
|
Southwest |
|
Virgin Atlantic |
|
Credit cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points
If you want to start earning Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, you’ll need to get a credit card from Chase that earns these points. There are multiple personal and business cards that earn Ultimate Rewards® points, ranging from cards with no annual fees to those with high fees but lots of travel perks.
Here's a selection of popular Chase cards that earn Ultimate Rewards® points.
$95.
$550.
$0.
$0.
• 5 points per $1 on travel booked through Chase.
• 3 points per $1 on dining (including eligible delivery services and takeout), select streaming services and online grocery purchases (not including Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs).
• 2 points per $1 on other travel.
• 1 point per $1 on other purchases.
Point value in the travel portal: 1.25 cents apiece.
• 10 points per $1 on Chase Dining, hotel stays and car rentals purchased through Chase.
• 5 points per $1 on air travel purchased through Chase.
• 3 points per $1 on other travel and dining not booked with Chase.
• 1 point per $1 on other purchases.
Point value in the travel portal: 1.5 cents apiece.
• In the first year, 6.5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase, 4.5% cash back on drugstores and restaurants, and 3% on all other purchases on up to $20,000 in spending.
• After that, 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase, 3% cash back at drugstores and restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.
Point value in the travel portal: 1 cent apiece.
Point value in Chase travel portal: 1 cent apiece.
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back!
Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
» Learn more: What Is the 'Chase Trifecta'?
Chase has a solid list of airline and hotel partners and is the only one of the four programs that offers transfers to Southwest Airlines and United Airlines.
» Learn more: Best Chase credit cards right now
Citi ThankYou transfer bonus history
Citi ThankYou is partnered with 14 airlines, four hotels and Shop Your Way.
Citi transfer bonuses are offered frequently, particularly to AirFrance-KLM and Avianca.
Citi transfer partner | Bonus end date and bonus percentage |
---|---|
Accor Live Limitless |
|
Air France-KLM Flying Blue |
|
Avianca LifeMiles |
|
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles |
|
Etihad Guest |
|
JetBlue TrueBlue |
|
Qatar Airways Privilege Club |
|
Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles |
|
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club |
|
Wyndham Rewards |
|
Credit cards that earn Citi ThankYou points
Similar to the other programs, if you want to take advantage of Citi’s transfer partners, you’ll need to get a credit card from Citi that earns ThankYou points. Unfortunately, not all ThankYou point earning cards will give access to all the transfer partners, and so you’ll need to evaluate which partners are most important for you.
If you hold the Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card, Citi Rewards+® Card, Citi Double Cash® Card or the Sears Mastercard credit card, you can only transfer your points to Choice Privileges, TrueBlue and Wyndham Rewards.
However, if you have the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card ($95 annual fee) or the Citi Prestige® Card ($495 annual fee), you can take advantage of all the transfer partners. In addition, holders of these two cards can transfer points to Choice and Wyndham at more favorable transfer ratios.
Air France-KLM, Avianca, Singapore Airlines and Turkish Airlines are Citi’s strongest transfer partners, but you’ll need to hold the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card or the Citi Prestige® Card to take advantage of these partnerships.
» Learn more: Best Citi credit cards right now
Capital One transfer bonus history
Capital One has 14 airlines and three hotel transfer partners.
Capital One is the newest program and it used to have terrible transfer rates. However over the last few years, Capital One has significantly invested in the program, and now most partners transfer at a 1:1 ratio.
Capital One transfer partner | Bonus end date and bonus percentage |
---|---|
Accor Live Limitless |
|
Aeromexico Club Premier |
|
Air France-KLM Flying Blue |
|
Avianca LifeMiles |
|
British Airways Executive Club |
|
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles |
|
Emirates Skywards |
|
Etihad Guest |
|
JetBlue TrueBlue |
|
TAP Air Portugal Miles & Go |
|
Virgin Red |
|
Wyndham Rewards |
|
Credit cards that earn Capital One miles
To earn miles with Capital One, you have a choice of four personal credit cards, including two that do not charge an annual fee and two business cards, one of which doesn't charge a fee. Capital One has several good transfer partners so getting one of the no fee cards can be an easy way to start earning miles.
Here's a selection of popular credit cards that earn Capital One miles.
$395.
$95.
$0.
$0 intro for the first year, then $95.
• 10 miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars through Capital One Travel.
• 5 miles per $1 on flights through Capital One Travel.
• 2 miles per $1 on everything else.
• 5 miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
• 2 miles per $1 on all other purchases.
• 5 miles per $1 on hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel.
• 1.25 miles per $1 on all purchases.
• 5 miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars through Capital One Travel.
• 2 miles per $1 on everything else.
Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.
Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.
Earn a bonus of 40,000 miles once you spend $1,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $400 in travel.
Earn a one-time bonus of 50,000 miles – equal to $500 in travel – once you spend $4,500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.
» Learn more: Best Capital One credit cards
Bilt Rewards transfer bonus history
Bilt Rewards is one of the newer rewards programs out there and can be a valuable program for those who want to pay rent using a credit card. Bilt Rewards points can be transferred to 14 airlines and three hotels.
In its short time-span, Bilt has offered several transfer bonuses. The best value though can come from Bilt's runs "rent day" promotions, which offer high transfer bonuses for just one day. For example, on May 1, 2023, Bilt offered a 100% transfer bonus to Air-France KLM Flying Blue. If you collect Bilt Rewards points, check the app on the first of every month for any transfer bonuses.
Bilt Rewards transfer partner | Bonus end date and bonus percentage |
---|---|
Air Canada Aeroplan |
|
Air France-KLM Flying Blue |
|
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles |
|
Emirates Skywards |
|
Hawaiian Airlines |
|
IHG One Rewards |
|
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club |
|
Credit cards that earn Bilt Rewards
Although you don't need to have a credit card with Bilt to earn Bilt points, you can maximize the points you earn by holding the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card. Although the card doesn't offer a welcome bonus, there is no annual fee, and it is truly the only way to earn points for paying your rent.
» Learn more: The guide to Bilt transfer partners
Final thoughts on the transfer bonus history of Capital One, Citi, Chase, AmEx and Bilt
Although it's impossible to predict when a transfer bonus will be announced or how long it will last, looking over the bonus history of these four transferable point programs can offer some guidance.
How to maximize your rewards
You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are some of the best travel credit cards of 2024:
Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
No annual fee: Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card
Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®
Luxury perks: The Platinum Card® from American Express
Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card