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If you’re like me, chasing every bonus offer you can find, you may end up with a digital wallet full of loose change: 4,000 Ultimate Rewards here, 6,500 Capital One miles there, a stray 9,000 Avios in a forgotten account. Individually, those scraps barely buy a short hop, but pulled together, they can unlock a bucket‑list trip.
The goal of this guide is to show you how to corral those orphaned balances into one place and put them to work for the getaway you actually want. We'll go over several transferable points programs and discuss how to consolidate points to book an award ticket with the most popular airline programs.
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Overview of Transferable Points Programs
Transferable points are the easiest way to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to award travel. And there are numerous rewards programs that you can use to make it happen. Let's take a look at each of them.
American Express Membership Rewards
American Express Membership Rewards are a fan-favorite for many reasons. First, they're flexible points that can be transferred to 17 different airline partners and three hotel partners. It's also easy to earn Membership Rewards through a variety of cards.
Plus, you can boost your rewards through your regular spending by going through the Rakuten shopping portal and cashing out your earnings as Membership Rewards.
(Terms apply)
- 4X Membership Rewards® Points at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S. (on up to $50,000 per year in purchases, then 1X)
- 4X Membership Rewards® points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per year in purchases, then 1X)
- 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com
- 2X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid hotels and other eligible travel booked on amextravel.com
- 1X on other eligible purchases
(Terms apply)
- Earn 5X points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel® (up to $500,000 in purchases per calendar year).
- Earn 5X points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel®.
(Terms Apply)
- Earn 2X points on everyday business purchases such as office supplies or client dinners. 2X applies to the first $50,000 in purchases per year, 1 point per dollar thereafter. Terms and limitations apply.
Barclaycard
Often overlooked because these transfers are available on just one card and the fact that card isn't available to new applicants, it's worth mentioning transfers from the Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard®. Transfer ratios vary, but the eight airline transfer partners include several programs that receive points from nearly every rewards currency on this list, as well as unique partners like InterMiles and Japan Airlines.
Bilt Rewards
Bilt Rewards Points are earned through a variety of activities, including paying your rent through the Bilt program (up to 100,000 points in a calendar year)> and Rent Day promotions on the first of each month. While it's possible to earn Bilt Points without it, earning opportunities are greatly increased if you have The Bilt Mastercard® (Rates & Fees).
Bilt Points transfer to 16 airline and five hotel programs.
- 3x points on dining
- 2x points on travel
- 1x points on rent payments without the transaction fee (up to 100,000 points each calendar year)
- 1x points on other purchases
- *You must use the card 5 times each statement period to earn points—see Rewards & Benefits.
Brex Rewards
Limited to businesses that qualify for the Brex Cash and Card, Brex Rewards points can be transferred to seven transfer partners. Earning opportunities are tied to one card and promotions for cardholders, and the program is further complicated a March 2023 devaluation, where 1:1 transfers changed to 3:2 overnight.
Capital One Miles
Capital One miles are arguably the simplest points to earn, with a basic earning structure for each card and no complicated bonus categories to keep track of. This makes it easy for people who don't want to think too hard about earning a lot of credit card rewards.
There are multiple personal and business cards that earn Capital One miles. Once you have miles, you can utilize the 16 airline programs and three hotel programs that are Capital One transfer partners.
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases
- 10X miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles per $1 on flights when booking via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on vacation rentals booked via Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per $1 on all other eligible purchases
- 2X miles per dollar on every purchase, everywhere, no limits or category restrictions
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
Chase Ultimate Rewards
Chase Ultimate Rewards are often referred to as the most beginner-friendly points, with many people describing the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees) as the best beginner travel card.
Ultimate Rewards are some of the most valuable transferable points that exist. There are numerous valuable uses, including the Chase Travel℠ portal and the 11 airline and three hotel Chase transfer partners. Plus, earning points is easy with multiple personal and business cards that earn Ultimate Rewards.
- 5X points on Lyft rides through September 2027
- 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3X points on dining at restaurants worldwide
- 3X points on eligible streaming services
- 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
- 2X points on all other travel
- 1X point per dollar spent on all other purchases
- 8x points on all purchases through Chase Travel℠
- 4x points on flights and hotels booked directly
- 3x points on dining worldwide
- 1x points on all other purchases
- 8X points on all Chase Travel℠ purchases
- 5X total points on eligible Lyft rides through 9/30/2027
- 4x points on flights and hotels booked directly
- 3x points on advertising purchases made with social media platforms and search engines
- 1 point per dollar on all other eligible purchases
Citi ThankYou® Rewards
Citi ThankYou® Points may be one of the least-talked-about transferrable rewards program, but that doesn't mean that you can't get great value from these points, especially with the recent addition of the American Airlines AAdvantage program as a transfer partner.
You can transfer points to the 15 airline and five hotel Citi ThankYou transfer partners — and there's a handful of cards that earn these valuable points.
- 5X – Earn 5 ThankYou® Points for each $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals and Attractions booked on Citi Travel℠ via cititravel.com
- 3X – Earn 3 ThankYou® Points for each $1 spent in an eligible Self-Select Category of your choice (Fitness Clubs, Select Streaming Services, Live Entertainment, Cosmetic Stores/Barber Shops/Hair Salons, or Pet Supply Stores). Choose your eligible Self-Select Category on Citi Online or by calling customer service. The default Self-Select Category is Select Streaming Services.
- 3X – Earn 3 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent at Supermarkets
- 3X – Earn 3 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on Select Transit purchases
- 3X – Earn 3 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent at Gas and EV Charging Stations
- 2X – Earn 2 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent at Restaurants
- 1X – Earn 1 ThankYou® Point per $1 spent on All Other Purchases
- 10X on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked through CitiTravel.com
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel and Other Hotel Purchases
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Restaurants
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Supermarkets
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Gas and EV Charging Stations
- 1X – Earn 1 Point per $1 spent on All Other Purchases
- 12X – Earn 12 Points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com.
- 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com.
- 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services on CitiNights℠ purchases, every Friday and Saturday from 6 PM to 6 AM ET. Earn 3 Points per $1 spent any other time.
- 1.5X – Earn 1.5 Points per $1 spent on All Other Purchases.
Marriott Bonvoy
You might be familiar with Marriott Bonvoy® as a hotel program, but did you know there are nearly 40 Marriott Bonvoy airline partners? Points transfer at a 3:1 ratio for most airlines, plus you'll (generally) receive a 5,000-mile bonus when transferring at least 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points at one time. Marriott offers co-branded cards with both Chase and Amex, so you have multiple options for stocking up on points.
- Earn 6X Bonvoy points per $1 spent participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels, 3X points per $1 on the first $6,000 spent in combined purchases each year on grocery stores, gas stations, and dining, and 2X points per $1 on all other purchases
- Earn 3 Marriott Bonvoy® points for every $1 on the first $6,000 spent in combined purchases each year on gas stations, grocery stores, and dining
- Earn 2X Bonvoy points for every $1 spent on all other purchases
(Terms Apply)
- 6X points on purchases at Marriott Properties
- 3X points at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery
- 3X points on flights booked directly with airlines
- 2X points on all other eligible purchases
(Terms apply)
- 6x Marriott Bonvoy® points on each dollar of eligible purchases at hotels participating in the Marriott Bonvoy® program.
- 4x Marriott Bonvoy® points on each dollar of eligible purchases made at restaurants worldwide, at U.S. gas stations, on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers and on U.S. purchases for shipping
- 2x Marriott Bonvoy® points per dollar on all other eligible purchases
The Best Programs to Consolidate Transferable Points for an Award Ticket
Each of the programs below allows for points to be collected from at least four of the transferable points programs listed above. Let's look at your options, starting with those that receive points from the most programs.
Air France–KLM Flying Blue
Flying Blue is the award program for both Air France and KLM, and is one of four award programs that allow you to combine points from several of the major transferable points programs that we mentioned above and it also accepts transfers several lesser-known programs.
This accessibility opens up many options for gathering points needed to book an award flight. Not only is it easy to gather points, but Flying Blue is one of our favorite award programs because you can find some incredible sweet spots, like 60,000-mile business-class tickets between the U.S. and Europe.
Flying Blue also releases monthly Promo Rewards with flights for 25% off. And one more reason we love Flying Blue is that it's a great option for families since award tickets for kids ages 2–11 are 25% off.
Etihad Guest
One widely accessible program from the Middle East is Abu Dhabi-based Etihad. The Etihad Guest program had several incredible sweet spots before the award charts were altered in early 2023. Unfortunately, most awards went up in cost, and the airline has since instituted a draconian award cancellation policy.
But the silver lining is short American Airlines flights in the U.S. that price as low as 6,000 miles per person in economy. So, this is a good program to use when you have a few odd-and-end miles in programs and need to scrounge for an award ticket, provided your plans are pretty much set in stone.
Iberia Plus
Avios are the points currency for a handful of different award programs: Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Club, Iberia Plus, and Qatar Airways Privilege Club. Our favorite redemptions with Iberia include business class to/from Spain for as low as 40,500 miles in business from the East Coast.
This remains a great deal, even though the program increased redemption rates in May of 2025. You'll need to fly on off-peak dates to get these fantastic prices, but Iberia publishes a calendar of those dates here.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Singapore Airlines is part of the Star Alliance network, meaning multiple airline partners exist for booking Singapore Airlines flights. However, KrisFlyer miles provide two advantages. First, Singapore provides extra seats for redemptions in its own program. Second, you can't book Singapore's famous first-class suites from partner programs. You'll need a stash of KrisFlyer miles if you’re looking to experience Singapore Suites.
Thankfully, you can transfer points from all five major points programs to build up your stash. However, you should note that KrisFlyer has announced award rate increases effective November 1, 2025.
So, now's the time to take advantage of current sweet spots like round-trip flights in economy from the U.S. to Hawaii for just 39,000 miles or East Coast to Europe in business class for 81,000 miles each way, as these prices will increase by roughly 10%.
Air Canada Aeroplan
One of the most popular ways to use Air Canada Aeroplan points is to book a partner flight. Air Canada is part of Star Alliance, but you can book much more than just those airlines; in fact, you can book 40+ airlines with Aeroplan points.
What makes this a great option is that Air Canada doesn't pass along many of the surcharges that other carriers do, so you won't be stuck with a high cash copay on your award ticket. Additionally, Air Canada lets you pool points with up to seven other people, meaning you can easily build a hefty stash.
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific has reduced its global footprint over the past few years; however, its award program retains its worldwide reach thanks to its Oneworld alliance partners. Cathay Pacific prices award flights based on distance, which means there are some great sweet spots to be had, even though some of our favorites were lost with a change to award charts in October 2023 and another devaluation in early 2025.
Those of us who live on the West Coast, or are willing to take a positioning flight to get there, can fly on a partner airline to Tokyo for 27,000 miles in economy or 63,000 in business. Around-the-world bookings can also present fantastic value when using your Asia Miles.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Like Flying Blue and Singapore, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a transfer partner for all major programs. There are a few Virgin Atlantic sweet spots to be found, namely with partner airlines like Delta and Aeromexico, as well as a much-heralded option for booking ANA business- and first-class flights.
Virgin Atlantic now uses dynamic pricing so prices will vary depending on demand. It's worth noting that surcharges can be quite high when booking an award ticket through Virgin Atlantic, so consider that when planning a trip.
Avianca LifeMiles
Avianca may not be an airline that you have flown. However, points enthusiasts may have heard of the numerous sweet spots available with LifeMiles. Examples include flying from the U.S. to Europe in business class for as low as 69,000 LifeMiles on some Star Alliance partners like SWISS. Even better, just like Air Canada, Avianca also does not pass along surcharges, so award tickets are that much more valuable.
British Airways Club
British Airways is another program using Avios as a rewards currency. With multiple airline partners, BA makes it easy to find flights to just about anywhere in the world.
What makes British Airways' award flights even more valuable is their distance-based pricing. Short-haul partner flights for as low as 12,000 can be a good deal, especially when domestic ticket prices are high. And the ability to load up on Avios through numerous partners makes these awards even more accessible.
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Qatar Airways Privilege Club is another Avios program, and it unlocks the coveted Qsuite for long-haul travel. Business class from the U.S. East Coast to Doha can be booked from 70,000 Avios one way. You can now transfer points into Privilege Club from Amex, Citi, Capital One, and Bilt. This makes it easy to build a balance for these awards.
Aer Lingus AerClub
The last Avios program on our list, Aer Lingus, becomes useful when taking advantage of the East Coast to Europe sweet spot. Off-peak award tickets cost just 13,000 Avios each way in economy. This applies to Aer Lingus flights only, however. The other Avios programs are more useful on nearly every route beyond this.
Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
While many airlines have ditched award charts in favor of dynamic pricing, Turkish Airlines, thankfully, has not. This has left space for some great sweet spots in Miles & Smiles. These come mostly from Star Alliance partner redemptions. That means you'll book through Turkish but fly on one of its many partners.
Most notably, Turkish prices award flights within the U.S. at just 10,000 miles one-way, no matter your starting and ending destinations. This means that you could fly from the East Coast all the way to Hawaii for just 10,000 miles each way on United Airlines.
It's worth noting, though, that it can be difficult to find availability on these popular routes. And you'll pay just 15,000 miles per person in business class each way. But again, these can be difficult redemptions to find.
Avios Offers Even More Flexibility
Avios programs have a unique feature. Once your accounts are set up in the same name and linked, you can move Avios balances between the airlines. This allows you to transfer bank points into whichever Avios partner your card issuer supports. Then you can shift those Avios to the program that offers the better deal for the award you want.
For example, send Amex points to Iberia, Citi points to Qatar, and Bilt Points to British Airways. Move everything to Qatar to book Qsuite or back to Iberia for lower-surcharge business class to Europe. A caveat is that Finnair, the newest Avios program, is only transferable, for now, to British Airways. Of course, from there, they can be moved to any other airline in the program.
Always link accounts in advance and confirm award space before you transfer. Remember that each Avios program uses its own award chart and adds its own taxes and fees — though there are still some similarities between them.
Bottom Line
As you can see, there are many ways to consolidate points and miles to book an award ticket. Not only can you combine points from some or all of the transferable points programs, but many airlines participate in alliances or partnerships with each other. This means that you can find a program that works best for you and the points you have available.
Additionally, some programs allow you to pool points and miles with your friends and family. This provides even more options for adding your miles together for an upcoming flight.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: American Express® Gold Card (Rates & Fees), The Platinum Card® from American Express (Rates & Fees), The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (Rates & Fees), Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees), Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees), Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ (Rates & Fees), Citi Strata℠ Card (Rates & Fees), Citi Strata Premier® Card (Rates & Fees), Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (Rates & Fees), Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees), and Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees)
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