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Chase is at it again, announcing yet another lucrative transfer bonus for Ultimate Rewards points. This time, Ultimate Rewards point collectors will get a 30% transfer bonus when transferring points to British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, or Aer Lingus AerClub Avios. But hurry, this bonus only lasts through December 9, 2020.
30% Avios Transfer Bonus Key Terms
- Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to British Airways, Iberia, or Aer Lingus and receive 30% bonus Avios.
- This bonus is available on points transfers through 11:59PM ET on December 9, 2020.
- Transfers between Chase Ultimate Rewards and British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus Avios are typically instant.
- Must transfer points in increments of 1,000 with a minimum transfer of 1,000 points.
It appears that the bonus is not hardcoded on Chase's end of the transfer. That means that although you'll see the bonus clearly listed as you're preparing the conversion (like the screenshot below), Chase doesn't process the bonus itself. Instead, the target loyalty program (British, Iberia, or Aer Lingus) issues the bonus Avios on their end. So, once you've transferred points, you'll see a separate transaction depositing the 30% bonus.
Best Ways to Leverage 30% Bonus Avios
Put plainly, a 30% transfer bonus is significant. Depending on the circumstances, it can save you a considerable amount of points for your travels.
Of your three choices, the two most valuable transfer partners are certainly British Airways and Iberia. Both belong to Oneworld and utilize the Avios currency. However, their respective programs have entirely different sweet spots.
Transfer to British Airways Executive Club
British Airways utilizes a distance-based award chart that (unfortunately) prices each segment individually. Moreover, the airline is famous for levying sky-high carrier-imposed surcharges for redemptions on British Airways metal to/from/via London. That means that long-haul, multi-segment itineraries aren't worth pursuing. They cost far too many points and out-of-pocket cash for the value.
Consequently, the ‘sweet spot' for British Airways' Executive Club program tends to be with short-haul, one-segment itineraries—particularly on partner aircraft.
We've written before about how valuable British Airways Avios can be for booking short award flights on AA. But more specifically, one of my favorite ways to redeem Avios is for flights between the West Coast of the U.S. and Hawaii.
The standard award rate from Los Angeles (LAX) to Honolulu (HNL) is 13,000 Avios each way — or 26,000 Avios round trip. However, with a 30% transfer bonus, this round trip itinerary to Hawaii could be yours for as few as 10,000 Ultimate Rewards points each way!
Transfer to Iberia Plus
Contrary to British Airways, Iberia Plus utilizes a distance-based award chart based on the total distance traveled. Plus, Iberia charges far more reasonable surcharges on award redemptions comparatively.
This means that with Iberia, the best redemption is often found when booking short/medium-haul itineraries with partners or on Iberia itself, including those that require multiple segments.
Perhaps one of Iberia's greatest sweet spots is with off-peak awards in Iberia business class. This is particularly lucrative for awards from the Midwest/East Coast of the U.S. to Iberia's hub in Madrid.
An off-peak award in Iberia business class from Chicago (ORD) to Madrid (MAD) costs just 34,000 Avios. However, utilizing Chase's 30% transfer bonus, you could book this eight-hour business class flight for only 27,000 Ultimate Rewards points! That's less expensive than what many programs charge for the same itinerary in economy!
Bottom Line
Chase has announced a new, 30% transfer bonus for transfers to Avios through December 9, 2020. Until this year, Chase lagged behind as the major flexibly award currency that historically offered the fewest transfer bonuses. Now, that seems to be changing. It's encouraging to see Chase picking up the pace.
Interestingly, this latest transfer bonus matches the first transfer bonus we saw Chase offer for Ultimate Rewards points in 2019. However, that bonus was limited to British Airways Executive Club. Experienced award travelers probably know that it's possible to transfer Avios between BA, Iberia, and Aer Lingus anyway (provided you meet certain criteria). However, the inclusion of Iberia and Aer Lingus in this promotion means one less step.
A 30% bonus is significant enough to make previously out-of-reach redemptions fall within your budget. If you need to book any upcoming travel, be sure to check the award rates with any of these partners first.
Will you take advantage of Chase's 30% transfer bonus to British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus?
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Avios going strong these days. Several companies offer transfer bonuses at the same time too.
My avios account will reach its expiration date in a few months. Does transfering from Chase reset the avios expiration clock?
Yes it should! Here’s our guide on what activity qualifies for extending British Airways Avios expiration: https://awardwallet.com/blog/british-airways-avios-expire/
Finally a transfer bonus I can actually use. I do often transfer to BA Although right now it’s hard to take advantage of it with the UK in lockdown.
Wow, 30% is great especially for BA.
I think it is safe to travel to the UK in the summer of 2021, so this offer might be of useful to a few out there.
I believe that it is the much more attractive offer for many than the latest Avianca one.
Why does Chase seem to be having alot of offers lately? Thats all i get in the mail. Why cant Citi come thru?
Why do you not compare Iberia Avios awards to identical BA Avios awards? Or vise-versa. ie: If BA charges 13K CA to HI on American, how much does Iberia charge? If Iberia charges 34K NYC to Madrid in Biz, how much does BA charge?
I assume you mean they are the same distance chart with just the (great) advantage with Iberia that they charge for total distance and not segments.
Aer Lingus is not Avios-transferable from BA or Iberia as far as my experiences. Iberia is but Iberia is often a nightmare to deal with.
Aer Lingus Avios can be transferred to/from by setting up an account on Avios.com. I’ve used this method to clear out orphaned Aer Lingus Avios – and transfer points back-and-forth for an example in a post.
I’m curious why you think we should list the award price for the other program when pointing out BA/IB sweet spots. Since Avios can be transferred between programs, we are just focusing on the best uses!
I’ve never been able to transfer to or from Aer Lingus through Avios.com from BA and several people told me it wasn’t possible to do so with BA or IB Avios. IAG really needs to fix that kink. And twice I’ve transferred to IB from BA I’ve had to spend an hour signing into IB because they constantly want new passwords. IB has the worst website I know for user-friendliness (when it’s working).
13K to Hawaii from the west coast or 34K J to Europe from the east means more if an example of the “normal” airline cost is given. And comparing these 3 is part of the story but no comparison is given. And for sweet spots, it really depends on if where you live has nonstops on these. Those of us in WAS/NYC/BOS love the cheap off-peaks one-way to LHR on BA (and Virgin).
I routinely transfer my AmEx rewards to BA when their 40% bonus comes and it would be nice to easily transfer them to IB or Aer Lingus.
Agreed that Iberia’s website is buggy as heck. I log into it at least once a week for my round of news checks, and I hate it every time.
Understood what you’re saying on the comparison. I can definitely see the value, but I’d rather compare the price to other programs that readers would be more familiar with like AA, United, or Delta.