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Mesa has recently entered the points and miles space with a new credit card offering targeting homeowners looking to earn rewards on what's often their biggest expense. With the Mesa Homeowners Card, you can earn transferable points on monthly mortgage payments. You can then send those points to Mesa's airline and hotel partners to book travel.
Here is everything you need to know about Mesa's transfer partners, from where you can send your Mesa Points to which programs offer the most value.
Mesa Transfer Partners
Mesa Points transfer to nine airline programs and one hotel program — Accor Live Limitless (ALL). All of the airlines transfer at a 1:1 ratio, while Accor ALL transfers at 3:2. Each partner transfers in 1,000-point increments.
There are some interesting partners here. Stalwarts like Air Canada Aeroplan and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles offer familiar names, while programs like Air India Maharaja Club and Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus may not be on travelers' radars. We will look at all the partners and where you can get the best — or most unique — value for your Mesa Points.
Best Value Mesa Transfer Partners
Air Canada Aeroplan
This program is a favorite in the award travel space, thanks to Air Canada's nearly 50 airline partners and fixed award charts that make redeeming miles here both easy and valuable. That puts it top-of-mind when considering where to transfer Mesa points.
For example, flying Star Alliance partners like SWISS to Europe for 60,000 points in business class is about as good as it gets.
Even though Air Canada has moved to dynamic pricing on select partners including United Airlines, there are still great uses of Aeroplan miles for United domestic flights. This San Francisco (SFO) to Cleveland (CLE) economy flight is only 15,000 miles when booked through Aeroplan.
Air India Maharaja Club
Air India Maharaja Club doesn't partner with any of major transferrable points programs, which makes Mesa Points unique. As a member of Star Alliance, Air India is one of the cheapest ways to book domestic United flights. This New York (EWR) to Chicago (ORD) flight comes in at only 5,500 miles.
You can visit Air India's calculator here to get a feel for what other routes would cost. Even a transcontinental flight from New York (EWR) to Los Angeles (LAX) would only be 13,500 miles.
Booking flights on Air India metal would be another good use of Mesa Points. This nine-hour Bombay (BOM) to Singapore (SIN) flight would be 18,000 miles in economy, 34,000 in premium economy, and 50,000 miles in business class.
SAS EuroBonus
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) operates from three European hubs — Oslo (OSL), Copenhagen (CPH), and Stockholm (ARN) — to destinations around the globe. Mesa is the only flexible points currency that transfers directly to SAS, so their EuroBonus loyalty program may not be familiar to most travelers. However, we can unearth some good value with this program, not only on flights to Europe, but flying partner airlines as well.
Business class flights to from the U.S. to Scandinavian countries start at 50,000 SAS EuroBonus points each way, plus $5.60 in taxes and fees. A flight like this one from Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) to Copenhagen (CPH) can be an outstanding use of Mesa Points.
You can fly SAS throughout Europe as well, visiting hard-to-get-to locations like Greenland and the Faroe Islands. This flight from Copenhagen to the Faroe Islands (FAE) is only 5,000 points each way in economy.
SAS joined the SkyTeam airline alliance in 2024, so now there are opportunities to book airlines like Delta through SAS. You can find SAS's complete partner award chart here, but domestic U.S. Delta flights start at 12,500 points each way. This New York (JFK) to Denver (DEN) flights costs 15,000 points and about $65.
Delta prices flights dynamically, so you never truly know what they will charge without checking. Booking through SAS could save you a ton of miles compared to booking with Delta.
Good Value Mesa Transfer Partners
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
Cathay Pacific has undergone several devaluations is the past few years, but there are still some good uses of Asia Miles. Flying to Hong Kong from the Western U.S. can be found for 88,000 miles in business class. This can be an ideal way to get to Asia.
Cathay is also one of the few programs still offering around-the-world tickets. Travelers can splice together routings that are priced based on the total distance flown. The chart below shows the mileage cost in the various classes and distance bands. Putting together an epic, jet-setting trip around the globe would be a unique way to use your Mesa Points.
| Distance in miles | Economy | Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1,000 | 30,000 | 60,000 | 75,000 |
| 1,001–1,500 | 35,000 | 65,000 | 85,000 |
| 1,501–2,000 | 40,000 | 70,000 | 95,000 |
| 2,001–4,000 | 45,000 | 80,000 | 110,000 |
| 4,001–7,500 | 63,000 | 100,000 | 150,000 |
| 7,501–9,000 | 68,000 | 120,000 | 165,000 |
| 9,001–10,000 | 77,000 | 135,000 | 175,000 |
| 10,001–14,000 | 95,000 | 170,000 | 250,000 |
| 14,001–18,000 | 105,000 | 210,000 | 310,000 |
| 18,001–20,000 | 115,000 | 230,000 | 330,000 |
| 20,001–25,000 | 126,000 | 250,000 | 350,000 |
| 25,001–35,000 | 140,000 | 265,000 | 365,000 |
| 35,001–50,000 | 160,000 | 280,000 | 380,000 |
You can also book partner airlines such as Japan Airlines (JAL) through. Cathay has the advantage of booking awards 360 days out — longer than many other programs — which gives you the chance to grab hard-to-find awards to Japan before other airlines open up their booking window. For example, this Chicago (ORD) to Tokyo (HND) business class flight would cost 89,000 Asia miles and $147 in fees.
Finnair Plus
Finnair has recently adopted Avios as their mileage currency, making their award flights more accessible thanks to the ability to transfer Avios between its programs. Having Finnair Plus as a transfer partner opens up the opportunity to use Mesa Points to book flights through any of the other Avios-earning airlines, even if they're not a direct transfer partner.
Mesa joins Capital One miles as the only direct transfer partners to Finnair Plus. Finnair has published award charts for flights not only on their own planes but on partners like American and Alaska. There are some excellent Finnair sweet spots to be found among these award charts.
The award chart for Finnair-operated flights shows U.S. to Helsinki flights starting at 62,500 Avios in business class, which is a solid deal. This Dallas (DFW) to Helsinki (HEL) flight fits the bill.
Likewise, an 11.5-hour business class trip from Helsinki to Bangkok (BKK) is the same 62,500 Avios and a reasonable $140 in fees.
U.S. domestic flights on Alaska Airlines start at 11,000 Avios while American Airlines flights start at 16,500 Avios. U.S. to the Caribbean flights start at 15,000 Avios via Finnair Plus. These can be decent uses of Mesa Points, especially if you don't have access to miles through those other programs. The downside is that Alaska and American awards require a call to Finnair in order to book.
Accor Live Limitless (ALL)
Mesa's only hotel partner, Accor Live Limitless (ALL), has more than 5,700 hotels around the world. Accor is most prevalent in Europe, with only a small number of properties in North America. Nevertheless, transferring your Mesa Points to ALL can yield a decent return.
Accor points have a fixed 2 euro-cent value, or 2.3 U.S. cents. Because Mesa transfers to ALL at 3:2, 1 Mesa point is worth approximately 1.33 euro cents, or about 1.55 U.S. cents. A 1.55 cents per point redemption is pretty decent, thus landing this program on the list of Mesa transfer partners that offer good value for your points.
The beauty of Accor's loyalty program is its simplicity. You can use points to erase purchases at that fixed rate upon checkout, including food and incidental charges. That makes it a good redemption when looking to save on hotel bookings where Accor has a presence. For example, a $200 hotel charge would cost about 13,000 Mesa Points.
Least Valuable Mesa Transfer Partners
Aeromexico Rewards
Aeromexico is a SkyTeam partner and has been useful in the past, but recent devaluations as well as a difficult-to-navigate website send this program toward the bottom of our list. Having said that, you can find award flights from the U.S. to Mexico starting at 18,000 miles in economy and 36,000 in business class.
You could also fly from Mexico to destinations in South America like Santiago, Chile (SCL) for 100,000 Aeromexico miles and under $100 in fees in business class. This is an okay deal to South America, where flight options can be scarce.
Aeromexico is worth looking at as a way to use your Mesa Points if you have travel to or from Mexico. However, if you have American Express Membership Rewards, you'd be better off transferring those to Aeromexico at a 1:1.6 instead of Mesa's 1:1 ratio, if possible.
Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club
China-based Hainan Airlines flies extensively throughout China and also serves a number of international destinations. They fly to Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, and Boston in North America. They are not part of a global alliance but do have partnerships with airlines such as Alaska and Etihad, to name a couple.
There is not a ton of value in booking through Fortune Wings, but we will share a couple of examples. You can view Hainan's award flight calculator here, which will show you the miles you can expect to pay for various flights.
Flying from Beijing (PEK) to Boston (BOS) on Hainan Airlines would cost 110,000 miles in business class — slightly discounted to 200,000 miles round-trip.
You could also book short-haul flights on partner Alaska Airlines starting at 5,000 miles one-way in economy — such as this Portland (PDX) to Vancouver (YVR) route.
These redemptions are quite niche. Hainan's difficult-to-navigate website and strict cancellation policy also make this a program that likely won't be the best option.
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
Thai Airways has a somewhat complicated award program. They have multiple award charts for flying to and within Thailand and also on partner airlines. You can see their award charts here (caution: PDF link). Award availability through Thai Airways is notoriously hard to find and the taxes and fees are typically high. Plus, many price increases over the years have made the program less attractive. But you can find flights around Asia, such as Bangkok (BKK) to Tokyo (HND), for 47,500 miles in Thai Airways' Royal Silk business class.
A modest 65,000 miles can get you from Thailand to Sydney (SYD) in business class.
Vietnam Airlines LotusMiles
Vietnam Airlines is another carrier without a major transferrable points partner, so Mesa Points is one of the few ways to get LotusMiles. Vietnam is a member of SkyTeam alliance, so you can use their miles to book Vietnam flights as well as partners like Delta and Korean Air.
Vietnam's award chart shows intra-Vietnam flights starting at 7,000 miles each way on “regular” dates.
Flights to and from the U.S. start at 50,000 miles in economy and 110,000 miles in business class.
You can view Vietnam Airlines' award chart here (caution: PDF link) for flying their own routes as well as their SkyTeam partner award chart (caution: PDF link).
How to Earn Mesa Points
There are two primary ways to earn Mesa Points. First, if you close a mortgage through Mesa Mortgage, you can earn one point per dollar on the principal amount of the loan.
More commonly, points can be earned as follows with the Mesa Homeowners Card.
- 3X Mesa Points on home and family expenses — home improvement, decor, maintenance, utilities, and daycare.
- 2X Mesa Points on everyday purchases — groceries, gas, EV charging, and more.
- 1X Mesa Points on all other eligible purchases.
- 1X Mesa Points on all monthly mortgage payments.
In addition to the unique mortgage earning opportunity, bonus categories like contractors and daycare are ways to rapidly generate points in categories that we don't typically see 3x earnings on.
Bottom Line
While Mesa Rewards is new to the award travel party, their ability to earn points on mortgage payments is a game-changer. With 10 airlines and hotels to choose from, Mesa Points can be extremely valuable.
Whether redeeming with Air Canada and their many partners airlines or programs like SAS Eurobonus and Thai Royal Orchid Plus, options are plenty. Plus, having access to new programs like Vietnam LotusMiles or Air India Maharaja Club — where Mesa is one of the only transfer partners — makes these points all the more unique and worth earning.
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