Why You Should Master Some Credit Card Transfer Partners

I am a big fan of transferable rewards through credit cards. I like the flexibility to be able to choose how to redeem my point of view or mileage in several airline and hotel loyalty programs. Plus, I can really maximize my travel rewards when I think about weird transfer bonuses.

I currently collect Chase Ultimate Rewards Points, American Express Membership Rewards Points, Mile and Citi Thank You Points, and I hope to keep four balances. This means I have access to dozens of transfer partners.

You might assume that someone who writes full-time about earning and redemption points and miles will use every transfer option available and have an endless loyalty account.

But it’s my secret: I’ve never transferred my credit card points to half of my available transfer partners, and I probably never will.

This is my transfer partner strategy and why I only invest in some shows as points and miles enthusiasts.

I don’t use every credit card transfer partner, it’s OK

While credit card transfer bonuses may be the difference between good redemption and good redemption, I don’t use everyone’s capital. Of course, I could transfer the rewards to Etihad’s guests, Emirates and Air Mexico’s rewards, but it was great that I found myself not actively using these programs.

For me, I found that some programs don’t provide good redemption, or the transfer ratio is not 1:1. Often, I usually end up utilizing a handful of transfer partners because these programs are easy to understand and they provide me with great value.

However, the transfer partner I chose may not be the one that is suitable for you. If you are overwhelmed by the available transfer partner options, you can choose some options that suit your choice.

Related: How (and Why) You Should Earn Transferable Credit Card Points in 2025

Airline loyalty program based on which airport you fly from

A great starting point is to choose an airline’s loyalty program based on your home airport. If the airline operates most flights from that airport, it makes sense to choose the airline’s loyalty program or partner airline program, which will make you cash in on the rewards.

For example, if I want to book a flight with a US Airlines, neither my transferable point nor mileage will be transferred directly to the Aadvantage program in the US. So I’ll choose a OneWorld Airline Partner Program which will still allow me to redeem my points or miles on American Airlines flights.

If your local or preferred airport has multiple airlines with significant operations, such as Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), none of which are dominant, then choose the airline you fly frequently or to where you want to go.

Since I’m in London, Heathrow Airport (LHR) is the airport I fly the most. Both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are there, so it makes sense to focus on the British Airways Club or Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Fortunately, both programs work with the most transferable currencies.

I’ve been an active member of both, but I currently like British Airways Club mainly because the program still has a fixed rewards list, and Virgin Atlantic has switched to dynamic pricing (with a recent addition of carrier surcharge). The BA also flew to more places I wanted to visit.

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Choose an airline program that offers good prices for the place you want to travel

Although the British Airways Club offers a large number of flights from my airport, the airline charges airline surcharges on long-haul, Premium-Cabin flights, such as airlines that are spread across the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, this is not a perfect program.

So I have invested in researching and trying some different programs and settled in Air Canada’s Aeroplan program. While the program is indeed flying at a price dynamically operated by Air Canada, Emirates and United, which may mean the price is high on peak dates, it retains reward sheets for flights operated by several partner airlines, including Lufthansa, Switzerland, Switzerland, Los Angeles Polish, Air India, India, Copa Airlines and Tap Air Portugal.

This means I can use a large number of multinational reward flights, with business-grade flights costing 60,000 miles, like from the East Coast to Western Europe, or on flights between 4,001 and 6,000 miles, from Los Angeles to Surici Airport (ZRH), and taking 70,000 miles.

While I rarely travel to Canada, I transferred hundreds of thousands of points and miles from credit card plans to Aeroplan because I knew I could redeem them for premium carbines flights run by partner airlines.

I also like the France-KLM Air Flying Blue Program when I can’t find availability through Aeroplan (or neither the airlines of the program will fly to where I want to go), because I like Aeroplan: good reward rates and premium availability throughout the Atlantic.

Related: Why Air Canada Aeroplan has become my favorite star league loyalty program

Choose a hotel loyalty program with good prices and property

For many, it may be easier to maximize the rewards of flights compared to hotel accommodation. While most credit card issuers have a few hotel partners with a transfer ratio of 1:1, you may lose some value. However, I still recommend finding a hotel transfer partner that is on your list so you have both flights and accommodation when booking a trip.

While choosing an airline program, it may be based on where you live and the airlines that operate from your nearest airport, but the hotel loyalty program should focus more on where you want to travel.

Over the years, I’ve been happy with the Hilton Honors program as my loyalty program. I’ve obtained a free Golden Elite identity American Express Platinum Card® In my wallet (need to enroll in order to get a select benefit) and enjoyed getting free breakfast at properties outside the United States, although I don’t really like the daily food and hot-success loans for properties in the United States.

Apart from the European where I live, Hilton cashes in a pretty good European land area. However, over the years I have seen redemption rates soaring and staying at top properties for 200,000 overnight is not unheard of, so the plan is no longer useful to me.

With that in mind, I began to favor Hyatt World as my hotel loyalty program of choice. If you read TPG regularly, you already know how much employees like this program. As a unicorn in the loyalty program, Hyatt’s world retains a very reasonable reward chart, with its Class 1 properties starting at just 3500 a night rather than peak.

While the program’s real estate footprint in Europe is not as large as some other hotel loyalty programs, the list has been growing steadily due to several major acquisitions.

Bilt reward points and chases the final reward points transfer to the world of Hyatt in a 1:1 ratio. So one of the main reasons I earned chase points was being able to transfer them to Hyatt, which is how I redeem most of the chase points over the years.

I can’t count how many times I checked the night redemption rate to redeem Hilton honors, or was shocked by a fairly memorable mid-range property with a price of over 50,000 per night. Fortunately, I discovered a similar Hyatt Hotel world with a speed of 20,000 points or less.

Of course, the prices of the Smiths’ real estate are dynamic and may not always represent the best use of Hyatt Point, but that won’t bother me as most of the Hyatt branded hotels I found value in the program.

Bottom line

Accessing over 10 transfer partners from a single credit card plan may sound like a great benefit, but the reality is that even if you are as obsessed with points and miles like me, it is unlikely that you can use all transfer partners—you won’t even use half of them.

My advice is not to be overwhelmed by the number of options available. Instead, just narrow it down to a few programs you know and it works for you. As the program develops, or unfortunately, your partner program strategy may change.

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