Not all reward points are transferable.
Generally speaking, airline miles ( British Airways Executive Club Avios miles, Delta Skymiles, Flying Blue miles, etc.) are not transferable. Once credited to your frequent flyer account, there’s no way out for these miles. So think twice before transferring your American Express Membership Rewards points or Marriott Bonvoy points.
One exception: since 2024, Aeroplan has offered to transfer points to Marriott Bonvoy.
On the other hand, there are a number of other programs that we call “hybrid” reward point programs: these are programs where points can be used in the program in question or transferred to another loyalty program.
The most popular transferable points programs in Canada are:
In Canada, American Express Membership Rewards partners with various airline and hotel loyalty programs. This allows you to transfer your Membership Rewards into points or miles.
For Aeroplan and Delta Skymiles, the transfer is immediate. For the others, it usually takes between 5 and 7 days.
American Express Membership Rewards are considered THE most valuable points currency in Canada, thanks in part to their ability to be converted into many great programs.
However, not every conversion is worthwhile:
Here is the list of Membership Rewards credit cards in Canada:
Here is a list of the top articles on Milesopedia about the Membership Rewards program:
With RBC Rewards, you have access to these transfer partners:
RBC Rewards points are useful for building up your WestJet Dollars, British Airways Executive Club Avios or Asia Miles balance.
The following is a list of RBC Rewards (Avion) credit cards that can be used to transfer points to airline partners:
Here is a list of the top articles from Milesopedia about the RBC Rewards program:
With Marriott Bonvoy, you can transfer your points into miles from various airline programs.
The transfer rate is generally 3:1 (30,000 Marriott points = 10,000 miles). And for every 60,000 points transferred, Marriott adds a bonus of 15,000 points (equivalent to 5,000 miles).
So 60,000 points = 25,000 miles (bringing the transfer rate to 2.4:1).
Note that Marriott Bonvoy and United have a special relationship: point transfers to United have a 10% bonus.
I often advise you to use loyalty program points ONLY for what they were originally intended for:
However, it may be worthwhile to use Marriott Bonvoy to earn miles, especially at certain times of the year when you can take advantage of conversion bonuses ! Aeroplan and British Airways Executive Club run 3-4 promotions a year, during which you can earn 25-30% more miles by converting your hotel points.
It’s also a good way to earn miles from foreign airline programs like United MileagePlus, Singapore KrisFlyer, Emirates Skywards, etc.
Here is the list of Marriott Bonvoy credit cards in Canada:
American Express Membership Rewards points can also be transferred to Marriott Bonvoy points at a 1:1.2 (or 5:6) rate.
So 50,000 Membership Rewards = 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.
If your goal is to go through the Marriott Bonvoy program to earn airline miles, the best credit card will be the. American Express Cobalt® Card.
With this card, you can earn 5 Membership Rewards points per dollar spent in some categories: grocery stores, convenience stores and restaurants. And in grocery and convenience stores, you can buy gift cards for many other retailers (SAQ, Amazon, Walmart, Ikea, etc.) to earn 5 points per dollar.
And since 5 Membership Rewards points = 6 Marriott Bonvoy points = 2 airline miles, that means that at these stores you earn 2 miles per dollar of purchase! Which is incredible!
While there aren’t many promotions for transferring Membership Rewards points to airline points like Aeroplan, transfer bonuses to hotel programs are more common, usually once a year.
Here is the list of credit cards that earn Marriott Bonvoy Points in Canada:
Here is the list of the main articles from Milesopedia about the Marriott Bonvoy program:
With the Best Western Rewards program, you can redeem your points for airline partner miles. Let me warn you right away: the exchange rate is far from being the best.
However, if you have Best Western Rewards points that you don’t need, you might as well put them to use!
A minimum of 5,000 Best Western Rewards points is required to make a transfer.
Here is the list of the main posts on Milesopedia about the Best Western Rewards program:
With these 4 programs, you can easily transfer your points to dozens of other loyalty programs and travel the world with your reward points!
Do you start with the points? With one of these five credit cards, you will earn transferable points:
Savings are here:
