Capital One, Citi, Chase and AmEx Transfer Bonus History

If you have a credit card that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards®, American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One, Citi ThankYou or Bilt Rewards points, you hold valuable travel rewards because the points can be transferred to airline and hotel partners. Once transferred, those points can be used to book award flights and hotel nights. The best time to move over those points is when the credit cards run transfer bonuses.

Although most point transfers are at a 1:1 ratio, when there's a transfer bonus, you can get much more out of your points. If you have a redemption in mind and there’s a transfer bonus happening, you could book an award for even less that what it usually costs.

We’ve put together a list of current and past transfer bonuses (since 2017) to give you an idea of which partners offer bonuses most often, and when they happen. Although there’s no way of knowing when the next transfer bonus will be, looking at the transfer bonus history could provide some insight.

American Express Membership Rewards can be transferred to 18 airlines and three hotels.

AmEx has more airline and hotel partners than Chase, Citi and Capital One. In addition, AmEx has typically offered more transfer bonuses than all the other programs. There is no way to predict that this will continue into the future, but AmEx does consistently offer transfer bonuses to its partners.

Cards that earn American Express Membership Rewards points

If you’d like to take advantage of these transfer bonuses, you’ll first need to get a credit card that earns AmEx Membership Rewards points. American Express offers numerous personal and business cards, including those without an annual fee that accumulate these valuable points.

Here's a sampling of two personal and two business cards that earn Membership Rewards points.

Those who already have some points and are looking for suggestions should be happy knowing that American Express has some excellent transfer partners, including Air France-KLM, ANA, Air Canada and many others.

» Learn more: Which American Express card is right for you?

Chase Ultimate Rewards® points can be transferred to 11 airlines and three hotels.

Chase doesn’t offer transfer bonuses very often, and only a few of its programs have participated, with British Airways bonuses offered most frequently.

Credit cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points

If you want to start earning Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, you’ll need to get a credit card from Chase that earns these points. There are multiple personal and business cards that earn Ultimate Rewards® points, ranging from cards with no annual fees to those with high fees but lots of travel perks.

Here's a selection of popular Chase cards that earn Ultimate Rewards® points.

» Learn more: What Is the 'Chase Trifecta'?

Chase has a solid list of airline and hotel partners and is the only one of the four programs that offers transfers to Southwest Airlines and United Airlines.

» Learn more: Best Chase credit cards right now

Citi ThankYou is partnered with 14 airlines, four hotels and Shop Your Way.

Citi transfer bonuses are offered frequently, particularly to AirFrance-KLM and Avianca.

Credit cards that earn Citi ThankYou points

Similar to the other programs, if you want to take advantage of Citi’s transfer partners, you’ll need to get a credit card from Citi that earns ThankYou points. Unfortunately, not all ThankYou point earning cards will give access to all the transfer partners, and so you’ll need to evaluate which partners are most important for you.

If you hold the Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card, Citi Rewards+® Card, Citi Double Cash® Card or the Sears Mastercard credit card, you can only transfer your points to Choice Privileges, TrueBlue and Wyndham Rewards.

However, if you have the Citi Premier® Card or the Citi Prestige® Card, you can take advantage of all the transfer partners. In addition, holders of these two cards can transfer points to Choice and Wyndham at more favorable transfer ratios.

Air France-KLM, Avianca, Singapore Airlines and Turkish Airlines are Citi’s strongest transfer partners, but you’ll need to hold the Citi Premier® Card or the Citi Prestige® Card to take advantage of these partnerships.

» Learn more: Best Citi credit cards right now

Capital One has 14 airlines and three hotel transfer partners.

Capital One is the newest program and it used to have terrible transfer rates. However over the last few years, Capital One has significantly invested in the program, and now most partners transfer at a 1:1 ratio.

Credit cards that earn Capital One miles

To earn miles with Capital One, you have a choice of four personal credit cards, including two that do not charge an annual fee and two business cards, one of which doesn't charge a fee. Capital One has several good transfer partners so getting one of the no fee cards can be an easy way to start earning miles.

Here's a selection of popular credit cards that earn Capital One miles.

» Learn more: Best Capital One credit cards

Bilt Rewards is one of the newer rewards programs out there and can be a valuable program for those who want to pay rent using a credit card. Bilt Rewards points can be transferred to 14 airlines and three hotels.

In its short time-span, Bilt has offered several transfer bonuses. The best value though can come from Bilt's runs "rent day" promotions, which offer high transfer bonuses for just one day. For example, on May 1, 2023, Bilt offered a 100% transfer bonus to Air-France KLM Flying Blue. If you collect Bilt Rewards points, check the app on the first of every month for any transfer bonuses.

Credit cards that earn Bilt Rewards

Although you don't need to have a credit card with Bilt to earn Bilt points, you can maximize the points you earn by holding the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card. Although the card doesn't offer a welcome bonus, there is no annual fee, and it is truly the only way to earn points for paying your rent.

» Learn more: The guide to Bilt transfer partners

Although it's impossible to predict when a transfer bonus will be announced or how long it will last, looking over the bonus history of these four transferable point programs can offer some guidance.