If you have a credit card that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards®, American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One or Citi ThankYou 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.

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AmEx transfer bonus history

American Express Membership Rewards can be transferred to 17 airlines and three hotels.

Full list of AmEx transfer partners

Airlines

Aer Lingus (1:1 ratio).

AeroMexico (1:1.6 ratio).

Air Canada. (1:1 ratio).

Air France/KLM (1:1 ratio).

ANA (1:1 ratio).

Avianca (1:1 ratio).

British Airways (1:1 ratio).

Cathay Pacific (1:1 ratio)

Delta Air Lines (1:1 ratio).

Emirates (1:1 ratio).

Etihad Airways (1:1 ratio).

Hawaiian Airlines (1:1 ratio).

Iberia Plus (1:1 ratio).

JetBlue Airways (2.5:2 ratio).

Qantas (1:1 ratio).

Qatar Airways (1:1 ratio).

Singapore Airlines (1:1 ratio).

Virgin Atlantic Airways (1:1 ratio).

Hotels

Choice Hotels (1:1 ratio).

Hilton Hotels & Resorts (1:2 ratio).

Marriott Hotels & Resorts (1:1 ratio).

For details on transfer ratios, see AmEx's website.

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.

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.

Chase transfer bonus history

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

Full list of Chase transfer partners

Airlines

Aer Lingus (1:1 ratio).

Air Canada (1:1 ratio).

Air France-KLM (1:1 ratio).

British Airways (1:1 ratio).

Emirates (1:1 ratio).

Iberia (1:1 ratio).

JetBlue (1:1 ratio).

Singapore (1:1 ratio).

Southwest (1:1 ratio).

United (1:1 ratio).

Virgin Atlantic (1:1 ratio).

Hotels

Hyatt (1:1 ratio).

InterContinental Hotels Group (1:1 ratio).

Marriott (1:1 ratio).

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. Unfortunately, you cannot earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points if you only have a card without an annual fee. You’ll need to get a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card to start earning points.

However, if you plan on traveling, the benefits provided by the card will more than offset that fee. In addition, once you have a card that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, and you get a no fee card like the Chase Freedom Unlimited®, instead of earning cash back, you’ll be able to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points.

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.

Citi ThankYou transfer bonus history

Citi ThankYou is partnered with 15 airlines, two hotels and Sears.

Full list of Citi transfer partners

Airlines

Aeromexico (1:1 ratio).

Air France/KLM (1:1 ratio).

Asia Miles (1:1 ratio).

Avianca (1:1 ratio).

Emirates (1:1 ratio).

Etihad (1:1 ratio).

Eva Air (1:1 ratio).

JetBlue (1:1 or 1:0.8 ratio, depending on which card you have).

Qantas (1:1 ratio).

Qatar Airways (1:1 ratio).

Singapore Airlines (1:1 ratio).

Thai Airways (1:1 ratio).

Turkish Airlines (1:1 ratio).

Virgin Atlantic (1:1 ratio).

Hotels

Accor Live Limitless (2:1 ratio).

Choice Hotels (1:2 or 1:1.5 ratio, depending on which card you have).

The Leading Hotels of the World (5:1 ratio).

Wyndham (1:1 ratio or 1:0.8 ratio, depending on which card you have).

Retail

Shop Your Way (1:10 ratio).

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.

Capital One transfer bonus history

Capital One has 14 airlines and three hotel transfer partners.

Full list of Capital One transfer partners

Airlines

Aeromexico (1:1 ratio).

Air Canada (1:1 ratio).

Air France-KLM (1:1 ratio).

Avianca (1:1 ratio).

British Airways (1:1 ratio).

Cathay Pacific (1:1 ratio).

Emirates (1:1 ratio).

Etihad (1:1 ratio).

EVA (2:1.5 ratio).

Finnair (1:1 ratio).

Qantas (1:1 ratio).

Singapore Airlines (1:1 ratio).

TAP Air Portugal (1:1 ratio).

Turkish Airlines (1:1 ratio).

Hotels

Accor (2:1 ratio).

Choice Privileges Hotels (1:1 ratio).

Wyndham Rewards (1:1 ratio).

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 credit cards, including two that do not charge an annual 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.

Final thoughts on the transfer bonus history of Capital One, Citi, Chase and AmEx

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.