In the world of miles and points, two loyalty programs reign supreme: Chase Ultimate Rewards® and American Express Membership Rewards. Each program's points are particularly valuable because they can be transferred to airline and hotel partners, as well as redeemed for travel, gift cards and statement credits.

Transferring points to airlines and hotels and redeeming for award flights/hotel nights can yield excellent value. We take a look at both programs and analyze AmEx and Chase’s best and worst transfer partners. In addition, we explain who benefits the most from each program and show you how to earn and maximize the points.

AmEx vs. Chase airline and hotel transfer partners

Chase has 11 airline partners, while American Express has 20. Both programs also offer three hotel chains as transfer partners.

Although AmEx offers more partners, it doesn’t mean that AmEx’s program is superior. Rather, it's a matter of deciding which airlines or hotels you prefer.

For example, if you love Southwest Airlines and want to use your points for an award ticket on that airline, you’ll want to focus your efforts on earning Chase Ultimate Rewards® points because Southwest only partners with Chase.

AmEx Membership Rewards overview

Transfer partners

With a total of 21 partners (18 airlines, three hotels), AmEx points can be transferred to the following airlines and hotels.

AmEx airline partners

Aer Lingus — AerClub Avios.

Aeromexico — Club Premier.

Air Canada — Aeroplan.

Air France / KLM — Flying Blue.

Alitalia — MilleMiglia.

ANA — Mileage Club Miles.

Avianca — Lifemiles.

British Airways — Executive Club Avios.

Cathay Pacific — Asia Miles.

Delta Air Lines — SkyMiles.

El Al — Matmid Frequent Flyer Club.

Emirates — Skywards Miles.

Etihad Airways — Etihad Guest.

Hawaiian Airlines — HawaiianMiles.

Iberia — Iberia Plus.

JetBlue — TrueBlue.

Qantas — Qantas Frequent Flyer.

Singapore Airlines — KrisFlyer.

Virgin Atlantic — Flying Club.

AmEx hotel partners

Choice — Choice Privileges.

Hilton — Hilton Honors.

Marriott — Bonvoy.

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BROWSE CARDS

Best American Express Membership Rewards transfer partners

Air Canada’s Aeroplan: Air Canada’s Aeroplan is a solid program due to its decent award chart and participation in the Star Alliance network. Aeroplan miles are great for booking award seats on United, Copa Airlines and many other Star Alliance carriers.

Air France / KLM’s Flying Blue: Air France / KLM’s Flying Blue is another useful option due to the airline’s monthly Promo Rewards, which are discounted award tickets to specific destinations. Although the airline adds high taxes and surcharges to award tickets, the discount on the number of miles can be as high as 50%.

British Airways: British Airways is a member of the Oneworld Alliance, so you could use your British Airways Avios to book flights on American Airlines. Although British Airways is notorious for adding high taxes and fuel charges on awards, you won't pay those fees on domestic American Airlines flights. Furthermore, since British Airways' award chart is distance-based, Avios are great for short-haul flights on American Airlines.

Weak American Express Membership Rewards transfer partners

JetBlue: AmEx’s poor transfer ratio to JetBlue makes this airline a weak partner. Instead of a 1:1 ratio, for every 250 AmEx points, you receive only 200 JetBlue points. While JetBlue is a solid program on its own, transferring AmEx points to the carrier would not be a great use of points.

Delta or Hawaiian Airlines: American Express charges excise tax offset fees on point transfers to domestic airlines of .06 cent per point. While this seems like a tiny amount, a transfer of 50,000 points will result in an annoying $30 fee. Keep this in mind for transfers to Delta, JetBlue and Hawaiian Airlines.

What else you need to know

Here's a closer look at American Express' transfer ratios, minimum transfer amounts and alliance memberships.

With the exception of Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines and JetBlue, the remaining airline partners are international. Don’t let this deter you, though — many of these international airlines participate in large airline alliance networks, offering plenty of opportunities for redemptions on domestic carriers.

For example, Avianca and United Airlines are both members of the Star Alliance. So you could transfer AmEx points to Avianca’s LifeMiles program, and then use LifeMiles miles to book an award ticket on United.

Additionally, American Express often runs transfer bonuses, allowing you to maximize the amount of points you’re moving into your frequent flyer account. If you time a transfer bonus to coincide with an upcoming redemption, you could extract an excellent value out of your AmEx points.

How to transfer Membership Rewards points

Log into your American Express account, select Rewards from the top menu and then Transfer Points from the pop-up menu. Click View All to see a list of available transfer partners.

The next page will show a list of airline and hotel programs, and you'll need to choose one. In our example, we’ve selected Hawaiian Airlines for a transfer.

To proceed with a transfer, you'll need to link your American Express Membership Rewards account to the HawaiianMiles program and verify your identity by entering the four-digit card ID and three-digit security code found on the card associated with your Membership Rewards account.

Once the accounts have been linked, you'll be able to transfer your points on the following page.

Chase Ultimate Rewards® overview

Chase transfer partners

Chase Ultimate Rewards® points can be transferred to 14 programs in total, comprising 11 airlines and three hotel chains.

Chase's airline and frequent flyer program partners

Aer Lingus — AerClub Avios.

Air France / KLM — Flying Blue.

Air Canada — Aeroplan.

British Airways — Executive Club Avios.

Emirates — Skywards Miles.

Iberia — Iberia Plus.

JetBlue — TrueBlue.

Singapore Airlines — KrisFlyer.

Southwest Airlines — Rapid Rewards.

United Airlines — MileagePlus.

Virgin Atlantic — Flying Club.

Chase's hotel partners

Hyatt — World of Hyatt.

IHG — Rewards Club.

Marriott — Bonvoy.

The best Chase Ultimate Rewards® transfer partners

United: United is a great choice given the airline’s extensive reach and its participation in Star Alliance. Although United has eliminated its award chart, its award search tool is great for checking Star Alliance availability. Another positive is that United doesn’t charge taxes or surcharges on award tickets.

Virgin Atlantic: A lesser-known fact about Virgin Atlantic is that its miles can be used to book Delta award tickets on Virgin’s website. Despite the recent negative update to Virgin Atlantic's Delta award chart, a one-way award from the U.S. to Europe in the Delta One cabin is still only 50,000 Flying Club miles. Delta One is Delta’s international first class option, and the cabin offers lie-flat seats, a superior dining option during the flight and Sky Club lounge access at the airport (at point of departure only). If you were to book this ticket directly with Delta, you’d be subject to dynamic pricing. For example, let's consider the following flight from Boston to Amsterdam in Delta One.

On Virgin Atlantic, the flight costs 50,000 miles plus $5.60 in taxes.

However, on the Delta website, you’d need to spend 80,000 SkyMiles plus $5.60 in taxes for the exact same flight.

Not surprisingly, you could also use Flying Club miles to fly on Virgin Atlantic. However, we didn’t list this as a notable redemption given the high taxes assessed by the airline on its award tickets. If the high taxes don’t deter you, Virgin Atlantic's premium economy service is excellent.

Hyatt: Hyatt is the only Chase hotel transfer partner that’s worthy of mention. NerdWallet values Hyatt points at 2.3 cents each, which is above the valuation of any other hotel. Standard room award nights at Hyatt properties range from 3,500 to 35,000 points per night for off-peak bookings.

Weak Chase Ultimate Rewards® transfer partners

Marriott or IHG: Transferring to Marriott or IHG would not be ideal. NerdWallet values Marriott points at 0.8 cent and IHG points at 0.8 cent each. Given that you could redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards® through the travel portal for 1.5 cents each if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you’d be better off booking a hotel room through Chase’s travel portal.

What else you need to know

Here's a deep dive into the Chase transfer ratio, minimum transfer amounts and its alliance memberships.

You can transfer from Chase to airlines and hotels at a 1:1 ratio. Transfers are usually immediate, but can take up to seven business days. Unlike AmEx, transfers to JetBlue are at a 1:1 ratio, and Chase does not charge any fees when you move points to domestic airlines.