Help us update our crowdsourced list of Amex Membership Rewards points transfer times

Membership Rewards is the rewards programme for American Express, covering its Green, Platinum and Centurion charge cards and the Preferred Rewards Gold and Amex Rewards credit cards.  You can also earn Membership Rewards points via the Business Platinum and Business Gold charge cards for SMEs.

Every 18 months or so, I like to ask for your help in putting together a list of the actual (as opposed to promised) time taken to transfer points from the UK version of American Express Membership Rewards to various airline and hotel programmes.

The list below is where we ended up last time.

I thought it was time to update it.  If you have done a Membership Rewards transfer recently, or will be doing one in the next few days, please let me know how long it took by posting a comment under this article.

All of these transfer times are for transfers where the relevant airline or hotel account is already linked to your Membership Rewards account.  If they are not linked, you should expect your first transfer to take a little longer.

Two tricks to note

If you have never transferred out of Membership Rewards before, one thing you should note is that transfers to Virgin Atlantic, Delta and Emirates are INSTANT as long as your accounts are already linked.  This is a very handy function because, if you see a reward flight you want, you know that you can transfer over the points with minimal risk of losing the seat.

The other thing to note is that some partners have very low transfer thresholds.  Nectar is just 1 point.  Radisson Rewards is 3 points.  Hilton Honors is 200 points.  If you are emptying out your Membership Rewards points to Avios then you will have some left over because transfers must be in multiples of 500.  Nectar, Radisson and Hilton are a good way of using up the rest.

What are UK Membership Rewards transfer times?

References to ‘day’ in this article technically mean ‘night’.  If I say ‘1 day’ it means that if you do the transfer at some point during today it should arrive in your account at some point tomorrow.

Points generally arrive in your account well before the completion email arrives from American Express, so you should not treat the confirmation email as the actual arrival time.  It is normally better.

Airlines (correct as at 2017 with updates I know about, let me know what’s changed):

Alitalia MilleMiglia – 1 day

British Airways Executive Club – 1-2 days

Delta SkyMiles – instantaneous

Emirates Skywards – instantaneous

Etihad Guest – 1-3 days

Flying Blue – 1-2 days

Iberia Plus – 1-2 days

SAS Eurobonus – 1-2 days

Singapore Airlines Krisflyer – 1 day

Virgin Airlines Flying Club – instantaneous

Hotels:

Hilton Honors – 1-2 days

Marriott Bonvoy – 1 day

Radisson Rewards – 7 days based on a transaction I did in March 2021

Other:

Nectar – 1 day

Thanks for your input.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus. 

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers.

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and a long list of travel benefits Read our full review

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending:

Barclaycard Select Cashback Credit Card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review