One of our favorite ways to redeem transferable credit card points is to transfer them to airline and hotel partner programs.
While you can redeem points through the travel platforms of many credit card programs to book flights and hotel stays, you will only get a fixed redemption value when redeeming your rewards through the travel platform. For example, when you redeem Capital One miles through the Capital One travel portal, you’ll get a value of 1 cent per mile.
If you want to book this one-way flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) through the Capital One travel portal, you’ll need to spend $98 or 9,810 Capital One miles.
While you could save yourself about $100 in out-of-pocket costs, TPG values Capital One miles at 1.85 cents, according to our November 2024 valuation. So, instead, consider transferring your rewards to an airline or hotel partner program where you can easily get more than 1 percent value.
However, there is one very important rule to keep in mind before you transfer your credit card rewards.
Related: The Ultimate Guide to Capital One Airline and Hotel Transfer Partners: How to Maximize Your Miles
Credit card points and miles transfers cannot be reversed
When initiating a points or miles transfer from a credit card program to an airline or hotel partner, you must agree to the terms and conditions of the transfer. These should be mentioned, viz Citi ThankYou Rewards does, the timing of that transfer varies and it transfers can’t do can be reversed.
So, if you decide to transfer your credit card rewards and the flight or hotel availability changes and/or disappears, you will, unfortunately, move your points or miles back to the credit card program you transferred them from. can’t The Transfer Partner will not reverse the transfer upon request, nor will the credit card program, and Points will be “stuck” in that program.
Related: Citi Transfer Partners: Maximize Your ThankYou Points With These Loyalty Programs
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To help reduce some of this transfer “risk,” you should Always Check award availability before initiating any transfer. We also recommend that you sign up for airline and hotel loyalty programs and not on the day of any transfer, as this may reduce the chance of any significant delays. Also, make sure the name on your credit card and the name on your airline or hotel loyalty account match.
While we have found that most program transfers are instant, some programs take more than 48 hours to complete a transaction. Also, transfer time may vary from person to person.
Related: Check transfer times before initiating point transfer requests
Credit card rewards programs regularly offer transfer bonuses, and you may be tempted to take advantage of these promotional offers even if you don’t have an immediate redemption. While some frequent travelers are apt to stock up on extra rewards because they know they will use them in the near future, there is risk in this strategy. Even though you can increase your loyalty account balance by 20% or 30% through transfer bonuses, programs often depreciate their award redemptions. Also, it can be difficult to find availability to use points or miles.
Therefore, a better strategy may be to store credit card rewards points in your account and move them only when you act on a redemption opportunity.
The bottom line
While we regularly encourage and advise people on the best transfer options for their credit card points and miles, we do not recommend transferring any credit card points or miles to airline or hotel partner programs unless you specifically use them. For example, just to transfer credit card points While Air Canada’s Aeroplan program may be the best way to book United Airlines flights, that doesn’t mean you should transfer all of your credit card points or miles to Aeroplan.
Again, credit card travel partner transfers cannot be reversed.