Why the only thing better than transferable points is INSTANTLY transferable points

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

• Cwyfan says:

  9 Jan9 January 06:35

  You need the caveat that, although avios and nectar are interchangeable, there is always a devaluation if you do it more than once with the same pot.

• Louie says:

  9 Jan9 January 07:02

  Rats. I wish I had known HSBC points were instantly transferable only yesterday, when I needed some SQ miles. Last time I did it they posted overnight but I couldn’t take the risk so used other points which did transfer instantly but not at such a good rate.

  • Rob says:

    9 Jan9 January 08:10

    I don’t have personal experience of an instant transfer post relaunch but the other partners I and other readers have tried were instant.

• Phil G says:

  9 Jan9 January 07:04

  Our transfer to Virgin points took 10 days and we missed out not the reward seats we wanted, and now can’t transfer them back

  • Ben W says:

    9 Jan9 January 08:19

    Ditto, my first transfer from AMEX to Virgin took over a fortnight when looking to take advantage of the half price redemption offer (so missed out).

    • LLLL says:

      9 Jan9 January 08:40

      Same. My first transfer from Amex to Virgin was horrible for Player 1 and Player 2. Haven’t tried ‘instant’ conversion since.

    • SamG says:

      9 Jan9 January 10:19

      Same. Luckily I had only done 1000 and could do a transfer to Delta instead

  • Ironside says:

    9 Jan9 January 10:05

    The first AMEX-Virgin transfer does indeed take some days. Once complete, the second is instant.

    My experience was fortunate in that I suspected Upper Class seats would become available but wasn’t sure, so transferred 1,000 points across as a warm-up. In fact, the return sector opened up overnight before the outbound, so I found myself sat next to the Virgin ticket desk at 6am with a laptop, getting the points transferred before asking them to make the upgrade in person.

    I also threw some Tesco Clubcard points at the same problem, in the same way, but the second transfer didn’t appear for hours.

• Yorkieflyer says:

  9 Jan9 January 07:21

  Instant transfer assuming you’ve transferred once before

  • tony says:

    9 Jan9 January 07:23

    Is this common for all, or just the Virgin ones? Am toying with an EK transfer – should I send 1k over first so it’s all lined up as I don’t want to end up in the situation Phil G has….

    • memesweeper says:

      9 Jan9 January 07:40

      Yes – top up now to ensure it works smoothly when you need it to.

      It might not be ‘instant’ – my last one seemed to take a few minutes – but maybe log out / log in would have made the balance update on my Emirates account faster.

    • Rob says:

      9 Jan9 January 08:09

      Don’t send anything, just link the accounts.

• Jonathan says:

  9 Jan9 January 07:29

  I think I’ve heard somewhere that HSBC points have a hard expiry, meaning you can’t rack up excess balances like you can with Amex MR and know that the points are all safe and well until you need them…

  Again, I’m not entirely sure on this policy, it’s just something I’ve heard, I’m sure someone here could confirm ?

  • Rob says:

    9 Jan9 January 08:08

    3 years, yes. Will add that in, thanks.

• stevenhp1987 says:

  9 Jan9 January 08:43

  Had anyone ever had problems linking Amex MR to VS?

  Keeps getting rejected when attempting to link them.

  Amex say VS are saying its due to name difference but VS have confirmed the name is what it should be over the phone…

  I’m being sent round in circles by both of them!

  • Roberto says:

    9 Jan9 January 11:50

    I did it over the phone as I could not do it online however your issue is probably that posh Hyphen you have Steve 🙂

    On a different note did you book/go on that Virgin Voyages Greece cruise you spoke about? If so how was it?

    • stevenhp1987 says:

      9 Jan9 January 13:03

      Probably is the hyphen… But it’s not uncommon so the agents should have seen it before! I’ve mentioned that to both over the phone…

      We went on a second VV cruise (VS funded of course) back in October. The French Daze one. Was really good! Especially for the price.

      Going on the Valiant Lady a third time in just under 4 weeks, again on VS points (Western Caribbean Charm)… Starting to run low on VS points now.

      We did book the Greek Island Glow one for July this year. Put down $300 on the October cruise to get additional $300 off and $600 obc.

      Having already booked an MSC cruise (Caribbean back in November) we status matched IHG Diamond to MSC Gold then MSC Gold to VV.

      So we got additional obc for July plus extra perks on the October and upcoming February cruise.

      We paid just under £3k for the Greek cruise and we have $1,100 obc. Used up an expiring BA 2-4-1 so we have some flexibility should the new ship not sail this year.

      Cannot complain at all!

• Keiths says:

  9 Jan9 January 08:49

  Small caveat on keeping transferable points until needed.
  If you do this with American Express you need to keep your MR account open. Would this not prevent your 24 month churn?
  So, you gain in convertibility, but lose in terms of future sign-up bonuses?

  • Rob says:

    9 Jan9 January 09:41

    Correct.

• Doug says:

  9 Jan9 January 09:12

  Rob, my brain now hurts.
  Either I have been incredibly misled or one paragraph of this article needs to be re-written.
  The article suggests that 1 Amex point can be converted more than once. “1 American Express Membership Rewards points is worth MORE than 1 Avios. This is because, as well as converting to 1 Avios, it will also convert into 1 Virgin Point, 1 Etihad mile, 1 Flying Blue mile, 2 Hilton points, 1.5 Marriott points, 3 Radisson points, 0.5p of shopping vouchers, 0.45p of statement credit etc etc.”

  My understanding has always been that one Amex point can be converted into any ONE of these but not into all or any more than one! Have I been mistaken?

  • Rob says:

    9 Jan9 January 09:39

    You’re confused.

    The point is this. Would you rather have a £5 Waitrose gift card or £5 voucher valid in any supermarket? You’d prefer £5 to spend in any supermarket, because it gives you extra choice – you can go to Waitrose if you want but you can also shop somewhere else if you think you’ll get a better deal.

    This is why 1 Amex point from a Membership Rewards card is better than 1 Avios from a free BA Amex.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.