Amex MR transfer to Virgin Points

[smartboyalec]

What are your thoughts on transferring Amex MR points to Virgin points? Transferring 75,000 MR points would give me approximately 98,000 Virgin points—almost enough for a saver economy ticket for a family of four to LAX in August/September next year.

When I compare the same travel dates on Skyscanner, the value difference between paying in cash vs. points is about £650, which works out to less than a cent per point. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough points to book Upper Class and maximize their value.

Would you say it’s worth transferring the points in this case, or are there better ways to make the most of MR points?

[Travel Strong]

There is insufficient data here for people to comment. If you return with the cash price of a ticket, and the price of a points ticket (stating the points and cash element, people will be able to give a view.

Also consider what the BA points ticket options are.

[smartboyalec]

Travel Strong wrote:

There is insufficient data here for people to comment. If you return with the cash price of a ticket, and the price of a points ticket (stating the points and cash element, people will be able to give a view.

Also consider what the BA points ticket options are.

Ah I thought I did make a price difference remark, but fair enough. So on economy saver for a family of 4 it’s looking like 96k points + £1000 in taxes – whereas for the same date flights booked with all cash seems to come around £1650ish. For economy for other locations too the difference in price when paying with points vs all cash is roughly in the 700-800 range for 96k points used.

[Travel Strong]

OK so as you say, per MR point, you are saving 0.87p – which is below the target value for many.

You would also earn some miles paying cash too. All in all, there is not much in it but the miles option is not great value. You have 24hrs left to transfer with the bonus so the miles option isn’t available for much longer. Without the conversion bonus it would definitely be a poor deal indeed.

£412pp to the west coast is a pretty unbeatable cash fare, hence the miles options being less attractive.

BA miles flights are also not attractive for the same reason. It is a cheap cash rate.