Ranking The Best Membership Rewards Partners

American Express Membership Rewards program isn’t my favorite. I’m going to keep insisting that until they add Alaska MileagePlan and a favorable hotel program as a transfer partner, they’re not really competing with Chase Ultimate Rewards. That being said, Membership Rewards does have some useful transfer partners. Here is my ranking of the top 5:

ANA. All Nippon Airways (ANA) is a Star Alliance carrier, meaning you can put your Membership Rewards points to very good use through this program. Transferring Membership Rewards points to ANA offers terrific value, thanks to some unbelievably low redemption rates. Wanna fly to Japan? A roundtrip business class ticket will set you back just 85,000 miles round-trip. If you can travel during low season, you’ll save 10,000 miles. That’s incredible, considering some other rewards programs charge 60 miles one way for business class tickets to Japan.

British Airways. Unfortunately, Membership Rewards points to Avoid at a slightly unfavorable raiot: 250 Membership Rewards points equals 200 Avios. So why is it still on my list of best Membership Rewards transfer partners? Because redemptions start at just 4,000 Avios for off-peak award flights of 650 miles or less. Distance-based award programs like British Airways’ can offer tremendous value on short-haul flights. It also helps that British Airways has an impressive line-up of partner airlines you can redeem Avios for.

Flying Blue. Air France and KLM’s joint program, Flying Blue, is a great place to transfer your Membership Rewards. Flying Blue’s Promo Awards are really what stands out about the program. Every month, Flying Blue publishes a list of award flights that have been discounted upwards of 50%. For example, right now you can book a one-way flight from New York to Paris (January 2 – March 31, 2018) for 46,875 miles each way in business class. That’s incredible considering United requires upwards of 70,000 miles for the same route. Flying Blue is definitely worth checking out. It also helps that KLM, my favorite airline, is part of the program.

Singapore. Singapore Airlines’ Krisflyer program experienced a devaluation not too long ago, but the program remains one of the best Membership Rewards partners. Singapore Airlines consistently voted one of the best airlines in the world, so the value obtained from their award chart is just icing on the cake. A great redemption is 76,000 miles to fly the A380 from New York to Frankfurt in Singapore Suites. Even West Coasters can get incredible value from Singapore miles. A one-way business class ticket between San Francisco and Hong Kong will set you back just 82,000 miles!

Aeroplan. Air Canada’s Aeroplan rewards program has several things going for it. For starters, you can easily book award flights online. Air Canada is also part of the Star Alliance, which means you can redeem miles to travel virtually anywhere. Flying between the U.S. and Europe in business class will set you back just 55,000 – 57,500 Aeroplan miles each way. That’s awesome, considering United charges 70,000 miles one way on partner business class awards.

 

That’s my take on the best Membership Rewards transfer partners. I’d like to hear from you: What are your favorite rewards programs to transfer Membership Rewards to?