Can I transfer my rewards points to another program?

Written by 
Bill Tsouvalas
Bill Tsouvalas is the managing director and a key company spokesperson at Savvy. As a personal finance expert, he often shares his insights on a range of topics, being featured on leading news outlets including News Corp publications such as the Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun, Fairfax Media publications such as the Australian Financial Review, the Seven Network and more. Bill has over 15 years of experience working in the finance industry and founded Savvy in 2010 with a vision to provide affordable and accessible finance options to all Australians. He has built Savvy from a small asset finance brokerage into a financial comparison website which now attracts close to 2 million Aussies per year and was included in the BRW’s Fast 100 in 2015 as one of the fastest-growing companies in the country. He’s passionate about helping Australians make financially savvy decisions and reviews content across the brand to ensure its accuracy. You can follow Bill on LinkedIn.
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, updated on November 25th, 2021       

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Being able to transfer points from one frequent flyer program to another can be convenient for someone who is constantly travelling, especially if you are involved in more than one program. You may be faced with the limitation of not being able to do this depending on your frequent flyer program. Here are a few things that you need to know about when it comes to transferring your points to another program.

The short answer to your big question?

You may be disappointed to find out that you generally cannot transfer points from one program to another, even if they are partners. But there are some exceptions to this rule. It is possible to earn miles by flying on a partner airline and redeem points for flights for another partnered airline, but if you won’t be able to transfer from one airline to another.

There could be limitations

If you plan to transfer your points between partnered programs there could be limitations that you could be faced with. For example, members of the KrisFlyer program are able to link their velocity account and KrisFlyer account point and miles. The catch to this is that there is a minimum of 5,000 points per conversion. Your points could also weaken because of the exchange rate. What this means is that if your point exchange rate is set at 1.35 to 1, transferring a minimum of 5,000 from one program may result in it becoming 3,704 points in the other program.

You can transfer from credit card to your frequent flyer

There are a few ways that you can transfer your points like transferring from credit card to your frequent flyer program. For example, Quantas usually runs a promotion special every three months or so for transfer from credit cards to Quantas Points which can help boost your points. These bonuses can range anywhere between 15-40%. This percentage can be affected by the level of Quantas points that are transferred. Always keep in mind that the exchange rate for some of these transfers rarely goes beyond the 1:1 basis. Therefore, comparing your options can come in handy.

Check your program details

Despite the limitation of being able to transfer your frequent flyer point directly from one airline to another, there are other ways that you can maximise your points such as saving up enough points to get a free flight. However, to ensure that you will be using your points to their full potential you can read the terms and conditions of your rewards program. You can also check your rewards credit card to find out whether you are getting the best deal for your card and how better to target your spending to help you increase your points quickly.

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