Cheat Sheet: How Long Airline Point Transfers take for Amex, Chase and Citi Points

It’s always fun to have a credit card that gives you a lot of flexibility when it comes time to redeem the points you’ve earned. The opportunity to transfer your card points to an airline frequent flyer program can add up, allowing you to do everything from book a business class reward seat to bid on once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards® and Citi ThankYou® are three popular programs for points transfers to airline partners worldwide. But once you’ve decided to transfer your points to your airline of choice, how long will it take before they’re available for redemption?

It depends on the airline. Some transfers happen immediately, but others can take weeks for your points to be available to redeem. Below, we’ll go over the times for the airlines covered under each credit card rewards program.

American Express Membership Rewards

Cards eligible for airline points transfers:

• American Express® Gold Card
• The Platinum Card® from American Express
• The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express
• Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card

American Express allows cardmembers to transfer their Membership Rewards points to 18 airline loyalty programs. Cardmembers must link their airline loyalty and Membership Rewards accounts in order to make any transfers. Most of these carrier transfers, at a minimum of 1,000-point increments, are 1,000 points to 1,000 miles. However, the airlines below have the following exceptions:

• Aeromexico: 1,000 points equals 1,600 Club Premier points
• El AL Israel Airlines: 1,000 points equals 20 Matmid points
• JetBlue Airways: 250 points = 200 JetBlue TrueBlue® points; must be transferred in 250-point increments

American Express says it generally takes up to 24 to 48 hours to transfer Membership Rewards points to its airline partners, which can be done here. Below is our list of how long it takes to redeem after the miles are transferred to each airline.

Chase Ultimate Rewards®

Cards eligible for airline points transfers:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
• Chase Sapphire Reserve®
• Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card

Chase Ultimate Rewards allows members to transfer their points to nine airline partners at a full 1:1 value, considered one of the best redemptions in the industry. Points are transferred to the airlines immediately, but may not be able to be redeemed as quickly. Here’s how long it takes for redemption.

Citi ThankYou®

Card eligible for airline points transfers:

• Citi Premier℠ Card
• Citi Prestige® Credit Card

Citi allows cardmembers to transfer their ThankYou points to 15 airline partners in 1,000-mile increments. Once a request is completed here, points are transferred to a chosen airline partner immediately. Below we outline how long it will take to redeem your miles once they’re in your airline account.

The bottom line

In the end, it’s good to have a card that gives you the option to move your points to airline and hotel loyalty programs. But look at the transfers carefully, because some miles are more equal than others.

Among the three cards, Chase offers the best value by offering 1:1 transfers. But it also has the least number of transfer partners. American Express and Citi are just about even with the number of airline partners, offering 1,000 points to 1,000 miles transfers.

But what’s most important is to know how long it will take for an airline to accept your transferred points, especially if you’re trying to book a quick trip or snag an upgrade on a planned flight. Knowing this will allow you to plan ahead and avoid any problems when it comes time to make your points transfers.

Check out our round-up of  travel credit cards and airline credit cards.