Difference between revisions of "Credit card point transfer times"

Latest revision as of 14:26, 3 August 2021

Using Your Points for Free Travel, Award Ticket Strategies

Most transfers from Membership Rewards and Ultimate Rewards and some transfers from ThankYou Rewards are nearly instantaneous. Other transfers require days, or even weeks, to complete.

Many non-instantaneous transfer requests are processed in batches. If you get lucky, your transfer request will occur just before the next batch is processed, and the transfer will be completed quickly. If you are unlucky, you may need to wait much longer.

With any transfer, there is always the possibility of some sort of hiccup. So, even if the table indicates that a transfer will happen instantly, there is a small chance it will take some time. Don’t absolutely count on transfers occurring by the time indicated below.

Airline	Membership Rewards	Ultimate Rewards	ThankYou Rewards	Venture Points
Aer Lingus	Instant	Instant		via British Airways
Aeromexico	Up to 1 week		Instant	Instant
Air Canada (Aeroplan)	Instant	Instant		Instant
Air France / KLM (Flying Blue)	Instant	Instant	Instant	Instant
Alitalia	Instant			Instant
American			1-2 days*
ANA	2-3 days
Avianca	Instant		Instant	Instant
British Airways	Instant	Instant		Instant
Cathay Pacific (Asia Miles)	Instant		Instant	Up to a week
Delta	Instant
Emirates	Instant	Instant	Instant	Instant
Etihad	Instant		Instant	1 day
EVA			1-3 days	1-2 days
Finnair				Instant
Hawaiian	Instant
Iberia	1 day	Instant		Via British Airways
Jet Blue	Instant	Instant	Instant	Instant
Malaysia			1-2 days
Qantas	Instant		1-2 days	1 day
Qatar			1-2 days
Singapore	1-2 days	1-2 days	1-2 days	1-2 days
Southwest		Instant
TAP Portugal				TBD
Thai			Up to 1 week
Turkish			1-2 days	1-2 days
United		Instant
Virgin Atlantic	Instant	Instant	Instant

* The ability to transfer ThankYou points to American Airlines is billed as a limited-time capability, expiring on November 13th, 2021. Hopefully, they will extend this ability or make it permanent.

Transfers from Marriott usually take at least a few days and some transfers can take a week or more. This causes a major problem when trying to use your points. By the time the points transfer to the frequent flyer program, the award space may no longer be available. If so, you won't get the tickets you wanted, and your points will be "trapped" in that program (as you can't transfer them back). For the best available information on Marriott transfer times, check out this article from The Points Guy.

Award Tickets 101: The Basics

Introduction to 'Transferable' Reward Points

Step-by-Step Guide to Booking Award Tickets

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{DISPLAYTITLE:{{Title|transfer times}} (2018)}}
+{{DISPLAYTITLE:{{Title|transfer times}} (2021)}}
-{{Page|article|award ticket strategies}}
+{{Page|article|use points|award ticket strategies}}
 {{ImageX|Timer.jpg}}
-'''Most transfers from Membership Rewards and Ultimate Rewards, and some transfers from ThankYou Rewards, are nearly instantaneous. Other transfers require days, or even weeks, to complete.'''
+<blockquote>
+Most transfers from Membership Rewards and Ultimate Rewards and some transfers from ThankYou Rewards are nearly instantaneous. Other transfers require days, or even weeks, to complete.
+</blockquote>
 Many non-instantaneous transfer requests are processed in batches. If you get lucky, your transfer request will occur just before the next batch is processed, and the transfer will be completed quickly. If you are unlucky, you may need to wait much longer.
@@ Line 16: / Line 18: @@
 !style="width: 1.25in;"|'''Ultimate Rewards'''
 !style="width: 1.25in;"|'''ThankYou Rewards'''
-!style="width: 1.25in;"|'''Marriott'''
+!style="width: 1.25in;"|'''Venture<br/>Points'''
-|-
-|Aegean
-|
-|
-|
-|Up to 2 weeks
 |-
 |Aer Lingus
@@ Line 28: / Line 24: @@
 |Instant
 |
-|
+|via British Airways
-|-
-|Aeroflot
-|
-|
-|
-|???
 |-
 |Aeromexico
-|Up to 2 weeks
+|Up to 1 week
 |
-|
+|Instant
-|1-2 days
+|Instant
 |-
 |Air Canada (Aeroplan)
+|Instant
 |Instant
 |
-|
+|Instant
-|Up to 1 week
-|-
-|Air China
-|
-|
-|
-|1 -2 days
 |-
 |Air France / KLM (Flying Blue)
@@ Line 58: / Line 42: @@
 |Instant
 |Instant
-|Up to 1 week
+|Instant
 |-
-|Air New Zealand
-|
-|
-|
-|1 - 2 days
-|-
-|Alaska
-|
-|
-|
-|1-2 days
 |-
 |Alitalia
@@ Line 76: / Line 49: @@
 |
 |
-|Up to 2 weeks
+|Instant
 |-
-|American Airlines
+|American
 |
 |
+|1-2 days*
 |
-|1-3 days
 |-
 |ANA
-|2-4 days
+|2-3 days
 |
 |
-|Up to 1 week
-|-
-|Asiana
 |
-|
-|
-|Up to 2 weeks
 |-
 |Avianca
+|Instant
 |
-|
 |Instant
-|1-2 days
+|Instant
 |-
 |British Airways
@@ Line 106: / Line 73: @@
 |Instant
 |
-|3-5 days
+|Instant
 |-
 |Cathay Pacific (Asia Miles)
-|1-2 days
+|Instant
 |
-|1-2 days
+|Instant
-|2-3 days
+|Up to a week
-|-
-|China Eastern
-|
-|
-|
-|Up to 2 weeks
-|-
-|China Southern
-|
-|
-|
-|Up to 2 weeks
-|-
-|COPA
-|
-|
-|
-|???
 |-
 |Delta
@@ Line 136: / Line 85: @@
 |
 |
-|1-2 days
+|
 |-
 |Emirates
 |Instant
-|
+|Instant
-|
+|Instant
-|2-7 days
+|Instant
 |-
 |Etihad
 |Instant
 |
-|2-9 days
+|Instant
-|Up to 2 weeks
+|1 day
 |-
 |EVA
 |
 |
-|1-4 days
+|1-3 days
-|
-|-
-|Garuda
-|
-|
 |1-2 days
-|
 |-
-|Frontier
+|Finnair
 |
 |
 |
-|???
+|Instant
-|-
-|Hainan
-|
-|
-|
-|Up to 2 weeks
 |-
 |Hawaiian
@@ Line 178: / Line 115: @@
 |
 |
-|1-2 days
+|
 |-
 |Iberia
-|1-2 days
+|1 day
 |Instant
 |
-|3-5 days
+|Via British Airways
 |-
-|JAL
+|Jet Blue
-|
-|
-|
-|Up to 1 week
-|-
-|Jet (India)
-|
-|
 |Instant
-|Up to 1 week
-|-
-|Jet Blue
 |Instant
 |Instant
 |Instant
-|???
 |-
-|Korean
+|Malaysia
-|
-|
-|
-|Up to 1 week
-|-
-|LAN Pass
-|
 |
 |
 |1-2 days
-|-
-|Lufthansa (Miles & More)
-|
-|
-|
-|3-4 days
-|-
-|Malaysia
-|
-|
-|2-3 days
 |
 |-
 |Qantas
-|
+|Instant
 |
 |1-2 days
-|???
+|1 day
 |-
 |Qatar
 |
 |
-|1-4 days
+|1-2 days
-|Up to 3-4 weeks
-|-
-|Saudia
-|
 |
-|
-|Up to 3-4 weeks
 |-
 |Singapore
-|1-3 days
 |1-2 days
-|1-3 days
+|1-2 days
-|Up to 1 week
+|1-2 days
-|-
+|1-2 days
-|South African
-|
-|
-|
-|???
 |-
 |Southwest
@@ Line 262: / Line 157: @@
 |Instant
 |
-|???
+|
 |-
-|TAP Air Portugal
+|TAP Portugal
 |
 |
 |
-|???
+|TBD
 |-
 |Thai
@@ Line 274: / Line 169: @@
 |
 |Up to 1 week
-|Up to 2 weeks
+|
 |-
 |Turkish
@@ Line 280: / Line 175: @@
 |
 |1-2 days
-|???
+|1-2 days
 |-
 |United
@@ Line 286: / Line 181: @@
 |Instant
 |
-|2-3 days
+|
 |-
 |Virgin Atlantic
-|1-2 days
 |Instant
 |Instant
-|1-2 days
+|Instant
-|-
-|Virgin Australia
-|
-|
 |
-|1-2 days
 {{/Table}}
+<nowiki>*</nowiki> The ability to transfer ThankYou points to American Airlines is billed as a limited-time capability, expiring on November 13th, 2021. Hopefully, they will extend this ability or make it permanent.
+Transfers from '''Marriott''' usually take at least a few days and some transfers can take a week or more. This causes a major problem when trying to use your points. By the time the points transfer to the frequent flyer program, the award space may no longer be available. If so, you won't get the tickets you wanted, and your points will be "trapped" in that program (as you can't transfer them back). For the best available information on Marriott transfer times, check out [//thepointsguy.com/guide/marriott-rewards-transfer-times/ this article] from The Points Guy.
 {{/Main|article}}