Delta miles aren't a good value when compared to British Airways miles or even Aeroplan miles for that matter.
FICO 9: 
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!
@Open123 wrote:The MR partners are members of what they call the Star Alliance or One World. It's just a group of carriers who have all agreed to allow each other's miles to book on each carrier. For example, if there's an MR bonus for BA, you can transfer MR points for the bonus for Avios, then use the Avios to book a flight other carriers which may offer more value than BA, given it's high surcharges.
So, if there's a bonus for Aeroplan for example, you can transfer the MR points to Aeroplan for the bonus. But, since Aeroplan has high fuel charges, you can use the Aero miles to book on other Star Alliance members using the miles for a better value than you otherwise would had you transferred directly without the bonus.
It gets all pretty convoluted, unless you can isolate a carrier, route and time of travel. Then, you can narrow in on the best opportunities. Part of the challenge is searching for Star Alliance flights because most carriers won't have it on their site. You have to call and do it manually. What I do is use ANA tool which searches on ANA's site for all available Star Alliance flights. After finding the one I want, then I'll call the airlines for the reservation after transferring the miles.
It takes some effort, but great value can be had from MR points if done opportunisitically.
I haven't done this before, but isn't it too that you actually have to have miles *in* an ANA frequent flyer account in order to use their search tool? As if trying to book award flights wasn't complicated enough...
@webhopper wrote:You can use some points and charge the rest.
The real value in booking travel with Amex using your points comes from transferring those points to airline partners to exchange for free tickets
DAMMIT!!! I booked a flight not too long ago with MR. I should've transferred to the airline now that I see that its worth it more.
When you transfer to an airline, but you still dont have enough to book the flight, are you still able to use SOME points to pay for a least part of it like you can do through the AMEX TRAVEL?
Any one know????
@zeusta20 wrote:
@webhopper wrote:You can use some points and charge the rest.
The real value in booking travel with Amex using your points comes from transferring those points to airline partners to exchange for free tickets
DAMMIT!!! I booked a flight not too long ago with MR. I should've transferred to the airline now that I see that its worth it more.
When you transfer to an airline, but you still dont have enough to book the flight, are you still able to use SOME points to pay for a least part of it like you can do through the AMEX TRAVEL?
Any one know????
This varies. I know that aeroplan lets you pay part with miles and pay for the rest out of pocket.
FICO 9:
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!
@zeusta20 wrote:
@webhopper wrote:You can use some points and charge the rest.
The real value in booking travel with Amex using your points comes from transferring those points to airline partners to exchange for free tickets
DAMMIT!!! I booked a flight not too long ago with MR. I should've transferred to the airline now that I see that its worth it more.
When you transfer to an airline, but you still dont have enough to book the flight, are you still able to use SOME points to pay for a least part of it like you can do through the AMEX TRAVEL?
Any one know????
You're almost *always* better off moving the MR points to the FF program and redeem directly.
MR travel, SPG travel and UR travel will *sometimes* offer a better deal than direct redemption if the stars and planets all align, but I've yet to be lucky enough to check when there thus aligned.
The only possible exception would be the 20% bonus conferred by the MR First program, which is available only to Amex Plat and Centurion cards. However, for the Plat, this 20% bonus will go away in October.
Not sure which will allow for "cash + miles," but it would depend on the carrier.
@Alcibiades wrote:Sometimes using "Pay With Points" is actually a good value. For example I used 37.7K points recently to purchase a EWR-SFO flight on United (the cash cost of the flight was $377). I usually fly Delta, and Delta was asking for 50,000 Skymiles for a JFK-SFO flight. For the most part, a transcontinental flight will run you at least 40,000 miles in coach (if you want to fly nonstop) regardless of the alliance or carrier. While I could have just paid cash, for this particular flight I didn't want to use cash, so I used points... On a "point per mile flown" basis (37.7K points for over 5,000 miles RT), this is a pretty good redemption.
However, usually, you get better value transfering to various partners.
If you had transferred those points to Aeroplan, you could have booked the flight on United through Aeroplan for 25k MR points round trip. That's why transferring represents such a great value! You might want to check it out next time you want to redeem.
45k MR points can get you to hawaii 
Here is the chart: http://www3.aeroplan.com/FlightRewardChart.do
FICO 9:
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!
@webhopper wrote:
@Alcibiades wrote:Sometimes using "Pay With Points" is actually a good value. For example I used 37.7K points recently to purchase a EWR-SFO flight on United (the cash cost of the flight was $377). I usually fly Delta, and Delta was asking for 50,000 Skymiles for a JFK-SFO flight. For the most part, a transcontinental flight will run you at least 40,000 miles in coach (if you want to fly nonstop) regardless of the alliance or carrier. While I could have just paid cash, for this particular flight I didn't want to use cash, so I used points... On a "point per mile flown" basis (37.7K points for over 5,000 miles RT), this is a pretty good redemption.
However, usually, you get better value transfering to various partners.
If you had transferred those points to Aeroplan, you could have booked the flight on United through Aeroplan for 25k MR points round trip. That's why transferring represents such a great value! You might want to check it out next time you want to redeem.
45k MR points can get you to hawaii
Here is the chart: http://www3.aeroplan.com/FlightRewardChart.do
I got it and just got a new link oh yesssssssssssssssssssssssssss
@webhopper wrote:
@Alcibiades wrote:Sometimes using "Pay With Points" is actually a good value. For example I used 37.7K points recently to purchase a EWR-SFO flight on United (the cash cost of the flight was $377). I usually fly Delta, and Delta was asking for 50,000 Skymiles for a JFK-SFO flight. For the most part, a transcontinental flight will run you at least 40,000 miles in coach (if you want to fly nonstop) regardless of the alliance or carrier. While I could have just paid cash, for this particular flight I didn't want to use cash, so I used points... On a "point per mile flown" basis (37.7K points for over 5,000 miles RT), this is a pretty good redemption.
However, usually, you get better value transfering to various partners.
If you had transferred those points to Aeroplan, you could have booked the flight on United through Aeroplan for 25k MR points round trip. That's why transferring represents such a great value! You might want to check it out next time you want to redeem.
45k MR points can get you to hawaii
Here is the chart: http://www3.aeroplan.com/FlightRewardChart.do
WOW! I like this!
Can Ultimate Rewards with CHASE transfer to Aeroplan too???