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Update 10/22/17: This transfer bonus was supposed to end October 15 but has been extended through October 31, 2017.

Until October 15, 2017, you can get up to a 62.5% bonus when transferring your SPG points to American Airlines AAdvantage. Previous SPG to AAdvantage transfer bonuses have offered a maximum of a 20% bonus. But this time AAdvantage is throwing in an additional 10k bonus for every 100k AAdvantage miles earned through Starpoint conversions! When considering the automatic bonus you get from Starwood for transfers to airline miles, you can get earn up to a 62.5% overall bonus.

  • How many Starpoints can you transfer?
  • Do Starpoints transfer instantly to American Airlines miles?
  • In what increment must you transfer Starpoints to maximize this deal?
  • How many Starpoints should you transfer speculatively?

The Offer

From September 1 through October 15, 2017, convert your Starpoints® to AAdvantage® miles and earn up to 30% additional AAdvantage® miles from the conversions. How this works:

  1. Earn 20% bonus with each conversion
  2. Earn an additional 10,000 AAdvantage® miles for every 100,000 AAdvantage® miles received from conversions.

As always, for every 20,000 Starpoints® transferred within the same transaction, SPG® will automatically add another 5,000 Starpoints®. The 20% bonus will apply after this addition.

What That Looks Like in Practice.

A transfer of 20,000 Starpoints to AAdvantage:

  • 20,000 Starpoints = 20,000 AAdvantage miles (1:1 transfer partner)
  • Standard SPG bonus = 5,000 AAdvantage miles per 20,000 Starpoints transferred
  • Additional AAdvantage 20% mileage bonus = 5,000 AAdvantage miles
  • Total: 20,000 Starpoints = 30,000 AAdvantage miles

A transfer of 40,000 Starpoints to AAdvantage:

  • 40,000 Starpoints = 40,000 AAdvantage miles (1:1 transfer partner)
  • Standard SPG bonus = 5,000 AAdvantage miles per 20,000 Starpoints transferred, so a 10k bonus from SPG, which brings us to 50k
  • AAdvantage 20% mileage bonus = 10,000 AAdvantage miles
  • Total: 40,000 Starpoints = 60,000 AAdvantage miles

A transfer of 50,000 Starpoints to AAdvantage:

  • 50,000 Starpoints = 50,000 AAdvantage miles (1:1 transfer partner)
  • Standard SPG bonus = 5,000 AAdvantage miles per 20,000 Starpoints transferred, so a 10k bonus from SPG, which brings us to 60k
  • AAdvantage 20% mileage bonus = 12,000 AAdvantage miles
  • Total: 50,000 Starpoints = 72,000 AAdvantage miles

A transfer of 60,000 Starpoints to AAdvantage:

  • 60,000 Starpoints = 60,000 AAdvantage miles (1:1 transfer partner)
  • Standard SPG bonus = 5,000 AAdvantage miles per 20,000 Starpoints transferred, so a 15k bonus from SPG, which brings us to 75k
  • AAdvantage 20% mileage bonus = 15,000 AAdvantage miles
  • Total: 60,000 Starpoints = 90,000 AAdvantage miles

A transfer of 80,000 Starpoints to AAdvantage:

  • 80,000 Starpoints = 80,000 AAdvantage miles (1:1 transfer partner)
  • Standard SPG bonus = 5,000 AAdvantage miles per 20,000 Starpoints transferred, so a 20k bonus from SPG, which brings us to 100k
  • AAdvantage 20% mileage bonus = 20,000 AAdvantage miles
  • AAdvantage bonus for receiving 100k AAdvantage miles = 10,000 AAdvantage miles
  • Total: 80,000 Starpoints = 130,000 AAdvantage miles

This final example, which would reap a 62.5% bonus, would have to be done over the course of two days, as the limit on Starpoints you can transfer per 24 hours to an airline is 79,999. Since you need to send Starpoints in exact 20k point increments to maximize transfer bonuses, the effective limit is 60,000 Starpoints per day to 90,000 American Airlines miles.

You will earn the 10k bonus for receiving 100k AA miles through Starpoint conversions on a cumulative basis over the course of the promotional period (September 1 through October 15, 2017).

Other than the daily limit, there is no limit to the number of Starpoints you can transfer to American Airlines miles during this promotion.

Remember Transfer Time Isn’t Usually Instant

Starpoints do not transfer instantly to American Airlines miles. The transfer usually take two days but can take up to four. Nor will the bonus miles be instant. The terms read, “Bonus miles will be posted by American Airlines to the Member’s account within 7 business days after the initial Conversion activity has been posted by the Member.”

Make sure to take advantage of American Airline’s free holds on awards to increase the likelihood of availability of your desired award space. AAdvantage has one of the most lenient policies towards award holds. You can put American Airlines awards on hold for free for up to:

  • Five days if booked 15 – 330 days in advance
  • One day if booked 1 – 14 days in advance
  • Two hours if booked within 24 hours of departure

Speculative Transfers

I value Starpoints at 2.5 cents each and AAdvantage miles at 1.5 cents each, so I’d rather have 20,000 Starpoints ($500) than 30,000 American Airlines miles ($450). Transferring 80k Starpoints to 130k AAdvantage miles speculatively brings you a higher return and closer to a point where speculative transfers would be worth it, but I am not going to rush off and convert all my Starpoints to American Airlines miles since transferring kills the option value of holding transferable points. What if for my next award Asiana or Singapore or British Airways or Delta miles are better than American Airlines miles? I’d rue my transfer. If you live in a place that severely limits you to flying American and have a ton of SPG points, then perhaps a speculative transfer would be a good idea.

And like always, if you have an immediate high value redemption in the mind, then this transfer bonus is an amazing opportunity top off your AAdvantage account balance.

Get More American Airlines Miles

The Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard offers 60,000 bonus American Airlines miles after making just one purchases and paying the annual fee of $95 within the first 3 months of opening the card. Read more about it here.

The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard® offers 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months.

Included in the $450 annual fee, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard® offers Admirals Club lounge membership, meaning you and up to 32 other people can access over 90 American Airlines Clubs in airports around the world whenever you’re flying–even if you’re not flying on American and and even if you’re not present. Read more about who this card is right for here.

Citi also has two other credit cards co-branded with AAdvantage, a personal and business Platinum Select card, but neither have historically high bonuses at the moment. They regularly bounce up to 50k, so I’d wait until their offers do that again before applying.

Offer Terms and Conditions

Are you going to transfer SPG points to AAdvantage?

Hat tip The Points Guy

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

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