Are Marriott Bonvoy Airline Mileage Transfers Worth It? They Could Be, But…

Among hotel loyalty programs, one thing that makes Marriott Bonvoy unique is the ability to (fairly) efficiently convert hotel points into airline miles. While most major hotel loyalty programs allow some sort of opportunity to convert hotel points into airline miles, it typically represents a very bad value. In this post, I’d like to take a look at the opportunity to convert Marriott points into airline miles. Which airline programs can you move your Marriott points to, what’s the transfer ratio, and is it worth it? Basics of Marriott’s points to miles transfer optionMarriott Bonvoy airline miles transfer ratios & bonusesMarriott Bonvoy airline mileage transfer partnersMarriott Bonvoy airline mileage transfers aren’t instantMarriott Bonvoy airline mileage transfer processAre Marriott Bonvoy mileage transfers worth it?What about converting airline miles into Marriott points?Bottom line Basics of Marriott’s points to miles transfer option It’s possible to convert Bonvoy points into airline miles, with your choice of nearly 40 different frequent flyer programs. Let’s take a look at which partners Marriott Bonvoy has, what the transfer ratios are, etc. Marriott Bonvoy airline miles transfer ratios & bonuses Marriott points generally convert into airline miles at a 3:1 ratio, and with most partners you get 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 Marriott points you transfer. In other words, 60,000 Bonvoy points will convert into 25,000 airline miles (including the 5,000 bonus miles). You can take advantage of that bonus of 5,000 miles multiple times, meaning that you can convert Bonvoy points into airline miles at a ratio of up to 2.4:1. Note that you can transfer a minimum of 3,000 Bonvoy points and a maximum of 240,000 Bonvoy points per day. So if you want to transfer more than 240,000 Bonvoy points, you’ll want to do so over multiple days. Convert Bonvoy points into Emirates Skywards miles Marriott Bonvoy airline mileage transfer partners Below is a chart with the airline frequent flyer programs you can transfer your Marriott points to, along with the standard transfer ratio, plus the ability to earn a bonus when transferring a minimum of 60,000 points. Airline programTransfer ratioBonus for moving 60K+ pointsAegean Miles+Bonus3:15,000 milesAer Lingus AerClub3:15,000 AviosAeromexico Club Premier3:15,000 pointsAir Canada Aeroplan3:15,000 pointsAir China PhoenixMiles3:15,000 milesAir France-KLM Flying Blue3:15,000 milesAir New Zealand Koru200:175 AirpointsAlaska Atmos Rewards3:15,000 pointsAmerican Airlines AAdvantage3:1NoneANA Mileage Club3:15,000 milesAvianca lifemiles3:1NoneBritish Airways Club3:15,000 AviosCathay Pacific Cathay3:15,000 milesChina Southern Sky Pearl Club3:15,000 milesCopa Airlines ConnectMiles3:15,000 milesDelta SkyMiles3:1NoneEmirates Skywards3:15,000 milesEthiopian Airlines ShebaMiles3:15,000 milesEtihad Guest3:15,000 milesFrontier Miles3:15,000 milesHainan Fortune Wings Club3:15,000 milesIberia Club3:15,000 AviosJapan Airlines Mileage Bank3:15,000 milesLATAM Pass3:15,000 milesQantas Frequent Flyer3:15,000 pointsQatar Airways Privilege Club3:15,000 AviosSaudia Alfursan3:15,000 milesSingapore Airlines KrisFlyer3:15,000 milesSouthwest Rapid Rewards3:15,000 pointsTAP Air Portugal Miles&Go3:15,000 milesThai Airways Royal Orchid Plus3:15,000 milesTurkish Airlines Miles&Smiles3:15,000 milesUnited Airlines MileagePlus3:110,000 milesVirgin Atlantic Flying Club3:15,000 pointsVirgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer3:15,000 milesVueling Club3:15,000 Avios While I covered these details above, let me specifically note the exceptions that apply here: There’s one exception to the 3:1 transfer ratio, which is that Marriott points transfer to Air New Zealand Koru at a 200:1 ratio; this simply reflects the different scale of Air New Zealand’s rewards currency For transfers to American AAdvantage, avianca lifemiles, and Delta SkyMiles, you don’t receive 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 Bonvoy points transferred, so the ratio is 3:1 regardless of how big your transfer is For transfers to United MileagePlus, you actually receive 10,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 Bonvoy points transferred, meaning the transfer ratio in the right increments can be 2:1 (this is thanks to a special partnership between the two brands) Convert Bonvoy points into Alaska Atmos Rewards points Marriott Bonvoy airline mileage transfers aren’t instant With the major transferable points currencies, converting points into airline miles is typically an instant process. So it’s worth being aware that Marriott points don’t convert into airline miles instantly. Rather, transfers generally take anywhere from a day to a couple of weeks, with transfers for most partners taking anywhere from two to five days. I’d consider this to be a major weak point of this opportunity. I generally recommend converting points into airline miles in situations where you have a specific use in mind, and that could be a situation where you find award space on a particular flight. Obviously that’s not exactly useful here, since it could take a couple of weeks for the transfer to happen, and odds are that whatever award availability you were looking at will be gone at that point. Convert Bonvoy points into Japan Airlines Mileage Bank miles Marriott Bonvoy airline mileage transfer process The process of converting Marriott points into airline miles is really straightforward. Just go to the partner transfer page, click the “Transfer Points” button, and then you’ll be asked to enter the information for the account you want to move your points to. There you’ll be able to select how many points you want to transfer, and note that the amounts shown won’t reflect a bonus, if eligible. It’s important to be sure that the names of the accounts match, as you can only transfer your Marriott points to an airline frequent flyer account that’s also in your name. Also keep in mind that once the miles are in your frequent flyer account, they’ll be subject to the standard airline mileage expiration policies of the program. Convert Bonvoy points into Ethiopian Airlines ShebaMiles miles While I think converting Marriott points into airline miles could represent a good value, it’s not how I choose to redeem my Bonvoy points. To briefly crunch some numbers, based on my latest miles & points valuations, I consider Bonvoy points to be worth 0.7 cents each. At a 2.4:1 transfer ratio (60,000 points per 25,000 miles), that’s like “paying” 1.68 cents per airline mile, which is a pretty decent cost. Why do I choose not to convert Marriott points into airline miles? Marriott points can’t efficiently be earned through credit card spending, so your only options to earn them efficiently are through hotel stays, or by buying Bonvoy points (typically at a higher cost than what I value them) I earn transferable points currencies for my credit card spending, so I’d rather use points earned with Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, or Citi ThankYou, for flights, since I can earn those points at a faster rate with credit card spending I’d rather use my Marriott points for luxury hotel stays, where there’s outsized value with the points In theory the one situation where it could make sense to transfer Marriott points to airline miles is for programs that don’t otherwise partner with the major transferable points currencies; however, even there I don’t think it’s terribly compelling I absolutely don’t think anyone is off base for choosing to convert Marriott points into airline miles. For that matter, this could be a good option if you’re in a crunch, and just need to top off an account for a high value redemption. However, it’s not how I choose to redeem my points, and I don’t think the value is there for most. It’s more of a last resort redemption option, if you’re truly unable to get value elsewhere. In fairness, that might just be the direction the program is headed. While Bonvoy points have been significantly devalued over the years for hotel redemptions, the mileage conversion options have remained mostly consistent. Convert Bonvoy points into ANA Mileage Club miles What about converting airline miles into Marriott points? While the ability to convert Marriott points into airline miles has been around for a long time, we’re increasingly seeing two-way transfers, where you can convert airline miles into Marriott points. The idea behind this is great — maybe someone has a lot of airline miles, but really wants to redeem for a hotel stay. Is this a good deal, though? Unfortunately the answer is almost always “no.” Currently the below programs let you convert airline miles to Marriott Bonvoy, with both the transfer ratios and any exceptions listed. ProgramTransfer ratioExclusionsAir Canada Aeroplan1:1Aeroplan elite status requiredAll Nippon Airways Mileage Club1:1NoneUnited MileagePlus1:1MileagePlus elite status requiredJapan Airlines Mileage Bank4:3NoneEmirates Skywards3:2NoneCathay Pacific2:1NoneQatar Airways Privilege Club (Avios)2:1NoneSingapore Airlines KrisFlyer2:1None While I suppose more flexibility is always a good thing, these transfers are almost never worth it. As a reminder, I value Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each, and you’re getting at most one Bonvoy point per airline mile. If you have the same valuation I do, at a 1:1 transfer ratio you’re getting up to 0.7 cents per mile, while at a 2:1 transfer ratio, you’re getting up to 0.35 cents per mile. That’s not a rate at which I’d be happy cashing in miles. Don’t convert your airline miles into Bonvoy points Bottom line It’s possible to convert Marriott points into airline miles with over three dozen programs. While this is the best hotel points to airline miles transfer ratio that you’ll find with any program, it’s still not how I’d choose to redeem my Bonvoy points. Yes, I appreciate the “insurance” that this redemption option provides, since it essentially creates a floor value for Bonvoy points. However, Bonvoy points are hard to efficiently earn through anything other than hotel stays, so I prefer to save them for hotel stays. I’d rather convert credit card points currencies into airline miles. Where do you stand on the value of Marriott Bonvoy airline mileage transfers? Have you ever redeemed Bonvoy points this way?