Rove Launches 3 Airline Transfer Bonuses Up To 50%—Europe Business Class From 56,700 Miles Roundtrip

Rove is offering up to 50% more airline miles on October transfers to Japan Airlines, Air France KLM and Qatar Airways. The best deals include business class to Japan for 36,700 Rove miles one-way and Emirates business class to Europe for 56,700 roundtrip. All three transfer bonuses are worthwhile. JAL has some of the most extraordinary award prices left, Flying Blue is one of the most useful programs for getting to Europe, and Qatar Avios can also be moved into other Avios programs. But I’m always wary of speculative Japan Airlines transfers. Their miles generally expire after three years, and putting more activity in your account doesn’t save them. Here are the offers, all deadlines U.S. Eastern time: Transfer To October Bonus October 31 Deadline Japan Airlines Mileage Bank 50% 11:59 p.m. Eastern Air France KLM Flying Blue 40% 6:59 p.m. Eastern Qatar Airways Privilege Club 15%, 25% or 35%, depending on transfer size 4:59 p.m. Eastern The JAL and Flying Blue offers begin October 1 at 6 a.m. Eastern. These programs normally transfer 1:1, so 10,000 Rove miles become 15,000 JAL miles or 14,000 Flying Blue miles. Rove’s minimum transfer is 2,000 miles. Rove lets you earn transferable miles from hotel and flight bookings, shopping, dining and gift cards, on top of your credit card rewards. I’ve been increasingly impressed with what they’re building, especially hotel rates that also qualify for hotel points and elite benefits. They have to be generous because they don’t have a built-in customer base. I’ve wondered how sustainable that is, though their pitch to merchants for targeted offers, with commissions as high as 40%, helps explain how they might pay for it. I’m happy to earn their miles when the deal is good and redeem them at high value! Japan Airlines: 50% More Miles, With Some Incredible Roundtrip Awards Rove offered this same 50% bonus when they added JAL in March. JAL’s published base prices between the continental U.S. and Japan start at 27,000 miles in economy and 55,000 in business class, one-way. With this bonus, those require 18,000 and 36,700 Rove miles respectively. JAL also offers additional seats at higher mileage prices, so the base price isn’t what you’ll see on every date. Even the higher price isn’t available like it once was. But some of my favorite uses of JAL miles don’t involve flying to Japan at all. Their single partner award chart adds up the distance of the whole itinerary. A roundtrip can cost a lot less than two one-ways booked separately. For instance, Emirates business class between New York JFK and Milan is 60,000 JAL miles one-way, but 85,000 roundtrip. That’s 40,000 Rove miles for one direction or 56,700 for both. Adding the return costs just 16,700 more Rove miles. Award JAL Miles Rove Miles With 50% Bonus JAL U.S.–Japan economy, one-way at base price 27,000 18,000 JAL U.S.–Japan business class, one-way at base price 55,000 36,700 Emirates New York JFK–Milan or Newark–Athens business class, roundtrip 85,000 56,700 American Airlines Miami–Madrid business class, roundtrip 85,000 56,700 LATAM Miami–Lima business class, roundtrip 60,000 40,000 LATAM Miami–Buenos Aires business class, roundtrip 85,000 56,700 Air France business class can also be worth booking through JAL. You can sometimes spend fewer miles and pay substantially less in surcharges than through Flying Blue. Air France makes more seats available to its own members, though, so check both programs rather than assuming the same flight will be bookable with JAL miles. Ordinary JAL miles expire at the end of the 36th month following the month they’re earned. Earning more miles doesn’t restart that clock. And awards are generally limited to the member and eligible family, rather than anyone you’d like to book for. Don’t assume the transfer is instant, either. When Rove added JAL, they told me transfers were processed daily at 6 p.m. Japan time. Flying Blue 40% Bonus Is Great For Europe And Short Delta Flights I’ve called Flying Blue essential for U.S. points collectors. They make more Air France and KLM award seats available to their own members than to partners, and you can combine miles transferred from Rove with points from the major bank programs to pay for the same trip. A 40% bonus means you divide the award price by 1.4 and round up to the permitted transfer increment: One-Way Award Example Flying Blue Miles Rove Miles With 40% Bonus Eligible short Delta economy flight 5,000 3,600 Europe economy Promo Reward, when offered at this price 18,750 13,400 U.S.–Europe Economy Light at the lowest regular price 25,000 17,900 U.S.–Europe Premium Light at the lowest regular price 40,000 28,600 U.S.–Europe Business Light at the lowest regular price 60,000 42,900 Business Standard priced at 75,000 miles 75,000 53,600 Taxes and carrier surcharges are extra, and can be several hundred dollars on a business class award. Short DElta flights start at 5,000 Flying Blue miles. A 3,600-mile Rove transfer produces 5,040 miles. Flying Blue just introduced Light, Standard and Flex awards September 8. The lowest mileage price now buys Light. For a traveler without status, Business Light includes one checked bag, no lounge access and no voluntary changes or refunds. Economy and premium economy Light don’t include a checked bag. There are several ways to get more out of the bonus: Search your whole trip, including connections beyond Paris or Amsterdam. Adding a connection can actually lower the mileage price. Children ages 2–11 traveling with an adult get a 25% mileage discount on Air France and KLM awards, including eligible Promo Rewards. The transfer bonus stacks with that. You can add a stopover through Flying Blue’s phone agents for no additional miles. Extra taxes can apply, and I’ve had the best luck getting these to price properly on a single airline. Don’t give up just because business class isn’t 60,000 miles. I’ve found useful availability around 80,000, which would require 57,200 Rove miles with the bonus. Qatar: Up To 35% More Avios (Requires Larger Transfers) Qatar’s bonus depends on how many Rove miles you transfer: Up to 49,999 Rove miles: 15% bonus. 50,000–99,999 Rove miles: 25% bonus. 100,000 Rove miles or more: 35% bonus. Qatar business class between the U.S. and Doha starts at 70,000 Avios one-way. That’s a fantastic redemption when Qsuites are offered and saver seats are available. A 70,000-Avios award requires 56,000 Rove miles if you’re starting from zero and transferring only enough for that ticket. For two 70,000-Avios awards, a single 104,000-mile transfer would produce 140,400 Avios. That’s about 52,000 Rove miles per person. The other attraction is that Qatar Avios don’t have to stay with Qatar. You can move them 1:1 into your linked British Airways account for free or onward to programs such as Iberia and Finnair. For instance, Finnair charges 15,000 Avios one-way for American Airlines economy between North America and Hawaii, when American releases partner award space. A 35% bonus earned on a larger Qatar transfer makes that an effective 11,111 Rove miles per ticket. Qatar’s terms require an account to be 30 days old before linking to British Airways, so set up the accounts before you need them. Qatar also reversed its requirement to credit a flight or qualifying co-brand transaction before adding award nominees. The nominee lists remain, though, along with the 30-day membership requirement for My List. If you’re booking for someone else, get that sorted before transferring. Earning Miles In Time To Use The Bonuses Rove’s instant gift card rewards can be useful when you’re just short of an award. Buy a gift card for spending you were going to do anyway, earn the Rove miles, and then transfer. Compare the reward against discounts available on the same gift card elsewhere. The bonus also changes how I’d compare shopping offers. An offer earning 10 Rove miles per dollar becomes 15 JAL miles or 14 Flying Blue miles per dollar after transfer, on top of the credit card rewards for the purchase. But miles sitting in a pending shopping transaction won’t fund an October transfer. Topics on this page