Update: The Air Canada transfer bonus ends tomorrow. If you do still want to take advantage of the 80K or 120K bonus you would need to transfer part of it today and part of tomorrow as the maximum amount of Starpoints you can transfer per day for the maximum bonus is 60K.
—————————————————————————————
United Transfer Bonus Offer Details
Through 08/31 you will get a 25% bonus for transfers from hotel programs to United.
It’s not worth transferring valuable Starpoints to United due to the poor 20K:12.5K ratio, though with this promotion the ratio would be 20,000:15,625. Still, you’d be far better off transferring 20K Starpoints into 30K American miles and using Chase Ultimate Rewards cards to transfer at a 1:1 ratio into United.
The best option is from Marriott. With RewardsPlus Hotel+Air you can use 220K Marriott points for 7 nights at a category 5 hotel plus 96,250 United miles. Or 112K Marriott points would net 62.5K United miles via RewardsPlus.
———————————————————————————–
Air Canada Aeroplan Transfer Bonus Offer Details
Through 08/24 you can get bonus points for transferring points from hotel and car partners to Air Canada’s Aeroplan program. Here is a link to Air Canada’s award chart.
Unfortunately the bonus does not apply for American Express Membership Rewards transfers, but it does work for Starwood transfers. Starwood gives 25K Aeroplan miles for every 20K Starpoints transferred.
-If you transfer 5K Starwood you’ll have 6K Aeroplan (effective 20% bonus)
-If you transfer 10K Starwood you’ll have 12K Aeroplan (effective 20% bonus)
-If you transfer 20K Starwood you’ll have 29K Aeroplan (effective 45% bonus)
-If you transfer 40K Starwood you’ll have 60K Aeroplan (effective 50% bonus)
-If you transfer 80K Starwood you’ll have 125K Aeroplan (effective 56.25% bonus)
-If you transfer 120K Starwood you’ll have 190K Aeroplan (effective 58.33% bonus)
Both the Starwood consumer and business credit cards have limited time increased signup bonuses.
120K Starwood points will get you more than enough Aeroplan miles for 2 people to fly round-trip business class to Europe on Star Alliance carrier Swiss with no fuel surcharges. Plus Aeroplan also offers 2 free stopovers!
Of course there are many other options for your Starpoints, so you’ll have to consider if the 50% bonus to American will serve you better than a 58% bonus to Aeroplan. Plus you can transfer Membership Rewards to Aeroplan but not to American.
A breakdown of Aeroplan policies:
-Air Canada has one of the best lap child policies out there. You pay a flat fee of just $50 in coach, $100 in business, and $125 in first for a lap child. Compare that to 10% of the paid fare with other airlines and you can save a small fortune, especially if you are flying in business or first class.
-Air Canada generously allows for 2 free stopovers, so you can check out up to 2 cities for as long as you want in addition to your final destination. If used properly you can create for yourself a mini round-the-world trip, all for the single award rate of flying to your final destination. So for just 90K miles you can fly in business class round-trip to 3 European cities and stay in each for as long as you want. Or for 150K miles you can fly round-trip to Asia in business, with stops in Europe along the way.
-There are no expedite/close-in fees.
-There is a $90 charge to change or cancel an award ticket. Officially you can’t cancel an award within 21 days, but you can pay $90 to change it to a date outside of 21 days and another $90 to cancel it.
-Air Canada charges a fuel surcharge if you redeem their miles for travel on the following carriers: Adria, Air Canada, ANA, Asiana, Austrian, LOT Polish, Lufthansa, TAP Portugal, and THAI. There is no fuel surcharge if you redeem their miles for travel on the following carriers: Aegean, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, Avianca/TACA, Brussels, Copa, Croatia, EVA, EgyptAir, Ethiopian, SAS, Shenzhen, Singapore, South African, Swiss, Turkish, and United.
-Air Canada miles require activity every 12 months to keep them active.
Leave a Reply
49 Comments On "Air Canada And United Transfer Bonuses"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
For those that really know, Aeroplan rewards are hard to find and if you are (unlucky enough) to find one or two watch out for the hefty surcharges that can run thousands of dollars for 2 business class tickets.
so say i have 80000 marriot miles, can i transfer them to aeroplan? how much would i net?
@Frequent Flyer:
Actually for those that know they use other websites to help find space on airlines that don’t get hit with fuel surcharges.
Also booking one-ways can lower fuel surcharges. As can some other tricks of the trade…
@luvtotravel:
70K Marriott=29K Air Canada.
140K Marriott=60K Air Canada.
Not a great transfer.
american 50% bonus is more worth than air canada 58% bonus?
@unknown:
It definitely can be. Or it may not be. All depends on the route.
Is there a way to transfer the other way? from Aeroplan to Starwoods? or Aeroplan to anything decent?
@Dan:
“…tricks of the trade….” Speaking of which, any idea when and where the next DDS might be? It’s been a while….
@ Dan
“….. they use other websites to help find space on airlines that don’t get hit with fuel surcharges.â€
Please bear with me as I just been in this game for couple months. What websites that we can use to help find space and what airlines that don’t hit us with fuel surcharges while using Aeroplan rewards?
Would you please kindly share the link to that primer if you have or know any primer on it, thanks a lot and appreciate it!
@Dan: what other transfer is there to do with Marriot points?
What would you value more 80,000 Marriott points or 43,750 United miles?
Also would I get a 1099 for these miles earned?
How about transferring Hilton points? Is that worth it?
Dan, why do you call it Air Canada Miles?
The days of the airline Air Canada owning or administering A Mileage program was over a decade ago
The company that owns the Aeroplan Mileage Program is Aimia Corp
(I believe this is not news to you)
I have 145K Marriot miles from the Chase ritz card and thinking of transfering to United for the 25%k bonus but the website doesn’t allow it. It shows max transfer of 120k marriot miles to united.
How can I transfer 145k marriot miles to united?
Can I transfer Starwood to another Aeroplan acct not in my name?
How long does it typically take for a Marriott to United transfer to post? Says to allow 6-8 weeks, which obviously puts you past the 8/31 deadline for the United bonus.
Anyone know how often United runs this kind of promo? Deciding whether to liquidate my Marriott account now (transfer 112k of 145k points to United miles speculatively), or to hold out until I can work my way to 220k and do the great Hotel+Air deal the next time this promo rolls around.
Hi Dan! Im trying to book an award ticket from LAX to Israel from August 17th-August 27th but everything is full at the saver levels, do you have any tips? I have Chase UR points and Amex points.
Thanks!
@Daniel:
Tell them your name is dan
Can I please hear ur input Dan on this.
What would you value more 80,000 Marriott points or 43,750 United miles?
ATTENTION: transferring marriott points either to another account or to a partner will most likely DEDUCT these points from your lifetime balance! So if you are closing in for LFT status – beware!
100% points are deducted from LF balance when you use “buy-up status” offer.
@ Dan
I really appreciate your reply to my question on my previous post #8 above. I’ve been checking this page everyday in hope for your reply. Please help. Thankyou.
@Stephanie:
The post says which airlines.
Other sites include ANA and United.com
how do I transfer 80k SPG to get 125K Aeroplan? When I tried transferring from SPG, the limit is 79,999
@points:
It’s cumulative, just transfer it over 2 days.
Thanx Dan,
Do you know how long the transfer will take?
I did the transfer to United but didn’t realize I actually need to register for the promotion. I registered now after the transfer. From reading the T&C it says seems like all you need to do is register before August 31 and earn the mileage by August 31.
Dan, can I assume that I will get the bonus?
@BrooklynCPA:
Yes.
I transferred SPG into Aeroplan. The transfer took 4 days until the miles showed in my account. Air Canada website says that the bonus miles will be credited 7-10 days later.
Found great United flights available using Aerolplan points. Roundtrip EWR to LAX for Succos, tons of direct flights available for 25k miles (=16k SPG)
If you transfer SPG today it won’t hit AC until after the bonus deadline so in essence isn’t it to late already?
Dan not sure which would have more value. Right now i dont have any plans , does it pay for me to transfer?
Please direct me to a post showing which credit cards can get multiple sign up bonuses and how long I need to wait. Thanks
@Dan fan:
No, it goes by the transfer date.
@not sure:
No.
Im trying to work out mileage tickets to Israel on 2016. Are you saying I can transfer Starwood to American to get the bonus miles and then use Chase Ultimate Rewards to transfer miles from American to United?
I transferred some Marriott points to United but the mile so not there and also no 25% bonus. How long it takes?
please fix the post and add lot polish on the list of airline that air canada is not charging fuel………
its a hassle to collect miles, but its nearly impossible to use it when you need it.
try to get certain days around chagim, with work schedule, not much felxibility, even if you do it well in advance, no seats, or asking for astronomical miles. i start realizing it just does not work. yrs of collecting, cant actualize it.
Am I still on time to do this?
Will the transfer show in my Aeroplan account today (24th) in order to qualify for the extra bonus?
@Rachel:
It will backdate to today when it posts.
@Dan: Thank you! Done! 🙂
@Tamar: I have the same question how do you do this through ultimate rewards?
My bonus from Marriott to United did not post, I only got 50k
@Dan: I have made a transfer of 40K on 8/24 before midnight EST.
I received 50.000 Air Canada miles dates 8/24 on my aeroplan account.
Where are the remaining 10.000?
@Rachel:
“Bonus miles are credited 7 10 days following successful receipt by Aeroplan of a conversion transaction from the partner. “
@Dan: Thank you
How long does it take for the united bonus miles to post? Been several days here.
@d2:
” Bonus Miles will be credited into the member’s account on or before September 30, 2015.”
@Dan:
thanks!
anyone else not get the bonus yet?
@Dan:
Dan did you get your bonus?