Live transfer bonuses from Amex, Chase, Citi, Capital One and Bilt to their airline and hotel partners, with the bonus percentage and the date each one ends.
Flexible bank points - Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou, Capital One miles and Bilt points - normally move to airline and hotel partners at a 1:1 ratio. A transfer bonus temporarily improves that ratio for one partner, for a limited window. At a 30% bonus, 10,000 bank points arrive as 13,000 partner miles. You have not earned anything extra. You have made the same balance stretch roughly 23% further on the redemption side, and that is often the gap between an award being worth booking and not.
This is the mistake that costs people the most money. Transfers are one-way and effectively irreversible - once your points land in a frequent flyer account, no bank is pulling them back. So confirm the seat exists before you move anything, then transfer the exact number of miles that booking needs. Award Travel Finder will show you live award availability across programs, which is the check worth doing before a bonus tempts you into moving a balance you have no plan for.
Some partners credit in seconds, others take days. That matters when a bonus expires at the end of the month or an award seat is sitting in your cart on hold. Build in a buffer rather than transferring on the final day of a promotion, and never assume the speed you got last time is the speed you will get this time.
Most programs cycle through the same set of partners over the course of a year, so a bonus you miss will usually come back around. Worth remembering when one tempts you into speculative transferring. The exception is a trip with fixed dates, where taking a smaller bonus now beats gambling on a bigger one arriving in time.
If you are short a few thousand miles for a specific award, a transfer bonus is not your only route. Programs run their own promotions on purchased points, and sometimes the cash price works out cheaper than burning a flexible balance you would rather keep. Our buy points promotions tracker runs alongside this one so you can compare both before committing.