This Month's Best Points & Miles Offers
This board is the reason DuperDeals exists: the offers actually worth your attention this month, with an honest note on who each one is for. Transfer bonuses expire fast, so check the end dates. The three Amex → Avios bonuses that led this board last week are gone, but Bilt's one-day Rent Day event on October 1 is the biggest thing on the calendar, if you're a Bilt member.
Active transfer bonuses
| From | To | Bonus | Ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Ultimate Rewards | Air Canada Aeroplan | 20% | Sep 30 |
| Rove Miles | Copa Airlines ConnectMiles | 40% | Sep 30 |
| Capital One Miles | JAL Mileage Bank | 30% | Sep 30 |
| Bilt Rewards | Amtrak Guest Rewards | up to 125%* | Oct 1 only |
| Bilt Rewards | Hilton Honors | up to 200%* | Oct 1 only |
| Amex Membership Rewards | Hilton Honors | 30% | Oct 14 |
| Chase Ultimate Rewards | Marriott Bonvoy | 70% | Oct 15 |
| Citi ThankYou Rewards | JAL Mileage Bank | 30% | Oct 24 |
| Citi ThankYou Rewards | Avianca LifeMiles | 25% | Oct 24 |
*Bilt's Rent Day bonus is tiered by account status, not flat: Blue members get 25% to Amtrak and 75% to Hilton, up through Platinum at 100% and 175%. The 125% and 200% top figures need a Bilt Cash buy-up on top of Platinum status. One day only, October 1, and each program caps at 100,000 transferred points that day. Chase → Aeroplan, Rove → Copa and Capital One → JAL all close two days before that, September 30, so don't wait on those expecting Bilt's window to overlap.
Card signup bonuses, the honest version
Card welcome offers are the fastest way to a big points balance, and this is where most points sites turn into card salesmen. We're not doing that. What you should know: the major flexible-currency cards rotate elevated offers all year, often in the 60,000-100,000+ point range, and the elevated windows are worth waiting for. Check offers directly on the issuer's site, compare against the historical highs before applying, and never open a card for a bonus you wouldn't hit with your normal spending. When we eventually add card links we'll say so plainly.
Earning that doesn't require a new card
- Airline dining programs pay miles at restaurants automatically once you link a card. Passive after setup. Full guide: earning without new cards.
- Airline shopping portals pay miles per dollar for clicking through before you shop online, and portal rates spike during promos.
- Hotel promotions (registration required, usually free) regularly pay double points on stays.
- Buy-points sales can occasionally make sense, but only priced against a specific redemption you'll make immediately.
Recently ended
- Amex Membership Rewards → British Airways Avios, Iberia Avios and Aer Lingus Avios, 30% each. All three ended Sep 27, on schedule. They shared one Avios pool, so losing all three at once was really losing one offer counted three ways.
- Citi ThankYou Rewards → Leading Hotels of the World, 25%. Ended Sep 19. A narrow one by design, useful only if you already had a specific LHW property priced out.
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, 10% buy bonus. Ended Aug 28.
- Chase Ultimate Rewards → IHG One Rewards, 70%. Ended Aug 31, after returning from its July 30 dip. Third time this board has logged an IHG bonus this year.
- Citi ThankYou Rewards → Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, 40%. Ended Aug 31.
- Capital One Miles → Avianca LifeMiles, 15%. Ended Aug 31, well below the 30% Capital One → JAL bonus that's live above, which is why we didn't feature it while it ran.
- Citi ThankYou Rewards → Air France/KLM Flying Blue, 20%. Ended Aug 22, right on schedule. This is the bonus behind our New York to Paris redemption walkthrough, the exact math still applies whenever this one (or something like it) comes back.
FAQ
What is a transfer bonus, exactly? A limited-time boost from a bank or program that adds extra miles when you move points from your flexible currency (Chase, Amex, Capital One, Citi) into an airline or hotel program, on top of the normal 1:1 or program-set rate. Are point transfers reversible? No. Once points leave your bank account and land in the airline or hotel program, they're gone for good, which is exactly why the golden rule is never transfer speculatively. Do transfer bonuses come back? Often, yes. Chase → IHG expired at 100% on July 30 and was back within two weeks at 70%, a real example, not a hypothetical. Never on a guaranteed schedule and rarely at the exact same percentage, which is why we log what expired instead of just deleting it. Is a bigger bonus percentage always better? No, a 50% bonus into a program you'll never redeem in is worth nothing. The best bonus is the one that funds a redemption you've already priced and want.