20% Bonus On Starpoint Transfers to American Airlines AAdvantage

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American Airlines is offering a 20% bonus on all Starwood Starpoint transfers between 1 August and 14 September 2016.

Starpoints transfer over to American Airlines AAdvantage at a ratio of 1:1 (like they do for the majority of airline currencies) and, as always, the best value is to be had by transferring Starpoints over in multiples of 20,000.

The Math

For every 20,000 Starpoints that are transferred over to AAdvantage Starwood adds a bonus 5,000 Starpoints to the transfer amount – you’re now transferring over 25,000 Starpoints to AAdvantage.

The 20% AAdvantage bonus is now calculated on this 25,000 Starpoint figure meaning that, for every 20,000 Statpoints you transfer from your Account to AAdvantage, you can expect to receive 30,000 AAdvantage Miles.

(20,000 Starpoints + 5,000 bonus Starpoints) x 1.2 = 30,000 AAdvantage Miles

Is It Worth It?

This is about as good a bonus as we generally see on Starpoint to AAdvantage transfers but that doesn’t necessarily mean that this is a great deal.

Following the recent devaluations I value AAdvantage miles at around 1.24 cents each so 30,000 AAdvantage miles would be worth $372 to me. I value Starpoints at around 1.8 cents each which would make every 20,000 Starpoints I transfer worth $360.

That’s a pretty marginal decision to make and looks like it slightly favours the transfer to AAdvantage….but miles/points transfers not all about the valuation. Its about what currency you need as well.

I have enough AAdvantage Miles for my needs right now while my Starpoint balance is hovering around the right amount to get me a 5-night stay at a very nice property somewhere in the world – in these circumstances a transfer isn’t right for me.

When would it make sense to transfer?

• If you have an immediate/short-term use for the AAdvantage Miles you’d get from the transfer
• If you have a small number of Starpoints with no obvious use coming up – you may as well take advantage of the bonus and transfer the points into a currency you’re more likely to use.
• If you’re Starpoint-rich and you’d like to diversify your points

When should you hold off?

• If you have no apparent, immediate need for the AAdvantage Miles – Starpoints can be converted into a lot of other airline currencies so it’s a more useful holding currency than AAdvantage miles.
• If you’re unsure what to do – Starpoints are generally harder to collect than AAdvantage Miles so, if you’re on the fence about what to do, the safe option is to stick with Starpoints.

Bottom Line

This isn’t a bad deal if you need to top-up an AAdvantage account but make sure you’ve given the transfer some thought before you pull the trigger – I’ll be sitting the promotion out this time.

If you decide transfer over some Starpoints:

• Make sure you do so in multiples of 20,000 to ensure you get the Starwood bonus
• Remember that the maximum number of Starpoints you can transfer over in a 24 hour period is 79,999 Starpoints.