Points Transfer Times (2021)
Using Your Points for Free Travel, Award Ticket Strategies
Most transfers from Membership Rewards and Ultimate Rewards and some transfers from ThankYou Rewards are nearly instantaneous. Other transfers require days, or even weeks, to complete.
Many non-instantaneous transfer requests are processed in batches. If you get lucky, your transfer request will occur just before the next batch is processed, and the transfer will be completed quickly. If you are unlucky, you may need to wait much longer.
With any transfer, there is always the possibility of some sort of hiccup. So, even if the table indicates that a transfer will happen instantly, there is a small chance it will take some time. Don’t absolutely count on transfers occurring by the time indicated below.
| Airline | Membership Rewards | Ultimate Rewards | ThankYou Rewards | Venture Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aer Lingus | Instant | Instant | via British Airways | |
| Aeromexico | Up to 1 week | Instant | Instant | |
| Air Canada (Aeroplan) | Instant | Instant | Instant | |
| Air France / KLM (Flying Blue) | Instant | Instant | Instant | Instant |
| Alitalia | Instant | Instant | ||
| American | 1-2 days* | |||
| ANA | 2-3 days | |||
| Avianca | Instant | Instant | Instant | |
| British Airways | Instant | Instant | Instant | |
| Cathay Pacific (Asia Miles) | Instant | Instant | Up to a week | |
| Delta | Instant | |||
| Emirates | Instant | Instant | Instant | Instant |
| Etihad | Instant | Instant | 1 day | |
| EVA | 1-3 days | 1-2 days | ||
| Finnair | Instant | |||
| Hawaiian | Instant | |||
| Iberia | 1 day | Instant | Via British Airways | |
| Jet Blue | Instant | Instant | Instant | Instant |
| Malaysia | 1-2 days | |||
| Qantas | Instant | 1-2 days | 1 day | |
| Qatar | 1-2 days | |||
| Singapore | 1-2 days | 1-2 days | 1-2 days | 1-2 days |
| Southwest | Instant | |||
| TAP Portugal | TBD | |||
| Thai | Up to 1 week | |||
| Turkish | 1-2 days | 1-2 days | ||
| United | Instant | |||
| Virgin Atlantic | Instant | Instant | Instant |
* The ability to transfer ThankYou points to American Airlines is billed as a limited-time capability, expiring on November 13th, 2021. Hopefully, they will extend this ability or make it permanent.
Transfers from Marriott usually take at least a few days and some transfers can take a week or more. This causes a major problem when trying to use your points. By the time the points transfer to the frequent flyer program, the award space may no longer be available. If so, you won't get the tickets you wanted, and your points will be "trapped" in that program (as you can't transfer them back). For the best available information on Marriott transfer times, check out this article from The Points Guy.
