Points Professor

Does this transfer bonus actually save you points?

Start from a specific award you would book anyway. Enter what it costs in the partner program, your bank's normal transfer ratio and the bonus on offer. The result shows the bank points you would transfer with and without the bonus, rounded up to whole transfers, and what the bonus really saves.

The figures below are a fictional example, the same one used in our transfer bonus guide, not any bank's current offer. Replace them with the award price and the terms of the offer you are looking at. Calculations run in your browser; nothing you enter is sent or saved. This tool does the arithmetic; it doesn't tell you whether award space is available or whether an offer applies to you. See our privacy notice for site analytics.

The award
The award price in the partner's own miles or points, from a search in the partner program.
Miles or points you already have in that program. Leave blank if none.
The transfer
The ordinary ratio without any bonus. Enter 1 and 1 for 1:1; for a ratio such as 1,000 bank points to 750 partner units, enter 1,000 and 750.
From the offer's terms. The calculator applies it to the ordinary units you receive; check how your offer calculates it.
The block size your bank transfers in. For example, our guide notes Chase says points can typically be transferred in increments of 1,000. Check your own bank's terms.
Compare with cash (optional)

Fill these in to see cents per bank point with and without the bonus. Leave them blank to skip.

Taxes, fees or surcharges you would still pay when booking with points.
What you would actually pay for the same trip in cash, not an inflated fare you'd never buy.
Your own figure, for example 1.25. It's used to compare, not to tell you what points are worth.

Use whole numbers for points and units; US thousands separators such as 30,000 are accepted. Use dollar amounts with a decimal point (for example, 45.50).

How this works

It follows the three-question test in our guide to when a transfer bonus is worth acting on: is there a specific award you would book anyway, does the bonus actually lower its cost, and can you accept moving the points out of your flexible account? The calculator answers the second question.

  • Units already in the partner account are subtracted from the award price first. If they cover it, you need 0 bank points.
  • Each transfer earns the normal ratio's partner units, rounded down to whole units, plus the bonus percentage of those units, also rounded down.
  • The calculator finds the smallest transfer, in whole increments, that covers what's still needed, once with the bonus and once without. In the guide's example (30,000 units, 1:1, 30% bonus, 1,000-point blocks), that's 24,000 bank points with the bonus against 30,000 without: 6,000 saved, or 20%, with 1,200 units left over.
  • Cents per bank point is the cash price minus any cash still due on the award, divided by the bank points transferred.

What it doesn't cover

  • Whether award space is actually available. Find and confirm the seat first: TravelTutor's guide to searching partner airline awards before you transfer shows how.
  • Whether a different partner, or paying cash, would be cheaper for the same trip. Run the numbers for each option you could book.
  • Timing. Bonus units may post later than the ordinary transfer, and award space can disappear while you wait. Our guide to transfer partners, ratios and timing covers how transfers move.
  • Offer terms: eligibility, registration, dates, fees, caps or a bonus calculated differently from the method above. Read the actual offer.
  • The flexibility you give up. Transfers are generally final, so leftover units stay in the partner program.

Spotted a problem with this calculator? Email hello [at] accel-media [dot] com (replace [at] with @ and [dot] with a period) with “Calculator” in the subject line. Please use invented numbers in any example.