Amex Transfer Hack: Unlock 30+ Airline Partners Via Marriott & Accor

Flexibility is key when it comes to maximising your frequent flyer points for travel in business and first class, and American Express remains the most powerful flexible rewards program in Australia.

The Amex Membership Rewards (MR) program offers ultimate control over how you use your points. While the program already offers the most transfer partners of any Australian flexible credit card rewards scheme, there is a lesser-known transfer strategy that can take things even further.

By routing your Membership Rewards points through partner programs like Marriott Bonvoy and ALL Accor, you can unlock access to 35+ additional airline partners that aren’t directly available through American Express.

This Amex transfer hack effectively adds a second layer of airline transfer options, giving you more flexibility and better availability. While Marriott has traditionally been the backbone of this strategy, the addition of Accor introduces another pathway worth considering.

In this guide, we’ll break down exactly how this strategy works to maximise the value of your Amex Membership Rewards Points, and when it makes sense to use Marriott versus Accor.

Understanding American Express Transfer Partners

Before we proceed, it’s important to understand the loyalty programs that American Express offers as transfer partners.

As mentioned, American Express offers the largest number of transfer partners of any Australian flexible rewards program. However, that advantage doesn’t translate as well globally, particularly following recent devaluations. In America, most Membership Rewards transfers are done at a 1:1 rate, but in Australia, cardholders are offered less favourable transfers of around 3:1 depending on the partner.

Platinum is Amex's premium flagship Membership Rewards Card

As a result, many savvy Amex cardholders look beyond direct transfers for strategies that maximise the value of their points.

American Express offers Australian card members direct transfers across up to 14 loyalty schemes, plus transfers to Qantas Frequent Flyer for those who hold a Platinum or Platinum Business card.

Airline programs:

• Air New Zealand Koru
• The British Airways Club
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest (axed 23 June 2026)
• Malaysia Airlines Enrich
• Qantas Frequent Flyer (Platinum cardholders only)
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Virgin Australia Velocity
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotel programs:

• ALL Accor
• Hilton Honors
• Marriott Bonvoy

Retail programs:

• Everyday Rewards

How To Transfer Amex Points To Airlines

You can easily transfer your American Express Membership Rewards Points to airline frequent flyer points via the Amex website or app. Points may be credited instantly or take a few days, depending on the airline.

If it is your first time making a transfer, you will be prompted to link your accounts. Your accounts will then remain linked for the next time you transfer.

Transfer from your desktop browser:

1. Log in to your American Express account
2. Click ‘Explore Rewards’ found on the right, under your MR balance
3. Click the ‘Use Points’ dropdown, then ‘Transfer Points’
4. Locate the partner you want to transfer to and click ‘Show Details’
5. Select the number of points you wish to transfer and hit ‘Review Transfer’

Transfer from the Amex App:

1. Open the American Express App and ensure you’re logged in
2. At the bottom, click ‘Membership’ then ‘Redeem Rewards’
3. Scroll down and click ‘Transfer Points to Partners’
4. Locate the partner you want to transfer to, then tap ‘Transfer Points’
5. Select the number of points you wish to transfer and hit ‘Continue’

Amex transfer partner page

What Is The Amex Transfer Hack?

At its core, this transfer strategy utilises hotel loyalty programs as a middle step to unlock even more partners from your American Express MR Points. Instead of transferring Membership Rewards straight to an airline, you can send them to hotel loyalty program first, and then immediately onward to an airline program.

As well as opening up a number of new airline transfer programs, in some cases, using hotel points as a middleman can actually improve the overall conversion rate.

For years, the Amex transfer hack has relied almost entirely on Marriott Bonvoy. As well as being one of the few viable options for this method, Marriott also offers an enormous airline partner network. They also provide some pretty competitive transfer rates, particularly when transferring in larger blocks.

But with ALL Accor and Everyday Rewards now available as transfer partners in Australia, there are additional pathways to consider. Each offers different strengths depending on how you plan to redeem your points.

How to apply this strategy

This strategy is straightforward once you understand the flow. Here’s how it works:

1. American Express ➔ Transfer Partner

First, send your Membership Rewards Points to either Marriott Bonvoy, ALL Accor or Everyday Rewards, depending your end goal.

2. Transfer Partner ➔ Airline

Now you can send those recently transferred points onward to your preferred airline frequent flyer program.

Real-World Example: The Amex Transfer Hack in Action

To see how powerful this strategy can be, let’s look at a real-world example using Flying Blue miles for a one-way Vietnam Airlines business class flight from Perth to Ho Chi Minh City.

There is no published award chart for Flying Blue partner redemptions, as these bookings use a dynamic pricing model. But let’s assume you need 36,000 Flying Blue miles, as in the seat we located.

Flying Blue offers solid value on Vietnam Airlines business class redemptions

The standard transfer rate from American Express Membership Rewards to Marriott Bonvoy is 1.5:1. Then, from Marriott Bonvoy to Flying Blue, you’ll use a 3:1 transfer ratio. Remember too that Marriott adds a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 Bonvoy Points transferred.

So, to generate the 36,000 Flying Blue miles, you would need to transfer:

• 139,500 Amex MR Points ➔ 93,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points
• 93,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points ➔ 31,000 Flying Blue Miles
• + a bonus of 5,000 Flying Blue Miles
• = 36,000 Flying Blue Miles total

Marriott detour saves 22.5% Amex Points

You might already know that Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a direct American Express transfer partner. Because Virgin Atlantic also partners with Vietnam Airlines, you can book the exact same Perth to Ho Chi Minh City business class flight using Virgin Points instead.

However, as we will explain, doing this will cost significantly more points.

For the same flight, Virgin Atlantic charges 60,000 Virgin Points. With American Express transferring to Virgin Atlantic at a rate of 3:1, you would need to send 180,000 MR Points to get those 60,000 Virgin Points.

The same flight costs 60k Virgin Points

But in the Marriott detour above, you’d only need to send 139,500 Amex MR Points to book via Flying Blue. That’s a saving of 40,500 Amex MR Points or 22.5% less than booking with Virgin Atlantic.

Why Marriott Beats Accor Here

Flying Blue is also a transfer partner of ALL Accor, and at first glance, this may seem like the better option because Accor transfers to Flying Blue at a straightforward 1:1 ratio.

However, the weak Amex to Accor conversion rate of 5:1 changes the equation. To generate the 36,000 Flying Blue miles, you would need to transfer:

• 180,000 Amex MR Points ➔ 36,000 ALL Accor Points
• 36,000 ALL Accor Points ➔ 36,000 Flying Blue Miles

This means that transferring via Marriott instead of Accor saves you 40,500 Amex Membership Rewards Points!

Comparing three different transfer pathways

Here’s how the three transfer strategies outlined above compare for the same one-way Vietnam Airlines business class redemption from Perth to Ho Chi Minh City.

Marriott Bonvoy Airline Transfer Partners

As soon as your transferred Membership Rewards Points land in your Marriott Bonvoy account, you will have access to a whopping 38 airline loyalty programs for onwards transfers. While some airlines aren’t quite as useful to Australian travellers, there are a few of particular interest.

Marriott offers a 3:1 transfer rate for most airline partners. The only exception is Air New Zealand Koru, which is a 200:1 conversion, as Koru uses an annoying dollar-based redemption system.

So, in most cases, every 3 Marriott Bonvoy Points will transfer to 1 airline point/mile.

Marriott’s airline transfer partners:

• Aegean Miles+Bonus
• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Aeromexico Rewards
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air China PhoenixMiles
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• American Airlines AAdvantage
• ANA Mileage Club
• Atmos Rewards
• Avianca LifeMiles
• The British Airways Club
• China Southern Airlines Sky Pearl Club
• Copa Airlines ConnectMiles
• Delta SkyMiles
• Ethiopian Airlines ShebaMiles
• Etihad Guest
• Frontier Miles
• Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club
• Iberia Plus
• Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
• LATAM Pass
• Saudia Alfursan
• Southwest Rapid Rewards
• TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
• Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
• United MileagePlus
• Vueling Club

Plus, these Marriott Bonvoy partners that are also Amex transfer partners:

• Air New Zealand Koru
• The British Airways Club
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Virgin Australia Velocity
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Marriott Bonvoy offers bonuses for large transfers

It is worth mentioning Marriott’s long-standing airline transfer bonus offer. To sweeten the deal, Marriott adds an additional add 5,000 airline points/miles for every 60,000 Bonvoy Points sent to an eligible airline. For United MileagePlus, you’ll get 10,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 points you transfer.

Note that this added Marriott bonus does not apply to American Airlines AAdvantage, Avianca LifeMiles and Delta SkyMiles.

Ritz-Carlton Lodge in Wolgan Valley

ALL Accor Airline Transfer Partners

While less extensive than Marriott Bonvoy, ALLAccor still offers transfers to 14 airline loyalty programs. Importantly, several of these partners are not available via Marriott, giving Accor a unique role in certain transfer strategies.

Transfer rates vary depending on the airline, so the value you receive will differ by program.

ALL Accor’s airline transfer partners:

• Agean Miles+Bonus
• Air Europa Suma
• Azul Fidelidade
• Finnair Plus
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Gulf Air Falconflyer
• Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
• Juneyao Air Club
• LATAM Pass
• GOL Smiles
• Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles

Plus, these ALL Accor partners that are also Amex transfer partners:

• Emirates Skywards
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Everyday Rewards Unlocks Amex Transfers To Qantas Points

Everyday Rewards is a little simpler than the hotel programs in this guide, in that they only offer transfers to Qantas Frequent Flyer. But for those paying attention, Everyday Rewards opens up an indirect pathway from Membership Rewards to Qantas.

Currently, the American Express Platinum and Platinum Business are the only Membership Rewards cards that offer direct transfers to Qantas Frequent Flyer. The rate here is 2 MR Points to 1 Qantas Point.

Unfortunately, Amex does not grant the same access to its other Membership Rewards cards. For example, if you hold an Amex Explorer or Essential Rewards credit card, you can’t take advantage of direct Qantas transfers.

Everyday Rewards is a Qantas transfer partner

But you can complete a two-step transfer from Amex to Qantas via Everyday Rewards. Here’s how that would play out:

• Amex → Everyday Rewards: 5 MR = 4 ER
• Everyday Rewards → Qantas: 2ER = 1QF
• Effective Amex → Qantas: 2.5MR = 1QF

It’s a pretty solid effective rate, especially when you consider the Platinum direct transfer rate is pretty close. To put all this into perspective, if you had 100,000 American Express MR Points, you would get 40,000 Qantas Points after the Everyday Rewards detour.

When To Use Direct Transfers vs The Amex Transfer Hack

By now, you’ve seen how flexible American Express Membership Rewards points can be. But the real question is when to keep things simple with a direct transfer, and when it’s worth adding the extra step via programs like Marriott Bonvoy or ALL Accor.

Here’s how to decide.

Use direct transfers when simplicity and speed matters

In many cases, transferring points straight to an airline is still the best move. Direct transfers make sense when the airline is already an Amex partner and the transfer rate is favourable.

If you’ve already found award availability and need to book immediately, this is also the fastest method.

Use the Amex transfer hack when it unlocks better value

The indirect strategy comes into play when direct transfers fall short. If you find reward seats with an airline that isn’t offered as direct a Amex transfer partner, this strategy can make sense. This hack isn’t designed to be efficient, it’s purpose is boosting flexibility.

Platinum is Amex's premium flagship Membership Rewards Card

Summing Up: Is There Any Value To Be Had?

While routing your points through hotel programs like Marriott Bonvoy or ALL Accor will reduce your balance slightly due to transfer ratios, the trade-off can be worth it in the right scenario.

The real value of this Amex transfer hack is flexibility. If you can’t find a reward seat through a direct American Express transfer partner, using a hotel program as an intermediary can unlock access to additional airline programs. With those extra partners, you gain access to entirely different pools of award availability.