Typically, you may get essentially the most worth from lodge factors whenever you redeem them for lodge stays. But Marriott Bonvoy has 38 airline switch companions that may additionally present good worth.
If you wish to maximize your Marriott redemptions, you may marvel when transferring Marriott factors to airline companions is smart. So, let’s take a better have a look at this query.
Why switch Marriott factors to airways
There are many causes you may choose to switch Marriott factors to airways as a substitute of redeeming them for lodge stays.
For instance, many Marriott stays price extra factors now that Marriott has eliminated its award classes. You’ll discover some high-end former Category 8 lodges pricing over 100,000 factors per night time. So, you may choose to switch Marriott factors to airways if doing so will allow you to get extra worth out of your Marriott factors.
You may also must earn extra rewards with one in all Marriott’s switch companions. Whether you have to top-up your account or earn a difficult-to-earn mileage foreign money, transferring Marriott factors to your airline loyalty account may assist increase your mileage account steadiness.
Of course, for those who switch Marriott factors to airline companions, you will not have these factors to redeem for Marriott stays. But this won’t be a priority for those who earn a major quantity of Marriott factors by means of stays or spending on cobranded Marriott Bonvoy bank cards.
Related: How to redeem factors with the Marriott Bonvoy program
Marriott Bonvoy airline companions
Marriott has a formidable listing of 38 companion airline loyalty packages. You can switch your Marriott factors to acquainted packages like United MileagePlus and Delta SkyMiles. But doing so normally will not present good worth until you are topping off your account steadiness to get to a particular redemption.
However, you may additionally discover some hidden gems on the listing of Marriott’s airline companions. In explicit, you may discover some airline miles which might be troublesome to earn but extraordinarily helpful. With a few of these companions, you could discover award flights for a fraction of the miles required by extra well-known packages.
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With most airline companions, 3 Marriott factors will convert to 1 airline mile. The exceptions that convert at completely different charges are Air New Zealand AirLevel (200:1 ratio) and United MileagePlus (3:1.1 ratio).
Marriott provides 5,000 bonus airline miles for each 60,000 Marriott factors you switch to most airline companions. However, transfers to American Airlines AAdvantage, Avianca LifeMiles, Delta SkyMiles and Korean Air SkyPass aren’t eligible for the 5,000-mile bonus.
Now, that will help you decide when it may make sense to switch Marriott factors to airways, let’s think about a number of of one of the best airline award chart candy spots you might e book by means of Marriott’s switch companions. In explicit, we’ll deal with packages that do not companion with different main transferable currencies.
Lufthansa top notch to South Africa with Aegean miles
You can redeem 75,000 Aegean miles to fly one-way from North America to South Africa in Lufthansa top notch when there’s award house.
You’ll nonetheless must pay about $800 in taxes and charges. But 75,000 Aegean miles is a fraction of what number of miles you’d want with Air Canada Aeroplan or United MileagePlus to e book this award.
If you possibly can’t discover top notch award house, you might redeem 55,000 Aegean miles to fly one-way in enterprise class. This possibility can be accessible on Swiss, which can be a member of Star Alliance.
If you discover first-class award house, you’d must switch 180,000 Marriott Bonvoy factors — which TPG’s valuations worth at about $1,512 — to Aegean to get 75,000 miles.
Business class, then again, requires 135,000 Marriott Bonvoy factors, price about $1,134 at TPG’s valuations. Transfers from Marriott Bonvoy to Aegean will seemingly take about three days.
Related: Booking Lufthansa top notch to South Africa with Aegean miles
Emirates enterprise class to Dubai with JAL Mileage Bank miles
Although Emirates is not within the Oneworld alliance, you possibly can redeem Japan Airlines (JAL) Mileage Bank miles for award flights on Emirates.
One of the candy spots within the JAL Mileage Bank program is the flexibility to e book a round-trip Emirates business-class award with a complete journey distance of between 12,001 and 14,000 miles for 110,000 miles.
This means you possibly can e book a round-trip Emirates business-class award from New York to Dubai for 110,000 miles (plus taxes and charges). Of course, you must discover business-class award house (which might be troublesome) and Emirates gas surcharges are presently very excessive.
It’s vital to notice that for those who e book a one-way flight to Dubai — which might fall between 6,001 and eight,000 miles — you’d must redeem 80,000 JAL miles.
Consequently, it is in your curiosity to e book this award as a round-trip. After all, a round-trip enterprise class award would solely require 30,000 extra JAL miles than a one-way enterprise class award on this route.
You may switch 270,000 Marriott Bonvoy factors — which TPG’s valuations worth at about $2,268 — to JAL Mileage Bank to get 110,000 miles. The switch will seemingly take about 48 hours.
Related: The finest packages for reserving Emirates awards
Transatlantic Star Alliance enterprise class with Asiana Club miles
If you’re feeling snug leveraging Asiana Club and do not thoughts calling to e book most awards, Asiana’s Star Alliance flight award redemption desk has some good offers.
For instance, you possibly can journey from North America (excluding Hawaii and Mexico) to Europe for 40,000 miles every method in enterprise class on Star Alliance airways if yow will discover discounted award availability. Asiana Club passes on gas surcharges, so taxes and charges differ considerably relying on the working provider and route.
You may switch 105,000 Marriott Bonvoy factors — which TPG’s valuations worth at about $882 — to Asiana Club to get 40,000 miles. The switch will seemingly take about 4 days.
Related: The finest methods to journey to Europe utilizing factors and miles
Other methods to redeem Marriott factors
You’ll normally get essentially the most worth out of your Marriott factors whenever you redeem them for Marriott stays or switch to airline packages for high-value redemptions. But if you wish to redeem your Marriott factors for one thing else, you might have a number of choices.
You may use your factors for reward playing cards and merchandise by means of Marriott Shopping. But you may get a really low redemption worth when doing so. For instance, this $100 Apple reward card prices 30,000 factors. TPG’s valuations worth 30,000 Marriott factors at about $252, so you may nearly definitely wish to keep away from this redemption.
You may additionally use your factors for non-stay actions like sports activities occasions and live shows by means of Marriott Bonvoy Moments. Here’s one instance:
You may redeem 75,000 factors to see Marc Anthony on the Marriott Bonvoy Luxury Suite in Madison Square Graden. TPG’s valuations worth 75,000 Marriott factors at about $630 — which might be worth for some Marc Anthony followers.
Related: Redeem for sports activities occasions, live shows and extra by means of Marriott Bonvoy Moments
Bottom line
There’s no straightforward reply to when or whether or not you must switch Marriott factors to airways. However, you possibly can typically unlock less-expensive award flights whenever you leverage Marriott’s airline switch companions.
So, test award charges with Marriott’s airline switch companions and crunch the numbers subsequent time you are able to e book a long-haul award flight. You may get an incredible deal by changing Marriott factors to airline miles.