Using Marriott Points for Airline Tickets (2018)

Credit Card Reference, Introduction to 'Transferable' Reward Points

While it is a hotel program, Marriott / SPG has very attractive transfer rates to dozens of different frequent flyer programs, and therefore can be used like the big three transferable credit card point programs (Chase’s Ultimate Rewards, Amex’s Membership Rewards, and Citi’s ThankYou Rewards).

Marriott / SPG partners with (by far) the most airline partners and provides a 25% bonus when you transfer blocks of points. You can often get more value by transferring your Marriott points to use for frequent flyer tickets, than you would be using them for free hotel rooms.

However, it is significantly harder to earn Marriott points, than it is to earn Membership Rewards, Ultimate Rewards, and ThankYou Rewards points.

The other potential drawback of the program is that transfers to frequent flyer programs can take a couple of days, and sometimes much longer. This delay can cause you to miss the opportunity to book available award space, and in the worst cases, strand your points in an airline program you no longer want to take advantage of.

Jump to

Airline transfer partners
Transfers basics
Marriott / SPG credit cards
Point transfers and expiration

Most airline transfers take a few days. However, some transfers can take much longer. This makes it difficult to take advantage of limited award availability, when compared to programs like Ultimate Rewards, where transfer happen instantly. By the time the points make it to the partner, the award space may no longer be available. Your miles can become stranded with the partner program, because you can’t transfer the points back to Marriott. You can try to put a "hold" on your tickets, but this isn't always possible.

Airlines occasionally offers promotions where you can temporarily get extra miles from your Marriott points (beyond the normal 25,000 miles for 60,000 points bonus). Take Advantage of Transfer Bonuses to Get More Value from Your Reward Points.

Star Alliance
{United}

SkyTeam
{Delta)

Oneworld
(American)

Other

Air Canada

Singapore Airlines (Kris Flyer)

ANA (Japan)

Asiana

Avianca (Columbia)

Lufthansa (Miles and More)

Air China

Thai Airways

Aegean

Air New Zealand (65:1)

United (2:1)

Delta

Air France / KLM (Flying Blue)

Korean Air

Alitalia

China Eastern

Saudia

Aeromexico

American

British Airways

Cathay Pacific (Asia Miles)

Japan Airlines (JAL)

Iberia

LATAM (South American)

Virgin Atlantic

Qatar Airways

Alaska

Hawaiian

Emirates

Etihad

Virgin Australia

GOL (2:1)

Hainan Airlines (China)

Jet Airways (India)

Transfers under the new unified Marriott / SPG program

Starting in August, the frequent flyer transfer program will transition to a new unified Marriott / SPG program.

Points will be based on Marriott point values. You'll get 1 mile for every 3 points, with a 25% transfer bonus for blocks of 60,000 points. This is the same conversion rate as today. 20,000 SPG points will become 60,000 points in the new program, which can be transferred for the same 25,000 frequent flyer miles.

Even better, the transfer rates for the airlines that are currently only part of the Marriott program will be increased to match the other airlines, and they are adding two new programs (China Southern and El Al). For example, you'll now get 25,000 Turkish Airline miles from 60,000 points, rather than only 15,000 miles. The only downside is that United Airlines had a preferred conversion rate from Marriott, which was better than the standard SPG conversion rate, and will now be slightly lower.

Marriott's lucrative Hotel + Air packages will remain part of the program. However, they are being modified and simplified, so we aren't sure what will happen to their relative value. Marriott does say that they will remain a valuable option.

The big negative change is on the credit card earning side of the equation. Starting in August, the earning rate of the SPG credit cards changes to 2x points, from the equivalent of 3x points today. In other words, earning 25,000 miles will take $30,000 worth of spending, rather than $20,000 worth of spending. Even with today's earning rate, we felt it was better to earn 1.5x Ultimate Rearward points or 1.5x - 2x Membership Reward points with other cards. In the future, that will be even more true.

Starwood credit cards

You can freely transfer points between Starwood and Marriott. Any Marriott points in the table below are converted into their SPG values.

As of now, the SPG cards earn 1x SPG point (3x Marriott points), the new Marriott card earns 2x Marriott points, and the Marriott Business card earns 1x Marriott points, on non-bonus-category spending. Starting in August, the SPG cards will switch to the equivalent of 2x Marriott points (and we expect the Marriott Business card to do the same).

Card	Typical Signup Bonus	Bonus Categories	Effective Annual Fee
Old SPG Card	25-30,000	-	$95
Marriott Business	25-30,000	-	$95
Marriott Boundless	33,333		$95
Marriott Premier Business	26,667	2/3x travel and restaurants 2/3x office supply and telecom	$99

The SPG cards are issued by Amex, and you can only earn the signup bonus once per lifetime. The Marriott cards are from Chase, and you can only earn the signup bonuses once every two years. However, the personal version of the Marriott card is affected by the Chase 5/24 rule. There is a good chance that you won’t have “room” for it, as you prioritize getting other cards.

None of these cards earn particular good rates for your credit card spending.

Point transfers and expiration

You can freely transfer SPG points to other people living at the same address. You won’t lose your Starwood or Marriott points when you cancel your credit card. However, like most other hotel and airline points, you can lose them after a period of inactivity.