미국 MR vs 캐나다 MR

[Update 2019-05-01]

혹시 밑에 이메일이나 이런걸 올려서 문제가 된다면 삭제 하겠습니다.

PrinceofTravel 싸이트에서 Insiders email 로 CA MR <-> US MR 트랜스퍼를 일년에 한번씩 가능 하다고 합니다. 밑에 본문 한번 올려봅니다.

One of the less-discussed nuances of getting US credit cards is the fact that you can convert between American and Canadian MR points at the prevailing exchange rate. You have to call American Express to get this done, and I believe it's possible to do this once per year.

(I haven't done this myself yet, and will likely discuss it further on the blog when I do.)

Why do I bring this up now? Well, Amex US is offering a 30% conversion bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, which is one of those "niche" frequent flyer programs that we don't really have access to in Canada.

However, now that we have this bonus available, we can effectively convert our Canadian MR points into US MR points at the prevailing exchange rate of ~1.34:1, and then onwards to Virgin Atlantic at 1:1.3, for an overall transfer ratio of (almost) 1:1.

And there's one sweet spot within Virgin Atlantic that's insanely lucrative: namely, the ability to fly round-trip to Japan in ANA First Class for 110,000–120,000 miles.

That's right. 120,000 miles for a round-trip in First Class. As a point of comparison, Aeroplan would charge you 210,000 miles for the same journey.

A few caveats: pricing is per segment, so connecting down to your ANA First Class gateway in the US would likely cost extra miles. Same for onward connections beyond Japan. Also, pricing is round-trip only – you can't book a one-way using this sweet spot. And of course, you need a US Amex MR account to make this work; if you don't have one, you can get one via Global Transfer.

Nevertheless, if you've been planning to redeem Amex MR points for a trip to Japan sometime soon, this should be on your radar. After all, a business class round-trip would cost you 150,000 MR points if transferred to Aeroplan. If you can do the same trip in First Class at a much lower price, why wouldn't you?

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이건 그냥 궁금해서 올리는건데 캐나다 AMEX MR value 와 미국 AMEX MR value 가 다른지 궁금해서 적어봅니다.

환율 차이가 있어서 혹시나 다르게 계산을 하진 않을까 해서....

미국 amex mr 을 캐나다 쪽으로 트랜스퍼 하면 value 가 높아 지는지 혹시 아시는분 계시나요?