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How Long Does it Take to Transfer AmEx Membership Rewards Points to Airlines Partners?

Should be instant, but here are a few to watch out for

My favorite points currencies from the various rewards credit cards are transferrable ones, most notably Membership rewards (Amex), Ultimate Rewards (Chase), and ThankYou (Citi). American Express Membership Rewards can currently be transferred to 17 airlines, making it potentially the best points program out there for air travel (unless you fly UA/*A a lot!). Unlike Chase Ultimate Rewards, however, not all point transfers are real-time, and I'm actually battling with this at the moment, trying to secure another F award on CX -- and I should've planned better... The blue arrow shows you where to find the transfer-time fine print. The blue arrow shows you where to find the transfer-time fine print.

Actual Transfer Times

I went ahead and compiled a list of MR airline transfer partners, their claimed transfer time according to AmEx, and their actual transfer time in my experience. This should help those last-minute travelers out there. Note that with real-time transfers you may have to log out then log back in to your FF account to see your new mileage/point balance, and the time in brackets represents the maximum time AmEx says the transfer could take to post. Also, technology is technology, so don't leave things to the last minute just in case real-time actually does become 24 or 48 hours.
Airline Claimed Time Actual Experience
AeroMexico Club Premier  Up to 14 days 4 business days
Air Canada Aeroplan Real-time [Max. 48 hours] Real-time
Air France/KLM FlyingBLue Real-time [Max. 24 hours] Real-time
Alitalia MilleMiglia Real-time [Max. 48 hours] Real-time
ANA Mileage Club  2-4 business days 3 business days
British Airways Executive Club Real-time [Max. 48 hours] Real-time
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles 3-7 days 24-48 hours
Delta SkyMiles Real-time [Max. 48 hours] Real-time
El Al Matmid Club Real-time [Max. 48 hours] Real-time
Emirates Skywards Real-time [Max. 48 hours] Real-time
Frontier Early Returns Real-time [Max. 48 hours] Real-time
Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles Real-time [Max. 48 hours] Real-time
Iberia Plus 4-7 days 24-48 hours
JetBlue TrueBlue Real-time [Max. 48 hours] Real-time
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Up to 3 business days 24 hours
Virgin America Elevate Real-time [Max. 48 hours] Real-time
Virgin Atlantic FlyingClub  24-48 hours Real-time to a few hours