Get a 30% Bonus for Membership Rewards Transfers to Delta

Got Membership Rewards points? Want Delta miles?

Here’s an opportunity to get more of the latter in exchange for the former.

Offer Details

Through March 31, members of the American Express Membership Rewards program will earn a 30 percent bonus when transferring their Membership Rewards points into the Delta SkyMiles program. There’s no limit to the number of points that may be converted into miles.

As always, there’s a price to be paid for transferring Membership Rewards points: $0.0006 per point, with a maximum fee of $99. The offer terms note that the fee is “to offset the federal excise tax we must pay on such conversions,” but adds that “the fee may be more or less than the actual amount of the excise tax we pay on any individual conversion.”

Registration is required.

Deal or No Deal

For Membership Rewards members accustomed to transferring points to miles at the normal 1:1 ratio, this bonus delivers significantly better value.

Any such offer, however, raises the issue of the transfer fee.

To transfer 25,000 points, the fee would be $15.00—hardly a deal-breaker. By the same token, though, the amount hardly seems worth American Express’ time to collect, much less the cost and inconvenience to its customers.

It’s true that American Express pays federal excise tax when it purchases miles from Delta. But that’s just one among a multitude of costs the company incurs in serving its customers. It’s a cost of doing business—why single it out and charge extra?

‘Nuf said.

Reader Reality Check

How do you feel about the transfer fee?

This article originally appeared on FrequentFlier.com.