Get More British Airways Miles From American Express

With the string of recent 50,000- and 100,000-mile bonuses for new British Airways credit cards, it’s a safe bet that the ranks of U.S. Executive Club members have swelled considerably.

Are you a member of British Airways’ Executive Club? Do you collect American Express Membership Rewards points as well?

If so, this promotion merits your attention.

Offer Details

Through July 31, Membership Rewards members will earn a 50 percent bonus when exchanging points for miles in the British Airways Executive Club program. So for every 1,000 Membership Rewards points, you’ll get 1,500 Executive Club miles.

As always with Membership Rewards points transfers, there’s a fee:

For each conversion of points into the Frequent Flyer program of a U.S. airline, an excise tax offset fee of $0.0006 per point, with a maximum fee of $99 will be charged to your Card account. We charge this fee to offset the federal excise tax we must pay on such conversions. The fee may be more or less than the actual amount of the excise tax we pay on any individual conversion.

That’s 60 cents per 1,000 points—not a deal-breaker, but an unfortunate lapse into nickel-and-dimeing on American Express’s part.

The offer is available only to Membership Rewards and Executive Club members with U.S. mailing addresses.

Deal or No Deal

For active Executive Club members, a 50 percent bonus is definitely a difference-maker. If you need British Airways miles, or foresee needing them in the next year or so, this is as generous an exchange rate as you’re likely to come across.

On the other hand, converting all your Membership Rewards points into Executive Club miles probably isn’t a prudent move, unless your loyalty is exclusively to British Airways.

The issue, of course, that persistently dogs Executive Club is the outsized fuel surcharges on award tickets that undermine the value of British Airways miles. There are, however, ways to work around the fees and realize solid value from the miles.

But before completely depleting your Membership Rewards account to bulk up on British Airways miles, be sure to have a plan to use the miles that factors in the likely fuel surcharges the awards will incur.

Reader Reality Check

Did you earn a hefty cache of British Airways miles through its credit card sign-up promotions?

Will you add to your account with this offer?

What’s your plan for redeeming the miles?

This article originally appeared on FrequentFlier.com.