Points transfer bonuses in Australia: dates, rates and the maths

A points transfer bonus gives you more airline points from the same bank or retail rewards balance. When used for a trip you already have in mind, it can materially reduce the points needed from your original program.

A 20% bonus means 16.7% fewer source-program points are needed for the same reward, before transfer minimums and rounding. The airline's reward price, taxes and seat availability do not change.

The decision is therefore about more than the bonus percentage. It is whether the saving, timing and available rewards justify moving points out of a program where you may have other uses for them.

At a glance

• Velocity has a current offer: eligible transfers can earn 15% or 20% until 30 September 2026, with different conditions for manual and automatic transfers.¹
• May and November are useful months to watch, based on past Velocity promotions. They are not a guaranteed schedule.²
• Check which bonus applies to your account. American Express participates in the current 15% manual offer, not the 20% auto-transfer offer.¹
• The bonus may arrive after the base points. Do not rely on it to complete an immediate booking.
• An available reward can be worth more than waiting for a bonus. The aim is to book useful travel, not maximise the percentage on a transfer.

The current Velocity transfer offer

Checked 15 September 2026. Offer ends 30 September 2026.

Offer	Participating programs	Main conditions
15% manual transfer bonus	Eligible Australian Amex Membership Rewards, ANZ Rewards, ANZ Business Rewards, BOQ Q Rewards, MyCard Rewards and NAB Rewards	Initiate at least one eligible transfer in both August and September. September alone does not qualify
20% auto-transfer bonus	ANZ Rewards, ANZ Business Rewards, MyCard Rewards and NAB Rewards	Opt in and make an eligible automatic transfer during the offer. Remain opted in through 30 September. Members already opted in at 11:59pm AEST on 31 July are excluded

Bonus points are due by 31 October 2026. Minimums, account eligibility and exclusions apply, including restrictions involving new-card bonuses. Check the full terms for your provider before transferring.¹

The distinction matters: the largest advertised bonus is not necessarily available through the program holding your points.

What a transfer bonus actually saves

A bonus increases the points received. It does not reduce the airline's published reward price.

The reduction in source points required is:

Effective saving = bonus rate ÷ (1 + bonus rate)

Transfer bonus	Reduction in source points needed
5%	4.8%
10%	9.1%
15%	13.0%
20%	16.7%

These percentages assume the transfer ratio and reward price remain unchanged, the whole transfer qualifies and the bonus is available before booking. Minimum transfer amounts and rounding can slightly change the result.

Worked example: a 158,500-point reward

Consider a reward requiring 158,500 Velocity Points, with a source program that normally converts two points into one Velocity Point. This matches the points requirement used in our Qatar Business to Europe example.

Bonus	Source points required, rounded up to the next 100	Saving against no bonus
None	317,000	None
15%	275,700	41,300 points
20%	264,200	52,800 points

The reward still costs 158,500 Velocity Points, plus its cash charges. The saving is in the original rewards currency.

For Amex members whose accounts transfer to Velocity at 2:1, the 15% row is the relevant current-offer example, provided they satisfy the August and September conditions. The 20% row illustrates an eligible 2:1 auto-transfer pathway, not an Amex entitlement.³

The Velocity transfer-bonus calendar

Velocity has a history of promotions beginning in May and November, with additional offers between those periods. The conditions have changed considerably, including whether manual transfers must occur across several months.

This table covers selected major bank-transfer campaigns, not every targeted, hotel or Amex-specific offer.

Window	Reported bonus	Important distinction
November 2023–January 2024	20% manual / 20% eligible auto-transfer	Manual transfers were required in all three months
May–June 2024	15% manual / 20% eligible auto-transfer	Manual transfers required in both months
November–December 2024	10% manual	Lower manual rate than several surrounding offers
February–April 2025	20% eligible auto-transfer	Separate auto-transfer campaign
May 2025	15% manual / 15% eligible auto-transfer	A one-month offer, not a May–June 20% auto-transfer campaign
November–December 2025	15% manual / 20% eligible auto-transfer	Conditions depended on transfer method
May–June 2026	10% manual / 20% eligible auto-transfer	Manual transfers required in both months
August–September 2026	15% manual / 20% eligible auto-transfer	Current offer, with conditions summarised above

Sources: published offer history, archived campaign terms and current Velocity terms. The November 2023 and May 2025 rows were checked against their dated offer records.²⁴⁵⁶

Use May and November as reminders to check, not deadlines around which to build a trip. A promotion may arrive earlier, offer a different percentage or exclude a program that participated previously.

Flybuys and Qantas follow different patterns

Flybuys to Velocity

Flybuys normally converts at 1,000 Flybuys points to 500 Velocity Points. Its promotions are separate from the bank-transfer campaigns above.⁷

The July 2026 offer provided 15% on an eligible first-ever auto-transfer or 5% on an eligible manual transfer, with bonus caps and first-transfer conditions. The higher tier excluded members who had previously completed an auto-transfer.⁸

A 5% bonus can still be useful if you already intend to move those points. It is not a reason to dismiss a suitable redemption while waiting for a bank promotion that may not include Flybuys at all.

Check the Flybuys-specific offer before transferring. Do not assume a bank-transfer percentage applies.

Qantas transfer bonuses

Qantas has not shown the same recent pattern of broad Australian bank-transfer promotions.

The public Australian offer history we reviewed still ends with September 2021. That does not rule out targeted offers or promotions available overseas, but it provides little basis for expecting a regular Australian bonus window.⁹

There have been other ways to improve the transfer rate. An Amex-to-Everyday Rewards promotion ran from 21 May to 17 June 2026, offering 15% extra Everyday Rewards points. For eligible accounts using Everyday Rewards to reach Qantas, that improved the effective conversion from 2.5 to about 2.17 Membership Rewards points per Qantas Point.¹⁰

That was a separate, now-expired promotion, not a general Qantas bank-transfer bonus. Direct Qantas transfer access and rates depend on the Membership Rewards account, so compare the available routes before using an intermediary.

Can transferring through Velocity improve the KrisFlyer rate?

Sometimes. The calculation depends on your account's transfer rates and whether the bonus applies to that particular transfer.

For an Amex account with the following rates:

• Membership Rewards to Velocity: 2:1;
• Velocity to KrisFlyer: 1.55:1; and
• Membership Rewards directly to KrisFlyer: 3:1;

the indirect route costs 3.10 Membership Rewards points per KrisFlyer mile before any bonus. That is slightly worse than transferring directly.¹¹¹²

An eligible bonus on the first transfer changes the calculation:

Route	Membership Rewards points per KrisFlyer mile
Direct to KrisFlyer	3.00
Via Velocity, no bonus	3.10
Via Velocity, 10% bonus	2.82
Via Velocity, 15% bonus	2.70
Via Velocity, 20% bonus	2.58

The 20% row is illustrative. Amex is not included in the current 20% auto-transfer tier.

The calculation is:

Source points per KrisFlyer mile = 2 × 1.55 ÷ (1 + eligible bonus rate)

This can be useful for a planned Singapore Airlines redemption. However, you need the bonus to have posted before the full benefit can be transferred onwards. Minimums and rounding apply to both transfers.

A better conversion rate is not automatically a better booking strategy. If a suitable KrisFlyer seat is available now, waiting weeks for a bonus could mean losing it.

The booking details that matter

Base points and bonus points can arrive separately

A promotion's transfer deadline and its bonus-crediting deadline are different things.

For the current offer, base points follow the provider's processing timetable. The bonus is credited separately. Do not include uncredited bonus points in the balance available to book today.

That does not mean you cannot use the offer for an immediate redemption. If the base transfer gives you enough points, you may be able to book and receive the bonus later. The important distinction is whether the booking depends on the bonus arriving first.

Check minimums and processing times

Transfer to Velocity	Minimum or scheduling point	Published processing allowance
Amex Membership Rewards	Usually 2,000 points; some Membership Rewards variants differ	Up to one business day
ANZ Rewards	2,000 ANZ Reward Points, then permitted increments	Up to five business days
NAB Rewards	Check the account's minimum; auto-transfers follow a schedule	Up to ten business days for manual transfers
MyCard Rewards	Check the applicable account terms	Check the applicable account terms
BOQ Q Rewards	30,000 Q Rewards points	Up to 28 business days
Flybuys	1,000 Flybuys points	Up to 48 hours

These are published allowances, not promises that a seat will remain available while the transfer processes. Check your provider's terms, account names and membership numbers before submitting.¹³¹⁷

A partner with a long processing allowance may be suitable for building a balance ahead of a trip, but less useful for a seat you can see today.

Auto-transfer is an ongoing setting, not a permanent commitment

Automatic transfers can continue after a promotion ends unless you change the setting. Depending on the provider, enabling the feature may also transfer an existing balance rather than only future earnings.⁶⁷

That is worth understanding, but it is not the same as being committed forever. Meet the offer's required opt-in period, then review whether the setting still suits you. Flybuys, for example, explicitly allows auto-transfer to be switched off.¹⁴

The setting and the transferred points are separate issues. Turning off future transfers does not reverse points already moved.

Also distinguish not enrolled on the offer's eligibility date from never having auto-transferred before. The current bank offer uses the former test; the July Flybuys offer used the latter. They are not interchangeable.¹⁸

Check expiry after transferring

Velocity generally requires qualifying activity within 24 months to keep points active. Its Flybuys partner page confirms that a Flybuys transfer counts as account activity. Family Pooling and Family Transfers have different treatment, so do not assume every incoming movement resets the full period.¹⁵⁷

The source program also has its own rules. Keeping points untransferred preserves choices, but does not protect against every change to transfer rates or account conditions.

When a transfer bonus is worth using

The strongest case is a redemption you genuinely expect to book, through a program you are comfortable using, with an offer you can satisfy without unnecessary spending or an unsuitable account change.

You do not need every flight booked before making a transfer. Someone with flexible dates, a realistic reward target and several acceptable alternatives may reasonably prepare a balance in advance.

Equally, transferring without a bonus can be the right decision. If a suitable reward is available and your points can arrive in time, securing it may be worth more than waiting for a promotion that has not been announced.

The same applies to modest bonuses. A 5% offer on a transfer you already need is still an improvement. It does not need to be the largest promotion in the calendar to be useful.

When to wait or transfer less

The bonus is the only reason for the move. Before transferring a large balance, identify the likely redemption and a reasonable fallback. A higher airline balance is not useful on its own.

You need the bonus immediately. If the booking depends on points that will not arrive for several weeks, the transfer does not solve today's shortfall.

The source-program alternatives are better. Compare the flight with cash and with other realistic uses of the original points. Our Points Valuations can inform that comparison, but their airline-point benchmarks are not values for bank points.

A program change is approaching. Transferring before a reward-chart increase does not normally lock in the old booking price. Completing an eligible booking before the change may matter more. A change to the transfer ratio itself is a different issue, so identify exactly what is changing.

The proposed redemption is weak for your needs. A bonus improves the conversion; it does not make an inconvenient flight or unusable destination worthwhile. A lower-value redemption can still be sensible if it gives you useful travel or cash savings you would otherwise miss.

What to do next

Before moving points, write down the reward price, existing airline balance, transfer ratio, eligible bonus and posting dates. Calculate the amount needed, then check transfer increments and any automatic balance sweep.

Save the offer terms and transfer confirmation. If you enable auto-transfer, set a reminder to review it after the required participation period.

Use the historical calendar to prompt a check, not to postpone a booking indefinitely. The right transfer is the one that supports a trip you can actually take.

Our weekly email includes relevant open transfer offers alongside selected fares and reward-seat opportunities. Join the list for updates, or read the Velocity Frequent Flyer guide and Qatar Qsuites guide for the redemption options behind the numbers.

Methodology and sources

The current Velocity offer was checked against official terms on 15 September 2026. Partner eligibility, minimums, posting deadlines and exclusions can vary by account. This guide does not recommend opening a financial product or increasing spending to qualify.

The historical table covers selected major bank-transfer campaigns. It is not an exhaustive record of targeted, hotel, Flybuys or Amex-specific offers. Historical terms were cross-checked against dated reporting and archived campaign wording. The November 2023–January 2024 campaign included manual transfers across all three months. The May 2025 campaign ran for one month and offered 15% on eligible manual and automatic transfers.

The Qantas history statement is limited to the public Australian tracker reviewed. Its latest listed event remains September 2021; that is not proof that no targeted or overseas offer occurred afterwards.

Calculations are our own. Effective savings use bonus ÷ (1 + bonus). Worked examples assume the stated conversion ratios, full eligibility, unchanged reward pricing and receipt of the bonus before redemption. Source-point requirements are rounded up for illustration, not presented as account-specific transfer instructions. Taxes, carrier charges and any fees are additional.

Current terms take priority over historical patterns. We review this guide around major transfer campaigns and record material updates in the Program Change Log.

Sources and notes

1. Velocity: August–September 2026 transfer offer and participating-provider terms. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Point Hacks: Velocity transfer promotion history. Historical percentages and eligibility vary by event. ↩ ↩²

3. Velocity: American Express transfer rates by Membership Rewards program. ↩

4. FreePoints: November 2023–January 2024 offer, including archived terms. ↩

5. FreePoints: May 2025 offer, including archived terms. ↩

6. Velocity: February–April 2025 auto-transfer campaign and setup information. ↩ ↩²

7. Velocity: Flybuys transfers and account-activity rules. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

8. FreePoints: July 2026 Flybuys promotion, including archived terms. ↩ ↩²

9. Point Hacks: Australian Qantas bank-transfer offer history. ↩

10. Flight Hacks: May–June 2026 Amex to Everyday Rewards offer. ↩

11. Point Hacks: Membership Rewards transfer rates, using information supplied by American Express. Confirm the rates available in your own account. ↩

12. Velocity: Singapore Airlines and KrisFlyer transfers. ↩

13. Velocity: transferring points from participating programs. Read alongside the current offer's provider-specific terms. ↩

14. Flybuys: how to turn off Velocity Auto Transfer. ↩

15. Velocity: points earning and expiry. ↩