Credit Card News
Mesa Launches Initial Travel Transfer Partner Roster
After teasing that point transfers would be “coming soon,” Mesa has announced that the first options are now live.
About Mesa’s Travel Transfer Partners:
Mesa has unveiled its initial list of transfer partners. Now, customers (including those with the Mesa Homeowners Card) can transfer their rewards points to six different programs. These include:
- Accor Live Limitless (ALL Reward points)
- Finnair Plus (Avios)
- Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club (Fortune Wings Club Points)
- Air India Maharaja Club (Maharaja Points)
- Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus (Royal Orchid Plus Miles)
- Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles (Lotusmiles)
Each of these programs will offer 1:1 point transfers — meaning 1,000 Mesa Points to 1,000 program points — with the exception of Accor, which will transfer at a rate of 1.5:1 (1,500 Mesa Points to 1,000 ALL Reward points). While there is a minimum transfer amount of 1,000 Mesa Points, customers can choose to convert points in increments of 100. Currently, Mesa states that transfers to Accor, Finnair, Thai Airways, and Vietnam Airlines should be completed in one business day, while transfers to Hainan Airlines and Air India could take up to five business days.
To get started with a transfer, customers can select the Rewards tab in the Mesa app and then tap Point Transfers. Once they’ve chosen which program they want to transfer to, they can enter the number of points they’d like to transfer. From there, members will be asked for their name and loyalty account number for the selected program (those who don’t yet have an account can create one using a link on the previous screen). After reviewing, users can submit their transfer request.
With the launch of these transfer options, a new tab for Mortgage payments has popped up in the Mesa app with the label “coming soon.” Meanwhile, in the months since debuting its Homeowners Card, Mesa has recently increased redemption rates for statement credits, gift cards, and its travel portal.
My Thoughts:
I’ll be honest: when I saw that Mesa was introducing travel transfer partners “soon,” I really did not expect it to be this soon. Yet, this speedy launch plays into my pet theory that Mesa rolled out its Homeowners Card just a bit before they probably wanted to, in a bid to beat Bilt to the mortgage payment rewards market. That would explain the bevy of tweaks we’ve seen since I obtained my card — but, still, this is just conjecture on my part.
Turning to the transfer partner roster itself, obviously, Mesa doesn’t currently include the most well-known of programs. Nevertheless, the one that stands out to me is Accor. As I noted when Bilt recently added ALL to its options, Accor properties happen to be among my favorites at some of the overseas destinations I frequent. Plus, ALL points have a fixed value where 1,000 points equals 20 Euros, which makes it easier to determine just how much value you’ll get from your points. It’s also worth pointing out that Mesa managed to secure the same transfer rate for ALL as Bilt did — both of which best Capital One’s 2:1 ratio.
If you read my full review of the Mesa Homeowners Card, you’ll know that I had some mixed feelings on the product overall. But, as the product continues to develop, I’m seeing some greater promise in it and look forward to following along.
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