Update: 9/24/2015 at 10am: summary of transfer times:

• AMEX Membership Reward Points to Virgin America are instant.
  
• Citi Thank You Points to Virgin America take 24-48 hours to post. 

Good morning everyone, I needed to book a Virgin America flight from SFO to SAN and luckily there are 2 transfer bonuses currently running for Virgin America.  Through October 8, American Express has a 25% transfer bonus when transferring Membership Reward Points to Virgin America miles (Doctor of Credit).

Unfortunately, I have 2 complaints about AMEX Membership Reward Point transfers.  To complete a transfer, you must enter the 4-digit (front) and 3-digit (back) security code on your Membership Reward earning credit/charge card (I selected my AMEX Platinum Charge Card).  If you do not have your Membership Reward earning credit/charge card available, you will not be able to go past this screen and complete your transfer.  This is incredibly annoying when you need to make a transfer and do not have the card in front of you.  I much prefer using Chase Ultimate Reward Points and Citi Thank You Points which can be transferred much faster/easier since you do not need to enter any card information to complete the transfer.

My second AMEX Membership Reward Point complaint is related to the fee that American Express charges you if you want to transfer points to a domestic airline.  The cost is $6 per 10,000 Membership Reward Points, but transfers to international airlines are free.  This is really stupid since Chase Ultimate Reward Points, Citi Thank You Points, and SPG Starpoints do not charge you a fee to transfer to any airline (presumably they pay the fee for you).  I don’t know about you, but I hate paying to use my hard-earned Membership Reward Points.  I tweeted my frustration to American Express (please favorite or retweet if you agree).

There are 2 things I do like about AMEX Membership Reward Point transfers to Virgin America:

• AMEX Membership Reward Points transfer in 200 point increments, which will get you 125 Virgin America miles during this promotion (100 Virgin America miles normally).
• AMEX Membership Reward Point transfers are instant – just log out and log back in to your Virgin America account to see the new miles.

Since I was a few thousand Virgin America miles short of booking my award ticket, I decided to test out the new Citi Thank You Points to Virgin America transfer.  Through October 21, Citi has a 25% transfer bonus when transferring Membership Reward Points to Virgin America miles (Doctor of Credit).  Citi Thank You Points must be transferred in 1,000 point increments, which will get you 625 Virgin America miles during this promotion (500 Virgin America miles normally).

During the transfer process, you will see a warning/disclaimer that transfers to travel partners (including Virgin America) may take up to 14 days.  I was hoping that the transfer would be instant, but that turned out not to be the case…

I completed the transfer last night at 8:26pm PT and the Virgin America miles have still not posted by 7:15am PT.  I will update this post when the miles do post, but do not expect instant transfers from Citi Thank You Points to Virgin America miles.  I tweeted @AskCiti this morning and they told me to call the Citi Thank You Points team.  The Rep told me that all transfers can take 7-14 days.  She stated (several times) that the transfer times were listed on the transfer page and that there was nothing I could do or she could do to make the transfer go through any faster.  Let the waiting game begin…

Update: 9/24/2015 at 10am: transfers from Citi Thank You Points to Virgin America take 24-48 hours to post. 

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!