Wells Fargo Transfer Partners: How & Where to Transfer Your Wells Fargo Points

In March 2024, Wells Fargo made a splash with the introduction of its first true travel rewards credit card: The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Visa® Card. This new card is a more souped-up version of the no-annual-fee Wells Fargo Autograph Visa® Card, considered (by us at least) one of the best-kept secrets in the world of travel credit cards.

And now, travelers with either card can get more out of their Wells Fargo Rewards points by transferring them to a growing list of travel partners.

At its launch, the bank announced an initial six different airline and hotel partner programs, but they've since added to that number. As of Sept. 25, Wells Fargo cardholders can now transfer their points to Virgin Atlantic, too. 

It's undoubtedly a strong next step for Wells Fargo Rewards as it enters the ring to take on the likes of Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Capital One Miles. And while the list of Wells Fargo transfer partners is still relatively small compared to its competitors, it checks all the necessary boxes with an airline from each alliance and at least one hotel partner.

Let's look at the airline and hotel partners where you're able to transfer your Wells Fargo points.

See our master list of credit card transfer partners!

7 Wells Fargo Transfer Partners (& More on the Way)

The lineup of Wells Fargo rewards transfer partners is quite small, with a total of six airline partners and one hotel partner to start, but the bank promised more will be added throughout the year.

Gone are the days of only redeeming your Wells Fargo points for cash back, gift cards, or through the bank's travel portal. Travelers with the no-annual-fee Wells Fargo Autograph card or the new Autograph Journey card can also transfer their points to these airline or hotel programs to book flights or hotels, often for far greater value. If you've got one of Wells Fargo's cash rewards credit cards, you can even combine your rewards to transfer to any of these partners as long as you hold one of the Autograph cards, too.

Here's where you can currently move your points:

Wells Fargo points can be transferred to all of its airline transfer partners at a 1:1 ratio meaning you can easily turn 10,000 Wells Fargo points into 10,000 British Airways Avios, 10,000 Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles, and so on. Points transfers to the lone hotel partner, Choice Privileges, will be at a 1:2 ratio, so for every 1 Wells Fargo point you transfer you'll get 2 Choice Privileges reward points.

Points can be transferred in any denomination you like, meaning you can move over the exact amount of points you need to book an award and not risk a few hundred points going unused.

We've tested out the new transfer functionality by transferring just 1 point to all of Wells Fargo's available partners and found transfers were completed near-instantly. This is great because it means you shouldn't have to transfer points speculatively just to avoid a long transfer time. 

None of these partners are particularly ground-breaking as they're all currently available with other transferable points programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Capital One Miles, but that doesn't mean they're not still valuable.

As for what additional airline and hotel programs Wells Fargo has in the pipeline, one could confidently speculate that Air Canada Aeroplan may join the current slate of transfer partners after Virgin Atlantic. Like Virgin Atlantic, practically all of the major players in the travel card space transfer to Air Canada.

Since Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Executive Club, and Iberia Plus are already transfer partners, it makes sense to have Qatar Privilege Club or Finnair Plus join the mix, too, since the program also earns Avios you could pool together between the aforementioned airlines. It also seems likely Wells Fargo will add Emirates as an airline transfer partner as well since it already partners with all the other major banks.

As for hotel partners, the only safe guess is Marriott as Hilton has a close affiliation with Amex and IHG with Chase. The same goes for airlines with credit card relationships with banks, such as Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and Southwest, to name a few. I wouldn't expect to be able to transfer Wells Fargo points to any of those programs.

We're also holding out hope that Wells Fargo will also add a transfer partner like Hyatt. While it might be wishful thinking, it wouldn't be a total shock as the hotel is a Bilt transfer partner … and Wells Fargo issues the *Bilt Mastercard*.

Only time will tell us who else will join the party…

The Best Wells Fargo Transfer Partners & Redemptions

Although the list of Wells Fargo transfer partners is small, they're far from worthless – especially the airline partners.

Iberia provides one of the most affordable options for getting to Europe in lie-flat business class seats and Avianca LifeMiles can be extremely valuable for booking Star Alliance awards (like United Airlines) without paying high surcharges. Flying Blue is a great choice for SkyTeam awards to Europe and elsewhere – and some awards even got cheaper as KLM and Air France recently lowered the price to fly business class to Europe.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (& Virgin Red) 

You can use Virgin points to fly all over the world on partner airlines like Delta, ITA Airways, Air France and KLM, or even Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA). And since Virgin officially joined the SkyTeam alliance, you can now book flights on many more partner airlines, such as Aeromexico and Korean Air.

To start transferring your points, just head to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and create a free account. While you're there, it's also worth joining Virgin Red and linking the two accounts.

One of our favorite sweet spots is booking Air France or KLM economy from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to just about anywhere in Western Europe for 30,000 points roundtrip and under $100 in fees.

This works whether you're flying nonstop to Amsterdam (AMS) or Paris (CDG), or connections elsewhere such as Barcelona (BCN) or Rome (FCO).

It's one of the cheapest ways to fly to Europe with points and miles because it combines low rates with relatively low fees. The odd thing about this sweet spot is that it really only works from Minneapolis. If you depart from other cities in the U.S. or Canada, you'll get hit with cash fees of around $350 or more.

But when flying out of Minneapolis, Virgin isn't charging the fuel surcharge it does from other cities – meaning cash fees are typically around $100 or so, and sometimes even less.

You can book more than just flights with your Wells Fargo points. Wells Fargo also lists Virgin Red as a “Travel & Experiences” partner, meaning you can also transfer your points to book other Virgin brands like Virgin Hotels, Virgin Voyages, and more. 

Iberia Plus

Transferring your Chase points to Iberia opens up one of the cheapest ways to get to Europe – in either economy or business class.

For just 34,000 miles, you can get to Madrid (MAD) and back in Iberia business class almost any time of the year. Iberia's business class starts at only 68,000 miles round trip from the East Coast or Chicago-O'Hare (ORD), less than what most airlines charge to fly economy.

Avianca Lifemiles

There is no better way to book flights with Star Alliance airlines like United, Lufthansa, and ANA than through Avianca Lifemiles. It has a good award chart for both domestic flights in the U.S. and international trips. Better yet, they pass on few fees and no fuel surcharges, so the cash price on an award ticket booked through Avianca will be low.

For example, you can book Lufthansa First Class between the U.S. and Europe for just 87,000 miles each way!

Air France/KLM Flying Blue

Transferring your Wells Fargo points to Flying Blue opens one of the sweetest ways to get to Europe in Air France or KLM business class for a bargain. For just 50,000 miles one-way, you can get to Paris (CDG) flying out from multiple destinations nationwide!

British Airways

One of the best ways to get to Hawaii using points is by using British Airways Avios. For just 32,000 miles, you can fly from several West Coast cities directly to the islands on American Airlines by booking through BA – when American itself charges over 40,000 miles for the exact same flights!

There are also excellent deals using BA Avios to book American Airlines flights from the East Coast to the Caribbean.

How to Transfer Wells Fargo Points

Anyone with a Wells Fargo Autograph or Autograph Journey should now have the option to transfer points to one of the bank's seven travel partners. If you have a card that earns points as cashback, like the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card, you can even transfer those to your Autograph Card's rewards account and then move them to travel partners.

You'll find the new “Points Transfer” option in your Wells Fargo Rewards account – you can get here by clicking on your rewards balance in your account summary. After you get to the main Wells Fargo Rewards landing page, you might see the new points transfer option in a pop up right in the middle of the screen (highlighted below) or you can find it by going to “Use Rewards” in the top right corner and clicking on “Rewards Points Transfer.”

Here you'll see your available points balance and all the eligible transfer partners broken out into two sections: Airlines and hotels. You'll need to expand each section by clicking on either “airlines” or “hotels” to see the full list of options.

One thing Wells Fargo does differently than other banks is they allow you to transfer points in any denomination that you want. This means that you can transfer over exactly how many points you need for a given reward and not risk stranding a few hundred here and a few hundred there.

This will also be helpful for extending the shelf-life of miles or points that are about to expire. For example, British Airways Avios expire after 36 months of inactivity. If you don't regularly earn or redeem Avios, you can now easily get around this by moving one Wells Fargo Reward point to British Airways in order to reset the clock.

After linking your partner loyalty account with Wells Fargo Rewards, you'll need to input the amount of points you want to transfer and accept the terms and conditions before clicking submit. 

Keep in mind: Just like with other banks, these transfers are a one-way street. Once you transfer your Wells Fargo points to British Airways, Flying Blue, or any of the other loyalty program, you can't move them back. For that reason, it's best to keep your points flexible and only transfer when you have a particular use in mind. And with all transfers being near-instantaneous, there's really no reason to move them over until you're ready to book. 

How to Earn Wells Fargo Points

None of the above will mean a thing if you don’t have any Wells Fargo points to your name. Luckily, it's easy to pile up points, especially with the welcome offer on the just-launched Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card. 

The $95-a-year Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Visa® Card debuted with a 60,000-point bonus for new cardmembers who spend $4,000 in the first three months of opening the card. On top of the card's big welcome bonus, you'll earn an unlimited 5x points on hotels, 4x on flights, and 3x on travel and dining. That's pretty much unheard of for a card in this price range, especially compared to the 2x points you'll earn on travel purchases with the *chase sapphire preferred* or even the 3x points you'll get on airfare and hotels with the *Citi Premier* – two cards with identical $95 annual fees.

Learn more about the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Visa® Card (for full disclosure, this is not an affiliate link).

With the bonus alone, you could fly one-way in business class to Europe or book a round-trip vacation to Hawaii. If you're like me and want to add this card to your wallet, you may have to wait just a little longer. The Autograph journey card is only open for applications through select Wells Fargo branches right now but will be available in all branches nationwide and online on Wednesday, March 20.

Then there's the no-annual-fee Wells Fargo Autograph^℠ Card, one of the best-kept secrets in the points and miles world. The Autograph card debuted in 2022 but hasn't generated much buzz as it gets largely overshadowed by travel rewards stalwarts like the *chase sapphire preferred* and the *amex gold*.

So what makes this card such a sleeper? First, you can earn a 20,000-point bonus after spending $1,000 in the first three months. Then there are the extra points you can earn in many common spending categories: The card earns 3x points at restaurants, on travel (including transit), at gas stations, and even select streaming services and phone plans. All other purchases earn a standard 1x point per dollar spent.

Learn more about the Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card.

While you've previously only been limited to redeeming these points for cash back or travel through the Wells Fargo travel portal, you can now transfer the points you earn on this card to any of Wells Fargo's new airline and hotel transfer partners to book flights and hotels for nearly free.

Finally, like Chase and Capital One, you could pool any cash back earned from Wells Fargo's cash rewards credit cards into points to boost your points balance to transfer to airline frequent flyer programs to book your flights!

Bottom Line

Wells Fargo is shaking up the travel credit card scene with a new travel rewards card and transfer partners to go along with it. The bank currently has a strong list of seven airline and hotel partners but we're keeping an eye on what others they add throughout the year.

All card images courtesy of Wells Fargo