Hi there, it's Ernest from Trip Astute. In this video, we're going to review how
to use Chase Ultimate Rewards points to get the most value for your travels.
(light chiming music)
One of the questions that I seem to get asked a lot is, "what's the best way to redeem
Chase Ultimate Rewards points. When you look at the Chase Ultimate Rewards account page,
you'll see that there are so many different redemption options listed. When
speaking to friends who are getting started in the points hobby, a lot of
them were not aware of the other redemption methods other than the Chase
Travel Portal. This isn't surprising, especially since Chase highlights their
Travel Portal as the primary means for redeeming points. So in this video, I
thought I would review the two main ways that I book travel using my Chase Ultimate
Rewards points. This might be a refresher for some of you, but for others, I'm
hoping that this will be a helpful breakdown of your options so you can get
the most value from your points. The first way is to use the Chase Travel
Portal. This is similar to what you would find on sites like Expedia or
Travelocity. You can search for all sorts of travel-related bookings, like flights
hotels, cars, activities, and cruises. For this example, we're going to look up a
round-trip nonstop flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo leaving May 2nd and
returning on May 9th. In this example, you'll notice that the cost for the
United flight is $659.81, or if
I want to use points, that will cost me 43,987
points. This equates to a per point value of 1.5 cents
per point. When you book your travel, you may notice that the per point value
might be 1.25 cents instead of 1.5 cents. The
reason I'm getting 1.5 cents per point is because I have a Chase
Sapphire Reserve which makes redemptions 1.5 cents on the portal. If you have the
Sapphire Preferred instead, you'll be redeeming at the 1.25 cent
value. Getting 1.25 or 1.5 cents is not bad at all.
However, when I'm looking to use my points, I'll compare the cost of booking the
flights directly with the airline. When I go to United and look up the same
flight, I can see that the flight is listed for the same
price, but if I want to use the United Mileage points, then I can book the
flight for 35,000 points and a $5.60 fee. That's almost 9,000
points less than booking it using the Chase Travel Portal. And if you calculate
the per point value, you're looking at 1.9 cents per point when
using United mileage points. So in this case, it's better to book through the
United site. But you might be wondering, "Can I use my Chase points to book this
flight? Don't I need United miles or points? The answer is "yes", and this brings
me to the second way to book your travel with your Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
Luckily, United is one of nine airlines that is partnered with Chase, so you can
transfer points out of Chase and into their program. To do it, all you need to
do is go to Use Points, then select Transfer to Travel Partners. From here,
select the airline that you want the transfer points to, then enter your
frequent flyer program information. You'll then have to select the amount of
points in 1000 point increments. Hit Continue to review the information, then
select Confirm and Submit to complete the transfer. And that's it. It's super
easy and the points transfer immediately over to the travel partner so you can
complete the booking. In addition to these two methods of redeeming points,
here are some tips to keep in mind. Number 1: Log out and back in if a
points balance isn't updated. If you transfer points to a travel partner, it
should be instantaneous. However, there are times when the balance does not
update automatically, which prevents me from completing the booking. To force the
points balance to update, I recommend logging out of your account
then log back in. This seems to do the trick every time. Number 2: Consolidate
points into one Chase card. While it's perfectly okay to leave your points
spread out between your different Ultimate Rewards earning Chase cards, you
may want to consider consolidating your points under your primary travel card
like the Chase Sapphire Reserve or Preferred. In the event that you want to
transfer a huge sum of points to a travel partner, you may be forced to
consolidate the points anyway. So consolidating ahead of time will save
you some time and effort. Number 3: Sharing points. Chase will allow you to
share points with others in your household. I won't go through all the details,
but if you plan to share points, check out our video on the topic to
learn more about the policies and nuances. Number 4: Save your favorite
travel partners. Chase will allow you to save your favorite frequent travel
programs. This means that you won't have to enter your details again for the
program, and makes the process easier and faster when making future bookings.
Number 5: Booking seats when using the travel portal. I've noticed that a few
times when I booked a flight through the Chase Travel Portal, I wasn't given the
option to select my seat. And when I would go to the airline's site, I couldn't
retrieve my booking. If you end up in this situation,
I recommend calling the airline directly and asking for the confirmation code on
their side, and whether you can select your seat rather than waiting until you
check in or you arrive at the airport. And lastly, number 6: You can adjust the
amount of points used when booking through the Chase Travel Portal. Suppose
you want to book that flight but you don't want to use up all your points. You
can actually adjust how many points you want to use. It's similar to the cash and
points redemption programs offered through a lot of the hotel chains. This
can also be useful if you don't have enough points to cover the entire
booking. And those are our tips when using Chase Ultimate Rewards points for
booking your travel. Do you prefer booking through the Chase
Travel portal, or transferring to a travel partner. Also, what's the best per
point value that you've been able to get when using your Chase points? If you're
interested in applying for any of the cards mentioned in this video, check out
the credit card offers page on our website for the latest offers. We do get
a percentage if you use our link. It doesn't cost you anything extra, but it
does help us to continue building content for this channel. If you enjoyed
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next time, travel safe and travel smart.