Author Topic: First time using Chase Ultimate Reward points -- good result!  (Read 2206 times)

Trifle

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So we have opened a few credit cards in the past few years to score the travel rewards points.  We mostly did airline-affiliated cards, and then cashed the points directly in on tickets with that same airline.  Just straightforward stuff.  Then we opened several Chase cards and started racking up Ultimate Reward points.  Last week it was finally time to start using those, and I read up on the best way to do it on The Points Guy's website:  https://thepointsguy.com/

I transferred 100,000 Chase UR Points to British Airways, and then used those points to book 5 round trip tickets to Europe on a different airline.   The points transfers sounded intimidating when I read about it, but when it came down to doing it, it was fairly simple.  And totally worth it.  In the end my total out-of-pocket cost for the 5 tickets was $597 in taxes; total cost without the points would have been about $4600.

I know this is still pretty basic stuff for those hard core experienced churners out there, but I'm so happy with this result!  Travel rewards is such a crazy game, but I feel like I've gained a lot of knowledge in the last week.

katsiki

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Re: First time using Chase Ultimate Reward points -- good result!
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2019, 08:17:27 PM »
Wow!  Congrats!

Care to share the airline?  20K points roundtrip to Europe is crazy good.

FreelanceToFreedom

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Re: First time using Chase Ultimate Reward points -- good result!
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2019, 11:25:02 PM »
Nice, that's a great value for UR points!

In general I would avoid thepointsguy - that sites priority is pushing affiliate links, and not necessarily giving the most honest information (their affiliates largely restrict them from being honest). I would recommend DoctorofCredit for info on earning points and TravelisFree for info on redeeming.

Shane

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Re: First time using Chase Ultimate Reward points -- good result!
« Reply #3 on: May 12, 2019, 12:11:55 AM »
Nice, that's a great value for UR points!

In general I would avoid thepointsguy - that sites priority is pushing affiliate links, and not necessarily giving the most honest information (their affiliates largely restrict them from being honest). I would recommend DoctorofCredit for info on earning points and TravelisFree for info on redeeming.
Thanks for the tips FTF. Just saved both those websites in my favorites for future reference.

Trifle

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Re: First time using Chase Ultimate Reward points -- good result!
« Reply #4 on: May 12, 2019, 04:29:35 AM »
Thanks @FreelanceToFreedom for the tips on the other websites.  I have skimmed a bunch of websites but found Points Guy to be an easier read.   I will definitely keep his bias front-of-mind in the future, and will look first at the websites you recommend -- thanks for that.

@katsiki -- the tickets are on Aer Lingus.  Right now (and for about another month) British Airways is offering a 30% bonus on any points you transfer in to their loyalty program.  So the trip would have cost 130k points without that bonus.  I'm seriously considering just dumping all my remaining UR points straight into the BA loyalty program to get that 30% bonus.   

If you're interested, I also priced out the exact same trip on British Airways itself, and it came out to 120k points plus $2400 in taxes/fees.  (BA is apparently notorious for slamming you with large taxes/fees on long trips, but if you book through them with one of their affiliate airlines you can avoid that).  I also priced the trip out on American using the same BA points, and it came to 300k points plus $250 in taxes/fees.  So it really does pay to price a trip out several different ways to get the best combination of points/$. 

katsiki

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Re: First time using Chase Ultimate Reward points -- good result!
« Reply #5 on: May 12, 2019, 10:10:54 AM »
Thanks for the info, @Trifele !  We prefer BA to go to Europe.  I had not heard of Aer Lingus.  Will have to investigate this more.

I need to consider dumping my UR points into BA's program too since we will most likely use those points for a trip on BA in the next 1-2 years anyway.

I found this link for anyone wanting more info: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-ultimate-rewards-30-transfer-bonus-to-british-airways-avios-11-3/

Teachstache

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Re: First time using Chase Ultimate Reward points -- good result!
« Reply #6 on: May 15, 2019, 06:56:29 PM »
Nice! Great use of UR points.

LifeHappens

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Re: First time using Chase Ultimate Reward points -- good result!
« Reply #7 on: May 16, 2019, 10:58:02 AM »
That's an awesome redemption! Enjoy your trip.

BrightFIRE

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Re: First time using Chase Ultimate Reward points -- good result!
« Reply #8 on: May 17, 2019, 12:28:34 PM »
Nice, that's a great value for UR points!

In general I would avoid thepointsguy - that sites priority is pushing affiliate links, and not necessarily giving the most honest information (their affiliates largely restrict them from being honest). I would recommend DoctorofCredit for info on earning points and TravelisFree for info on redeeming.

I also recommend the Frequent Miler https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/ He's independent and ethical, and makes a point of only promoting the best credit card offers, rather than the ones that will earn him a higher commission (like so many others). He's also super nerdy and loves to chart things on spreadsheets. He also has a great Facebook group that is polite and welcoming of newbie questions.