Chase travel portal now more expensive?

[Scandium]

I've used CC churning with chase for years, for our family visit trips to Europe via the Chase travel portal (for the 1.5x value on points). Every time I also check the tickets with the airline, and the price with chase has been the same. But for the trip this summer (3+ months out) the price with Chase is way higher, almost $1,000 more for four tickets (+ >25%)!
I don't know if it's related, but apparently there's a new portal design in 2021:
https://thriftytraveler.com/news/points/chase-new-travel-portal/

I called chase and was told something like they "get certain tickets from the airline, so that's the price they get".. She didn't really address when i said I've never seen this before.

So is this just my bad luck this time, or is this a "new thing" with the chase travel portal? That will determine whether it makes sense for me to pay the $250/year for the chase reserve card for the extra points/redemption bonus, or find another card for travel. Airline miles are always a crapshoot, so I really like the more straightforward booking with chase points.

[sonofsven]

I don't know the answer, but have you checked at Doctor of Credit?
Between the posts and the comments they cover a lot of ground, npi.

[decembeir]

Travel through the chase portal has been like that for years, some flights / airlines just cost more than booking alternatively. I book through chase if there's just a small difference otherwise I tend to just save my points for later. CSR is a good travel card and in general the points are less finicky than other travel rewards points, but if this particular flight or airline is one you'll be using often then maybe another card might work better for you in the future. You could try playing around with dates & destinations that you're interested in and look if there are often price differences for where you want to travel.

[Scandium]

Travel through the chase portal has been like that for years, some flights / airlines just cost more than booking alternatively. I book through chase if there's just a small difference otherwise I tend to just save my points for later. CSR is a good travel card and in general the points are less finicky than other travel rewards points, but if this particular flight or airline is one you'll be using often then maybe another card might work better for you in the future. You could try playing around with dates & destinations that you're interested in and look if there are often price differences for where you want to travel.

Thanks, good points. I've used Chase portal to book the same airline, the same route, to the same destination (visiting my family) multiple times over several years now. That's why it's so weird it's suddenly a grand more! Not a huge deal since I can always use the points for another trip, but i'll have to keep an eye on whether this is just a one time thing. I'll probably check the same route to europe a different points over the next year and see.

[therethere]

Are you using an incognito browser? And have you cleared your cookies?

I've run into that a handful of times. But usually it's because I had been searching the flights several times on my normal browser. Once I reset the cookies or tried a different computer I could eventually get back to the non-Chase cost.

[Scandium]

Are you using an incognito browser? And have you cleared your cookies?

I've run into that a handful of times. But usually it's because I had been searching the flights several times on my normal browser. Once I reset the cookies or tried a different computer I could eventually get back to the non-Chase cost.

Good idea! I didn't do that, but i did search both on my work and personal PC, in different browsers. So that should have taken care of any tracking issues.

[flyingaway]

For some times and some flights, the Chase portal can be more expensive, or it just does not have the same flight. Sometimes, they will have the same prices for the same flights. You just have to be flexible and do more searches.