Chase Transfer Partners 2024: What to Know – NerdWallet

Chase Ultimate Rewards® are some of the most valuable transferable points available. Points can be redeemed for travel through Chase’s travel portal for 1.25 cents each if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or 1.5 cents each if you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve®. However, people who own three 2024 Chase cards can potentially get far more value by shipping them off to one of Chase’s transfer partners, where they get converted to even more valuable travel rewards currencies.

People with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® or the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, can transfer points on a 1:1 basis to about a dozen airline and hotel loyalty programs that partner with Chase. And assuming you hold (or someone in your household owns), one of those three Chase cards, you’ll very likely unlock even greater value out of your spending rewards when you use one of the Chase Ultimate Rewards® transfer partners.

Here’s a summary of each Chase transfer partner and how you can get the most from your Chase points.

Chase credit cards that enable point transfers

Chase airline transfer partners

Of the 14 Chase Ultimate Rewards® transfer partners, 11 are airline mileage programs, which are:

Flying Blue is the loyalty program of Air France, KLM, Kenya Airways and a few smaller airlines. Because many Flying Blue airlines are members of the SkyTeam alliance, you can transfer points from Chase to Flying Blue to book award flights on other SkyTeam member airlines, such as Delta Air Lines.

Use AerClub Avios to fly to Ireland for as few as 13,000 Avios each way in economy.

Or, connect elsewhere in Europe for as few as 17,000 Avios each way. Though, factor in elevated taxes and fees on awards when determining if it’s best to transfer points from Chase versus booking a cash fare.

There are plenty of reasons not to overlook Aeroplan — the newest of the Chase Sapphire airline partners. Air Canada is a Star Alliance member, so you can use Aeroplan points to book award flights on any Star Alliance airline, including United.

Aeroplan sweet spots include flying from the U.S. West Coast to Hawaii on United for 12,500 points in economy or 25,000 points in business class. Travelers can fly from the U.S. East Coast to Europe from 60,000 points each way in business class. These and other valuable redemptions help boost the value of Aeroplan points to 1.4 cents for award tickets.

Instead, use this Chase transfer partner to book inexpensive awards on American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and other Oneworld partners — including flying to the Caribbean for just 7,000 Avios each way.

Dubai-based Emirates Airlines is best known for its glitzy business- and first-class products. And while premium cabins command huge cash prices, paying with miles through the Emirates Skywards loyalty program is possible and considered the best use of miles (as opposed to using miles to book in the Emirates economy class). A NerdWallet analysis found that you only get about 0.6 cent per mile in value for Emirates economy, but the value of Emirates miles jumps up if you redeem an award in Emirates business class.

Just like British Airways, Iberia is a member of the Oneworld alliance and uses the Avios program. And after Iberia’s recent overhaul to its award chart, award rates to book American Airlines flights match the British Airways Executive Club’s rates on partner airlines. However, other Iberia sweet spots include some incredible gems.

For example, fly to Europe for as few as 17,000 Avios each way in economy or book business class to Europe for as few as 34,000 Avios each way. That’s one of the cheapest business class awards to Europe currently available.

JetBlue uses a revenue-based TrueBlue points program in which the required number of points for an award roughly equates to the cash price of the flight. That means you can’t get outsized value from redeeming TrueBlue points.

However, just because the program doesn’t have an upside doesn’t mean JetBlue isn’t a good Chase transfer partner. TrueBlue points are worth 1.5 cents per point — making it a valuable currency for economy flights among U.S. airlines.

Singapore Airlines is another Star Alliance Chase travel partner that can provide excellent premium cabin redemptions. Singapore KrisFlyer sweet spots include flights to Europe and Hawaii, and flights within the continental U.S. Luxury travelers also flock to KrisFlyer, as it’s typically the only way to book the award-winning Singapore first class product with points.

Like JetBlue, Southwest uses a revenue-based redemption program, where points prices correlate with cash prices. This means you don’t have to seek out sweet spots to get good value from your Southwest Rapid Rewards points.

Instead, the value of Southwest Rapid Rewards is a predictable 1.5 cents per point when redeemed for Southwest flights. Steer clear of other Rapid Rewards redemptions for hotels, rental cars or merchandise though, as the redemption value can drop to 0.6 cents per point.

In addition to redeeming miles on United, you can redeem United MileagePlus miles for award flights on other Star Alliance partners. Just keep in mind that United can charge more miles for partner awards.

London-based Virgin Atlantic is a member of the SkyTeam alliance and it uses a different redemption chart for each partner, meaning the Flying Club sweet spots are just as diverse as its partners.

Sweet spots include nonstop Delta flights from 7,500 points each way, Delta business class to mainland Europe from 50,000 points each way and ANA business class from Hawaii to Japan for 35,000 points each way.

Chase hotel transfer partners

Chase has just three hotel loyalty program parters, which are:

NerdWallet values IHG points at 0.8 cent each. But since Chase points transfer to IHG One Rewards at the same 1:1 transfer ratio as all other partners, that makes for a pretty bad transfer that can actually devalue your points. Unless you find a killer IHG redemption, only transfer points from Chase to IHG to top off your account if you’re a few points shy of booking a hotel you want with the rest of your IHG points. Otherwise, you’re generally better off booking IHG hotels via Chase’s portal.

Marriott Bonvoy is one of the largest hotel loyalty programs around. You can redeem Bonvoy points for free nights and room upgrades at over 7,000 properties across more than 30 brands.

However, bigger isn’t always better. When NerdWallet analyzed the value of Marriott Bonvoy points, we found that points were worth around 0.8 cent each. That puts Marriott in the same category as IHG, where points often lose their value when you transfer them from Chase to Marriott Bonvoy.

Considering Chase points can be redeemed for 1.25 cents or 1.5 cents each (depending on which Sapphire card you have), make sure that you’re getting at least this much value before transferring Chase points to Marriott Bonvoy — which is unlikely. With that, save Bonvoy transfers only for situations where you find an outstanding hotel deal, or if you need just a few more points to book using your existing Bonvoys.

World of Hyatt is undoubtedly Chase’s most valuable hotel transfer partner — and perhaps its most valuable travel partner overall, too. In NerdWallet’s analysis, World of Hyatt points are worth 2.3 cents each when used for award stays.

Hyatt is one of a few hotel loyalty programs that still publishes an award chart. That means predictability in planning how many points an award stay may cost. Award nights start at 3,500 points, meaning you can really stretch out your Chase points at Hyatt hotels.

How to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points

The most common way to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points is through spending on a Chase credit card that participates in Chase Ultimate Rewards®. You might earn points through taking advantage of introductory offers — where you can get a windfall of points upon meeting a certain threshold within a window of time upon card approval — and via ongoing spending.

Just note that not all Chase credit cards earn transferable Ultimate Rewards points. That said, Chase cards that do earn transferable Ultimate Rewards points include:

Some of these cards offer bonus points in certain categories, so someone seeking to maximize their points earning might have multiple cards in their wallet to use depending on the transaction. To maximize points, you might use the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card to pay at restaurants (it earns 3 points per $1 spent on dining), the Chase Freedom Flex℠ to pay at drugstores (it earns 3% back at drugstores) and the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card to pay the monthly internet bill (it earns 5% back on internet, cable and phone services, up to a combined $25,000 in annual spending).

Even though the latter two cards don’t let you transfer your rewards directly to any of the above airline or hotel partners, you can transfer them to another card that you hold (or that someone in your household holds), as long as that card is one of the cards that allows for transfers to partner airline and hotel brands.

The three Chase cards that allow for transfers to Chase’s hotel and airline partners are the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card.

Which Chase Sapphire transfer partners are the best?

Chase may lag other transferable bank point currencies like American Express, Capital One and Citi when it comes to the raw number of transfer partners. However, Chase’s transfer partners cover every airline alliance, a range of domestic and international airlines, and some major hotel loyalty programs. Particularly given its connection to Hyatt (which has what NerdWallet considers among the most valuable hotel rewards programs out there), that in turn makes Chase Ultimate Rewards® points among the most valuable transferable points available.

While you might find individually great redemptions while using Chase transfer partners for specific trips, there are — generally speaking — about a half-dozen Chase transfer partners that are most worthwhile. NerdWallet’s power ranking of the six best Chase transfer partners (with No. 1 being the best) are:

3. Air France/KLM Flying Blue.

4. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

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5. Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards.

As far as Chase’s airline transfer partners go, Air Canada Aeroplan comes out on top. Even still, you can easily get more than 1 cent per point in value from Chase points when you transfer points from Chase to fixed-value programs like Southwest Rapid Rewards and JetBlue TrueBlue.

Other airline transfer partners can be hit-and-miss, such as Emirates, which is generally a miss when points are transferred to book Emirates economy class. But, it’s usually a massive hit if you can transfer Chase points to be used for booking the incredibly-swanky Emirates business class on points.

Here’s a complete overview of Chase’s current partners and their transfer ratios:

Is transferring your Chase Ultimate Rewards® points worth it?

While you might book hotels and airfares with cash or through Chase’s travel portal, it’s often a better deal to put in the extra effort and transfer your points to one of Chase’s transfer partners — especially those named above. That said, folks seeking to maximize value should always calculate the value of the Chase Ultimate Rewards® points relative to the price to pay for airfare or hotel rooms in cash.

Use NerdWallet’s Chase points calculator below to determine the value of your points, based on both the baseline and NerdWallet estimated values:

With a little bit of research, you can get even more value through other Chase Ultimate Rewards® transfer partners versus using them to book travel directly through Chase’s travel portal.