Update: One or more card offers in this post are no longer available. Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers.
My favorite use of Chase Ultimate Rewards points is transferring them to airline and hotel partners for Big Travel with Small Money. But sometimes you’re better off using points to book tickets through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal.
And here’s a secret! There are 4 airlines you can book with Chase Ultimate Rewards points that do NOT show up on Chase’s travel portal!
I’ll tell you which airlines the Chase travel portal doesn’t show. And why knowing how to use your Chase Ultimate Rewards points for tickets with these airlines might be a good deal!
Book Tickets With These 4 Hidden Airlines
Link: Chase Sapphire Reserve
Link: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Link: Ink Plus® Business Credit Card
When you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, Ink Plus, or Ink Bold (no longer available) card, you can use the Chase Ultimate Rewards points you earn to book travel at an improved rate through Chase’s travel portal.
With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Plus, or Chase Ink Bold, you’ll get 1.25 cents per point for tickets booked on Chase’s travel portal. And your Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1.5 cents each for travel booked through Chase’s travel portal with the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
But did you know? There are 4 airlines that do NOT show up on the Chase Travel Portal that you CAN book with Chase Ultimate Rewards points!
You Have to Call This Number
Once you’ve found your flights, call the Chase travel center at 866-951-6592 to book your tickets.
1. Southwest
Being able to book Southwest tickets through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal is important because you can get a better deal than if you transferred your points to Southwest.
That’s because you can transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Southwest at a 1:1 ratio, and Southwest points are worth, at most, ~1.43 cents each. But if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you’ll get 1.5 cents per point when you book airfare through Chase’s travel portal!
If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, it’s still a better deal to transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Southwest instead of booking through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal, because your Chase Ultimate Rewards points are only worth 1.25 cent each with the Sapphire Preferred.
2. Norwegian
Norwegian Air offers cheap flights to spots like Copenhagen, Oslo, and London. And even has flights between certain US cities and the Caribbean!
I’ve written about a trick to save 20% on Norwegian Air flights, but it’s worth doing the math to see if you’d be better off booking your flight through Chase’s travel portal.
For example, I found a flight using the 20% off trick on Norwegian Air for from New York (JFK) to London leaving February 13, 2017, and returning February 19, 2017, for ~$392.
That same ticket would cost ~$467 on the Chase travel portal. Meaning you’d need ~31,133 Chase Ultimate Rewards points if you have the Sapphire Reserve ($467 / 1.5 cents per point), or ~37,360 Chase Ultimate Rewards points with the Sapphire Preferred ($467 / 1.25 cents per point).
So you’d have to decide whether to spend ~$392 on the ticket and save your Chase Ultimate Rewards points for a better deal. Or if you’d rather spend the points for a free ticket.
3. Allegiant
Allegiant is a low-cost airline that flies to a lot of popular spots throughout the US like Las Vegas, San Diego, New Orleans, and New York (Newark).
Allegiant tickets are usually fairly cheap, so using your (very valuable!) Chase Ultimate Rewards points for flights with Allegiant might not always make sense, unless you’re just looking for a free ticket. Because you could have used them for a more valuable redemption instead.
That said, do what makes sense for you! Because a free ticket is better than nothing. 😉
4. Gol
Gol is another low-cost airline based out of Brazil that flies mostly within Brazil and to a few other cities in South America.
Because they offer such cheap flights, I always recommend doing the math to decide what makes sense for you.
For example, I found a round-trip flight from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro for ~$149 in February 2017. If you booked that same ticket using your Chase Ultimate Rewards points, it would cost ~9,933 Chase Ultimate Rewards points if you have the Sapphire Reserve card ($149 / 1.5 cents per point). Or ~11,920 Chase Ultimate Rewards points with the Chase Sapphire Preferred ($149 / 1.25 cents per point).
I’d personally rather pay the $149 cash price for the ticket, and save my ~9,900+ Chase Ultimate Rewards points for a more valuable redemption!
Bottom Line
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are my favorite points because they’re so flexible. Not only can you transfer them to a number of great travel partners for Big Travel, you can use them to book flights through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal without having to search for award seats.
But there are 4 low-cost airlines that do NOT show up on Chase’s travel portal: Southwest, Norwegian Air, Allegiant, and Gol. And that’s important to know, because you can still book tickets using your Chase Ultimate Rewards points by calling the Chase travel center at 866-951-6592.
And you might find a better deal through Chase’s travel portal than you can by transferring points to the airline or booking directly with the airline!
Have you ever booked a ticket with your Chase Ultimate Rewards points by calling Chase’s travel center? Let me know your experience in the comments?
Great tip
I have been on the phone for an hour. Does anyone have a faster way to do this. This is not worth the effort, it seems.
By the way – I called in to Chase about Norwegian and Chase now charges a percentage fee to book with points on Norwegian air. I believe it was 5%? Either way – I decided not to do it for this particular flight to avoid paying the fee.
I’m not seeing Allegiant as an options in results for Chase Reqards. I’ve confirmed flights available directly through Allegiant, they just aren’t included in results of Chase. Please check and update your blog, if there’s some changes.
Allegiant flights don’t show up online in the Chase travel portal. You have to call Chase at 866-951-6592 to use your points to book these flights.
If you call, Chase no longer books for Allegiant. I tried calling multiple times and got the same answer every time. This article should be updated.
I called and was able to reserve Allegiant worked with the first agent i spoke with. I have Chase Sapphire Reserve card. She had to do it on her end and sent me a email confirmation.
Great information.
A word of caution:
Always check the airline site directly for how many frequent flyer miles they are requiring. Even with the 1.25 or 1.5 Chase bonus, you may be better off with the airline itself. The Chase bonus is based on the price of the ticket (in dollars), not the points it would take to buy it.
Here was my experience today:
Saw ticket on Southwest website for $211.
Called Chase ultimate rewards and found it would cost 21,095 points from my Chase a Freedom account or 16,876 points from my Sapphire Preferred. 16876 x 1.25 = 21095. So far, so good.
Excited to use my points, but wait… Southwest is only charging 12601 points for the same flight.
So I got off the phone, logged in to chase, transferred the points to Southwest (available instantly), and purchased the ticket on Southwest.com
After it was all over, I realized I had 6000 SWA points available, which I forgot about because I lost all hope of ever being able to redeem…. So I could have transferred fewer points.
Lesson learned. And now I am open to the idea of looking for miles deals on Southwest. Their prices are so go, I never even bothered….