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Chase Ultimate Rewards are perhaps the most valuable transferable points. With instant or short transfer times and strong transfer partners like United Airlines, Southwest and Hyatt, you can travel nearly anywhere in the world on points.
Chase travel credit cards are also some of the best on the market. There are several direct Chase transfer partners, but you can also access indirect partners. That gives you lots of ways to travel for pennies on the dollar.
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are easy to earn with big sign-up offers and bonus categories. By transferring to the right partners, you could get even more value from your Chase points via a single welcome bonus.
Here are all the details about Chase’s transfer partners and what you should know before you book award travel.
Chase transfer partners
Chase transfer partners include airlines and hotels, all of which have a 1:1 transfer ratio. That means when you transfer 1 Chase Ultimate Rewards point, you’ll earn 1 mile or point in the program you send them to. Transferring your points to travel partners is the best way to use Chase points.
Chase Airline transfer partners
There are 11 direct Chase Ultimate Rewards airline transfer partners:
Aer Lingus
Air Canada
British Airways
Emirates
Flying Blue (loyalty program of Air France and KLM)
Iberia
JetBlue
Singapore Airlines
Southwest
United Airlines
Virgin Atlantic
Through these airlines, you can book award seats through all three major airline alliances, including:
- Oneworld airlines (British Airways and Iberia)
- SkyTeam airlines (Flying Blue)
- Star Alliance airlines (Singapore Airlines and United Airlines)
Knowing how to work through the major alliances is your ticket to dozens of airlines beyond the 10 direct airline partners. Note that you can use Chase points to book award travel on other partner airlines which aren’t part of any alliance. For example, you can use British Airways Avios points to book an award ticket with Alaska Airlines, or Virgin Atlantic miles to fly on Hawaiian Airlines.
Knowing Chase’s airline partners — and then each partner’s partners — can unlock nearly limitless award opportunities.
Chase hotel transfer partners
The Chase Ultimate Rewards program has three direct hotel transfer partners:
Hyatt
In general, you’ll get a better deal redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points with airline partners, but Hyatt is the exception. It has a generous award char, and award rooms start at just 5,000 points per night. In fact, some of the team’s biggest travel awards have been for Hyatt stays.
IHG
If you’re close to an award stay with IHG, it can make sense to top off your account with Chase Ultimate Rewards points. But there are a number of other ways to earn IHG points, too.
Marriott
And much like with IHG, if you’re a few points shy of a free stay at Marriott, it can make sense to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to your Marriott account. Always run the numbers before you make a transfer because there’s no reversing it.
Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer times
Here’s a look at the estimated transfer times for each of the airline partners.
| Travel Partner | Estimated Transfer Time |
|---|---|
| Aer Lingus | Instant |
| British Airways | Instant |
| Emirates | Instant |
| Flying Blue | Instant |
| Hyatt | Instant |
| Iberia | Instant |
| IHG | 1-2 days |
| JetBlue | Instant |
| Marriott | 1-2 days |
| Singapore Airlines | 1-2 days |
| Southwest | Instant |
| United Airlines | Instant |
| Virgin Atlantic | Instant |
Most Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfers are instant. This is great news if you’re in a hurry to book an award flight or get a hotel room.
For the cases where transfers take one or two days, you still have a couple of options while you wait.
Marriott will give you a points advance to book your stay at a Marriott or Ritz-Carlton hotel. As long as you have the points in your account at least 14 days prior to check-in, you’re good to go.
And Singapore Airlines will let you hold an award ticket for a Singapore Airlines flight (not for partner award flights). You need to call to place an award on hold, then call again once the transfer is complete to ticket your trip. It’s a little more work, but worth it to preserve your award flight while you’re waiting!
Know the Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer rules
All transfers are final
Once you transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to a partner program, you won’t be able to get the points back to your Chase account.
I recommend finding your award flight or room before you transfer your points. Most transfers are instant, so you can book as soon as you find travel that works for you
Transfers to partners are always in 1,000-point increments
You might need a small or odd number of points to snag an award ticket or hotel stay, but be aware that you must always transfer in increments of 1,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to travel partners.
You can combine any number of points between Chase Ultimate Rewards cards (yup, even just 1 point) or combine them with others in any amount. But when it’s time to send them to travel partners, they have to go out in increments of 1,000 points.
Send your points to a spouse, family member or authorized user
For personal cards, Chase lets you to transfer points to another person in the same household. Here’s our video guide on how to combine your points with a family member or another card account.
If you want to transfer points from a business card to someone else, they need to be a household member or a co-owner of the company.
You can also combine points with an authorized user, as long as they live at the same address as you.
Award travel with Chase Ultimate Rewards points
Here are just a few ways to get outsized value from your Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
Transfer to British Airways or Aer Lingus Avios for flights to Dublin
You can redeem British Airways or Aer Lingus Avios points on Aer Lingus and book flights to Dublin.
British Airways and Aer Lingus award prices are distance-based, so shorter flights cost fewer points. This means award flights from the East Coast to Dublin are a terrific deal. For example, Boston to Dublin requires only 26,000 British Airways Avios points for an off-peak, round-trip coach award ticket. The same deal is available from the following cities:
- Boston
- Chicago
- Hartford
- Montreal (starting summer 2019)
- Newark
- New York – JFK
- Philadelphia
- Toronto
- Washington, DC
You can’t search for or book Aer Lingus award flights on the British Airways website. Instead you can search for “Saver” award seats on the United Airlines website and call British Airways to book. Ask them to waive the phone fee because it’s not possible to book online.Also, Aer Lingus classifies certain dates as peak travel, which means you’ll use more points for award flights during these times.
Transfer to Singapore Airlines for United Airlines flights to Hawaii
United Airlines is a direct Chase airline transfer partner. But you can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Singapore Airlines, which is part of the same Star Alliance. Then, book United Airlines award flights to Hawaii for cheaper than what United Airlines charges!
For example, you’ll pay 35,000 Singapore Airlines miles round-trip in coach from anywhere in North America to Hawaii. Compare that with United Airlines’ price of 45,000 United Airlines miles. You’ll save 10,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per flight.
Transfer to Hyatt for luxury hotel stays
As mentioned earlier, some of our most valuable uses of Chase Ultimate Rewards points have been at Hyatt hotels around the world. Here’s how to transfer your points to Hyatt. Many of us on the MMS team have stayed at Hyatt all-inclusive hotels in Mexico. We loved the endless food and adult beverages. And because I used points for a free stay (that’s right, I paid $0), I treated myself to an opulent massage treatment I’d otherwise never splurge on.
Booking travel through the Chase travel portal
Along with transferring your Ultimate Rewards points to Chase travel partners, don’t forget, it’s also possible to use your points to book travel directly through the Chase travel portal.
Depending on the cash price of a ticket or hotel room, you’ll sometimes get a better deal using the Chase travel portal to book flights or hotels.
Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders, for example, will get a value of 1.5 cents per Chase Ultimate Reward point when booking through the portal. Those with the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or Ink Business Preferred Credit Card will get a value of 1.25 cents per point when booking through the Chase portal.
Here’s our guide to booking travel with the Chase travel portal.
Earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points
You can earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points to transfer directly to airline and hotel partners with these three excellent card offers:
| Credit card | Welcome bonus and minimum spending requirements | Our review |
|---|---|---|
| Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card | 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $15,000 on purchases within the first three months of opening your account. | Ink Business Preferred review |
| Chase Sapphire Preferred Card | 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. | Chase Sapphire Preferred review |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve | 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of opening your account. | Chase Sapphire Reserve review |
These cards are affected by Chase’s stricter application rules. That means if you’ve opened five or more cards from any bank (except these business cards) in the past 24 months, it’s unlikely you’ll be approved. And if you have any of these no-annual-fee cards, you’ll need to combine Chase points to one of the above cards before you can transfer them:
- Chase Freedom Flex
- Chase Freedom Unlimited
- Ink Business Cash Credit Card
- Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card
Each card has its own strengths, like bonus points for spending in certain categories. That makes it easier to earn even more valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Read our full guide on how to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points for all the details.
Bottom line
There are 13 airline and hotel partners within the Chase Ultimate Rewards program.
But thanks to airline alliances and partnerships, you can book award travel beyond the direct transfer partners. This unlocks nearly endless travel opportunities to fantastic destinations around the world.
Most points transfers are instant, but a few partners have one- or two-day transfer times. Because of their flexibility and strong travel partners, Chase Ultimate Rewards are a favorite here at Million Mile Secrets. We’ve all used Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners for unforgettable trips.
With sign-up offers on cards like 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card after meeting the minimum spending, you could be on your way to Ireland on Aer Lingus, Hawaii with Singapore Airlines miles, or at an all-inclusive Hyatt hotel in Mexico — and that’s just for starters.
Let me know your favorite Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner. And subscribe to our newsletter for more tips and trick to getting outsized value for your points.