How to Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to Airlines and Hotels

35 Comments

1. Miles Professor you are now on my daily must read list. You have consistently great content post after post, and great legs.

2. Miles Professor,

   I went to Chase Shappire to transfer points, and the option is no longer there. Do you know if Chase has stopped doing this, or is there any other way to transfer these points? Thanks.

   1. In order to make the transfer, you must have the Chase Ink Bold, Chase Ink Plus or Chase Sapphire Preferred. No other cards will let you transfer. Chase Sapphire does not let you transfer points.

3. Miles Professor,
   My wife got an offer for the Chase Sapphire Preffered. If we get the card and the 40000 bonus miles, can we transfer the miles to my BA account? She has the BA card and I would have a Sapphire card, but the sapphire offer came in the mail in her name.

   1. Hi Chris, There are actually public offers for the 40,000 bonus miles with Chase Sapphire that everyone is eligible for. One is for $3,000 minimum spending that is easily available on the internet and local bank branches in many states are offering it with $2,000 minimum spenidng that everyone is eligible for with or without an account. I know this isn’t the main purpose of your question, but I wanted to point out that a 40,000 offer is available to you as well as your wife so you may feel free to get it for either.

      As for transferring miles to frequent flyer accounts, spouses are completely legit and the Chase verbiage on transfers to other frequent flyer accounts is as follows:
      Ultimate Rewards point transfer features are designed to allow our cardmembers to take advantage of the rewards they earn. The features are not intended to allow transfers to third parties other than a spouse or domestic partner of the cardmember. Transfers to unauthorized third parties or any other abuse of the Ultimate Rewards program may result in suspension or termination of the ability to participate in the program and forfeiture of points already earned.

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5. MP: Thanks for all the work you do for us! Question for you…. Can I transfer my UR points (account in my name only) to my wife’s IHG (Priority Club) account? I know the points can be transferred to IHG, but I didn’t know if this would cause any issues w/ Chase if I moved them to an IHG acct. other than my own. THANKS!

   1. Always happy to help :)

      You are allowed to transfer UR points to your wife’s frequent guest account, but in my opinion, a much better way to get IHG points is to use the Cash & Points trick where you buy each point at 0.7 cents each. I describe the steps to the method in my post: How to Get Priority Club Hotels for $35 a Night: Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza on Point Breaks. You can always redeem your Ultimate Rewards points for cash credit at 1 cent each so it’s better to just buy the Priority Club points than transfer your Ultimate Rewards there. For example, if you need 50,000 points, you can buy them for $350 and then redeem 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points for $500 credit.

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7. I have found your information very valuable.

8. If I convert points to mile (from chase sapphire to mileage plus account), do I need to pay any fee ?

   Thanks

   1. No, this is free. :)

9. Can I use my Chase Sapphire Preferred Points to help pay for flights booked on United Airlines? The flights were not booked through Ultimate Rewards. I went through my usual travel agent because I was booking a lot of other stuff as well. I don’t want a free ticket on United, I just want to get some kind of credit for my Chase Sapphire Preferred card points. Thank you.

   BTW I really like your website. I have bookmarked it for future use.

   1. You can use your Chase Sapphire points at 1.25 cents each for flights, but you have to go through the Ultimate Rewards Travel booking center. You cannot apply them to third party tickets already booked; only when you go through their portal. And thank you for the website compliments :)

10. MP, How long does it take for the points to be transferred?
    I am planning on doing the followings,
    1. Transfer my Ultimate Rewards points from my Ink Bold to my wife’s Ink Bold account. How long does it take?
    2. Transfer my wife’s Ultimate Rewards points to her UA account. How long does it take?

    What’s your thought on getting 3 reward tickets on UA From Los Angeles to Taipei during Christmas period?

    Thanks,

    1. 1 is always instantaneous and, in the case of United, the transfer is instantaneous as well so there’s no reason to do it until you’ve checked award availability… so best to search ahead of time before any transfers!

       Eva Airways actually has some of the better award availability among Star Alliance carriers. That said, it will likely be a little tougher to find space to Asia in the second half of December (except, of course, Christimas Eve) simply because many students and families travel there once school is out. Returning toward the end of December should be ok, but tougher in the first few days of January. By the way, United does allow you a stopover and two open-jaws if you want to maximize your miles and get in a few more free destinations. As a guideline, here’s my post on my trip to Asia in December where I am going to Singapore, Phuket and Tokyo: Singapore, Phuket and Tokyo for 65k United miles.

       1. Thank. Just to confirm, transferring Ultimate points to spouse’s account is allowed, yes? I hope the rules have not changed.

          1. It is still allowed, but you don’t need to even transfer your Ultimate Rewards to her account. You can transfer directly to her United Airlines account with no problems.

             1. Thanks again.

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13. Hello!
    I have 30000 points on the Chase Freedom card. And I also have a United Mileage Plus Explorer card. What is the best way for me to transfer points to United so that I can redeem them for flights?
    Thanks!!

    1. You can only transfer points to United if you have either the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, Chase Ink Bold or Chase Ink Plus. You then have to transfer your Freedom points to one of these accounts and transfer them to the airline. They do not transfer directly from the Chase Freedom card.

14. Hello – great blog! My daughter is an employee and additional cardholder on my Ink Bold. Can I transfer my Ink Bold UR to my daughter’s United account? Thanks!

    1. Thank you for the blog compliments :) You can transfer to your daughter’s United account.

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16. Hi, Can I ask you how to transfer my points in Southwest to United mileage plus? Thanks ~!

    1. Unfortunately, you cannot transfer miles from Southwest to United. Most miles programs do not transfer between each other. Chase just has bank rewards points that can transfer to either!

       1. Does Chase still allow you to transfer points to airlines? I can’t seem to find the points transfer in the rewards website.

          1. Yes, it still works. You must have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Bold or Chase Ink Plus to do this, though!

17. I’m going to Vegas in June 2014 and would like to stay at MGM property (Grand, Bellagio, Aria). Is it better to use UR point and book directly with travel portal OR transfer to Hyatt and book through Hyatt portal since they are partners with Mlife/MGM?

    1. I would say, in many cases, it will cost fewer points to transfer Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt points and use them as reward stays. However, you need to compare prices. As an example, Bellagio costs 25,000 points a night now. If the same room can be booked for under $250, you are better off booking without transfer to Hyatt. If it’s more expensive, it’s cheaper if you transfer. Keep in mind that transfer are non-reversible. Once you’ve moved your Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt, you cannot move them back – so be certain that’s what you want to do before you pull the trigger!

18. This is my situation, I have about 50K in Chase Points and 30K in United points. I am planning a trip to Thailand and want to use the points to lower the out of pocket cash I have to pay for the flight. When I search flights on Chase i find an Air China flight which I can use the 50K Chase points to reduce the cost of the flight. Is there any way that I could bring the 30K in United points to Chase to reduce the flight cost further?

    Appreciate the help

19. I am thinking about transferring UR points to Mileage plus. Is the transfer instant?

    1. Yes, it usually happens within minutes.

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