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How You Can Save on Domestic Flights With 75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

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Jarrod West
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Jarrod West

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Boasting a portfolio of over 20 cards, Jarrod has been an expert in the points and miles space for over 6 years. He earns and redeems over 1 million points per year and his work has been featured in o...
Edited by: Stella Shon
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Stella Shon

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With a degree in media and journalism, Stella has been in the points and miles game for more than 6 years. She most recently worked as a Corporate Communications Analyst for JetBlue. Find her work in ...

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Both the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card are fantastic travel rewards cards. If you have 75,000 Ultimate Rewards points in your stash, they can take you just about anywhere you want to go on your next vacation, thanks to the excellent list of Chase transfer partners.

In this guide, we will break down some of the best ways to use your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to score big value on domestic flights using the Chase transfer partners. While some redemptions are straightforward, others require knowing where to look.

But rest assured, at the end of this guide, you’ll be ready to book flights like a pro in no time.

Chase Transfer Partners and Airline Alliances

Before we dive in, a quick note on how to use the Chase transfer partners on the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and the Chase Sapphire Preferred card to your advantage.

When looking at the list of partners, you might think that the only 3 domestic flight partners are JetBlue, United, and Southwest — and you’d be right.

However, it is possible to book flights on most of the major U.S. carriers, including American, Alaska, and Delta, by redeeming your Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

This is done by making use of frequent flyer programs that share a major alliance, including Oneworld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliance.

These alliances function as a group airline partnership, which allows you to use points or miles to book flights on its partner. Therefore, when we refer to using miles from one program to book a flight with an entirely different airline, it is because those 2 airlines are alliance partners.

Booking American Airlines and Alaska Airlines Flights Through British Airways

American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and British Airways are all part of Oneworld. But while American and Alaska use dynamic pricing for their flights, tying the number of points needed for a flight to the cash price of the ticket, British Airways uses an award chart.

Alaska Airlines jets at New York JFK
Use your Chase points to fly Alaska Airlines via British Airways. Image Credit: Daniel Ross

This is great for award travelers because the number of points needed for a specific route is always the same regardless of how expensive the cash ticket is. This is useful because it allows you to book short-haul tickets that might otherwise be expensive in cash for a relatively low number of points.

Here is a look at the number of British Airways Avios you’ll need to book an economy or business class flight on American or Alaska based on the flight distance.

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Flight Distance

Economy 

Business

Up to 650 miles

8,250 Avios

16,500 Avios

651-1,150 miles

11,000 Avios

20,500 Avios

1,151-2,000 miles

14,500 Avios

29,000 Avios

2,001-3,000 miles

16,000 Avios

42,000 Avios

Here are some example flights you could book at each distance band:

  • Boston (BOS) to Washington D.C. (DCA) for 8,250 Avios
  • Philadelphia (PHL) to Miami (MIA) for 11,000 Avios
  • Chicago (ORD) to Las Vegas (LAS) for 14,500 Avios
  • New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX) for 16,000 Avios
Bottom Line:

These flights are likely to cost you much more if you were to book directly with American or Alaska, as the number of points you’d need would be tied to the cash price, which can be impacted by demand, seasonality, and more.

Booking Delta Air Lines Flights Through Virgin Atlantic

Similarly, instead of paying dynamic pricing on tickets directly through Delta, you can book these same flights through the Virgin Atlantic program, as both are SkyTeam partners.

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Flight Distance

Economy

First Class

Up to 500 miles

7,500 points

21,000 points

501-1,000 miles

11,000 points

41,500 points

1,001-1,500 miles

16,500 points

59,500 points

1,500-2,000 miles

18,500 points

66,500 points

2,001-3,000 miles

22,000 points

70,000 points 

This pricing allows you to book short flights like Los Angeles to San Francisco for as low as 7,500 points and longer flights like Boston to Seattle for just 22,000 points.

Booking United Airlines Flights Through Air Canada Aeroplan

You can book flights on United using the same process as the previous examples through their Star Alliance partner, Air Canada. Here is a look at what the Air Canada partner chart looks like for flights within North America.

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Flight Distance

Economy

Business

Up to 500 miles

6,000 points

15,000 points

501-1,500 miles

10,000 points

20,000 points

1,501-2,750 miles

12,500

25,000

2,751+ miles

22,500 

35,000

Hot Tip:

Keep in mind that when booking through the Air Canada Aeroplan program, you’ll only be able to book United saver awards at these rates, which will make availability harder to come by than booking directly with the airline. Even so, the extra effort to locate award space is well worth it, given the number of points you can save on these bookings.

Booking JetBlue and Southwest Flights

Booking flights through JetBlue and Southwest are unlike any of the previous examples. This is because both are fixed redemption award programs, where the number of points you’ll need to book your award ticket is tied to the cash cost of the ticket.

With JetBlue, you’ll usually receive somewhere between 1.3 to 1.4 cents per point for economy flights, and 1.1 cents per point for JetBlue Mint flights. With Southwest, you’ll usually receive between 1.2 to 1.4 cents per point on your redemptions.

JetBlue Mint A321LR Core Even More Space
You can transfer your Chase points directly to the JetBlue TrueBlue program Image Credit: Daniel Ross

These redemption rates can be underwhelming compared to other options, but there are still instances where you can use both programs to get great value.

For instance, cardholders of The JetBlue Plus Card or The JetBlue Business Card get 10% of all of their redeemed JetBlue points credited back to them. This effectively increases your redemption rate on JetBlue economy tickets to 1.4 to 1.55 cents per point.

Similarly, those who use the Southwest Companion Pass receive buy-one-get-one tickets on Southwest flights, including award tickets. This means that any time your companion travels with you, you effectively double your redemption rate, giving you 2.4 to 3 cents per point in value.

Booking Flights Through Chase Travel

While not the highest value option, the easiest and most flexible option is using your points directly through Chase Travel.

When you use your points this way, you can book any flight you’d like on any carrier without needing to worry about award space.

Better yet, the issuer gives Chase Sapphire Preferred card holders a 25% bonus and Chase Sapphire Reserve card holders a 50% bonus when redeeming points this way, making each point worth 1.25 cents and 1.5 cents, respectively.

Overwater villa at Le Meridien Maldives
Book thousands of hotels you’d like via Chase Travel. Image Credit: Katie Seeman

Additionally, you aren’t just limited to booking flights through Chase Travel. You can also book hotels, rental cars, cruises, and essentially any other travel-related purchase you can think of.

Final Thoughts

There are no shortage of great options when it comes to redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points. 75,000 points is a decent amount that can help you book hotels, flights, and more for excellent value.

The information regarding The JetBlue Plus Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding The JetBlue Business Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. 

Jarrod West's image

About Jarrod West

Boasting a portfolio of over 20 cards, Jarrod has been an expert in the points and miles space for over 6 years. He earns and redeems over 1 million points per year and his work has been featured in outlets like The New York Times.

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