Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partners

There are several good options when transferring Ultimate Rewards, but let’s first start with the programs you should not transfer to. 

We don’t recommend transferring to IHG or Marriott. Those points are valued at less than 1.0 cent each, so you can get better value redeeming points on a fixed basis via the Chase Travel Portal (1.5 cents per point for Sapphire Reserve and 1.25 cents per point for Sapphire Preferred and Ink Preferred)

If you have a Sapphire Reserve, we also don’t recommend transferring to Southwest Airlines or JetBlue. Those two programs have revenue-based points program, so the points price of the flight is directly related to the cash price of the flight. Thus, you are generally better off booking a flight via the Chase Travel Portal than transferring directly to the airline. 

• Exception: If you need points to combine with existing airline points to book a flight.

One last thing to consider before transferring Ultimate Rewards to Virgin Atlantic, Iberia, British Airways, or Aer Lingus, is that American Express Membership Rewards regularly offers 20% to 50% transfer bonuses to these programs. If you have a stockpile of Membership Rewards, you may want to consider transferring those points instead of Ultimate Rewards points.

Recommended Points Programs

• United Airlines– United is generally the best airline points program to transfer to since they don’t charge fuel surcharges on awards. This can save you $500+ in fees per passenger when trying to book a high-fuel surcharge partner such as Lufthansa.

• Hyatt– Hyatt’s points generally offer a good value at many of their hotels, and allow you to avoid paying taxes and resort fees. If you can find a hotel stay for above 1.8 cents per point, you should consider transferring your Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt. 

• Virgin Atlantic– Virgin Atlantic has some very good partner awards on ANA, Delta, and Air New Zealand. 

• British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus– These three airlines share the same airline currency (Avios), which you can transfer between each account. But each program has different advantages and disadvantages. British Airways’ strength is short and direct economy class flights. Whereas, Iberia and Aer Lingus has sweet spots of economy or business class flights from the U.S. East Coast to Europe.

• Emirates– You can find good value using Emirates points for partner awards especially to Asia and Australia on Japan Airlines and Korean Airlines. However, if you want to use these points on Emirates, expect to pay high fuel surcharges unless you depart from a low fuel surcharge country (Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, etc.). Fuel surcharges from the U.S. run about $800 one-way.

• Flying Blue– Flying Blue runs promotional awards every month, which can be a good value if you want to visit Europe.

• Singapore Airlines– Singapore Airlines is a transfer partner every transferable points program and is the best way to book Singapore Airlines flights. However, if you want to fly Singapore Business or First Class, it is generally a lot of points, but there are some sweet spots especially on some inter-region flights.