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Ultimate Rewards Point Transfers
Posted on 2/2/14 at 5:23 pm
Posted on 2/2/14 at 5:23 pm
I'm starting to delve into the world of Chase Sapphire Preferred UR point usage. In my research, I'm seeing quite a bit of ink being spilled over transferring points to partner airlines instead of booking directly through UR. First and foremost, the process of manually checking each rewards program individually seems like a massive pain in the arse. Second, I'm not seeing a marked increase in the value of points that would be transferred over simply redeeming through UR.
So, is there an easier, automated way to see which program would be best? Also, is there some trick I'm missing concerning times, routes, etc. that would garner the marked improvement in points per dollar that I've been reading about?
I'm quite certain this has been answered elsewhere, but I couldn't find anything after a cursory search.
So, is there an easier, automated way to see which program would be best? Also, is there some trick I'm missing concerning times, routes, etc. that would garner the marked improvement in points per dollar that I've been reading about?
I'm quite certain this has been answered elsewhere, but I couldn't find anything after a cursory search.
2
Posted on 2/2/14 at 5:43 pm to Joshjrn
I am taking a trip on a route dominated by United/Alliance, so I planned to transfer to United to take advantage of my United points.
It looks to cost about 110,000 points for me to fly economy on my chosen dates. If I was more flexible on dates I could fly the same route a little but later in business class for the same amount.
Cash value on the trip is about $2000 (economy)/ $5,000 (business).
It looks to cost about 110,000 points for me to fly economy on my chosen dates. If I was more flexible on dates I could fly the same route a little but later in business class for the same amount.
Cash value on the trip is about $2000 (economy)/ $5,000 (business).
Posted on 2/2/14 at 5:49 pm to Athanatos
I guess a good starting question would be: how do I determine which airline/airline partnership "dominates" a particular route?
Posted on 2/2/14 at 9:28 pm to Joshjrn
Airline awards booking can be very complicated. Like you, I'm just starting to delve into it. I'd say there are pros and cons to booking via United Rewards (UR) points vs Airline miles.
PROS to using UR points (only two that I can think of):
-Seats not subject to award availability
-Very low hassle relative to booking with miles.
CONS to using UR instead of converting to airline miles:
-Way more bang for you buck booking via airline miles. I'll give an example based on a trip I was looking at planning, from New Orleans to Lima, Peru. Based on United Awards Chart I can fly economy for 40k miles aka 40k UR points after the 1:1 conversion. I could also pay for the flight on United.com for about $1200. Or I could book via the UR portal, where the cheapest flight I can find costs 89k points.
So roughly speaking, by converting UR --> United mileage plus miles, my points are worth about 3 cents per point ($1200/40000). By using my UR points to book the flight, my points are worth about 1.3 cents per points ($1200/89000). As you can see you can get much better value with your points by converting them to miles, in this particular scenario you've devalued your UR points by half by not converting to United miles. Ofcourse if you start reading the blogs where these people are obsessed with the points game, you'll see the phrase YMMV - your miles may vary. It all depends on your circumstances.
Now, here's the rub. In searching for the dates that I want to go to Peru on United.com, I find there is no award availability at the economy saver level. I'm fricked, right? Well not really - booking rewards flights is not that cut and dry. With United miles the entire Star Alliance (something like 28 different airlines) is at your fingertips. There are probably hundreds of different ways to get from New Orleans to Lima and on several different StarAlliance airlines. I could go MSY --> Chicago --> Lima on United. I could go MSY --> Houston on United, Houston --> San Jose, Costa Rica on Avianca, San Jose --> Lima on Avianca. You have to systematically search each route starting with the longest international segment and figure out which has the open award seating. There are a myriad of blogs out there that go into great detail on this so I'll spare you anymore commentary.
In summary: if you are flexible in your dates, savvy, and willing to put in the time and effort, you will get much better value by transferring UR points to United. There are also services that will create the routes and search award availability for you if you can't figure it out, for a fee of course, and I'd say you still get better value that way.
Sorry about the length, this is a topic of interest for me that I've put some time into figuring out the last couple weeks, so figured I would throw in my 2 cents. The best place to look for route maps for Star Alliance is Star Alliance Route Map, put in your destination and see which StarAlliance airlines fly there.
PROS to using UR points (only two that I can think of):
-Seats not subject to award availability
-Very low hassle relative to booking with miles.
CONS to using UR instead of converting to airline miles:
-Way more bang for you buck booking via airline miles. I'll give an example based on a trip I was looking at planning, from New Orleans to Lima, Peru. Based on United Awards Chart I can fly economy for 40k miles aka 40k UR points after the 1:1 conversion. I could also pay for the flight on United.com for about $1200. Or I could book via the UR portal, where the cheapest flight I can find costs 89k points.
So roughly speaking, by converting UR --> United mileage plus miles, my points are worth about 3 cents per point ($1200/40000). By using my UR points to book the flight, my points are worth about 1.3 cents per points ($1200/89000). As you can see you can get much better value with your points by converting them to miles, in this particular scenario you've devalued your UR points by half by not converting to United miles. Ofcourse if you start reading the blogs where these people are obsessed with the points game, you'll see the phrase YMMV - your miles may vary. It all depends on your circumstances.
Now, here's the rub. In searching for the dates that I want to go to Peru on United.com, I find there is no award availability at the economy saver level. I'm fricked, right? Well not really - booking rewards flights is not that cut and dry. With United miles the entire Star Alliance (something like 28 different airlines) is at your fingertips. There are probably hundreds of different ways to get from New Orleans to Lima and on several different StarAlliance airlines. I could go MSY --> Chicago --> Lima on United. I could go MSY --> Houston on United, Houston --> San Jose, Costa Rica on Avianca, San Jose --> Lima on Avianca. You have to systematically search each route starting with the longest international segment and figure out which has the open award seating. There are a myriad of blogs out there that go into great detail on this so I'll spare you anymore commentary.
In summary: if you are flexible in your dates, savvy, and willing to put in the time and effort, you will get much better value by transferring UR points to United. There are also services that will create the routes and search award availability for you if you can't figure it out, for a fee of course, and I'd say you still get better value that way.
Sorry about the length, this is a topic of interest for me that I've put some time into figuring out the last couple weeks, so figured I would throw in my 2 cents. The best place to look for route maps for Star Alliance is Star Alliance Route Map, put in your destination and see which StarAlliance airlines fly there.
Posted on 2/2/14 at 9:51 pm to Joshjrn
Edit: above poster made great examples
Read blogs, lots of blogs. They break it down and tell you where the "value" is,
Second: the value is in premium award international bookings. Business/first class bookings.
For example, through chase your points are worth 1.25 cents. You could book a 5 digit roundtrip to Asia that is coukd be over $10,000 with points which makes your points "worth more."
That's a big reason why award transfers are lauded.
Other things to look for using chase ur: using British Avios on American airlines domestic fares.
Read blogs, lots of blogs. They break it down and tell you where the "value" is,
Second: the value is in premium award international bookings. Business/first class bookings.
For example, through chase your points are worth 1.25 cents. You could book a 5 digit roundtrip to Asia that is coukd be over $10,000 with points which makes your points "worth more."
That's a big reason why award transfers are lauded.
Other things to look for using chase ur: using British Avios on American airlines domestic fares.
This post was edited on 2/2/14 at 9:58 pm
Posted on 2/2/14 at 9:53 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
Any blogs in particular I should start with?
And Tiger, I'll read every word you post
And Tiger, I'll read every word you post
Posted on 2/2/14 at 9:56 pm to Joshjrn
Ones I read are the points guy, one mile at a time, view from the wing, frequent miler, million mile secrets, etc etc.
They can be redundant but I figured you should know a lot and choose your favorite.
I also recommend following some of them on twitter.
Definitely read that guy's post above
They can be redundant but I figured you should know a lot and choose your favorite.
I also recommend following some of them on twitter.
Definitely read that guy's post above
This post was edited on 2/2/14 at 9:57 pm
Posted on 2/2/14 at 10:22 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
Ruxpin pretty much hit the blogs. Those are the sites I've been looking at the last couple weeks. There is a vast amount of information out there. I just wanted to illustrate that in most cases you probably get better value by transferring the points to the airlines, but you also get a lot more headache on the booking side. The payoff is bigger if you're willing to put in the work.
There are also some creative things you can do with airline miles that you can't do with UltimateRewards bookings, such as stopovers and open jaws and free one ways (you'll have to look to the blogs for more on those topics).
Ruxpin is also correct in saying you get the most value for your points with business and first class. Unfortunately in my case I have to be as economical with miles as possible because my wife has shite credit and can't get her own damn points.
There are also some creative things you can do with airline miles that you can't do with UltimateRewards bookings, such as stopovers and open jaws and free one ways (you'll have to look to the blogs for more on those topics).
Ruxpin is also correct in saying you get the most value for your points with business and first class. Unfortunately in my case I have to be as economical with miles as possible because my wife has shite credit and can't get her own damn points
.Posted on 2/2/14 at 10:34 pm to tigerfan4120
I've got a mountain of student loan debt, so the SO got a CSP before I did, at my behest. I've also funneled a bit of inheritance she got into two years worth of Roth contributions when it was languishing in a capital one savings account. Hopefully she thanks me for all of it one day
This post was edited on 2/2/14 at 10:41 pm
Posted on 2/2/14 at 11:00 pm to Joshjrn
quote:
I've got a mountain of student loan debt
Same boat here. Necessity is the mother of invention.
Taking advantage of schemes/processes that I can to lead the one life I get to live
This post was edited on 2/2/14 at 11:01 pm
Posted on 2/2/14 at 11:35 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
Looks like we're all three in the same boat . My mountain of student loan debt is still growing. One more year...
The Roth IRA is a great move. People don't realize you can always withdraw your contributions tax and penalty free.
. My mountain of student loan debt is still growing. One more year... The Roth IRA is a great move. People don't realize you can always withdraw your contributions tax and penalty free.
Posted on 2/3/14 at 7:58 am to tigerfan4120
It was like pulling teeth trying to explain that putting money in a Roth was more of a transfer of funds than a "purchase" and that if the investment was diverse enough, the only way she would lose capital over the long term is if she panicked and sold at some point.
In fact, I still have to go over the bullet points every so often
In fact, I still have to go over the bullet points every so often
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