re: Credit Card Rewards and Points Discussion

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160K skymiles on Delta's site, or 105K miles booking thru Chase's site. How is the best way to determine if booking on the Chase UR site is the best value?

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You answered your own question. Either way it’s an expensive trip for whatever reason so you need to figure your own value prop. $ or points. If you’re not an Int traveler then using them for domestic makes plenty of sense. Instead of paying $1500 you’re using points you earned for “free”.

Agreed with above, it's awesome to get great value but sometimes the opportunity cost isn't worth it. In your situation getting a free flight to FLL to take a vacation you enjoy is just as valuable. I almost have to make myself not hoard just based on "value" but you can't take points to the grave either.

PS: check out awardhacker.com & awardmapper.com are quick ways to see how much you'll have to spend in points vs transferring, especially with awardhacker since airline alliances can be confusing.

Not to mention you’ll earn miles booking through the portal

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So, do you transfer the points or just book thru the UR portal?

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I book through the UR portal because the 50% bonus for the CSR def is worth it

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how do you determine if that is a good valuation for the required points?

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Hard to say, because I don't know how Delta values their points... How much does the flight cost if you were to buy it?

With UR I go with the assumption that 10k pts equals out to $100 if you were to cash out for gift cards or pay down your credit card with points.

So using your Delta scenario, you're spending $800 worth of UR points for that flight. I'm guessing UR to Delta is a 1:1 transfer, so you would be transferring 120k pts or $1200 over to Delta for a flight you could book through UR for 80k. I'd def use the UR portal and keep 40k pts or $400.

I'm sure the experts on here will come with some deeper formula to figure it out, but thats how I look at it.

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So using your Delta scenario, you're spending $800 worth of UR points for that flight. I'm guessing UR to Delta is a 1:1 transfer, so you would be transferring 120k pts or $1200 over to Delta for a flight you could book through UR for 80k. I'd def use the UR portal and keep 40k pts or $400.

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Right, this is what I'm trying to determine. It makes sense that less UR points vs miles points is a "better" value, but I wasn't sure how the experts on here view that? Do you assume a 1:1 value and if you get better than that, good job, or are there more considerations.
I think with Delta, you are limited since they aren't a UR partner, but I wasn't sure. I did look at SW and AA, which are, and it looks like a similar result.

I also hate it because right now those tickets on Delta are $1400 for 2, and I've bought that flight for half that in the past.

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Do you assume a 1:1 value and if you get better than that, good job, or are there more considerations.

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Like I said, thats how I determine it... May not be the best way, but it gives me a good idea.

SW points def aren't as easy to figure out as UR in terms of pts to dollars, I think i've read on some boards to use the .16 to dollar ratio for SW, but I don't need to worry about UR for SW, as I have over 500k pts and companion pass. They are my domestic go to.

QQ because I haven't used UR points that much... Mainly just earn and never use.

Does UR do point buys? Like SW is always offering "Buy rewards miles at x discount" which for them, isn't a deal whatsoever.

But having the CSR and the 50% redemption bonus, I'm wondering, 1) If UR does do point buys and 2) If you have CSR if you actually come out ahead

If your question is can you buy UR points from Chase the answer is no.

As for SW, SW points are worth about 1.4-1.6 cents.

Hence, when booking SW you are better off using CSR to book through the portal so you earn miles for flying as well.

As for domestic econ, most airlines are 12,500 miles one way, unless you're using something like British Avios to book short haul American. So your first measure is if the Chase Portal will cost you more than 12,500 one way.

A separate measure is how many cents per point are you getting on your redemption.

For example, if I use 10,000 Chase points for a $200 ticket, most points enthusiasts would consider that a "lose" or a push at best. Why? Because you got 2 cents of value per point, or what is equivalent to 2% cash back. And it's a whole lot easier to earn 2% cash back without the theatrics.

I would say if you are constantly redeeming for 2 cents, you may be better off with cash back cards. Now, the caveat is the bonus multipliers on spend. For example, a simple cash back may earn 1 point per dollar, while another card may earn 3. Obviously, if it takes you less time to earn 10,000 points spending less actual money, then you are doing better than the 2% redemption rate.

But that number should probably always be your floor in calculating quickly if you're getting a decent redemption.

As for me, I'm usually using them for international business where the tickets are worth 5 to $10,000 and that's what I like doing it for.

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As for domestic econ, most airlines are 12,500 miles one way, unless you're using something like British Avios to book short haul American. So your first measure is if the Chase Portal will cost you more than 12,500 one way.

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Is that from hub to hub? Living in Lexington, we have LEX/SDF/CVG and I'm mostly looking for flights to southern Florda (FLL/MIA,PBI,RSW) and I never see anything on rewards for Delta particularly for less than 50K points on Delta's website. Maybe flights to southern Florida are just more valuable because a lot of people are going there all the time?

Speaking of using points... Whats the best thing to do with American Express points?

I looked on their travel site and it was fing ridiculous to use points on there.

I compared the same as UR and maybe it was a glitch, but a flight via UR was like 80k points and on Amex was like 140k