Southwest flights: Chase Ultimate Rewards Points vs. Transferring points to Southwest

The credit card rewards thread on money talk would be the place to ask... people like Teddy could answer best.

However, Im pretty sure if it’s a 1:1 transfer, moving them, then booking is the most efficient.

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Southwest is not in the portal,

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That’s amazing being Chase is the bank for the SW Cards

Use the Chase points by booking through Chase...you will actually earn Southwest miles plus you get credit for the flights toward A-List status.

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If you book through Chase you'll earn miles for the flight.

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This is definetely tipping the scale towards Chase, I think that's what Im going to do. Thanks everyone

Once you book the flight keep an eye on the cost of the flight. SW often runs flight sales (typically announced on Tuesday or Wednesday) and you can cancel and rebook the flight at lower rates and get the points back in your SW account if you transfer there. I am assuming it will work the same if booked through Chase but you may want to confirm that.

Like Teddy said, slightly better value to call Chase and book with UR. If you're having close to enough SW points and only need to transfer a few over, could be a different story but the math is pretty close regardless. Flight booked through Chase should come through as a cash booking, so if the price drops you'll get Travel Fund credit.

I've had the best luck transferring to Southwest. It's just so easy to deal with if you have to change or cancel flights. Still good values too.

Agree that the best value is to book SW over the phone using Chase points so that you collect SW points for the flight taken....

BUT, also agree that the over-the-phone reps are terrible in every way. I booked via phone for a SW flight and somehow the person on the phone booked the wrong flight. I didn't get the usual confirmation emails & only noticed a couple days before the flight when I checked the "my trips" section of the portal. Southwest treated the booking as though it was a third party/travel agent booking--said that they couldn't adjust the flights. Kicked me back to the Chase portal and I wasted a great deal of time straightening it out. It didn't end up costing me anything, but it was a huge hassle.

So I haven't bothered to use them to book flights since. I've instead used the UR points on hotel rooms or transferred points out to airline partners.