Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points is one of the most popular transferrable points currencies and you can earn many UR points with cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and the Ink Business Preferred. Although Chase has far fewer transfer partners than its competitors, their current partners offer quality.
CHASE ADDS EMIRATES
This past weekend, Emirates was added as a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner. Points can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio, in 1,000 point increments. It’s worth noting that American Express and Capital One also partner with Emirates (with a 1:1 and 2:1 ratio respectively).
EMIRATES ADDS LIMITED VALUE
Chase has two valuable and unique transfer partners…United Airlines and World of Hyatt. Besides those two programs, Chase largely overlaps with partners associated with other transferable currency programs.
Another challenge is that Emirates competes with Delta with who has the highest redemption rates…and that’s NOT a comparison that you want. Additionally, Emirates also imposes high surcharges on their flights. For example, if you wanted to fly roundtrip in business class from New York (JFK) to Dubai (DXB), you’d pay 145,000 miles and pay, at least, $1600 in surcharges and taxes.
The good news is that you can use any combination of programs to top up your Emirates account with the 145k. The bad news is that you’ll still have to fork over $1600.
FINAL STAMP
Currently, Chase UR points can be transferred to the following partners:
- Airlines
- Aer Lingus
- Air France / KLM Flying Blue
- British Airways
- Emirates* (NEW)
- Iberia
- JetBlue
- Singapore Airlines
- Southwest Airlines
- United Airlines
- Virgin Atlantic
- Hotels
- IHG
- Marriott / Ritz-Carlton
- World of Hyatt
Most travelers will probably never fly on Emirates because they are unfamiliar with the airline, it doesn’t fit their travel plans, or it’s simply too expensive. I experienced the best economy flight in my whole life on Emirates and I’m not even sure redeeming Chase UR are in consideration for Emirates. However, I trust there are others who may use their UR points to get a first class seat on Emirates for a dream vacation. And I say do it!
Anyone planning to redeem Chase UR to fly on Emirates?
1TattedPassport 