mattolo

It works pretty well, except they have a few restrictions on the ticket like it must be booked 21 days in advance, be round-trip leaving from and returning to the same airport, and include a Saturday night stay. It doesn't have to be under $400. If the ticket is for example $435, they just charge the extra $35 to a credit card (it doesn't have to be the Amazon.com card). I just found the flight I wanted in advance and then called and told them exactly what I wanted. The agent found the same flight for the same price I saw on continental.com.

underscore

Thanks, that's what I was hoping for.

I'll be able to meet all those restrictions.

leonard016

Is this specific for the Amazon card? With Ultimate Rewards, you only get 1 cpp and Sapphire Preferred gives 1.25 cpp when redeemed for travel.

mia

Amazon.com rewards program is completely separate from Ultimate Rewards.

mia

Note that Chase has now updated the program terms to reflect removal of BA miles transfers. The link in post #4 still works, but the document is new.

idkmybffjill

Hi, I'm sure many of you are aware of the temporary 10x point bonus on Amazon digital purchases till 12/31. I plan on utilizing this very much , and I was wondering if regular users of the card could share when the rewards points are deposited?

If I spend say a grand this billing cycle, will my 10,000 points be available for use right after the billing cycle closes and the next statement is made? I want to use the points to make an important purchase ASAP, so I'm hoping the points will be reflected right after the current billing cycle closes.

I hope this makes sense....any active users of the card, please let me know. Thanks again!

penner42

I have the Chase amazon.com Visa, that I pretty much use exclusively for my Amazon purchases and nothing else. One of the rewards is a plane ticket up to $400 for 25k points.

As I understand it, I call them to book a ticket, and they just search the same fares I can find and book it for me. What I want to know is how the airline (UA, in my case) treats these tickets. Are they "award" tickets that I can't earn miles on or just treated as if I purchased them through Orbitz or elsewhere? My guess is the latter, but I want to confirm before using them.

Thanks!

danpeake

I don't have the card, so I don't know, but whatever fare class they book you in is what you'll receive miles for. I'd guess very strongly that you'd receive miles for it - I bet they just use a Chase booking engine (like for the Sapphire rewards cards) to make the booking.

penner42

Thanks, that's what I figured. Just wanted to make sure. If that's how the Sapphire card works, I'm sure this is done the same way.

maddjake

I've confirmed that you do get miles. Actually as far as the airlines are concerned, your ticket is booked in standard published inventory as if you had paid the cash yourself. You can even cancel the ticket if your travel plans change, the ticket value can be applied toward another flight (after change fees, of course).

Assuming that you buy a flight that's worth at least $400, it seems that you get 1.6 cents per point in value.

This starts to look pretty good if you shop at Amazon a lot (3X points) or use it at restaurants, gas stations, and drug stores (2X). I'd probably use my Starwood Amex card for pretty much everything else. Anything can see anything wrong with this strategy?

flyinghigh2011

Does anyone know a way around the 30 day rule they have? I was told when booking flights with points from the amazon card the max stay is 30 days. Can i book and then change the dates to a longer period with the airline?

I would assume once they buy the ticket, i will be able to control the ticket from there? Meaning it would show up under my frequent flyer account on the respected airline?

Nikolaos

Given the upper bound on the value of the ticket ($400 for domestic or $800 for international) and the typical penalties for changing a ticket ($150 and $250 respectively), I think was you have in mind reduces the redemption value tremendously.

Plus, since these tickets are being sold through a third party, I'm not exactly sure how a refund would be handled, in order to apply the residual value towards your new itinerary!

Happy

The 30 days max stay clause sounds like such tickets are not the normal tickets which normally dont have such restriction.

Several things you need to factor in:

1) restricted fare for domestic ticket generally has $150 change fee. $250 to $450 for international ticket.

2) airlines charge a fee typically $25 to $35 for "take ownership" of a ticket that is bought from 3rd party.

So right out of bat, you are losing $175 from a maximum $400 value domestic ticket for what you have in mind.

May be it is better just for you to redeem it on a trip you actually would take without any change.

On the FF flyer front, you can always add your FF number to the booking, so you can see your trip online. But that does not mean you can "take control" your ticket and extend the stay at will.

flyinghigh2011

forgot to mention, this would be for a trip to Australia which is 90,000 amazon points. the change would be done well ahead of the penalty for changing which is 21 days out or more......

loneraven

Looks like they changed the redemption option again. The 25K pts for a roundtrip ticket is no longer listed, it's replaced by the following vague terms:

"Redemptions may be made in 1 point increments for each $0.0100 incremental ticket value. For example, 20,000 points can be redeemed for a $200 airline ticket.

"... In addition, there may be bonus redemption offers for one roundtrip scheduled airline ticket with a “fixed” value, for a discounted number of points, available through our toll-free number, where permitted by law. Redemptions for this specific item have the service fee waived."

"...If you choose to book a ticket using the “fixed” ticket bonus option, and the actual ticket value is less, the number of points needed to redeem remains the same. For example, an offer to redeem 25,000 points for one roundtrip scheduled airline ticket valued at up to $335 will still require 25,000 points if the ticket you book is valued at $300."

There's no explanation of what these "fixed” ticket bonus options are.