Originally Posted by immax45

The cash option on the Ink card comes in handy when you aren't getting a good value for your miles. Ink Points transfer 1:1 for miles and 1:$.01 for cash. I think Chase actually calls them 'Ultimate Rewards Points'.

Ex: I booked a flight to Aruba earlier this year. No saver availability. Could have used 140k miles for Business ticket. Business cash tickets were $780ish. So rather than transfer 140k miles from Ink to United for the ticket, I just took $780 cash (using 78,000 points) and purchased the ticket. Saved 62000 points/miles, and that doesn't even factor in that I actually earned miles on my trip, 2x PQM since it was a business fare.

It doesn't always work out like that, but it allows you to be flexible. Obviously, had a 60k r/t business saver ticket been available, I would have transferred points for miles and booked an award ticket.