Originally Posted by
madbrain
I only want to fly economy. I have never flow in J or F and have no need to do so, whether it's a short or longhaul flight.
Whether to fly Y or premium is a personal decision, but if you're flying long-haul I'd at least include them in my searches. You may find routes where the Y seat costs you the "double miles" award and the J seat is a regular award. If J costs the same as (or less than!) Y, why not book it?
Of course, I don't bother worrying about cents-per-mile when I book J or F. I don't buy those seats with my own cash. But I'll happily occupy those seats when the awards are available.
As to UR transfer partners allowing you to book on basically every airline in the world, that is just not the case. I could not book a flight on Vietjet Air with UR at all.
Actually, Chase UR is pretty good here: all three alliances, plus a couple of major players like WN and Virgin Atlantic. Of course that doesn't cover every LCC in the world, but when you have 1 point that can transfer into each of the three alliances in addition to other airlines and hotels, that's a pretty good selling point for UR.
In any case, for you the UR points might be worth the most as Hyatt points, assuming you travel to cities where there are some Hyatts...