Originally Posted by
NextTrip
Thank you. You seem to know what I am talking about. Just thought if I bought a SWA ticket with UR points (rather than transfer them to RR), I could not only take advantage of the 50% bonus using them that way, but would also earn RR points for purchasing a SWA ticket for what SWA considers as cash. Does it work that way?
I assume you have CSR if you are talking about 50% bonus, that just means that 10,000 UR points buys you $150 in travel. If you had CSP it would get you $125 in travel.
When transferring points to SWA, you get approx 1.5c per point in value, or 10,000 southwest points buys you approx 150$ in travel. (this varies some depending on taxes, fees, and southwest fudging the numbers here and there, semi dynamic pricing, but generally 1.4 to 1.6 cents per point is what you get).
If you had CSP, I would never considering booking through chase, get better value by transferring.
with CSR you get nearly equivalent value with either option.
Because chase bookings are cash bookings to SWA you will earn points on your trip. And because Business select fare earns more points per $ spent than WGA, you will get more value via UR if booking via Chase as you essentially get a larger points 'rebate' than on WGA fares.
But as others have stated, transferring and booking via RR/SWA has the ultimate in flexibility. Which is why I have NEVER booked via Chase. I value the flexibility ALOT. The only reason IMO to book via Chase is if you are chasing status.