Originally Posted by
eponymous_coward
You actually lose value transferring to B6/WN over a 1.5 cpp value on the Chase portal (their points are worth less than 1.5 cpp on fares). Also, you can literally book DL/UA/AA via Capital One partners.
I mean, I guess if “hey here’s this 7,000 mile redemption + $5.60 redemption that costs $59 but we don’t advertise saver availability to partners” is your thing I can see wanting a way to get into direct transfer, but the really aspirational redemptions don’t ever seem to be a good deal if there’s no partner availability (“Heeeey, you can spend 300,000 miles on this TATL J flight, whatta bargain!”).
The Chase travel portal is an absolute mess right now so I want nothing to do with it for flights in case of schedule changes, cancellations etc.... I have the CSR right now but I'm going to probably downgrade to the CSP next renewal if the customer service on the travel portal doesn't get any better. I actually haven't used any points on B6/WN - well other than 1 time, I signed up for the Southwest Priority card and have been riding off the points from the sign up bonus there - most of my points have gone to Hyatt as of late which I've gotten well over 2 cpp. The only time I transferred points to B6 was to top off points that I already had there for a trip.
Yes, I could absolutely book DL via Virgin Atlantic or other transfer partners but I don't really have the flexiblity with my job to plan ahead for my trips and by the time I do on short notice, there is zero availability so going through another partner to book an award lfight realistically just doesn't work out great for me (and United just has 1 or 2 flights out of my home airport)
Oh and I forgot to mention PYB - that’s where my non-Hyatt points have been going for the time being for dining/AirBnB