Originally Posted by
oopsz
Chase has a current 30% bonus for transferring ultimate rewards to flying club. I'm looking at a 230,000 + $4040 redemption for 2 UC tickets (LAX-LON-ATL).
Cash value of these tickets is in the $7300 range for two.
I redeem 177,000 UR, get 230100 FC, rebated 115,000 after flight. Net miles redeemed for 2 UC tickets is 62000.
On AA this redeption would be 230,000 + $2760 (nonstop on BA).
On UA 240,000 + $730 (with awful connections).
So essentially I'm paying an extra $1300/3300 in fees to save 168,000 AA or 178,000 UA miles, buying them for 7/10 of a cent compared to AA or 1.3 cpm compared to UA.
Alternatively, vs cash, I'm redeeming 62,000 miles to save $3260, a redemption at 5.3 cpm, which is a great redemption rate for UR in my book (originally earned at 3x/dollar for travel purchases, yielding an astonishing 15.8% rebate on original purchase). I think this is a pretty good promotion when combined with the current chase promo.
No decent routings on Star Alliance or SkyTeam? Chase currently has a 30% bonus to Aeroplan right now. But yeah if those are your only options then not a bad deal. Since you are ex-US booking as two one-ways vs roundtrip would lower your surcharges on the return (this applies to BA as well). Though if you have to cancel it would double your cancellation fee.