Thanks for the info. I'll sent a secure message and see if I can get the points.

Edited to update: I received a reply overnight from Chase stating that the UR mall did not process the bonus correctly, so the bonus points were added manually to my account plus some extra points for my inconvenience.

This is probably a longshot, but has anyone tried booking an Enterprise rent-a-car via the UR mall click-through while using a Costco discount code? I found a great Costco Travel rate for a rental in Maui and figured out that I can copy/paste a code into enterprise.com to get the same rate, which will allow me to get 3x bonus points via the UR mall. I'm just not sure if the points would show up since I'd be using a discount code, so I'm wondering if anyone has tried this with any success.

I won't be surprised when you see the points taken back later. Chase has been pretty good about it in every single returned order on my account.

I've had no problems with HD and online pickup... But my Sears purchases are hit or miss. I think this may be due to the use of discount codes..but I have't traced it yet.

Just to note - the points from Nordstrom posted today. I actually ended up returning the item the day after I bought it. We'll see if Chase claws the points back.

Just to be clear, this was NOT an intentional attempt to scam them out of points . . .

Book flights (using points) through United or through UR?
 

Hi. I'm new and apologize if this has already been answered but there's just so much information to sort through here. I'm getting ready to book a trip on United. When I attempt to book it on the United website it says that the round trip would require 50,000 points (no saver award travel available). When I attempt to book the same flights through Ultimate Rewards, it says the round trip would require ~26,000 points. Can that be right, or am I missing something? If this is the case, why would anyone transfer points to their United MP account instead of just booking through UR? Plus there's the added benefit of earning miles on the flights if I book using points through UR, right?

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

It may happen that UA (or any airline) has not allocated "saver" award seats on a flight that is available for purchase at a low fare, but you must not generalize from a single instance. When you redeem through Ultimate Rewards you are really converting your points to money and authorizing Chase to purchase a ticket for you. If the fare is low this may work out better than redeeming miles, but you may also wish to consider saving your points for another trip and buying this one with cash. Other times it will work out better to transfer to the airline and redeem for an award.

Thank you, Mia. This may be way too subjective a question, but do you have a price threshold at which you decide whether or not it's worth using points/miles as opposed to paying for the flight?

You're right that your question is highly subjective. It depends on what value you place on your miles. Some may value a mile as a penny, others at 1.5 cents, and others might even say as high as 2 cents per mile. I think also it will depend on how many miles you've got in your bank and what your future travel plans are - if you've only got a few miles stored, you've got to be judicious in redeeming. If you are a miles millionaire, you can play it looser.

I like to try to make things simple. So in looking at redemption versus outright purchase, I do some simple math:
Cost of purchasing the ticket divided by the number of miles needed for an award = the value you are getting for the redemption

For example (using some made-up round numbers), let's say I want to reserve an award seat in Business class to Europe from the USA. Paying for the ticket with money might cost about $3500. An award redemption will require 50,000 miles. $3500 divided by 50000 miles yields 7 cents per mile. Even if I normally value my miles at 2 cents per mile, that's a great redemption.

But let's say you are looking at a domestic coach seat. Again I'll make up some numbers. Let's say the cost of the ticket is $250 and it would take 25000 miles to get an award seat. Now you'd only be getting 1 cent per mile, which is not nearly so good a redemption value.

Finally, remember that when you pay for a seat, you are earning more miles. You earn nothing when you take an award flight. So add to the mix the value of the miles you will earn if you pay for that seat.

Thanks, GetwaysRus! That is very helpful.

Personally, I shoot for 3 cents/mile or more. Anything less than that, I would need a very good reason to burn miles (for example an upcoming mileage devaluation or bankruptcy risk etc.)

For those that have the Chase Sapphire Preferred MasterCard, what level of MasterCard were you issued? Was it World or World Elite? Also, can you tell us what color the MasterCard logo is on the back of the card? Is it silver or the standard red/orange?

Thanks!

Wife received it just this past Saturday. It is World and not World Elite. Has a silver logo in the back. Went through the mastercard.us to apply instead of the chase website as she wanted the MasterCard version and not Visa Signature.

That's interesting. Based on everything that I have read and seen, the World Mastercards carry the typical red/orange logo, with the World Elite being the only one that carries the silver logo. I wonder if there is a possibility that they are actually being issued as World Elite MasterCards but marketed as World MasterCard.

World Elite definitely has a lot more benefits than what came in the CSP package. I was not aware that only the World Elite come with the silver logo. CSP logo is an exception for sure.