Last edit by: 747FC
This thread covers how to use Ultimate Reward points for booking all types of travel via the Ultimate Rewards portal.
In 2018 Chase changed the outsourced booking portal operator from Connexions to Expedia. Posts from January to mid-October 2018 have been archived to a separate thread. Those posts discussed the portal as operated by Connexions, -and- the transition process to Expedia.
There is another thread to discuss booking by transferring to airline of hotel programs: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chas...tc-2017-a.html
Pay special attention to booking via Chase UR/Expedia with regard to rewards and benefits. Chase UR + Expedia is considered OTA (Online Travel Agency). Travelers purchase or pre-pay travel with the OTA and is subject to the T&C from the OTA. In general, travelers receive miles rewards on flights, but do not receive night credit on hotel stays. Also, in general, travelers lose the airline or hotel status and do not receive the associated benefits (free breakfast, room upgrade etc).
1) How do I book a ticket? Choose my airfare class?
Login to ultimaterewards.com
Click: Use points > Explore and Book Travel
Click the button that defaults to [1 Traveler, All]
Change "Class" (the first entry in the pull-down) from All to Business
Click: Close
2) How far in advance can I book?
In mid-November 2017 it was reported that airline reservations are available only 270 days in advance. Read HERE.
3) How do I book hotels?
Follow the steps above to log on. There are standard looking search engines offered for airfare, hotel, etc at that point.
3.5) How to book cruises?
Chase outsources this to a travel agency specializing in cruises. (I believe they are available solely by telephone.) Agents there can book cruises for you using your URs for payments from initial deposit to final payment. It's also possible to transfer an existing cruise booking to that travel agency. That agency can then make payments (full or partial). However, to transfer a booking, there are some constraints to be aware of. A) The booking and deposit has to be made directly with the cruise line. If you use another agency, you're out of luck. B) The cruise lines limit the window when you can transfer a booking from their control to an agency's. It closes as early as 30 days after initial deposit up to final deposit due date (typically 75-120 prior to sail date) depending on the particular cruise line's rules (which are subject to change).
4) How do I get the better redemption rate offered on some Chase cards?
The upper left corner of the UR page will show you which card you are logged in with. If you hold a Chase Sapphire Reserve or JPMR card, you will be shown a better price on points bookings, as a 1.5 redemption rate is offered as one of the benefits of this card. If you log in to the UR portal from a different UR card, such as the Ink, you will not be offered this rate.
4.5) How do Refunds Work?
When cancelling a booking (and a refund is due), points will be added back to your UR balance and dollars will be refunded to the credit card account used.
5) Where else can I find information?
This thread is a consolidated resource which covers topics including:
Fare buckets, here
Price differences between open market air fares and UR bookings, here
Selecting seat classes
Using cash and points to pay for tickets
and more.
The previous discussion, through 2017, can be found here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chas...14-2017-a.html
In 2018 Chase changed the outsourced booking portal operator from Connexions to Expedia. Posts from January to mid-October 2018 have been archived to a separate thread. Those posts discussed the portal as operated by Connexions, -and- the transition process to Expedia.
There is another thread to discuss booking by transferring to airline of hotel programs: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chas...tc-2017-a.html
Pay special attention to booking via Chase UR/Expedia with regard to rewards and benefits. Chase UR + Expedia is considered OTA (Online Travel Agency). Travelers purchase or pre-pay travel with the OTA and is subject to the T&C from the OTA. In general, travelers receive miles rewards on flights, but do not receive night credit on hotel stays. Also, in general, travelers lose the airline or hotel status and do not receive the associated benefits (free breakfast, room upgrade etc).
1) How do I book a ticket? Choose my airfare class?
Login to ultimaterewards.com
Click: Use points > Explore and Book Travel
Click the button that defaults to [1 Traveler, All]
Change "Class" (the first entry in the pull-down) from All to Business
Click: Close
2) How far in advance can I book?
In mid-November 2017 it was reported that airline reservations are available only 270 days in advance. Read HERE.
3) How do I book hotels?
Follow the steps above to log on. There are standard looking search engines offered for airfare, hotel, etc at that point.
3.5) How to book cruises?
Chase outsources this to a travel agency specializing in cruises. (I believe they are available solely by telephone.) Agents there can book cruises for you using your URs for payments from initial deposit to final payment. It's also possible to transfer an existing cruise booking to that travel agency. That agency can then make payments (full or partial). However, to transfer a booking, there are some constraints to be aware of. A) The booking and deposit has to be made directly with the cruise line. If you use another agency, you're out of luck. B) The cruise lines limit the window when you can transfer a booking from their control to an agency's. It closes as early as 30 days after initial deposit up to final deposit due date (typically 75-120 prior to sail date) depending on the particular cruise line's rules (which are subject to change).
4) How do I get the better redemption rate offered on some Chase cards?
The upper left corner of the UR page will show you which card you are logged in with. If you hold a Chase Sapphire Reserve or JPMR card, you will be shown a better price on points bookings, as a 1.5 redemption rate is offered as one of the benefits of this card. If you log in to the UR portal from a different UR card, such as the Ink, you will not be offered this rate.
4.5) How do Refunds Work?
When cancelling a booking (and a refund is due), points will be added back to your UR balance and dollars will be refunded to the credit card account used.
5) Where else can I find information?
This thread is a consolidated resource which covers topics including:
Fare buckets, here
Price differences between open market air fares and UR bookings, here
Selecting seat classes
Using cash and points to pay for tickets
and more.
The previous discussion, through 2017, can be found here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chas...14-2017-a.html
Booking Flights, Rooms, Cars, Cruises, Activities through Chase/Expedia portal.
#226
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,952
#227
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 1,107
Hopefully it wasn’t pure dumb luck, but it showed up in my BAEC account and was full avios and TP.
#228
Join Date: Jun 2006
Programs: UA Premier 1K, Star Alliance Gold, Titanium Elite Marriott, Celebrity Elite, IHG, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 343
Booking Flights Ultimate Rewards
When I tried to book our flights on Delta last week on UR all on the information on our profiles populated. The FF Numbers from our previous flights were stored. I just had to verify my email address to complete the booking which was not working at the time.
#229
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: ORD [formerly] + HKG
Programs: CX Diamond, AA exExPlat, BAEC exGold, HH Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Starriott Titanium, GE
Posts: 2,966
Do any fellow FTers know if you can use UR travel portal to book a train ride (specifically Eurostar?) I tried calling and the agent was essentially clueless...
#230
If the answer to either question is yes, would this be a 1.5˘ per point redemption, and therefore perhaps not a good value (compared to transfer to an airline reward program)? I assume that even if Eurostar or Cunard has a reward program, UR points cannot be transferred there.
#231
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: MCO, YEG
Posts: 1,180
You used to be able to get Eurail and Japan rail passes but not tickets from the previous supplier, however, with the change to Expedia, that may have changed.
#232
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Intermountain West
Programs: Too many to list
Posts: 12,067
Jumping onto this question, can the UR portal be used to book a crossing with Cunard?
If the answer to either question is yes, would this be a 1.5˘ per point redemption, and therefore perhaps not a good value (compared to transfer to an airline reward program)? I assume that even if Eurostar or Cunard has a reward program, UR points cannot be transferred there.
If the answer to either question is yes, would this be a 1.5˘ per point redemption, and therefore perhaps not a good value (compared to transfer to an airline reward program)? I assume that even if Eurostar or Cunard has a reward program, UR points cannot be transferred there.
#233
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,952
Cunard is one of the many lines owned by Carnival Corporation. I don't know of any transfer partnerships.
#234
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,738
Jumping onto this question, can the UR portal be used to book a crossing with Cunard?
If the answer to either question is yes, would this be a 1.5˘ per point redemption, and therefore perhaps not a good value (compared to transfer to an airline reward program)? I assume that even if Eurostar or Cunard has a reward program, UR points cannot be transferred there.
If the answer to either question is yes, would this be a 1.5˘ per point redemption, and therefore perhaps not a good value (compared to transfer to an airline reward program)? I assume that even if Eurostar or Cunard has a reward program, UR points cannot be transferred there.
I have full intention to book a cruise with UR pts on lines that we are not elites nor any future cruise credits in account (not sure if UR/Expedia can handle the existing credit in line's loyalty program member accounts, like a cruise agent can). This morning we were just talking about a Seabourn Ovation sailing from Europe to MiddleEast in Nov, an identical itinerary in reverse from the one sails in April. The one coming back from Europe seems to be priced more favorably and I expect it will come down by 30 to 50% when it gets to Aug/Sept. That is when on the Calendar i marked it to take another look. We never book cruises months ahead, even with those $100 deposit "deals" with cruiselines. Ours almost always pass the deadline to get full refund, always pay in full upon booking. I dont know HOW UR/Expedia handles those bookings that booked a year out with a deposit... like all lines and cruise agents would do... In my mind it is far better to book when you are ready for the sailing.
Last time I called for a Princess cruise, the agent could only see what were found in their system, presumable Expedia's. He could not see what i could see on Princess own website, WITHOUT logging in. He had to call Princess to find out. The phone connection was very bad, full of statics and at the end after 15 min on hold I gave up.
In theory if you can see your cruise on Expedia. you should be able to book... Unfortunately the cruise search function on Expedia site is extremely limited. Vacationtogo is the site I used to search because the criteria there are far broader. Expedia seems to limit you to a much more specific option(s).
Do call and let us know what your experiences are.
About Eurorail, you may be better off to buy thru European's own national railways for either their tickets or passes than using Eurorail which is a rip off for Americans or people who have not known better booking avenues.
Here is the site you may want to check for almost all rail travel in Europe and even Asia. You would pay much less than going thru Eurorail. Check the various topics on the site below. I have used its "instructions" to buy tickets even on Poland's national railway system which at the time did not have English interface. The same tickets I bought direct while a friend bought thru Eurorail - had 50 euro or more difference per person.
For some particularly difficult to use National railway sites, Seat61.com suggested good alternatives. A friend recently even used that to buy SNCF tickets because the alternative site let you see the seats before making the purchase while SNCF just assigns you seats. So he stopped the purchase when the seats shown on the alternative site did not fit his liking. Then tried again, until he saw seats he liked, after 3 or 4 attempts, he made the purchase.
https://www.seat61.com/
Last edited by Happy; Feb 5, 2019 at 2:48 pm
#235
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: RDU
Programs: DL(PM), UA(Silver), AA(EXP) Marriott(Ti), HH(Gold), Hertz(PC)
Posts: 2,650
I booked a Delta itinerary today, after adding the Skymiles account number as indicated above, and the itinerary showed up on my delta.com account not long after booking (I can't tell exactly how long, I checked about an hour later and it was already there). My seat had already been upgraded to Comfort+ as expected (I'm Platinum Medallion and the C+ upgrade at booking is a published benefit) so all is well.
#236
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 32
Hilarious/frustrating call today in a futile attempt to book airline tickets with my Chase Sapphire Reserve points. Trying to book one-way ZQN-AKL. Google flights, airnewzealand.com, Chase's own UR portal all quote prices around ~$150 per person. Tried yesterday to book, get all the way to the last bit, but when ticketing suddenly there's an error and now pricing only available at ~$800 per person!
Same thing today. Again, these $150ish tickets are available EVERYWHERE else, including the airline website.
Call Chase travel today, go through 2 levels of agents who just give a "Sorry, inventory is dynamic, we have limited inventory, the price is what it is" excuse, which doesn't make sense because I can book it anywhere else, and Chase's own UR portal shows many seat available at the lower price, until ticketing.
Wait on hold for awhile to finally connect to a "supervisor" (that's Chase travel agent number 3, for those keeping score), who talks to *their* supervisor, and I get the same story about "inventory is dynamic, nothing we can do, but you can book straight with the airline and get a statement credit at 1 cent per point." I explain that I've been trying to book this over multiple days and the pricing is available everywhere else. She then "checks with her supervisor" again, and this time says "Our apologies, the website is having issues. Lots of other people have had similar problems, but the team is working to fix the website and you should try again in a couple hours." This is hilarious, because I've been trying to book this over multiple days now.
No explanation of when the "issue" started, no estimate of when it will be fixed, no case number that be assigned to me, no e-mail confirming conversation today, no they cannot offer statement credit for booking with the airline at 1.5 cents per point, nothing at all, just "try booking on the website again in a few hours."
I swear Chase UR portal is only ever good for booking within the US. Non-US flights and car rentals are either non-existent or a complete joke.
Same thing today. Again, these $150ish tickets are available EVERYWHERE else, including the airline website.
Call Chase travel today, go through 2 levels of agents who just give a "Sorry, inventory is dynamic, we have limited inventory, the price is what it is" excuse, which doesn't make sense because I can book it anywhere else, and Chase's own UR portal shows many seat available at the lower price, until ticketing.
Wait on hold for awhile to finally connect to a "supervisor" (that's Chase travel agent number 3, for those keeping score), who talks to *their* supervisor, and I get the same story about "inventory is dynamic, nothing we can do, but you can book straight with the airline and get a statement credit at 1 cent per point." I explain that I've been trying to book this over multiple days and the pricing is available everywhere else. She then "checks with her supervisor" again, and this time says "Our apologies, the website is having issues. Lots of other people have had similar problems, but the team is working to fix the website and you should try again in a couple hours." This is hilarious, because I've been trying to book this over multiple days now.
No explanation of when the "issue" started, no estimate of when it will be fixed, no case number that be assigned to me, no e-mail confirming conversation today, no they cannot offer statement credit for booking with the airline at 1.5 cents per point, nothing at all, just "try booking on the website again in a few hours."
I swear Chase UR portal is only ever good for booking within the US. Non-US flights and car rentals are either non-existent or a complete joke.
Last edited by MisterMechE; Feb 15, 2019 at 6:32 am
#237
Join Date: Jun 2006
Programs: UA Premier 1K, Star Alliance Gold, Titanium Elite Marriott, Celebrity Elite, IHG, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 343
Booking flights on ultimate rewards
Hilarious/frustrating call today in a futile attempt to book airline tickets with my Chase Sapphire Reserve points. Trying to book one-way ZQN-AKL. Google flights, airnewzealand.com, Chase's own UR portal all quote prices around ~$150 per person. Tried yesterday to book, get all the way to the last bit, but when ticketing suddenly there's an error and now pricing only available at ~$800 per person!
Same thing today. Again, these $150ish tickets are available EVERYWHERE else, including the airline website.
Call Chase travel today, go through 2 levels of agents who just give a "Sorry, inventory is dynamic, we have limited inventory, the price is what it is" excuse, which doesn't make sense because I can book it anywhere else, and Chase's own UR portal shows many seat available at the lower price, until ticketing.
Wait on hold for awhile to finally connect to a "supervisor" (that's Chase travel agent number 3, for those keeping score), who talks to *their* supervisor, and I get the same story about "inventory is dynamic, nothing we can do, but you can book straight with the airline and get a statement credit at 1 cent per point." I explain that I've been trying to book this over multiple days and the pricing is available everywhere else. She then "checks with her supervisor" again, and this time says "Our apologies, the website is having issues. Lots of other people have had similar problems, but the team is working to fix the website and you should try again in a couple hours." This is hilarious, because I've been trying to book this over multiple days now.
No explanation of when the "issue" started, no estimate of when it will be fixed, no case number that be assigned to me, no e-mail confirming conversation today, no they cannot offer statement credit for booking with the airline at 1.5 cents per point, nothing at all, just "try booking on the website again in a few hours."
I swear Chase UR portal is only ever good for booking within the US. Non-US flights and car rentals are either non-existent or a complete joke.
Same thing today. Again, these $150ish tickets are available EVERYWHERE else, including the airline website.
Call Chase travel today, go through 2 levels of agents who just give a "Sorry, inventory is dynamic, we have limited inventory, the price is what it is" excuse, which doesn't make sense because I can book it anywhere else, and Chase's own UR portal shows many seat available at the lower price, until ticketing.
Wait on hold for awhile to finally connect to a "supervisor" (that's Chase travel agent number 3, for those keeping score), who talks to *their* supervisor, and I get the same story about "inventory is dynamic, nothing we can do, but you can book straight with the airline and get a statement credit at 1 cent per point." I explain that I've been trying to book this over multiple days and the pricing is available everywhere else. She then "checks with her supervisor" again, and this time says "Our apologies, the website is having issues. Lots of other people have had similar problems, but the team is working to fix the website and you should try again in a couple hours." This is hilarious, because I've been trying to book this over multiple days now.
No explanation of when the "issue" started, no estimate of when it will be fixed, no case number that be assigned to me, no e-mail confirming conversation today, no they cannot offer statement credit for booking with the airline at 1.5 cents per point, nothing at all, just "try booking on the website again in a few hours."
I swear Chase UR portal is only ever good for booking within the US. Non-US flights and car rentals are either non-existent or a complete joke.
I would contact chase@twitter it may take a day or two for them to resolve the issues. I had booked a cruise from Cairns to Singapore I spent a couple of weeks trying to book flights from LAX to CNS and SIN to LAX the fares kept rising. I finally had to purchased the ticket from the carrier. Chase@twittier resolved all the issues for me.
#238
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,738
When UR Portal goes down there is not much the support staff can do.I just booked two tickets LAX to TPE in April last week at the end I received an error. UR stores all the information on the passengers so I started over the information populated I booked the flights.
I would contact chase@twitter it may take a day or two for them to resolve the issues. I had booked a cruise from Cairns to Singapore I spent a couple of weeks trying to book flights from LAX to CNS and SIN to LAX the fares kept rising. I finally had to purchased the ticket from the carrier. Chase@twittier resolved all the issues for me.
I would contact chase@twitter it may take a day or two for them to resolve the issues. I had booked a cruise from Cairns to Singapore I spent a couple of weeks trying to book flights from LAX to CNS and SIN to LAX the fares kept rising. I finally had to purchased the ticket from the carrier. Chase@twittier resolved all the issues for me.
More importantly, would you mind to give us more details on how the Chase twitter team resolved all the issues for you?
As in like giving you statement credit for the fares you paid by booking a cash ticket, then take back the UR pts from your account at the discounted number, i.e. $$$$ divided by 1.5?
It is encouraging that you finally get the issues resolved, but I believe the community would greatly appreciate the details and the mechanism employed to resolve the issues.
We have known the difficulties you have gone through but now we are all interested to learn how the Chase twitter team eventually to make things right.
Please do give us the eventual solution(s).
#239
Join Date: Jun 2006
Programs: UA Premier 1K, Star Alliance Gold, Titanium Elite Marriott, Celebrity Elite, IHG, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 343
Booking flights on ultimate rewards
Were you finally able to book the LAX-TPE tickets with UR pts?
More importantly, would you mind to give us more details on how the Chase twitter team resolved all the issues for you?
As in like giving you statement credit for the fares you paid by booking a cash ticket, then take back the UR pts from your account at the discounted number, i.e. $$$$ divided by 1.5?
It is encouraging that you finally get the issues resolved, but I believe the community would greatly appreciate the details and the mechanism employed to resolve the issues.
We have known the difficulties you have gone through but now we are all interested to learn how the Chase twitter team eventually to make things right.
Please do give us the eventual solution(s).
More importantly, would you mind to give us more details on how the Chase twitter team resolved all the issues for you?
As in like giving you statement credit for the fares you paid by booking a cash ticket, then take back the UR pts from your account at the discounted number, i.e. $$$$ divided by 1.5?
It is encouraging that you finally get the issues resolved, but I believe the community would greatly appreciate the details and the mechanism employed to resolve the issues.
We have known the difficulties you have gone through but now we are all interested to learn how the Chase twitter team eventually to make things right.
Please do give us the eventual solution(s).
Then I received a phone called from someone in Arizona telling he was working on my reimbursement at 1.5 miles statement credit.
During my two weeks I was promise 10,000 Courtesy Miles. I contacted chase@twitter received a reply that 5,000 points was shown and 5,000 additional points will be added this took about a day.
I was able to booked the flight LAX to TPE. Sorry got to run now doctor's appoint.
#240
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,738
Hilarious/frustrating call today in a futile attempt to book airline tickets with my Chase Sapphire Reserve points. Trying to book one-way ZQN-AKL. Google flights, airnewzealand.com, Chase's own UR portal all quote prices around ~$150 per person. Tried yesterday to book, get all the way to the last bit, but when ticketing suddenly there's an error and now pricing only available at ~$800 per person!
Same thing today. Again, these $150ish tickets are available EVERYWHERE else, including the airline website.
Call Chase travel today, go through 2 levels of agents who just give a "Sorry, inventory is dynamic, we have limited inventory, the price is what it is" excuse, which doesn't make sense because I can book it anywhere else, and Chase's own UR portal shows many seat available at the lower price, until ticketing.
Wait on hold for awhile to finally connect to a "supervisor" (that's Chase travel agent number 3, for those keeping score), who talks to *their* supervisor, and I get the same story about "inventory is dynamic, nothing we can do, but you can book straight with the airline and get a statement credit at 1 cent per point." I explain that I've been trying to book this over multiple days and the pricing is available everywhere else. She then "checks with her supervisor" again, and this time says "Our apologies, the website is having issues. Lots of other people have had similar problems, but the team is working to fix the website and you should try again in a couple hours." This is hilarious, because I've been trying to book this over multiple days now.
No explanation of when the "issue" started, no estimate of when it will be fixed, no case number that be assigned to me, no e-mail confirming conversation today, no they cannot offer statement credit for booking with the airline at 1.5 cents per point, nothing at all, just "try booking on the website again in a few hours."
I swear Chase UR portal is only ever good for booking within the US. Non-US flights and car rentals are either non-existent or a complete joke.
Same thing today. Again, these $150ish tickets are available EVERYWHERE else, including the airline website.
Call Chase travel today, go through 2 levels of agents who just give a "Sorry, inventory is dynamic, we have limited inventory, the price is what it is" excuse, which doesn't make sense because I can book it anywhere else, and Chase's own UR portal shows many seat available at the lower price, until ticketing.
Wait on hold for awhile to finally connect to a "supervisor" (that's Chase travel agent number 3, for those keeping score), who talks to *their* supervisor, and I get the same story about "inventory is dynamic, nothing we can do, but you can book straight with the airline and get a statement credit at 1 cent per point." I explain that I've been trying to book this over multiple days and the pricing is available everywhere else. She then "checks with her supervisor" again, and this time says "Our apologies, the website is having issues. Lots of other people have had similar problems, but the team is working to fix the website and you should try again in a couple hours." This is hilarious, because I've been trying to book this over multiple days now.
No explanation of when the "issue" started, no estimate of when it will be fixed, no case number that be assigned to me, no e-mail confirming conversation today, no they cannot offer statement credit for booking with the airline at 1.5 cents per point, nothing at all, just "try booking on the website again in a few hours."
I swear Chase UR portal is only ever good for booking within the US. Non-US flights and car rentals are either non-existent or a complete joke.
In any case, based on breakthrough37 DPs, it seems the most effective way is to contact Chase twitter team to make them aware of the issues. In the case of the 1099 blunder, it took a blogger's initiative to contact Chase Twitter Team to make them aware of the rampant errors, for Chase a few days later to issue an internal memo advise their customer service reps about amended 1099s will be sent , but no time line.
Therefore, please contact Chase Twitter Team and make them aware of the issue on the pricing which obviously has nothing to do with the inventory as you can see the low prices Everywhere thru every channel. Booking the flight with cash and then redeem the UR at 1c is a STUPID response that a rep should never give - it is so ignorant - directly against the touted benefits of the CSR card to justify the $450 price tag.