ckelly14

Recently moved over to Ultimate Rewards after using Starpoints since 2004. I was wondering what kind of value you are getting from your points, and how?

The reason I ask is I recently purchased 2 sets round trip tickets for my family, from Charleston to New Orleans, and Charleston to Beef Island, BVI. On both occasions, I looked at transferring points to United or Southwest, and I always received less than $ 0.015 of value. I created a BA account, as there were a few American flights available, but could not find these flights on BA rewards portal. I ended up booking a bunch of one-way flights for the best value: a Southwest and a Delta segment through UR portal, an American business class segment transferring my Marriott points, and paying cash for a very cheap first-class segment (Delta CHS-SJU for $358).

I often see statements in the forum that “I never get less than a 0.02 value for my UR points”. Am I doing something wrong? Perhaps this is not international travel and I’m flying out of a small airport?

Thanks

pallhedge

First of all, bravo to you for your phrasing of the question: What are UR worth to you? The answer is, and should be, different for everyone.

I've found transferring to Hyatt consistently good--almost always >2 cents per point. For AA to be bookable via BA, there needs to be Saaver award fares available for the flight. You can check that on aa.com. Southwest will be right around 1.5 cents per point almost all the time--that award system is revenue based, has been recently devalued, and the cpp fluctuates only based on taxes. I've never found a domestic economy United flight where using MileagePlus miles is worth it.

The real high value award redemptions will be found for international premium class flights. If that doesn't fit your travel habits, then 1.5cpp via the Chase portal isn't the worst thing.

roundtree

Actually, I thought that the recent WN devaluation had brought it down to around 1.28 cpp for all fare types (78 points per dollar, IIRC).

ckelly14

I checked American and searched for those same flights on BA, and they didn't come up. I noticed that if I search a route with BA metal, for example CHS to Heathrow via PHL, it does come up. But if I search for CHS to MSY (all american), search comes up empty on the redeem Avios portal. I will keep looking.

Tend to stay at Starwood (now also Marriott) properties, Via my SPG business cards, but I will also check out Hyatt.

Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. Thanks.

DeltaNeutral28

As you mention, it's all customized to your needs (where are you traveling, what is your home airport etc. etc). You will always find unicorn situations with flights where people get an international business class ticket in the off peak travel season that would cost something like $8k revenue for 120k UR or something along those lines depending on the transfer partner for a nice 6.67x ratio. As far as day to day redemptions that are pretty regular, I always seem to find Hyatt hotels as 2x and above, that is my primary use for UR. The chase portal is always nice to get the 1.5.x on most revenue tickets especially for me with AA with gold status and short 500 mile flights from a non hub city that gives me First upgrades 9 out of 10 times which I cannot get with Avios/AAdvantage miles etc etc.

thunderlounge

IIRC, if you find the saavermflights on aa.com, then you have to call BA to book. Something about their system not showing AA awards correctly or something like that.

moe8555

It really depends... I've gotten decent value from simply using the UR portal at 1.5cpp, compared to the next-best choice available to me. I've also had great redemptions with Hyatt at 3-4cpp, as well as with BA for an intraeurope business class flight (definitely >2cpp, less than $50 in surcharges).

But UR hasn't really been meeting my needs in terms of transfer partners, so I've been transitioning to Citi and Barclays Arrival Premier, which have partners that offer options more in line with my goals.

Diplomatico

Same. The elimination of KE as a transfer partner really reduced the value of UR points for me.

JHake10

tl;dr: Chase seems to be moving UR to a glorified cash back via travel bookings card. There are only two unique transfer partners where out sized value can be had.

You can book travel through the portal at 1.5cpp (assuming you have a CSR). Chase has set the floor. Let's look at what The Points Guy values each of their transfer partners at.

Airlines:

• Avios (Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia): 1.5
• Flying Blue (Air France/KLM): 1.2
• True Blue (JetBlue): 1.3
• KrisFlyer (Singapore): 1.4
• Rapid Rewards (Southwest): 1.5
• MileagePlus (United): 1.4
• flyingclub (Virgin Atlantic): 1.5

Hotels

• Rewards Club (IHG): 0.6
• Marriott Rewards (Marriott, Ritz Carlton, SPG): 0.9
• World of Hyatt (Hyatt): 1.8

My Thoughts

• Avios are good for short haul premium cabin redemption but aren't unique to Chase.
• FlyingBlue can provide decent value but again isn't unique to Chase.
• TrueBlue is a revenue based system, so transferring doesn't make much sense when you can just book through the Chase portal. Additionally, TrueBlue isn't unique to Chase.
• KrisFlyer is good for redeeming in SQ premium cabins long haul but isn't unique to Chase.
• RapidRewards is a revenue based system, so transferring doesn't make much sense when you can just book through the Chase portal.
• MileagePlus is good for getting out sized value on United and Star Alliance premium cabins.
• flyingclub isn't to useful for VS flights as its distance based and they pass along hefty surcharges. There is value to be had on some of their partners (ANA First Class). Additionally, flyingclub isn't unique to Chase.
• Rewards Club at a 1:1 transfer ratio doesn't make much sense. While you can book through the travel portal, these wouldn't qualify for for elite benefits as they are prepaid bookings.
• Marriott Rewards at a 1:1 transfer ratio doesn't make much sense. While you can book through the travel portal, these wouldn't qualify for for elite benefits as they are prepaid bookings. Additionally, Marriott Rewards isn't unique to Chase.
• World of Hyatt does present decent value. Top categories top out at 48,000 points and often sell for several hundred dollars a night.

Overall, with the loss of Korean Airlines (which was my favorite), it seems Chase is moving UR to more of a glorified cash back program via the travel portal. Looking at unique partners that represent good value it seems like just United and Hyatt. I have been shifting my spend over to AMEX more lately. I like how AMEX (and Citi) have transfer bonuses on partners. Chase has never had one. This is just my opinion. I'm sure there are tons of other people getting value out there booking via the travel portal.

pallhedge

That's for the base fare. When you factor in not paying any taxes (except for the 9/11 fee), the cpp goes higher. It's airport specific as well as some airports have higher taxes that you don't pay on an award booking.

Did you search for AA award bookings? You need available saver award fares otherwise they don't show up on BA.

That problem has since been fixed AFAIK.

krazykanuck

Also I've found that for international flights, like HOU-Mexico, you can get the CPP higher because the base fare is a lower % of the total cost, since they're being offset by the customs, airport, and other fees that you have to pay in cash.

Otherwise I generally agree with JHake10's analysis. Hyatt is just such a unicorn of a transfer partner because of the 1:1 transfer ratio and their award redemptions require relatively few points vs. any of the other chains. The fact that I can get a decent limited service hotel for 5k, 8k points is great and with earning 3x and 5x on various Chase cards just provides outsized value.

The only thing I'd say here is that unless you need the revenue flights for elite status, I think the flexibility (full refunds, no fees) of using points outweighs the slight valuation edge of booking through the portal. If you need to change/cancel/price goes down on a portal bought ticket, you're only going to get back a voucher for future use within a year other than points.

I kind of regret not transferring a bundle over to KE before that ended, but I had no definite plans to use them, so I didn't. Life rolls on though!

lotrbfme

I agree with JHake10.

The only real unique value I get from UR points is Hyatt (And its a really good value). But other than that, I prefer Amex MR and Citi TY points. They always have bonuses.

RedSun

The Amtrak transfer had solid value. But that was gone. At least UR has the 1.5 cpp travel portal as the base.

htran88

Hyatt has always been a winner if you're looking for high redemption cpp. When I transfer to hyatt i've been averaging around 2 cpp.

Productivity

This is a near imponderable question really. It depends a lot on your personal circumstances and finances. For someone who the only way they will fly somewhere is UR points, you often get backed into a corner having to take lower redemptions.

If you've got the financial flex, you can just book cash tickets when redemption rates aren't good, then save the points for highly outsize redemptions (usually long haul business/first) and consistently get fantastic value.