Welcome to Flyertalk -- I'll move this to our Chase forum where you'll get the best responses.

chgoeditor
co-moderator, Info Desk

In general transferring your Chase UR points to a participating partner for an award redemption is the best use of points. The 3 main transfer partners are UA, BA & AF so you'll want to searches via that program. You should be able to do round trip in at least Premium Economy for two people with 150k UR points and possibly business for at least 1 person with points remaining if not for both people . You'll want to do 1-way searches for award space for 2. Each of the above listed programs allows for 1-way redemptions which helps with flexibility in routings to get availability. Depending on where you're starting you may have to do a search from a larger airport to your destination and position to that airport on your own if space isn't available. You can also do an open-jaw trip to increase flexibility. For example fly into CDG and out of VCE or FCO for great flexibility. A nice train ride between the two are a nice way to spend some time.

Usually, yes, particularly in the case of premium class international travel.

(Hyatt Hotels are favored by many as a best value hotel option for transferring points.)

Do not transfer until you have confirmed that award seats are available for your route on your specific date(s). Award seats are capacity controlled. Just because the airline has seats to sell does not mean there is award seat availability.

Also be mindful of BA on TATL. They like to add fuel surchages, and those add up to a LOT.

How do you make sure there are Award Seats?

Go to program's site and attempt to book your trip.

You really need to compare fares with different seasons. For most airlines, peak and off-peak reward costs are little different. But cash values can differ dramatically. For 70,000 miles, you can get peak season round-trip fares like $1,300, or off-peak tickets at $600. You'd better off just buying through Chase travel portal if during off-peak season. You get at least 1.5 cpp.

UR Portal represents a discount (CSR 50%(?), Ink P/CS 25% - IRRC) on tickets based on market price for a chosen itinerary. Generally speaking, while there are exceptions, UR redemptions are a better option when ticket prices are low, while direct FF redemptions are better when prices are high, or, for one way itineraries.

The arithmetic does not support that interpretation. If a ticket costs $1,000 a 50% discount would be $500, and Sapphire Reserve cardholders would redeem only 50,000 points. However, 66,667 points are required for a $1,000 purchase.

Instead of imagining a discount, recognize that when redeemed through the portal Reserve points have a fixed value of $0.015 each, and may have a higher value if transferred to airline or hotel programs. Preferred points have a fixed value of $0.0125.

If you're using the UR portal, do not search for one-flights as one-way fights USA-Europe cost an arm and a leg. Instead, search for round-trip.