emcampbe

I have been reading this thread, and am a little confused. I currently have a Chase Freedom World Mastercard(points, but not Plus) card. I definitely don't pay an annual fee. But from what I understand, some cardholders are being offered the chance to upgrade to a saphire, while others got letters saying the Freedom terms were changing. Is this correct? I'm in the category of people who didn't get a letter, e-mail or secure email through Chase about any changes.

I did see the Chase Saphire card last night. It looks like some of the rewards, I was looking at gift cards, can be redeemed for a lower amount of points - 2500 points for a $25 gift card as opposed to 3000 today for Freedom. Demo of the Ultimate Rewards site looked far superior than the current rewards site, which is quite ugly and really annoying to find anything in. Appears the saphire (or new Freedom cards) do not to include the 3% back on the most categories with the highest spend per month (). Also, looked like the 2% reward for buying travel on Saphire only applies if you buy it through the Chase travel site ().

cardtracker

The downside is that the 25K bonus is only valid for new account applications. If you contact Chase to upgrade an existing account to Sapphire, you get zero bonus points.

patchmonkey

Did anyone do the upgrade yet? Why/why not? If so, are you going to apply for a new card?

I'm just curious - I'm torn between the easy upgrade and the more difficult "apply for new card, wait for rewards programs to merge (from my Freedom), transfer credit lines, cancel Freedom, but get 25,000 bonus points" application.

patchmonkey

Unless, of course, you live next door to a Continental Hub and you fly them practically everywhere. Or if you usually end up staying at ICH properties. Then it seems like a pretty solid offering.

But not so great for people not in Newark, I guess.

Eurosport

so if i'm reading this right, they basicly made a 1% return card with a different name, slashed more categories for bonus points, yet they call it "upgrade"?

thehawk75

That's for sure!

Thanks for posting this, I couldn't find that information from the site itself (I'm sure it's there, just not easy to the navigate site that one can find the info they want within 5 minutes...imo of course)

Think you can direct me to the link where you found that?

freeflyin

I am still looking for the list of partners on the Sapphire site,but I did find this:

"Points Transfer: Points may be transferred to participating partners’ programs in fixed point increments as defined in
the Program catalog. A points transfer fee may be charged based on a percentage of the number of points transferred.
Any transferred points become subject to the terms and conditions of the respective partner’s program. Once points
are transferred, they may not be refunded, and the transaction cannot, under any circumstances, be reversed. Please
allow 4-6 weeks for the points to appear in your partner program account."

If they really do charge a fee to transfer,than this card does not look to be a good deal at all.

I am hoping more details will be available soon.

mia

Press release here...

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/s...59&newsLang=en

sam-i-am

Am I understanding the fine-print correctly? It seems that you cannot exchange the points for miles only after you pay the annual fee. What about if I want to exchage them before the first year is up?

mia

That's not the way I read it. There are several cards which will participate in Ultimate Rewards. Only the card(s) that require an annual fee, such as Chase Sapphire Preferred will offer the Travel Rewards Point Transfers feature. I don't think that a first year fee-waiver would affect the feature.

CaroG

I just called Chase and although the rep was a little vague he specifically told me that you could transfter points into United Airlines and SouthWest as well as Continental. He wasn't aware of the lodging partner transfer though.

mia

Chase is the issuer of United and Southwest's affinity cards, and it's possible Chase has now negotiated with those carriers to participate in Ultimate Rewards, but I would have more confidence if it were in writing than a first tier customer service represenative.

neophyte

I can't believe we missed this card here, my info is mostly ripped from FW thread.

Link to apply:
http://www.chasesapphire.com/chase-s...er-details_500

• Bonus of 25,000 points after first purchase
• $95 annual fee after the 1st year
• "regular" Chase Sapphire card exists (no annual fee), 10,000 bonus points
• 1:1 Point Transfer to Leading Airline and Hotel Programs
• Each point is worth 25% more when used to book flights through Ultimate Rewards (25000*1.25 = 312500 or $312.50 travel reward)
• Plus earn 10,000 bonus points when you purchase $50,000 per year on your card (Sapphire Preferred only)

Confirmed transfer programs are: Marriott, Hyatt, British, Southwest (how?), United, Continental

Sounds like a combo of TYP and AMEXs - MR, Hilton, *Wood

Any way you look - the hottest offer around.

jumpdogjump

Disappointing to find out the 1:1 transfers are only for a few low-value programs. Others advertised, such as Hyatt, only allow redemption of 10k points for a $100 voucher.

whynotgo

I have been unable to find specific information on the partners and transferability. Does anyone have any specific, written information. I am interested in transferring the points to one of the major US domestic carriers frequent flyer program.