TurboFan779

Redeeming points thru Chase Ultimate Rewards is pretty awesome since I can buy a ticket on United with Chase points, and still earn PQM, PQDs, and be eligible for GPUs. Let's not even mention the 50% bonus.

This got me thinking, would the MileagePlus Chase card ever switch to such a system? You would earn points, instead of miles, which you can redeem only for United flights (no ability to ever convert to miles - there needs to be some trade off). Anything purchased still counts for PQM, PQD, and mileage earning.

I'd say this card should earn a flat 2% on all spending, maybe 3% on United. This way, if you spend $30, 000 on non United purchases, you get $600. This is about the value of the 30000 points you would currently earn.

I would be first inline for that card, because I hate having to book my flights based on points availability. This allows customers to freely use their points on any flight that is selling a revenue ticket, not just one with miles availability.

I think this change would net Chase a lot more customers for this cards rather than handing out mints on flights...

Michael D

MileagePlus redeems miles for cash now at a fraction of a cent per mile. If you are earning your miles via flying only this makes since as it is your only way of redeeming any value from them.

I use to buy RT coach TPACs with miles. A $1,000 fare would cost me 60,000 (or whatever it was ten years ago) miles which gave me a yield of >1.5 cents per dollar spent. At the time the best I could get for credit card spend was 1 cent per dollar spent. United's added cost for adding me to the flight was a fraction of the ticket fare. Chase (I imagine) spent less than a CPM. United's cost was less than what they charged United. A good win-win-win situation imo.

Now the flights are fuller. Awards and upgrades are harder to come by. United is now valuing awards at a higher cost (paying customer vs award VS empty seat vs award). They are not going to give away a cent per mile spent or more for a commodity they are now receiving (I would guess) around half a cent for. The whole game in this evolving era of Awards Programs is too devalue the mile which is now seen as an unnecessary expense since the planes are flying fuller and that the vast VAST majority of the flyers are once a year flyers.

If United or any other airline were to switch to cash/dollar earnings then they would lose the leverage they now have with miles. At the same time this advantage is disappearing as Award Programs evolve.

For my flying (International Business/First) churning cards for the bonus is the only way for me to make dollar earnings work because I can average > 2 cents per dollar spent with a credit card now. But churning is not ethical (imo) and not rewarding enough.

WineCountryUA

Chase presently offers Choice Points usage for miles earned from Chase MP brand card usage. Rates are not great -- the rate is $1 statement credit toward "cash" united.com ticket purchases for 100 miles .

If cash rebates are your goal, one of the cash rebate cards is a better deal.

TennisNoob

Like WCUA said above, you earn statement credit at 1%. So if you got 3x points you can redeem at 3% cash back.

takeshi74

Not sure I follow. If you're only getting 2% there are already several cards that offer 2% without the drawbacks of your proposed card. If you can properly leverage UR via United you should be able to exceed what a 2% card offers. This discussion really belongs in the Chase sub forum since the existing card is their card.

Michael D

That's 3% back on a fare which isn't necessarily the lowest, right?

WineCountryUA

The is no fare restriction on the use of Chase Choice Points.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...5-forward.html