Personal Advice on Redeeming Reward Points

October 12, 2016 10:06 AM

Where can I go online to get specific, personalized advice on how to maximize my use of travel rewards points? I am looking for help with Chase Ultimate rewards specifically if that matters.

I recently signed up for the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and I will have over 120,000 reward points after my first statement. I am also planning a trip to Europe in the Spring. The problem I am having is that there are so many different ways I could redeem these points, it feels overwhelming and I am worried about making a sub-optimal decision.

I am looking for a place I can go where they will look at my specific situation and give me advice about what is the best way to redeem my points. I have never used reddit or nerdwallet other than to read them, but will they do this? If you can recommend a site, is there a specific procedure to get this kind of help from people?

posted by bove to Work & Money (8 answers total)

Best answer: I suggest checking out Reddit's Award Travel subreddit. Read the wiki/how-to guides in the sidebar, but if you're still unsure after that, you can post a thread in the subreddit asking for advice. There may also be good advice on the Churning (r/churning) subreddit, if you search the airport codes/cities you're interested in + "UR" (which is the name of the rewards points you get via Chase).

I'd suggest trying to get a better handle on exactly what you're looking for before you post, though - for example, what airports do you want to fly from, are you only interested in airfare or also hotels, do you want to fly economy or business/first, etc?

Once you know that, you can make a post saying something like, "I have 120k UR points, I want to go from airport ABC to XYZ on dates XX-YY, I see flights on these dates through this airline, is that my best option?"

You can also MeMail me if you want specific advice! I find this kind of stuff pretty fun, and I'd be happy to help you narrow it down/find a direction. There are also folks you can pay to figure this out for you (sort of like travel agents for rewards bookings), but I'd only do that if you have more money than time, because it is definitely possible to do it on your own.
posted by jouir at 10:21 AM on October 12, 2016

I'm sure jouir's answer would lead you down a road of much knowledge, but if you are looking for something a bit more straightforward, have you tried using the chase rewards booking option to look at what it gives you?

Its not clear from your question but it seems like you don't yet have this card? once you do, you will see a link, under the credit card section, on the Chase Mobile App's default homepage called "Ultimate Rewards" I don't love chase but I give them a lot of credit for a pretty functional mobile banking app, including the rewards section. You can search for flights or hotels and see the prices in rewards points, dollars, or a combination of the two.

I got the card mostly because it doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee and I was interested in more portable miles/benefits than I had with my Delat Amex - the Chase Ultimate Rewards booking site makes this advantage (that is, seeing what I could do with my rewards) very tangible and in a way that works well for me.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:00 AM on October 12, 2016

Response by poster: I have tried that and it shows flights and other things like that, but one of the things that makes this tricky is this card allows you to directly transfer points to other companies rewards programs (like United, or Singapore Airlines), and so there is lots of chatter on the web about what particular usage of the points gives you the most value. For instance, it seems really hard to me to compare the value of the following: A) I could book the flights and pay cash and then use points to upgrade to business class; B) I could use the points to buy one of the tickets; C) I could transfer the points to Marriott and use them to stay in nice hotels while I am in Europe, etc, etc.

I do have the card. I just got it. They give you $100,000 points if you spend a certain amount in the first few months. I have already spent more than that, but don't actually have the points yet (the points don't come until you pay off the balance).
posted by bove at 11:07 AM on October 12, 2016

I would also suggest you look at the Flyertalk.com forums, in the credit card section. It's probably obvious from the name - Flyertalk tends to center around using rewards for air travel -- but there are other subfora targeted at hotels and other ways of redeeming miles/points.

I agree with Jouir - it would be best if you had some target in mind, but the other key point is to be flexible - with dates, airlines, specific cities - you name it.
posted by scolbath at 11:08 AM on October 12, 2016

Just saw your reply post after I hit submit. Most people recommend ascribing a notional value to the points you have - for instance, 2c, and using that to help you judge. I prefer to use my miles for high-end air travel, since I don't like chain hotels that much.

A business-class round trip on AA from JFK-LHR for a random week in April is $3,500. If (big if) you can get that for the 'saver' mileage rate of 115k miles round trip, that would be 3c/mile. If you had to use the 'Aanytime level 2' award of 270k miles round trip, it's slightly more than 1c/mile, so a less-good deal. Now, I'm never going to buy a business class ticket on my own nickel, so in some sense even the 1c valuation might be good, but it's really up to you in the end.

You should be able to compute any deals that Chase is giving you similarly.

Have fun!
posted by scolbath at 11:17 AM on October 12, 2016

My understanding was that the prices quoted on their own system were already discounted - so you could get a different flight with a transfer to a specific carrier's program, but the benefit there would be that it is the only way to book that specific carrier/flight, not that you would "do better" in spending your miles differently.

But I may be wrong - I don't think all that much about these things.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:24 AM on October 12, 2016

Best answer: The Points Guy usually has good articles about how to spend Ultimate Rewards points, for example this is one post about how to redeem 100k: http://thepointsguy.com/2016/08/best-ways-to-use-100k-ultimate-rewards-points/

Typically, you get better redemptions when you transfer the points to an airline partner but you need to check availability and the redemption rates on the airline websites. However, it does take a lot of research, reading, and comparisons to get the "best" deal. One of the better forums is FlyerTalk (I'd personally avoid Reddit). If you are polite and persistent, there are many folks on those forums that are willing to help.

You would be able to book a one way first class ticket to europe (one of the better redemption values) with 100k points, but it may require an advance booking of 8-10+ months ahead to be successful.
posted by xtine at 12:03 PM on October 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

You could book one one-way flight from most places in the US to most places in Europe with 100k points, or you could book 4 RT flights from Boston to Dublin for 100k points (on Aer Lingus booked through British Airways). They're both good values, but they're very different! As others have said, the optimal use of the points is going to depend on what value you place on various aspects of convenience and luxury. (Sorry, on posting realized I didn't really answer your question.)
posted by mskyle at 12:58 PM on October 12, 2016