I know, that's what I'm saying though. $250 for a one-way ticket (so, $500 round trip) is way more expensive than even just buying a flight. I dunno, I guess I'm surprised by how many people transfer the points out of the UR portal rather than just using it. Obvious exception being the 20k points for a $650 hotel stay.
So I just did a test case. Chicago to Mexico City in May. Chase is telling me the lowest point option is for 32,784 points on American. Going to the American website, there are 12,500 point options. In both instances, I'm leaving one day and arriving the next, not that attractive. So I look at same day flights. My cheapest on Chase is 32,904 on American and it's 10+ hours routing me through Charlotte. On the American website, I have a plethora of 27,500 options, most around six hours and routing me through Dallas.
Yeah, true - but what I was seeing on the Saver award is that they only originate from particular airports, unless I read that wrong.
And these are all point-to-point transfers with Chase, yes? So it's a question of spending (in Juice's case) 12,500 or 33,000 points, depending on where you buy?
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And these are all point-to-point transfers with Chase, yes? So it's a question of spending (in Juice's case) 12,500 or 33,000 points, depending on where you buy?
But couldn't you potentially book that American flight through British Airways at the same rate? I've definitely done that before. (I don't have an AA card yet, but consistently booking American flights through British would at least give me the opportunity to use my AA card to pay for luggage, upgrades, etc. if the opportunity arose. However I'm pretty sure if you were AA gold, for instance, you couldn't use your status to your advantage on a rewards flight booked through BA). Does all that make sense?So I kinda fucked up on that scenario because American is not a Chase partner. I got that mixed up. There are three flights for 10,000 points through Southwest to Mexico City on that same date, but on United the cheapest is 37,5000, both of whom are partners.
To answer Some Questions:
No penalties for transferring
Yes, you need an account
Yes, depending on which site you book through, the point cost is different. The best deals will be the Saver Award (United) or whatever the airline-specific equivalent is, but those flights usually are less attractive times. Those will almost always beat the best deal on Chase's portal. However, if you don't have much flexibility, the Chase system may offer the better deal than the airline partner. It really depends. Best to just compare on a per-trip basis.
Also, Southwest is an airline partner that Sapphire points can be transferred to, but not available to be booked through the Chase portal. Not sure if there are other partners that are likewise unavailable through Chase.
But couldn't you potentially book that American flight through British Airways at the same rate? I've definitely done that before. (I don't have an AA card yet, but consistently booking American flights through British would at least give me the opportunity to use my AA card to pay for luggage, upgrades, etc. if the opportunity arose. However I'm pretty sure if you were AA gold, for instance, you couldn't use your status to your advantage on a rewards flight booked through BA). Does all that make sense?
If it matters, Chase's customer service is roughly 3000 times better than Amex's