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How much do you have to spend to get a free domestic roundtrip ticket? Roughly? Assuming starting from a 0 balance. I've always wondered what the attraction to these miles cards is.
On united I think the min is 15k round trip
Here is a article about best utilizing the chase ur points
Yeah that's about what they all are it seems, I think AA is 15k as well.
So it seems these cards are great for business travelers who do not have a company card to purchase stuff on. My wife has an Amex and as such nothing gets put on her own personal card, although I do wonder if she can opt in to use her own, that would be awesome.
However if you have a company card and put airfare and hotels on it, or do not travel for a living, these cards don't make much sense, at least from what I can tell.
The 15k miles, let's say you don't buy any airfare or hotels normally, that is $15,000 spent (1:1 point ratio). With a 2% cashback Citi card that would net you $300. Or about what a domestic roundtrip ticket cost (depending on location and time of year).
I'm looking for something that will give us free hotels as we get free travel already on a worldwide carrier. Our biggest expense while on the road by far is hotels.
Yeah that's about what they all are it seems, I think AA is 15k as well.
So it seems these cards are great for business travelers who do not have a company card to purchase stuff on. My wife has an Amex and as such nothing gets put on her own personal card, although I do wonder if she can opt in to use her own, that would be awesome.
However if you have a company card and put airfare and hotels on it, or do not travel for a living, these cards don't make much sense, at least from what I can tell.
The 15k miles, let's say you don't buy any airfare or hotels normally, that is $15,000 spent (1:1 point ratio). With a 2% cashback Citi card that would net you $300. Or about what a domestic roundtrip ticket cost (depending on location and time of year).
I'm looking for something that will give us free hotels as we get free travel already on a worldwide carrier. Our biggest expense while on the road by far is hotels.
Well the chase sapphire reserve comes with a 100k sign up bonus and the chase sapphire preffered comes with 50-55k. For me it's often the bonus not necessarily the accumulation that I working towards
Well the chase sapphire reserve comes with a 100k sign up bonus and the chase sapphire preffered comes with 50-55k. For me it's often the bonus not necessarily the accumulation that I working towards
Yeah I'm going to have to look at it. Can you trade in 100k points and get $1000? I'm not interested in the airfare points because we don't pay for that anyway, and that's what it looked like it gave you. The Sapphire was like that, but it had IIRC a $500 payout when my wife and I did it. We got $1000 for opening two cards and then closed them down shortly thereafter. The card was great, I loved the way it felt, very hefty, but wouldn't consider keeping it for the annual fees it had. One year alone we "earned" $2400 in cashback from CC opening bonuses.
What is this $300 travel credit? It looks like you get $300 back from putting hotels on it. Wow, that's pretty impressive. Also looks like you get access to airport lounges, I wonder which ones they are. If it's the airline specific ones that would be pretty incredible as those are a $500/yr purchase option...hmmm....(edit, looks like those are not included, booo).
Also looks like your 100k points would be worth $1500 in hotel books, that's pretty awesome, I assume you also get $300 back on that when you book ($300 travel credit) so you're looking at ($1800 - $450) or $1350 in free money.
We might have to apply for this thing, when does the 100k bonus period end? Anyone know?
Yeah I'm going to have to look at it. Can you trade in 100k points and get $1000? I'm not interested in the airfare points because we don't pay for that anyway, and that's what it looked like it gave you. The Sapphire was like that, but it had IIRC a $500 payout when my wife and I did it. We got $1000 for opening two cards and then closed them down shortly thereafter. The card was great, I loved the way it felt, very hefty, but wouldn't consider keeping it for the annual fees it had. One year alone we "earned" $2400 in cashback from CC opening bonuses.
Yes you can convert the points to cash at a 1% rate either credited to your cc or chase checking/savings account
Wow good deal. Sold. I have to wonder how they make any money.
Well,they hope you stay longer than a year. Then beyond that swipe fees, interest charges and the 450.00 fee. I turn them over but it is a bit of work to do it so I'm sure there are a lot,who don't
Yeah I'm going to have to look at it. Can you trade in 100k points and get $1000? I'm not interested in the airfare points because we don't pay for that anyway, and that's what it looked like it gave you. The Sapphire was like that, but it had IIRC a $500 payout when my wife and I did it. We got $1000 for opening two cards and then closed them down shortly thereafter. The card was great, I loved the way it felt, very hefty, but wouldn't consider keeping it for the annual fees it had. One year alone we "earned" $2400 in cashback from CC opening bonuses.
What is this $300 travel credit? It looks like you get $300 back from putting hotels on it. Wow, that's pretty impressive. Also looks like you get access to airport lounges, I wonder which ones they are. If it's the airline specific ones that would be pretty incredible as those are a $500/yr purchase option...hmmm....(edit, looks like those are not included, booo).
Also looks like your 100k points would be worth $1500 in hotel books, that's pretty awesome, I assume you also get $300 back on that when you book ($300 travel credit) so you're looking at ($1800 - $450) or $1350 in free money.
We might have to apply for this thing, when does the 100k bonus period end? Anyone know?
:/
Best redemption for Chase UR tends to be upgrading airfare from economy to business.
Example would be Korean Air: I live in the Baltimore suburbs; international flights, we go out of Dulles (IAD). Business class to Korea (ICN) typically is $5500 pp; and upgradeable Korean Air fare costs about $2200. 90K UR points is redeemed at a 1:1 KE mile basis, to upgrade. That is $.03 per UR point, v. the $0.015 UR per point redemption through the Chase website.
The 2nd best redemption for Chase UR would be Hyatt or IHG points to their aspirational properties (Maldives, French Polynesia), where you can get $0.04-0.05 PPD . However, people typically book their point redemptions 330 days (yes, almost 11 months) in advance.
Honestly, with our Sapphire Reserves, we have +300K points Chase UR points. We can't use them on our 10th anniversary trip (Emirates for flights, Starwood for hotel). Just how the cookie crumbles.
Wow good deal. Sold. I have to wonder how they make any money.
I'm sure Chase has had its actuaries examine the program and that they've determined that it's profitable over the long run.
Chase has a had a 5/24 rule in place for a while now that stops CC churners from getting a card, earning the signup bonus, then ditching it as soon as they've redeemed all of their points. So if you've applied for five or more credit cards in the past 2 years, you're effectively barred from getting most Chase cards (there are some workarounds in some particular cases). This rule knocks out about 90-95% of the people who would ditch the card after the first year.
The other thing I'm sure Chase has probably learned from Big Data is that most people are point hoarders rather than "holy redeemers." There are lots of people sitting on top of a mountain of points who don't really know how or are not inclined to put in the work to leverage them to their maximum potential. So while Chase may be handing out a bunch of UR points, it's not like thousands of people are going to redeem their 100K point signup bonus within a month. It's sort of similar to how GEICO and Nationwide are essentially betting that 90% of America won't get into a car accident during the month of September. What Chase takes in from annual fees, interest and transaction charges likely far exceeds whatever it is they have to pay out.
So Chase has basically knocked out churners (the biggest losers for banks), which leaves us with a lot of people who will likely sit on a stash of points. In order to keep these points, you need to have one of Chase's cards that carry an annual fee. For many people, that card was the Chase Sapphire Preferred. But the Chase Sapphire Reserve has now made that card completely pointless since they have the same bonus categories with the former giving you more bang for the buck. While some people may downgrade back to a CSP after they've exhausted the CSR's signup bonus, a lot of people will continue to pay the fee for the CSR (especially after factoring in the $300 travel credit).
Bottom line: The House always wins in the long run.
Best redemption for Chase UR tends to be upgrading airfare from economy to business.
Example would be Korean Air: I live in the Baltimore suburbs; international flights, we go out of Dulles (IAD). Business class to Korea (ICN) typically is $5500 pp; and upgradeable Korean Air fare costs about $2200. 90K UR points is redeemed at a 1:1 KE mile basis, to upgrade. That is $.03 per UR point, v. the $0.015 UR per point redemption through the Chase website.
The 2nd best redemption for Chase UR would be Hyatt or IHG points to their aspirational properties (Maldives, French Polynesia), where you can get $0.04-0.05 PPD . However, people typically book their point redemptions 330 days (yes, almost 11 months) in advance.
Honestly, with our Sapphire Reserves, we have +300K points Chase UR points. We can't use them on our 10th anniversary trip (Emirates for flights, Starwood for hotel). Just how the cookie crumbles.
Those sound to me like exaspirational properties.
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