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Chase Ultimate Rewards are the transferrable points currency from Chase that can be earned through select Chase credit cards. The value in these rewards is seen in myriad ways, from transferring to travel partners to redeeming for dining experiences. Let's look at the ways you can use Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
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How To Earn Chase Ultimate Rewards
You can earn Ultimate Rewards from the following credit cards:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- Chase Freedom Flex℠
- Chase Freedom Unlimited®
- Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
- Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
- Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
Related: All of the Cards that Earn Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
You can earn Ultimate Rewards from the cash-back credit cards listed above when you have an Ultimate Rewards-earning credit card. From there, you can combine your cash-back rewards with transferrable points to pool all your earnings into one account and expand your redemption options.
There are several ways to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards for travel and beyond. Here are all the ways to use Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Transfer to Travel Partners
Transferring to Chase's travel partners is easily the best way to use Chase Ultimate Rewards — or any transferrable rewards currency for that matter. That's because you can transfer a relatively small amount of points for large, otherwise impossibly expensive purchases. For example, you can transfer 81,000 Ultimate Rewards points to the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program for a one-way business-class ticket from New York (JFK) to Frankfurt, Germany (FRA). This same ticket would cost about $1,800 or 180,000 Ultimate Rewards if booked through the travel portal. Using a transfer partner requires less than half the points here.
Other airline transfer partners include Air France–KLM Flying Blue, Air Canada Aeroplan, and Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards.
On top of Chase's 11 airline partners, there are three hotel transfer partners: IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, and World of Hyatt. World of Hyatt is another great option, because you don't need a ton of points to redeem free nights at great hotels.
Need help getting started? Here's how to transfer your Chase points, step by step.
Use Through the Chase Travel Portal
When not using Ultimate Rewards points for travel through transferring to partners, you can redeem your rewards directly through the Chase travel portal.
You can redeem points for airfare, hotel accommodations, car rentals, and even activities. You could book an entire vacation from start to finish — all in the portal and all with Ultimate Rewards. This is generally the second-best way to redeem your rewards.
What your points are worth here varies.
If you have the Sapphire Reserve, points are worth 1.5¢ apiece. With the Sapphire Preferred or Ink Preferred, points are worth 1.25¢ each. With other cards, you can redeem points at 1¢ apiece toward travel.
Pay Yourself Back
The Pay Yourself Back feature is convenient when you want to use your Ultimate Rewards for purchases you've already made. Since it launched, categories, category end dates, and redemption values have changed several times.
The initial attraction to the Pay Yourself Back feature was that you could use your Ultimate Rewards at 1.25 or 1.5 cents per point, depending on your card. This offered more value than you would get when using points as a statement credit otherwise and rivaled elevated redemption rates in the travel portal. However, much of the value has decreased in 2023.
For further details, see our complete guide to Pay Yoursel Back, including current categories and their end dates.
Statement Credit
Another option to use Chase Ultimate Rewards is obtaining a statement credit for purchases you've already made. This is different from the Pay Yourself Back feature, because you can only redeem them at one cent per point. The silver lining is that you can redeem points here regardless of what types of purchases you've made.
Additional Uses
The options discussed above are some of the better ways to use Chase Ultimate Rewards for the greatest value. However, there are other ways to use Ultimate Rewards that are also worth mentioning.
When using your rewards to purchase gift cards, you'll get 1¢ per point in value. The exception is deals like this one for up to 50% off when spending at least 100 Ultimate Rewards points on Amazon purchases.
If you're in need of Apple products like a new phone or laptop, you also can redeem your points this way. If you plan to do this, watch for a bonus offer for up to 50% extra value using Chase points for Apple products.
And lastly, you can also redeem Ultimate Rewards for experiences through Chase Dining at a rate of one cent per point. Chase Dining allows you to prepay and earn 10 points per dollar with the Sapphire Reserve at select restaurant reservations, including wineries and tasting rooms. It also hosts exclusive card member events that can be paid for with points.
Final Thoughts
Ultimate Rewards are a fantastic rewards currency from Chase. Points are easy to earn and even easier to redeem, including several options for doing so. The best way will always be to transfer out to travel partners where you can leverage the most value. However, this requires effort and knowledge of the process.
Other options, such as redeeming through the Chase Travel Portal and redeeming for Chase Dining experiences, provide other ways to make the most of your rewards and are simpler. Whichever route you take, it's easy to use Ultimate Rewards on travel, gift cards, or other expenses through statement credits.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Great tips! I just signed up a Chase card.
My absolute favorite is using the points for a trip to Hawaii using the process described in the post linked above. It was years ago but I transferred miles to Korean Airlines to book Delta flights (caution, I’m not sure if that’s currently a recommended workflow). Anyway, it’s my go-to story when people ask about using miles for travel to highlight the value in being smart (clever?) about it. I’m using the list above to next tackle hotel stays particularly in Barcelona in a few weeks.
It is absolutely still a great use of miles with Korean SKYPASS — as long as you can find the Delta award availability. 25k miles to Hawaii is a steal! Enjoy BCN — our trip there had us at the Le Meridien on La Rambla (great location but not cheap).
I love the versatility of CSR points. My favorite way to use them is less exciting — but I love never having to pay cash for short-haul flights.
One thing I love about CSR compared to other premium cards (Amex Plat or Citi Prestige, for example) is that the travel reimbursement is good for more than just airline fees. Airport parking can be expensive and we live too far from the airport to expect others to drop us off, but our CSR covers it.
Our CSR covers EZ Pass Tolls and airport parking. Stuff I’d otherwise pay for regardless — and earning 3x points thank you very much!
Great post! The $450 fee for the CSR is pretty hefty, but it’s worth every penny…
Especially with the $300 travel rebate — instantly dropping it down to $150.
Chase UR still remains a strong program. Hope it continues to be so.
If you have multiple Chase cards, do all the points get pooled together?
Alice, they do not automatically. Points are directly linked to the card on which they were earned. That said, you can transfer/combine points for free and instantly. Details here: https://awardwallet.com/blog/combine-chase-ultimate-rewards-multiple-credit-cards/
I have not thought about risk of future devaluations – I am sitting on plenty of UR points, SW miles and Marriott miles. I am conditioned to use SWA miles on those flights but wonder if I should use UR instead of SW.
Jim, you need to look at your overall strategy and goals. Earn and burn is what I say.
I’ve had my Chase Sapphire Reserve card for two months and was able to redeem four one-way Southwest flights on points even before my sign-up bonus hit the account. Cannot express how much I love the CSR.
Thanks for this refresher! Definitely will keep this handy when the annual fee comes up next month.
Oftentimes better value can be found in transferring to BA and taking advantage of sweetspots in partner airline awards.
Don’t forget Iberia too.
2017 allowed me to PC my Fairmont to a Freedom Unlimited, still having two Freedoms and two Ink Cash.
That Fairmont was a great redemption, I wish I could have gotten it a few times!
Thanks for the link to the old post on the value of Ultimate Reward point redemption options, and maximizing them. I was totally unaware of the “Activities” tab on the Ultimate Rewards website for finding deals on tours., admissions, ect. then, getting the additional 20% redemption value also. I’m going to check it out now.
I’ll have to look into the Ink Cash Card. Chase Points are wonderful and booking through the Chase Portal is going to be key to my status-chasing on the cheap this year.
I’ve usually found the best value to be via a transfer to Hyatt. Of course my needs may be different than yours, but that’s just my experience.
Thanks for the updates Howie on Chase Ultimate Rewards. I’m getting rid of my ink card and sticking with the Reserve Card. Appreciate all the useful information!
Don’t forget about the potential 5x earning on the ink cards! With no annual fee, the Ink Cash is a keeper in my wallet.
Updating and reposting is okay sometimes as everyone needs a break now and then. Plus some of us may have missed it before.
Agree that if value > cost it can work as a go.
Chase points really are some of the best available, especially if you live (as I do) in a United Airlines hub. I recently used a bunch for a UA super saver round trip ticket in business class to New Zealand. I reckon the value of those points was nearly 6 cents each. I’m still mad at myself for missing the 100K Reserve sign-up bonus though!
Why is the article titled 2018, but all the comments are from 9-12 months ago? Sloppy, AwardWallet, sloppy.
Its a republished post with some modifications answering frequently asked questions. Rather than creating another post with virtually identical content, we bumped this one up. Sorry you feel it is sloppy.
I need another Chase card.
My wife and I also have 7 Chase credit cards between us, not counting our Amex, Barclays, and Citi credit cards. How much is too much to spend in annual fees?
$1 more than the value you receive from the cards. You need to evaluate the price you pay for all of your cards and then compare that to the value you receive from that card. As long as value > cost, you’re good.
Not happy with Chase ultimate rewards travel. I found better rental car deals compared to what they offered. I also recently stayed in Maui and booked with Chase ULT. I got the same deal using my points but denied 2 breakfast buffets which I would have gotten if I booked on the hotels website. In Hawaii a breakfast buffet costs about $20 per person.
Joel Kling
Newhall CA
Joel, it is important to know that the Ultimate Rewards travel portal is like any other travel portal — such as Expedia, Orbitz or Priceline. Any hotel booking would be considered a 3rd party booking and you might indeed lose such benefits that you might otherwise get booking directly. It is unfortunate, but the way hotel bookings work.
As for the rental car side of things — I’d recommend always starting with AutoSlash.com and see where you can go after that for pricing.
Canceling my CSR when the AF comes due later this month (I’ve already redeemed my second $300 travel credit), then having the wife apply for one.
hyatt gives really good value with using these points!
Really helpful tips, thank you! I didn’t realize points can be transferred between cards.
I have found Ultimate Reward Points are great for car rentals and to top up their air partners FFM accounts if we are close to an award. the only negative on the car rentals is that you always have to return the car to the same rental location – No one ways. I called and the rep confirmed this and stated this is done to save money (for Chase I guess, not for me!).
thanks for the info
Chase bank products are some of my best friends! It will be a cold day in Hades when they are pried from my bony fingers! 🙂
In the article you said I can keep a card such as Chase Freedom with no annual fee to prevent ultimate reward points get expired. Is that true? When I had only Chase Freedom card, I got cash back, but I don’t get ultimate points. Now I have Sapphire reserve so I can also earn ultimate points with the Freedom card. If I cancelled Sapphire reserve, will I still be able to earn ultimate points with Freedom card and prevent them from expire? Thank you.
I can understand the confusion with this situation. The value of the rewards earned on a Chase Freedom, Sapphire or Ink (business) family cards are dictated by the card associated with the points.
A couple of things to keep in mind:
1) You can always freely transfer points between your Freedom, Sapphire, and Ink cards
2) Ignore the marketing associated with cash back and ultimate rewards, but know that you can combine points earned across any of these cards at any time. They’re all called Ultimate Rewards, but the card with which the points are associated dictates their value.
3) Points redeemed from the Sapphire Reserve have a greater value than the Sapphire Preferred, Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, or Ink products as they have a minimum value of 1.5 cents/point if you choose to book travel directly through UltimateRewards.com, higher than all other cards
In your scenario, if you had the Freedom and the Sapphire Preferred and decided to close your Sapphire Preferred but figured you might open a Sapphire Reserve 6 months down the road, you could transfer all points on your Sapphire Preferred to your Freedom and let it sit. Six months down the road, you open the Sapphire Reserve and you move all the points on your Freedom to the Sapphire Reserve (including those that you previously moved from your Sapphire Preferred) and you’re good to go.
Long story short and to answer your question directly, yes, you’ll need to combine your points from your Sapphire Reserve to your Freedom card and then you can close the Sapphire Reserve and won’t lose any points. Keep in mind, by closing this card you’ll have less redemption options available with your Ultimate Rewards (e.g. you won’t be able to transfer points 1:1 to partners like United or Hyatt)
Thank you very much for the explanation. So when I closed Sapphire reserve and move all points to Freedom, it’s back to my same old days, I can only get cash or gift card at 1:1 ratio. If I’d like transfer to partners then I have to get a Sapphire preferred. Thanks!
You got it. Or you could also get an Ink Preferred (business card)
Thank you very much.
Freedom can use the Ultimate Rewards travel portal but you don’t get the 25% extra an Ink or Sapphire will.
So that’s three ways without a Premium card.
Thanks.
I’m trying to wind down my Chase Sapphire Preferred card so I’m transferring my UR to my CSR account, where they’re worth more for travel redemptions.
See if you can PC your CSP to a regular Freedom.
The article states “The transfer partners of Ultimate Rewards allow you to redeem your points on the three major legacy US airlines (American, Delta, and United) by leveraging their partnership agreements.”
Howie, is there any easy way to indicate the ratio with which these points are transferred to AA and Delta miles, or is it different for each card listed above?
Thanks!
Steve –
You don’t transfer these points/miles to AA or Delta, but rather you redeem flights on AA or Delta with the miles in British Airways (for AA) and Korean (for Delta).
Many thanks for clarifying this.
Try a get a CSR before the welcome bonus drops to 50K, 100K points would definitely make my trip to Japan much more affordable.
I did just read about the Chase Sapphire reduction on their Reserve card. Interesting not tempting enough to get it with the high fee right now. I love my Ultimate Rewards and cannot wait to use them! I have multi cards that earn points but they are only for specific companies. I see more benefit to my Freedom card and am considering using that more. It’s hard to break away from my Disney card though…got kids and well it can help just I’m beginning to see maybe it would be smarter to use the Freedom card and just use various redemptions to cover trips. If anyone has only chase credit cards what if they just suddenly close your account? how many would another blogger be willing to have with chase but still have with other companies just to make sure no mishaps happen?
Diversity is important with credit. My wife and I have 7 chase credit cards between the two of us — and I have no problem getting a few more. That said we also have cards with Amex, Citi, Barclaycard, Bank of America and others.
transferring to Marriott is not the best use of the points
Marc, with the Air + Hotel packages there is some amazing value to be had. While I wouldn’t recommend blindly transferring to Marriott, topping off an account for these bookings provide a great redemption – https://awardwallet.com/blog/marriott-hotel-air-travel-packages-no-longer-offering-top-value/
What about redeeming for car rentals?
Valeria, redeeming for car rentals can be a very good deal with Ultimate Rewards when you book through UltimateRewards.com The important thing to keep in mind is that you should always price compare rental cars with other sites. I’d recommend looking towards hotwire.com or use AutoSlash.com as well.
I wish I could but I am over 5/24.
I like using chase UR points with the CSR to book at lesser known, nice hotels at 1.6 cpp. Sometimes its actually less points than if you were to transfer to Hyatt, Marriott, or Hilton!
Hope to get the CSR before the bonus drops down to 50k. Those 100k would really help with a few international flights I wanna do
Thanks for the post, chase points are a great way of accumulating flyer points.
Happy New Year!
Interesting how you call Ultimate Reward Points Sapphire points.
While my UR balance sits in my CSP balance, its not much of an earner except when I opened it. My earners are my two Freedoms and Inks, which far out pace my CSP in Ultimate Rewards earned .
I used to always xfer to UA, but since the Reserve has came out and I can get 1.5 cents per point and earn miles I have been using them to by my economy long haul tickets instead
And you can still get a Chase Ink Plus card but you have to be referred from somebody that already has it. Same thing for the regular Sapphire as well. So that’s 2 additional cards that can help you earn UR points!
I just can’t justify that Sapphire Reserve annual fee.
I just love merging them with the Hyatt free anniversary night on the Hyatt Card and staying at Hyatt