What's better than booking an insanely cheap flight deal? Just one thing: Booking it with credit card points to make it free. And there's no simpler – or more valuable – way to pull it off than booking through Chase Travel℠ with your Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
That's why we're big fans of both the *chase sapphire reserve* and the *chase sapphire preferred*. These two cards (among others) earn Chase's valuable Ultimate Rewards points. Booking through Chase's travel portal is one of the easiest ways to put them to use for free travel.
We'll walk you through exactly how to use your Chase points to book just about any flight deal you want – whether you find a gem through Google Flights or from a Thrifty Traveler Premium membership.
The Basics of Using Points in the Chase Travel Portal
Before we get into the mechanics of using Chase points in the Chase Travel portal, let's back up.
Just what value you get from your Chase points depends on which Chase card you have. Certain Chase card points are worth even more when redeeming through the portal:
- With the *chase sapphire preferred*, each point is worth 1.25 cents.
- With the *chase sapphire reserve*, each point is worth 1.5 cents.
- With the *chase ink preferred*, each point is worth 1.25 cents.
So you're getting a better deal on your points with the Chase Sapphire Reserve than the Preferred. Yet either card gets you more than the simple 1-cent-per-point you'll typically get when booking travel through a portal with other cards.
Chase also has a list of transfer partners – hotel and airline points transfers to which you can transfer your points to book flights and hotels – which can be far more valuable. But you can book with almost any airline through Chase Travel. Some budget airlines are not available, but you can, however, book Southwest fares in the Chase travel portal!
Let's make it real with an example.
We recently sent our Thrifty Traveler Premium members a flight deal alert to Orlando (MCO) for under $248, including a fare from Detroit (DTW) for just $209 roundtrip – flying nonstop on Delta, to boot! Here's a look at what's bookable directly via Delta.
But it gets even better (and cheaper) if you book the same flight using points through Chase instead. Just log in to your online Chase account, navigate to Chase Travel, and search for this exact same fare … and book it with points instead!
Once you're logged in, navigate to your Ultimate Rewards balance, then select the “Travel” button in the navigation bar and choose the option to “Book travel,” which is highlighted below in red.
From here, you can search for the exact same cheap fare you just found. Most (but not all) of the flight pricing you see through Google Flights or in your inbox with a Thrifty Traveler Premium membership should be bookable at the same rates – though you may occasionally see pricing mismatches.
With the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you can book this $209 fare for just over 16,700 Ultimate Rewards points. The same is true for Chase Ink Preferred cardholders.
But the deal gets better with the Chase Sapphire Reserve: With each point worth 1.5 cents, you can book the exact same fare for under 14,000 Ultimate Rewards points.
You'll go through the exact same process with any cheap flight deal you find, using points to book instead. The cheaper the fare, the fewer points you'll need to book it and make it free. The Chase portal even walks you through the different kinds of fares and lets you pick between them, just in case you'd like to avoid booking a basic economy ticket.
Should You Redeem Your Points via Chase's Portal?
Pros
There are a handful of advantages to booking your flights through Chase Travel. The biggest one is simplicity.
There's no need to dive into the convoluted world of airline transfer partners, find award availability, or calculate and pay additional taxes and fees. Just find a cheap flight, boot up Chase Travel, and book it with your points.
The cheaper the fare, the fewer points you'll need to make it free. It's that simple.
While you can potentially get far more bang for your buck by transferring Chase points to partners like Air Canada Aeroplan or British Airways, that requires far more legwork. Booking flights through Chase's travel portal, you're done within just a few clicks.
One of the best parts of booking flights through Chase Travel is that you'll also earn airline miles and elite status credits when you actually take your flight. That's not the case with most airline award redemptions you might book with American Airlines AAdvantage miles, United MileagePlus miles, or many other airline points program. And unlike those airline mileage redemptions, booking with Chase points means no additional out-of-pocket costs: It covers any taxes and fees you'd otherwise have to pay using miles!
Don't have enough Chase Ultimate Rewards points to complete your booking – or don't want to blow all your points? Don't worry, you can use any combination of points and cash that you would like. You can select the number of points you want to use, and the remaining balance will be billed to your credit card.
Because of how easy it is to book flights with Chase Ultimate Rewards points, two Chase cards crack our list of the best cards for booking flight deals with points.
Cons
There are some potential pitfalls to using Chase Travel.
In good times and bad, it's almost always better to book directly with the airline – not an online travel agency (OTA). When you book with Chase points, you're essentially booking with an OTA.
Major airlines have made the process of changing or canceling flights easier (and free!) following the pandemic. Booking with an OTA like Chase means they're your middleman. You'll need to work with them to cancel your flight – and not the airline directly.
Finally, there's no question that there are ways to squeeze much more value out of your Chase points by using Chase transfer partners. Especially if you're looking to fly something fancy like Lufthansa First Class, transferring points to partner airlines like Air Canada is the ticket: You can book a one-way ticket from Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) to Frankfurt (FRA) for 100,000 Chase points … instead of the 1 million points it'd probably cost you booking through Chase's portal.
Still, this is a valuable option. And if you're not looking to dive deep into the weeds of maximizing airline programs, it doesn't get much easier than this.
Read more: The Best Ways to Redeem Chase Points
How to Earn Chase Points
In order to earn and use these Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you need to hold one of the right Chase credit card.
There's no better place to start than the *chase sapphire preferred*: bonus_miles_full
Not bad for a card with an annual fee of only $95, right?
In addition to the welcome bonus, the card also earns 3x points per dollar spent on dining purchases and 2x points per dollar spent on all travel purchases and 1 point per dollar on all other eligible spending. You also get a $50 annual credit when booking hotels through the Chase travel portal.
Read more: 6 Reasons to Pick Up the Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Reserve
Learn more about the *csp*.
There's also the *chase sapphire reserve*, Chase's premium travel rewards credit card that comes with a ton of travel benefits. But that adds up: It has a hefty annual fee of $550.
bonus_miles_full
In addition to the sign-up bonus, the card also earns 3x points per dollar on all travel and restaurant purchases and 1x point per dollar on all other spending. You’ll also earn 10x points per dollar spent on Lyft rides through March 2025.
You'll also get Priority Pass Lounge access, a $300 annual travel credit, and many other premium benefits.
Read our full review of the Chase Sapphire Reserve!
Learn more about the *chase sapphire reserve*.
If you've already got a Sapphire card, there are some other Chase credit cards that can help bolster your Ultimate Rewards points balance.
While Chase Freedom cards typically earn cashback, holding one of these no annual fee cards in tandem with a Sapphire card makes them exponentially more valuable. That's because you can transfer the cashback these cards earn into your Chase Ultimate Rewards points balance.
But there are two Chase Freedom cards to choose from, and each version differs.
Read up on the differences between Chase Freedom Flex and Chase Freedom Unlimited to see which card is right for you.
Learn more about the *freedom unlimited*.
Learn more about the Chase Freedom Flex® (for full disclosure, this is our personal referral link).
Chase also has a number of business credit cards that also earn Ultimate Rewards points. If you are a small business owner, this is another great opportunity to bolster your Ultimate Rewards points balance.
The best place to get started for most business owners is the *chase ink preferred*: bonus_miles_full
Learn more about the *chase ink preferred*.
Bottom Line
Leveraging Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book flight deals through Chase Travel is one of our favorite benefits of Chase credit cards.
It allows you to make a cheap flight even cheaper (or free). Not to mention it's one of the easiest ways to redeem points, period.