Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend. I am very late to the Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card party, but I finally have that credit card after I Converted my Chase Freedom to a Chase Sapphire Reserve. I’ve been sitting on a bunch of Chase Ultimate Rewards Points and finally had my first opportunity to book a trip using my Chase Ultimate Rewards Points. To redeem your Chase Ultimate Rewards Points for 1.5 cents per point (CPP), log into your Chase online account and click the Go to Ultimate Rewards box.
If you have multiple Chase Ultimate Rewards earning credit cards, select your Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card. If you have Chase Ultimate Rewards Points spread out across multiple Chase credit cards, you can easily move Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to your Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card.
As of today, I have 165,437 Chase Ultimate Reward Points, worth $2,481.55 toward travel. To book a trip using Chase Ultimate Reward Points, click the Redeem for Travel link under the Reward Yourself header.
From the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, you can book flights, hotels, rental cars, and activities.
My girlfriend and I are going to Las Vegas in early January, so we needed to book our return flight from Las Vegas back to the Bay Area. After doing some research on Google Flights, we decided to fly Delta Airlines from Las Vegas to Oakland. The price was $98.20 for Basic Economy (which Shelli recently wrote about here: Basic Economy Buyer Beware: The Good, the Bad & Mostly Ugly). This was the best flight in terms of price and departure time, so I decided to book this flight with Chase Ultimate Rewards Points.
As a reminder, here are the differences between Basic Economy and Main Cabin (regular economy). I don’t really care about anything else other than being able to bring a carry on bag and a personal item, the other differences do not bother me.
I plugged in the same flight details as above and clicked the Search button.
I then narrowed down the search until I found the exact same Delta Airlines flight. It was pretty simple because only Delta Airlines and Spirit Airlines fly this route, so I only checked the box for Delta Airlines flights and then selected the afternoon departure window. Before continuing, I clicked the View Details link.
Here are the terms of this Basic Economy Delta Airlines flight.
When I clicked the Select button above, I was presented with a popup alerting me to the Basic Economy fare. I clicked the I Agree To These Conditions button to proceed with the booking.
I reviewed the price and trip details and then I clicked the Continue to Checkout button.
I then filled in the text boxes: my personal information, my Delta frequent flyer number, my girlfriend’s personal information, and her Delta frequent flyer number. At the bottom of the page, I clicked the box and then clicked the Save & Continue button.
On the payment page, you can decided to use all Chase Ultimate Rewards Points or adjust the slider to use cash and Chase Ultimate Rewards Points. Lastly, I checked the box and clicked the Complete Purchase button.
Congratulations, I just redeemed my Chase Ultimate Rewards Points for a flight. To view the flight details, I clicked the View / Print Travel Summary button. As you can tell by the calculation, I received 1.5 cents per point (CPP) in value for using my Chase Ultimate Rewards Points for the flight.
On the Reservation Details page, I found the airline confirmation number which I used to look up my reservation on the airline’s website.
I then looked up my Delta Airlines flight on Delta’s website, verified all the details and re-added our Delta Airlines frequent flyer numbers and TSA PreCheck numbers to the reservation.
Back at the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, I went to the Rewards Activity page to view my recent Chase Ultimate Rewards Points redemption.
Lastly, I received an email from the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal with details of my flight purchase.
If you have any questions about booking travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone.
Pretty great explanation of the UR flights booking process! I have never used it, but now I will look to see how it works and compares to shifting points to partner airlines. I know Delta is not a partner, so it worked well for you to be able to use UR points for this flight.
I did check award flights for this flight on Delta and KLM’s website, but the price in miles was pretty high. Thanks for reading, Brant :)
Welcome to CSR. Better late than never.
Thank you, glad to be here :)
II was looking at a particular flight on AA’s web site. When I went to the Chase site it gave me several options for flights on AA but not the particular one I had found on AA. Do you know if the Chase CS people can book flights that don’t show on their WEB site but might still be available on the airlines WEB site?
Thanks
Sure, call Chase UR department and they should be able to book the same flight you see on AA.com.
Also if you did not want that Basic Economy seat and wanted a Main Cabin seat for 20 dollars more you need to call into the CSR desk and ask.
I personally think the 20 dollars is worth the listed items below, and even more value if you have Medallion Status.
Basic Economy Restrictions:
With Basic Economy, you will not receive a seat assignment until after check-in or at the gate. Passengers traveling together, including families, may not be seated together. You will not be eligible for same-day changes or ticket refunds after the Risk Free Cancellation Period. You will board in the last zone and not be eligible for paid or complimentary upgrades or preferred seats, even with Medallion® Status
I fly Delta 1-2 times a year, so I do not care about Delta MQMs or upgrades, but if you do, then calling would probably be worth the extra charge.
Grant, you and Jim coming to Chicago seminars?
Just me, Jim can’t make it this year :(
Grant….
Don’t forget to take a look at the “Activities”! We’ve been using UR points for flights, hotels, and activities since the CSR card came out and there are some great deals to be had. Everything we’ve booked has been fewer points thant transferring to one of the partner airlines or hotels, and the activities can be many & varied depending on the location. Using UR points are especially inexpensive if you are doing any MS to earn points.
Good tip, I will check out the activities tab for my next trip. What have you booked recently in terms of activities?
Just last month we visited Toronto & Quebec & used UR Points for Hop On/Off buses in both cities at a large discount compared to Viator prices! A friend did a Niagara Falls guided tour for almost ½ price!
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