10 best ways to use 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points

news7g07/26/2023

7 8 minutes read

ANA's new business class on the Boeing 777-300ER

If you’re a small-business owner, there are many great business credit cards available to you. However, one of the best current offers is on the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, which earns 100,000 points after spending $8,000 on purchases in the first three months after card opening.

The card can also help you rack up bonus points beyond the welcome bonus. For example, you can earn 3 points per dollar spent (on the first $150,000 you spend each account anniversary year) in a variety of different business-oriented spending categories and 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases.

Chase advertises 100,000 points as being worth $1,250 when you book travel through the Chase travel portal. That’s already a terrific value. However, this doesn’t consider Chase’s vast list of airline and hotel transfer partners. If you take advantage of top redemption opportunities, you can stretch your points far beyond Chase’s $1,250 valuation.

Here are 10 of the best ways to redeem 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points through transfer partners.

Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners

Below you’ll find a quick rundown of the program’s current partners, including the name of each partner and the transfer time. Note that all transfers process at a 1:1 ratio, so 1 Ultimate Rewards point equals 1 point or mile in the partner’s currency.

Transfer partner	Transfer time
Aer Lingus AerClub	Instant
Air Canada Aeroplan	Instant
British Airways Executive Club	Instant
Emirates Skywards	Instant
Flying Blue (Air France-KLM)	Instant
Iberia Plus	Instant
IHG One Rewards	Instant
JetBlue TrueBlue	Instant
Marriott Bonvoy	Up to 48 hours
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer	Up to 24 hours
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards	Instant
United Airlines MileagePlus	Instant
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	Instant
World of Hyatt	Instant

Fly the world’s longest flight in luxury

Singapore Airlines is known for operating some of the world’s longest flights and providing some of the most luxurious planes in the sky. Currently, the longest flight in the world is Singapore’s nonstop service from Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) on the carrier’s A350-900ULR aircraft.

A one-way flight on this route costs 111,500 Singapore KrisFlyer miles plus taxes and fees. That said, it’s a small price to pay for nearly 19 hours in business class on one of the world’s most renowned airlines. While this total is slightly higher than the 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points welcome bonus for the Ink Business Preferred card, remember you will need to spend $8,000 to earn the bonus, and you will earn at least another 8,000 Ultimate Rewards points for that spend.

Don’t want to drop all your points on a one-way ticket? The airline also operates a premium economy cabin — but no economy cabin — on this flight. You’ll pay 80,500 miles for a one-way ticket in premium economy, but I recommend paying the difference for business class (if you can) for a more comfortable experience.

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Go from the US to Tokyo in ANA business class

Virgin Atlantic partners with Tokyo-based All Nippon Airways. You can use your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points to book premium cabin tickets on ANA at attractive rates; it’s hands-down the best way to book tickets on ANA. Plus, ANA’s new business- and first-class cabins are pretty awesome, too — you can expect top-notch service, great new seats and a selection of delicious meals and Champagne.

ANA business-class flights cost 90,000 points round trip from the West Coast and 95,000 points from the East Coast and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD). This is one of the best redemption deals of any airline loyalty program. You can still book a one-way award in first class with 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points — you will need 72,500 points from the West Coast or 85,000 points from the East Coast.

Take 4 round-trip flights from the West Coast to Hawaii

Are you on the West Coast of the U.S. and considering an island vacation? You can use your 100,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points to fly you and three of your family members or friends to Hawaii from any West Coast gateway of Alaska Airlines or American Airlines, including Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA).

By transferring your Ultimate Rewards points to British Airways, you can book awards with Oneworld partners American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. As long as your nonstop flight distance is under 3,000 miles each way (and there’s saver award inventory), you can leverage British Airways’ distance-based award chart to fly from any West Coast gateway to Hawaii for only 26,000 Avios round trip.

Stay 5 nights in Hawaii

Let’s switch gears to hotel redemptions for a second. One of Chase’s most lucrative transfer partners is World of Hyatt. Despite the 2021 addition of peak and off-peak pricing and some category changes from earlier this year, the program is still known for its excellent (published) award chart, with many high-end hotels costing 40,000 points or less per night.

If you want to make your Chase points go as far as possible, consider midrange options in Hawaii. A standard award room would cost you the following:

60,000 points for five nights at the Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach
75,000 points for five nights at the Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach
100,000 points for five nights at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa

Hyatt does not charge resort or redemption fees on award stays, so there are no added accommodation charges to pay when you check out.

Fly round trip to Madrid in business class

Iberia is one of my favorite ways to fly from Boston, Chicago or New York to Europe. The Madrid-based airline flies from all of these cities’ airports to its hub in Madrid using Airbus A330 and A350 aircraft. Each plane is equipped with a solid business-class product with lie-flat seats.

But the real reason to fly Iberia from the U.S. to Europe is its stellar off-peak award pricing. Round-trip business-class tickets from Boston, Chicago or New York to Madrid cost just 68,000 Iberia Avios during the airline’s off-peak award dates. You may be surprised to see that most of the year is considered off-peak — even late May and early June have many off-peak days available.

Not based in one of these locations? Longer nonstop flights from gateways like Miami International Airport (MIA), SFO and LAX are just 95,000 Avios round trip. Taxes and fees are roughly $200 on a round-trip business-class ticket, regardless of your departure city.

Note that you can transfer your Chase points to either British Airways or Iberia to book these awards.

Book 4 nights at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico

People like to call award travel “free” without factoring in all the other costs that go into a vacation. With Hyatt’s all-inclusive resorts, you have one less thing to worry about because it’s possible to check out with a $0 bill when you use points. Everything from your room to meals (even room service) to some nonmotorized sports are included in your redemption.

With 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points, you can book four nights at the following all-inclusive properties in Mexico:

Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta
Hyatt Zilara Riviera Cancun
Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun
Hyatt Zilara Riviera Maya
Dreams Tulum Resort & Spa
Secrets Aura Cozumel
Breathless Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa
Secrets The Vine Cancun
Breathless Cancun Soul Resort & Spa
Secrets Playa Mujeres Golf & Spa Resort

TPG values Hyatt points at 1.7 cents each. With rates at the above resorts often exceeding $400 per night, you’re bound to get value out of your 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points.

Take 11 short-haul flights on American or Alaska Airlines

Want to stay stateside instead? You can use 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points to take 11 short-haul flights on American Airlines or Alaska Airlines by transferring Ultimate Rewards points to British Airways Avios.

Nonstop flights under 1,151 miles one-way cost 9,000 Avios and $5.60 in taxes for economy seats when saver-level awards are available (the T fare class on American). This includes business-heavy routes like ORD to New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) to Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ). Many of these flights can be expensive when booking at the last minute or during holidays, trade shows and other special events.

You can book longer routes at competitive rates with British Airways Avios as well. Flights up to 2,000 miles in length only cost 11,000 Avios each way.

Fly United Polaris business class to Europe

United Airlines‘ Polaris business-class seat is a top contender among U.S. airline products. Seats offer direct aisle access for all, Saks Fifth Avenue bedding and entry to United’s Polaris lounges when flying from United hubs. Every long-haul, international United flight operated on a wide-body aircraft now offers lie-flat Polaris business-class pods.

Despite United MileagePlus switching to dynamic award pricing in 2019, the airline still offers standard pricing for most award tickets with saver award space. In the case of United-operated flights, you can expect to pay 80,000 miles for a one-way Polaris ticket from the U.S. to Europe following the recent worldwide devaluation. Do note that United now tacks on up to 3,500 extra miles if you book award tickets within 30 days of travel.

United-operated award tickets to Europe don’t have fuel surcharges, though return flights are subject to government-required taxes and fees. This means that one-way flights departing the U.S. carry just the $5.60 security fee imposed on all award tickets.

Enjoy a lie-flat transcontinental flight

If you’re based on the East Coast or West Coast, you know the pain of getting to the opposite coast for business, a vacation or visiting friends and family. The flight is nearly as long as a flight to Europe, and the time change on an eastbound flight can leave you without a good night’s rest.

You can transfer just 52,000 Ultimate Rewards points to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and book a lie-flat, round-trip transcontinental ticket on United Airlines. You can also book a one-way for half the cost, and these can be reserved online. Just note that you must find saver award availability, which books into the I fare class on all Star Alliance airlines.

Transferring Ultimate Rewards points to Singapore Airlines can take up to 24 hours to process, and you can’t place holds on partner award tickets. I only recommend transferring points to Singapore Airlines once you’ve nailed down award space on your preferred route. Regardless, 52,000 miles is an incredible deal for lie-flat transcontinental business class, so it’s well worth it if you’re planning a trip from coast to coast.

Flying Blue is Air France and KLM‘s joint loyalty program and an Ultimate Rewards transfer partner. The program transitioned to dynamic award pricing years ago. While this has skyrocketed the price of some awards, there are still some good deals to be found, especially if you take advantage of Flying Blue’s famous Promo Rewards.

Every month, Flying Blue releases a new set of rewards discounted by 25% to 50% of the normal required mileage. Generally, the airline releases economy, premium economy and business-class Promo Rewards for different destinations worldwide, but all Promo Rewards originate or end in Europe. In the past, we have seen business-class flights to Europe for under 40,000 miles each way, which is an incredible deal.

Keep in mind, these discounted tickets must be booked by the end of the month and flown within a specified set of travel dates. Additionally, Promo Reward tickets must be booked online, and you can’t make any changes or cancellations. Nevertheless, 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points can get you a round-trip flight in business class to select destinations — and you may even have some points to spare.

Bottom line

The Ink Business Preferred Credit Card is one of the most rewarding business credit cards on the market, and the welcome bonus of 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points can go a long way toward your next vacation or business trip.

There are many different ways to use Ultimate Rewards points for maximum value. Hopefully, this post has given you a good jumping-off point for redeeming your newly minted Ultimate Rewards points.

Additional reporting by Ben Smithson.

news7g07/26/2023

7 8 minutes read