topic Re: What am I missing about the Chase combo? in Credit Cards

What am I missing about the Chase combo?

EAJuggalo — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 15:45:32 GMT

I have three Chase cards: Freedom, FU and CSP. When I go online and check the travel portal to get the 25% bonus on my UR points I come away dejected. I find better deals from companies that aren't available through the portal, through my other cards or just by using cash. What am I missing? The only time I've been able to use them for travel was a 1:1 transfer to Southwest.

Re: What am I missing about the Chase combo?

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 15:50:09 GMT

You're not missing anything. I don't even understand why this question is here. Looks like you figured it out. The best use of your points (in most cases) is to transfer to partners. It's common knowledge.

Re: What am I missing about the Chase combo?

UpperNwGuy — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 15:56:53 GMT

Forget the portal. Transfer your miles to United, Southwest, Air France (for Delta), or British Airways (for American).

Re: What am I missing about the Chase combo?

AverageJoesCredit — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 16:00:59 GMT

The soda?

Re: What am I missing about the Chase combo?

simplynoir — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 16:03:36 GMT

The combo is to help you maximize your UR earnings with regards to your spend. Essentially, you take advantage of the quarterly categories on the Freedom, dining/travel on the CSP and everything else on the FU. How your points are spent are best used for transfers as the other posts point out.

Re: What am I missing about the Chase combo?

K-in-Boston — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 16:06:27 GMT

The portal is essentially the same as other travel portals (Kayak, Expedia, etc.), no better no worse for availability and pricing. With CSP you're essentially getting 1.25 cents per point toward a purchase there. As others stated, the key to the Chase UR trio is to transfer your UR points to your preferred rewards program for far more value. My choice is personally Marriott, and I'm averaging over 2 cents of value per UR point this year.

Re: What am I missing about the Chase combo?

EAJuggalo — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 16:07:32 GMT

It seemed everyone was talking about using the portal to get the 25% bonus but I haven't found anything on the portal that is a better deal than I can get elsewhere even if you include the 25%. Good to know.

Re: What am I missing about the Chase combo?

simplynoir — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 16:12:12 GMT

@EAJuggalo wrote:
It seemed everyone was talking about using the portal to get the 25% bonus but I haven't found anything on the portal that is a better deal than I can get elsewhere even if you include the 25%. Good to know.

The Chase portal (a lot of portals for that matter) is there probably more for comfort's sake for customers. They see that extra 25% they can get for their points when transferring and think it's a good deal when it's really not as you discovered.

Re: What am I missing about the Chase combo?

mongstradamus — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 16:12:31 GMT

@UpperNwGuy wrote:
Forget the portal. Transfer your miles to United, Southwest, Air France (for Delta), or British Airways (for American).

just would note sometimes its better for Ke for delta especially if you are an east coaster trying to get to hawaii 25k RT is quite nice if you can find availability that is :-)

Re: What am I missing about the Chase combo?

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 16:18:33 GMT

I recently booked a United flight through the Chase portal because it was a better deal and I see better deals through the portal all the time. The flight through United was $300 round trip, or 50K miles. The same itinerary through the Chase portal was $253 or just under 17K UR points (I get 50% additional value on UR points booking through Chase). I don't feel like transferring points at 1:1 to another travel partner is always a better deal, many times not. I must be the one missing something.

Re: What am I missing about the Chase combo?

mongstradamus — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 17:50:33 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I recently booked a United flight through the Chase portal because it was a better deal and I see better deals through the portal all the time. The flight through United was $300 round trip, or 50K miles. The same itinerary through the Chase portal was $253 or just under 17K UR points (I get 50% additional value on UR points booking through Chase). I don't feel like transferring points at 1:1 to another travel partner is always a better deal, many times not. I must be the one missing something.

For economy flights sometimes its not usually the best deal . If you try and redeem for international J or F flights its usually a lot better deal i feel. I just used some UR to UA to fly eva business RT. used 160k UR for 4800 flight so not bad value.

Re: What am I missing about the Chase combo?

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 19:23:40 GMT

@mongstradamus wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I recently booked a United flight through the Chase portal because it was a better deal and I see better deals through the portal all the time. The flight through United was $300 round trip, or 50K miles. The same itinerary through the Chase portal was $253 or just under 17K UR points (I get 50% additional value on UR points booking through Chase). I don't feel like transferring points at 1:1 to another travel partner is always a better deal, many times not. I must be the one missing something.
For economy flights sometimes its not usually the best deal . If you try and redeem for international J or F flights its usually a lot better deal i feel. I just used some UR to UA to fly eva business RT. used 160k UR for 4800 flight so not bad value.

Yes. And with the CSR 1.5 (vs CSP 1.25) using UR points at the portal will be at least an OK option more of the time (avoiding the need to have award avaiilabilty, earn miles on the flight etc). But for international premium cabin, transfers is really the only way to go.