Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Airline Partners: Which Airlines Are Available? (2024)

One of the biggest benefits of a great travel rewards credit card is the ability to transfer your points to partner companies. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is one of our favorite travel credit cards and lets you transfer your points to any of Chase’s 11 airline travel partners, including JetBlue, Southwest, and United.

Your points transfer at their full value, and you can use them for airfare, upgrades, and other perks that each airline offers. You can also redeem your points for flights in the Chase Travel portal at an increased rate, so you have plenty of great options with these points.

Let’s take a closer look at Chase’s airline travel partners, how to transfer your points, and how to redeem your points for flights in the Chase Travel portal, if you’d rather go that route.

Key Takeaways

• Chase has partnerships with 11 airlines, including Air Canada, British Airways, Emirates Airlines, and more.
• You can typically transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to partner airlines at a 1:1 ratio. Every now and then, Chase runs transfer promotions for specific airlines that provide even better transfer rations.
• You can also book your flights through the Chase Travel portal for a simplified booking process and increased point redemption value.
• You can earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points for travel through the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s new cardmember bonus, spending bonuses, or even by transferring points from a different Chase card.

Who are the Chase Sapphire Preferred airline transfer partners?

Chase has 11 airline partners that allow you to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to their frequent flyer programs. You can use transferred points to purchase reward flights, upgrades to first class, and other perks.

Let’s take a look at Chase’s airline partners that you can transfer your points to.

These transfer options give you a lot of value because your points are moved from Chase to each of these programs on a 1:1 ratio. That means that 1 Chase Ultimate Rewards point is equal to 1 frequent flyer point or mile in redemption value.

Once your points actually make it to the airline partner, their value depends on the airline and what you’re using the points for.

Points have to be transferred in 1,000-point increments. For example, if you had 12,000 Ultimate Rewards points, you could only transfer 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, etc., points to your United MileagePlus account. You wouldn’t be able to transfer 1,500 or 3,200 points.

Generally, your points will transfer instantly to your frequent flyer account, but in some cases, it can take up to seven business days for the transaction to be completed. When I transferred points from my Chase Ultimate Rewards portal to United Airlines for my most recent trip, the points showed up in my United account right away.

To make sure the process is as seamless as possible, make sure the name on your Travel account exactly matches the name on your frequent flyer account. You can only transfer your points to your airline account or an authorized user’s account.

The value of booking with Chase Sapphire Preferred airline partners

As a Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholder, you can transfer your points to one of 11 airline partners to pay for tickets, upgrades, and other perks offered by frequent flyer programs.

The value you get when you transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to a partner airline varies depending on the redemption option you choose. Most partners offer a value of 1.2 to 1.6 cents per point, but if you use your points to book a premium ticket on an international flight, you may be able to get an even higher value.

Before transferring your Chase points to a partner airline, it’s worth exploring the value you’ll get. When you book your flights through Chase’s travel portal, you’ll get a value of 1.25 cents per point — use that as a benchmark when you’re deciding whether the transfer is worth it.

Example transfer

For example, you could transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program. Travelers have reported booking Business Class award flights on Singapore Airlines from the West Coast to Singapore for less than 100,000 KrisFlyer miles.

If you were to book a similar ticket with cash, it would cost you an average of $5,110. In this case, your points would be valued at over 5.1 cents each.

It can take some research to find the sweet spots for a transfer partner's rewards program, but the results can be well worth the time and effort.

How to transfer your points to Chase Sapphire Preferred airline partners

Before you transfer points, find the flight you’d like to redeem your points for on the partner airline’s website. Point transfers are one-way. Once you transfer your points from Chase, you can’t move them back. So, it’s important to know how many points you’ll need and how you’ll use them before you start the transfer process.

Once you know exactly how many points you want to transfer, here are your next steps:

1. Log into your Chase account and visit the Ultimate Rewards portal.

2. Select the option to “Transfer points to partners.” If you’re on a computer, you’ll find this in the menu along the top of the screen under the dropdown labeled “Travel.” If you’re on the Chase app, you’ll find it under the option “Redeem points.”

3. On the next screen, select the airline program for point transfer, review the details, and click “Transfer Points” to proceed.

4. Provide the necessary information on the next screen. You’ll choose which card user to transfer points to (if there’s more than one) and verify your airline program membership information.

5. Type in the number of points you want to transfer. Remember, you can only transfer points in increments of 1,000.

6. Review your transfer details one last time before officially submitting it. You can’t transfer your points back, so read the details extra carefully to make sure you’re transferring the right amount of points to the right program.

How to book through the Chase Travel portal

If you prefer the convenience of a one-stop shop, the Chase Travel portal makes it simple to book flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises, and other kinds of travel using points. It’s a good place to start researching flight times and prices, and it’s easy to pay for your flights in the portal using Ultimate Rewards points, a credit card, or a combination of both.

With certain Chase credit cards, like the Chase Freedom Flex^®, points are only valued at one cent each. However, with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you get added value. When you book through the Chase Travel portal using your Sapphire Preferred card, your points will be worth $0.0125 or 1.25 cents each, which can add up to significant savings.

And you even get this elevated point value for points earned on another Chase card. For example, I have both the Chase Freedom Unlimited^® and the Chase Sapphire Preferred in my wallet because there are some purchases where the Chase Freedom Unlimited gets me more points. When I’m ready to book a trip I can transfer the points from my Chase Freedom Unlimited to my Chase Sapphire Preferred and enjoy the 25% higher redemption rate.

It’s worth noting that, until recently, you could book flights with all of Chase’s transfer partner airlines — as well as some non-partner airlines — through the portal, except for Southwest Airlines, which required you to buy your tickets directly through them. This has changed, and you can now buy your Southwest tickets right in the Chase Travel portal.

If you’re opting to book your flight directly in the Chase Travel portal rather than by transferring your points to a partner airline, here are the steps you’ll need to follow:

1. Log into your Chase account and visit the Chase Travel portal. You can get there right from your homepage on either a computer or the Chase mobile app.

2. Search for flights by entering your departure and destination airports, your travel dates, whether it’s a one-way or round-trip flight, your desired travel class, and the number of travelers.

3. Review and sort the flight options in the results based on your preferences, such as airline, price, departure times, and number of stops.

4. Choose your flights, verify the schedule, provide necessary details, and enter your frequent flyer number if available to earn points.

5. When you reach the payment option, you will see how many points you have and how much the cost of the flight is in terms of dollars and points. You can choose to pay with points, a credit card, or both.

How to earn Chase Sapphire Preferred points

There are a handful of different ways you can earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points on your Chase Sapphire Preferred. First, Chase is currently offering 60,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months as a new cardmember.

You can also earn points in a bunch of different spending categories, including:

• 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
• 2X points on other travel purchases
• 3X points on dining, select streaming services, and online groceries
• 1X points for all other purchases

As we mentioned, you can also transfer the points from your other Chase cards to your Chase Sapphire Preferred to get the increased redemption rate when you’re booking your travel. This presents a great opportunity to maximize your point earnings.

For example, you can use your Chase Sapphire Preferred for the spending categories where it offers elevated rewards. Then for all other purchases, use something like the Chase Freedom Unlimited that offers 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.

Alternative Chase cards

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is hands-down one of my favorite travel credit cards, but it may not be the right choice for everyone. If you’re looking for an alternative, take a look at how this card stacks up to other popular Chase cards in the table below.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve^® is another great option for travelers who want to use their credit card points to book travel, while the Chase Freedom Flex and Chase Freedom Unlimited cards are solid options if you just want a great all-around rewards card.

FAQ

Bottom line

All in all, you have a lot of travel options to choose from when you use Chase Ultimate Rewards points with your Chase Sapphire Preferred card. You can use your points either through Chase’s travel portal or transfer those points over to your favorite frequent flyer program to get the benefits only offered by the airline carrier.

Which is the best move? Only you can answer that question. We’d recommend considering the value of the points in each airline’s frequent flyer program versus redeeming them directly through Chase. No matter what you decide, keep your points safely in your Chase account until you’re ready to use them, and check out all of your Chase travel partner options before committing your points to one option or another.