October 1, 2014 By Million Mile Secrets
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Update: The Chase Ink Plus 70,000 point offerisno longer available, but checkHot Dealsfor the latest offers! Update: You can no longer transferChase Ultimate Rewards points to Amtrak.
The increased sign-up bonus on the Chase Ink Plus business card is now available to everyone online! You’ll get 70,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $5,000 in the 1st 3 months.
Note:The Chase Ink Plus 70,000 point bonus offer ends on October 19, 2014.
Folks are excited about what they can get with all those points! When used for merchandise, gift cards, or cash back, 70,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points is worth $700 (1 cent per point). If redeemed for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, they’re worth$875 (1.25 cents per point).
But in my experience, the best way to get the most out of Chase Ultimate Rewards points is to transfer them to airline and hotel partners. You can get thousands of dollars worth of travel by transferring them to partners like Hyatt, United Airlines, or Southwest!
Are you wondering about the best ways to use 70,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points? I’ll show you!
How to Make the Most of 70,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
Link: Chase Ink Plus 70,000 Point Limited Time Offer
Link: Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partners
1. Transfer Points to United Airlines
Link: United Airlines Award Chart
70,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to United Airlines can get you lots of travel on United Airlines and their partners.
For example, you could get a round-trip, coach class ticket from North America to Japan for 70,000 points and ~$48 in taxes and fees.
I checked the United Airlines website to see what a ticket to Tokyo would cost in early April. That’s when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom!
The cheapest ticket from Washington, DC, to Tokyo is $1,946! And on some days, you’ll pay as much as $2,739.
That’s an amazing value just from 1 credit card sign-up bonus!
2. Transfer Points to Southwest
Link: How to Redeem Southwest Points
You have lots of options for using 70,000 points on Southwest. Their award tickets are revenue-based, which means the number of points needed depends on the cash price of a ticket.
Generally, Southwest points are worth ~1.43 cents per point. So 70,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to Southwest are worth ~$1,001.
With 70,000 points (plus some of the points you’ll earn from meeting minimum spending requirements), a family of 4 could fly round-trip from Buffalo to Aruba for a tropical winter vacation! Note that you will pay higher taxes and fees because Aruba charges departure and facility taxes.
This is still a bargain, because the cash price of these tickets is ~$1,555!
Note: Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to Southwest do NOT count towards the Companion Pass.
3. Transfer Points to British Airways
Link: British Airways Avios Award Calculator
Transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to use on British Airways flights isn’t generally a good deal, because British Airways adds high fuel surcharges.
But a great way to use British Airways Avios points is for short-haul trips on partner American Airlines. That’s because flights under 650 miles only cost 4,500 miles 1-way, or 9,000 miles round-trip in coach class.
So 70,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to British Airways could get you almost 16 short haul 1-way flights, or 8round-trips (8 round trips x 9,000 points = 72,000 points).
I priced out a round-trip coach class ticket in March from New York to Toronto, a distance of 357 miles. The cheapest fare was $361!
You could buy almost 8 round-trip award tickets using the sign-up bonus from the Chase Ink Plus card. That’s worth at least ~$2,888! And depending on destination and price, your points could be worth even more.
4. Transfer Points to Virgin Atlantic
Link: Virgin Atlantic Award Charts
Transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic is usually not a good value, because they add high fuel surcharges to award tickets.
You could get 2 round-trip coach class award tickets from New York to London for 70,000 miles, but you’d also pay $1,000 in fuel surcharges.
A cheap paid ticket for the same route costs ~$1,254, so 2 round-trip tickets cost ~$2,508 (2 x ~$1,254). So you’re really only getting a value of ~$1,508, because you’d pay $1,000 for 2 award tickets.
That’s not bad, as long as you don’t mind paying the fuel surcharges. But I prefer using Virgin Atlantic miles other ways, like transferring them to Hilton at a 3:2 ratio.
5. Transfer Points to Singapore Airlines
Link: Singapore Airlines Award Chart
Singapore Airlines also adds fuel surcharges to their own award tickets, but if you don’t mind paying a little more, 70,000 points could get you some very Big Travel with Small Money.
You could get a 1-way First Class ticket from San Francisco to Hong Kong on Singapore Airlines for 70,125 miles (including the 15% online booking discount) and ~$130.
But here’s what makes this an incredible way to use your Chase Ink Plus sign-up bonus. The cash price of the exact same ticket is ~$7,905! You’re getting close to $8,000 in value from 1 credit card!
Singapore Airlines may just be the most value you can get from the Chase Ink Plus 70,000 point sign-up bonus!
6. Transfer Points to Korean Air
Link: Korean Air Award Chart
There could be situations where transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Korean Air is a good deal. That’s because you can use Korean Air miles on SkyTeam and other partners, and some awards are cheaper using Korean Air miles.
For example, if you transferred 75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (70,000 points from the sign-up bonus +5,000 points from meeting minimum spending) to Korean Air, you could use them for 3 round-trip coach class award tickets to Hawaii on Delta!
That’s because Korean Air recently changed their partner award chart, and now considers Hawaii to be part of North America. So round-trip coach class tickets cost only 25,000 miles!
That said, do NOT transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Korean Air until you know there are award seats available on Delta. It can be difficult to find available award seats!
I priced 3 coach class tickets from New York to Honolulu in February and the cheapest I could find on Delta was ~$2,579!
That’s a good deal for 75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points!
7. Transfer Points to Hyatt
Link: Hyatt Award Chart
Emily and I often transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt, because they’re 1 of our favorite hotel chains and you can often get very expensive rooms for a reasonable amount of points.
70,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points is enough for 2 nights (at 30,000 points per night) at the top category Park Hyatt Paris – Vendome. Emily and I stayed here on our honeymoon and loved it!
And you’d have 10,000 points left over!
If you paid for those nights, you’d pay almost $2,000 or more, depending on the season!
If you wanted to stretch your points, Hyatt’s category 1 to 4 hotels cost 5,000 to 15,000 points per night, and some of them are very nice!
8. Transfer Points to IHG Hotels
Link: IHG Hotels Award Nights
IHG hotels include Candlewood Suites, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo, Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts, and Staybridge Suites brand hotels. Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts tend to be the most expensive and luxurious, with their top category hotels costing 50,000 points per night.
You could get 1 night in an Emerald Overwater Villa at the Intercontinental Bora Bora Resort and Thalasso Spa, and still have20,000 points left over. If you paid cash for the room (refundable rate), it would cost 110,902 Francs (~$1,196)!
And with your 20,000 points left over, you could get 4 more nights in an IHG PointBreaks room (5,000 points per night). That’s a great deal!
9. Transfer Points to Marriott
Link: Marriott Award Chart
The 70,000 point Chase Ink Plus sign-up bonus is worth 2 nights at a Category 7 Marriott (35,000 points per night).
You could treat yourself to a mini-vacation in New York City and stay at the Courtyard New York Manhattan Herald Square, which is near Madison Square Garden and Times Square.
This hotel’s rates start at $400 per night before taxes during peak season! You’d pay $925 including taxes for a 2-night stay in July.
This might not be as good as transferring points to other hotel chains, but if you like Marriott hotels this could be a good deal for you.
10. Transfer Points to Ritz-Carlton
Link: Ritz-Carlton Award Chart
If you’re feeling indulgent, you could transfer your 70,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points from the Chase Ink Plus to Ritz-Carlton, which are some of the most exclusive hotels in the world.
Note: Ritz-Carlton and Marriott are actually the same award program, with different branding! If you transfer points to either program you can use them for award stays at both hotel chains.
Maybe you’d like to splurge on 1 night at the top tier Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch in Colorado for a winter ski break? You’ll spend 70,000 points.
To compare, 1 night during peak season costs ~$1,515 (including the $50 resort fee)!
I don’t like skiing that much to pay 70,000 points or ~$1,515 for 1-night at this hotel, but I know some folks who would jump at the chance to use points for a stay like this!
11. Transfer Points to Amtrak
Link: Amtrak Guest Rewards
Most folks don’t consider trains when they think about luxury travel, but you could get a lot of value from transferring your 70,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Amtrak.
For example, a 1-way First Class train ticket between New York and Washington, DC, costs 12,000 points. So with 2,000 of the extra points you’ll get from meeting minimum spending, you could get 6 1-way tickets with the Chase Ink Plus sign-up bonus.
That’s because it’s 72,000Chase Ultimate Rewards points (12,000 for a 1-way First Class Amtrak ticket X 6 tickets).
A paid 1-way First Class ticket can cost $321 or more during peak times.
So if you used your sign-up bonus for 6 of these tickets, you’d get $1,926 or more in value (6 tickets x $321 per ticket). Who knew the train could be such a good way to use points?
Bottom Line
You’ll get the most value from the Chase Ink Plus 70,000 point increased-sign up bonus by transferring them to airline and hotel partners.
Depending on which partner you transfer to and how you choose to use the points, you could get over $7,000 in travel – just from 1 credit card!
Which Chase Ultimate Rewards partner would you transfer your points to?
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Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)
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