Best Ways To Use 100,000 Chase Points For Travel

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The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card launched its highest-ever sign-up bonus earlier this month, with the chance to earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first three months. If those numbers have you thinking about applying, you might be wondering what exactly you can do with all those points once you earn them. Quite a lot, in fact.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are among the most versatile rewards currencies around. Not only can you redeem Ultimate Rewards points for travel bookings made directly through Chase, but you can also transfer them to 10 airlines, such as United and Southwest, and three hotels, including Hyatt and Marriott. The possibilities are practically limitless. To give you some concrete ideas, though, here are 13 of the best ways to redeem 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points for travel.

Chase Sapphire Preferred details

First, a quick reminder of the card’s current terms.

Welcome offer

Earn 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.

Annual fee

$95

Earning points

The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns two points per dollar on travel and dining, and one per dollar on other purchases. Cardholders also earn five points per dollar on Lyft rides through March 2022.

Other benefits

This card offers some great travel protections, including trip interruption and cancellation coverage, and primary car rental insurance. It’s also an excellent card for international trips since it waives foreign transaction fees.

The best ways to redeem 100,000 Chase points for travel

Now that the basics are out of the way, here’s how to redeem all those bonus points. If you’re not familiar with the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, it involves what are known as transferable points because, well, they transfer to a number of other entities. Specifically, you can convert Chase Ultimate Rewards points at a 1:1 ratio to the following partner programs:

Airline partners

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• British Airways Executive Club
• Emirates Skywards
• Iberia Plus
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotel partners

• World of Hyatt
• IHG Rewards Club
• Marriott Bonvoy

You can also redeem Chase points for bookings directly through the issuer’s travel portal. With all that in mind, here are 13 great ways to redeem Chase points for travel.

1. Up to $1,250 toward travel through Chase

The easiest way to redeem Chase points is simply to cash them in for travel reservations through the Ultimate Rewards portal. With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, points are worth 1.25 cents apiece, so the welcome bonus adds up to a whopping $1,250 toward flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises, vacation rentals, and various activities.

This is a great option for folks who are looking for simple methods of redeeming their rewards for a variety of travel bookings rather than just tickets on a specific airline or nights with a particular hotel chain. This way, you don’t have to deal with patchy award availability (if airlines are selling all their seats or hotels are booking all their rooms, you won’t find any miles or points), and you can often get a higher per-point value redeemed this way instead of transferring to one of Chase’s airline or hotel partners.

That said, there are still excellent choices if you decide to go the transfer route.

2. Say aloha to Hawai‘i using British Airways Avios or Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles

You might not have thought to use miles from an international airline’s frequent flier program for domestic flights on U.S. carriers, but they can be some of the best ways to leverage Chase points. There are two prime examples.

British Airways is in the oneworld alliance with both American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, so you can redeem Avios (its term for “miles”) from B.A.’s Executive Club for flights on either U.S. carrier.

One reason you might want to do so is that British Airways only requires 13,000 Avios each way in economy on nonstop flights between most West Coast destinations in the United States, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle to Hawaiian hubs including Honolulu, Maui, Kaua‘i, and Kona. By contrast, American or Alaska would charge you 15,000–22,500 of their own miles each way, so that’s a significant savings.

If you add up the points from the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s welcome bonus plus the spending required to earn it, you’d have 104,000 Ultimate Rewards points—just enough for four round-trip flights to the islands via this channel.

Similarly, Singapore Airlines and Alaska Airlines are partners, and the former requires only 12,000 KrisFlyer miles (another Chase transfer option) each way on Alaska’s flights from California, Oregon, and Washington to Hawai‘i. You’d need just 96,000 of them for four round-trip tickets, and you’d still have some Chase points left in your account. 

3. Get pampered across the Pacific on All Nippon Airways using Virgin Atlantic points

Though you often have to pay sky-high taxes and fees when redeeming Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points for flights on Virgin Atlantic itself, you can also use them for some spectacular awards on its partner airlines. One, in particular, stands out.

Japan-based All Nippon Airways boasts some of the best premium seats and service across the Pacific. You need just 90,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points for a round-trip business-class award between the western U.S. and Japan, or 95,000 from the central and eastern U.S.

Want to fly ANA’s sumptuous new first-class suites instead? It’ll cost just 110,000–120,000 Virgin Atlantic points round-trip from the U.S. Sure, you’ll need slightly over 100,000 Chase points, but with the Sapphire Preferred’s earning rates, you can probably rack up the overage quickly.

And while that might still sound like a lot of points, considering United (a Star Alliance partner of ANA) would require 88,000 miles in business class and 121,000 in first class—each way—it’s a downright bargain.

4. Relish your Rapid Rewards with Southwest

Unlike some other frequent flier programs where you have to search for special award space to redeem miles, Southwest Rapid Rewards allows you to cash in points at fixed rates for any open seat on a flight. The more expensive the paid fares, the more points you’ll need. But if your flights are cheap, you need fewer points.

In general, you can get between 1.3 to 2 cents per Southwest point in value for tickets on the airline. So your 100,000 bonus points could be worth up to $2,000 in flights throughout Southwest’s robust network of routes both within the U.S. and to nearby destinations like Mexico and the Caribbean.

5. Enjoy the high life at Hyatt

Among Chase’s three hotel partners, World of Hyatt is probably the one to focus on thanks to its phenomenal award chart.

Properties in the program’s second-highest tier, Category 7, cost just 30,000 points per night. Those include places where nightly rates normally top $1,000 nightly, including the laid-back Alila Napa Valley and the tropical-mod Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort. With your 100,000-point bonus, you’d have more than enough points for three nights at one of them. Or you could drop down one level to Category 6, where nights at dreamy destinations like the Cape, a Thompson Hotel in Los Cabos or the Great Scotland Yard Hotel in London cost just 25,000 points apiece—so you could stretch your stay to four nights.

6. Stay TrueBlue to JetBlue

If you’re targeting inexpensive flights to nearby destinations, don’t rule out JetBlue. Like Southwest Rapid Rewards, the airline’s TrueBlue rewards program pegs its points to the price of a ticket rather than award availability buckets. So as long as there are seats for sale on a flight, you can redeem points for them.

You can typically get 1.3 to 1.4 cents per point in value this way. That’s not overwhelming, but it still represents a solid $1,300– $1,400 worth of airfare when you’re ready to take off. You might even be able to put some of those points to use flying the airline’s new Mint business class between the East and West Coasts or on the airline’s recently launched flights from New York to London.

7. Escape to España on Iberia

Iberia and British Airways are part of the same company but operate separate frequent flier programs, and there are some important differences. Iberia Plus Avios can help you fly from the U.S. to Europe, and within Europe, at inexpensive rates.

For example, you only need 34,000 Iberia Avios to fly from Boston, Chicago, or New York to Madrid either round-trip in coach, or one-way in business class on off-peak dates (usually less busy times that amount to around half the year). Flights from points farther south and west, including Los Angeles and Miami, require 42,500 Iberia Avios either round-trip in economy or one-way in business-class.

Starting with 100,000 Chase points, you’d have enough for two round-trip coach tickets from the U.S. to Spain, or one round-trip business-class seat and still have a sizable stash of points left over.

8. Profit from Promo Rewards on Air France–KLM

Air France–KLM has a joint frequent flier program called Flying Blue. Although they were mostly on hold during the pandemic, Flying Blue’s monthly list of rotating “Promo Rewards” offers discounts of between 25 to 50 percent off awards between certain cities and regions.

That can mean redeeming as few as 11,000 miles each way in economy and 28,750 miles in business class from various U.S. gateways to Europe. Before you get too excited, though, taxes and fees can run $200 to $300 each way, and discounts of 50 percent are rare.

9. High-priced short hauls on American Airlines

Back to British Airways Executive Club for this one. One of the program’s biggest strengths is that award prices are based on flight distance, so shorter flights require fewer Avios.

For example, you could hop on quick American Airlines flights from hubs like Miami and Dallas–Fort Worth to several destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico, like Cancún and Grand Cayman starting at just 7,500–9,000 Avios each way in economy.

Considering these flights can cost several hundreds of dollars apiece, this can be a great way to save some cash for your vacation instead. If you converted 100,000 Chase points to British Airways Avios, you’d have nearly enough for seven round-trip tickets—so bring along the entire family or a big group of friends.

10. Deal yourself into Delta One business class

Virgin Atlantic also partners with Delta, and though it recently raised its award requirements for some flights, you can still book seats in Delta business class between the U.S. and Europe (excluding the U.K.) for just 50,000 points each way. That’s a steal compared to the 95,000–115,000 miles or more that Delta charges its own SkyMiles members. Your Chase Sapphire Preferred bonus points would be enough for one round-trip business-class itinerary booked this way.

11. Crisscross the globe with KrisFlyer

You might have seen Singapore Airlines’ fabulous first-class suites or vaunted business-class cabins but never thought you’d get to experience them for yourself. That’s not because award tickets are super rare, per se, but rather that Singapore Airlines only tends to release premium award seats to folks redeeming miles from its own KrisFlyer frequent flier program. Enter Chase Ultimate Rewards, which transfer to KrisFlyer on a 1:1 basis.

You could redeem 95,000 KrisFlyer miles one-way to Singapore from Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Seattle, or 99,000 from New York in business class on the airline. This might not be the top choice for everyone since you’d blow through nearly your whole points haul in one go, but it might be worthwhile for 16–19 hours on one of the best airlines in the world.

12. Unfussy United bargains

Chase’s largest unique airline partner (meaning you can’t transfer other kinds of credit card points like Amex Membership Rewards or Capital One Miles) is United. While the airline’s MileagePlus program has repeatedly raised its rewards rates over the years, some bargains remain.

Namely, United has been hosting flash award sales with prices as low as 3,000 miles each way on short hops like Boston to Washington, D.C., and San Diego to San Francisco. From that perspective, 100,000 Chase points could net you 33 one-way tickets.

To look at it another way, the airline has been releasing more saver-level award space on its own international flights lately, including ones for just 60,000 miles each way in Polaris business class between the U.S. and European cities, including London and Frankfurt. You could book business class one way, and then economy for 30,000 miles in the other and have yourself a nice little European jaunt.

13. Stay longer with Marriott

Since it’s also offering 100,000 bonus points right now, if you’re interested specifically in Marriott points, you might want to apply for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card (earn 100,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first three months of account opening).

However, it’s also worth considering the Chase Sapphire Preferred since 100,000 bonus points would be enough for four nights (plus a fifth night free on award redemptions) at hotels ranging up to Category 4, including the W Istanbul and the new Tuxon Hotel in Tucson, where room rates generally range from $200 to $300 per night.

Mix, match, and maximize

Of course, the true value of Chase Ultimate Rewards is the fact that you can redeem them in multiple ways rather than settling on a single strategy. Think about your own upcoming travel plans and how you might be able to leverage the Ultimate Rewards program’s various redemption options and travel partners to get the most out of your points. With the possibility of 100,000 points to play around with, you’ll have a lot of choices available.

While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they are subject to change at any time, and may have changed or may no longer be available.

>>Next: The Chase Sapphire Preferred Just Raised Its Bonus to 100,000 Points