10 Great Ways to Use a Big Chase Ultimate Rewards Bonus

In the world of travel and points and miles, nothing beats having Chase Ultimate Rewards points – the points you earn from cards like the *csp*, the *csr*, or even business cards like the *ink preferred*.

Sure, a stash of Delta SkyMiles or American AAdvantage miles can be great. But with Chase, you have far more flexibility and value. You can book almost any flight or hotel directly through Chase Travel℠ … or better yet, send points straight to more than a dozen different airline and hotel Chase transfer partners.

To help you figure out how to spend your bonus points, we've rounded up some of our favorites.

Take a Flight Deal & Make it Free

One of our favorite ways to use any frequent flyer points is booking the cheap domestic or international flight deals you find via Google Flights or with a Thrifty Traveler Premium subscription. And the absolute best way to book them is with Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

That’s because your Chase points get a bonus when you've got the Chase Sapphire or Ink Preferred (or even farther with the Reserve card) and book through Chase Travel℠. Every point you've got from a Sapphire or Ink Preferred Card is worth 1.25 cents toward travel. With the Sapphire Reserve, that jumps to 1.5 cents apiece. 

That means a stash of 60,000 Chase points is worth at least $750 in airfare, hotels, or other travel expenses. And there's a kicker: You'll still earn miles when you fly using your points this way, unlike a traditional airline award ticket. Plus, there are no extra fees or taxes. You can take a cheap flight and truly make it free.

As an example, here’s a recent deal we sent to our Thrifty Traveler Premium subscribers for flights to beautiful Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. You could fly to Calgary (YYC), just an hour away, for under $200 roundtrip this coming spring and summer – peak travel season!

By booking this flight with points from your Chase Sapphire or Ink Preferred, it would cost you less than 13,000 points. 

Booking flights directly through the Chase travel portal is one of the easiest ways to redeem points for travel, period. You'll even earn miles when you take your free flight! Best of all, you can book flights on almost any airline using this method.

Read more: How to Book Flights Through the Chase Travel Portal

3 (or More!) Roundtrip Tickets to Hawaii

It's tough to top a trip to Canada in the summer … but the Hawaiian Islands are up to the task. You can book three or more round-trip tickets to Honolulu (HNL) with a big Chase bonus. So much for Hawaii being an expensive place to get to, right?

This is where turning to Chase transfer partners really shines, as you have several options to book round-trip flights to the Hawaiian islands for about 30,000 points each – or much less.

If you time it right, you can get to Hawaii for under 20,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points, as with this round-trip flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Honolulu (HNL). And because Chase points transfer to Southwest on a 1:1 basis, 19,000 Chase points is all you need.

Even though Southwest recently moved to dynamic award pricing, converting your Ultimate Rewards into Rapid Rewards can still make sense … and this is a prime example. Rather than paying $334 apiece, you could turn to the Chase Travel portal and book for 27,000 Chase points per ticket. But by taking an extra step and first moving your points to Southwest, you can save nearly 8,000 points per ticket and get 1.7 cents per point in value – far better than what the portal offers. 

There are some other great ways to get to Hawaii using points. For years, British Airways was at the top of the list, charging just 26,000 Avios to book roundtrip flights from the West Coast to Hawaii on American or Alaska Airlines. A handful of devaluations later, those exact same flights now cost 40,000 Avios total.

But there's a workaround you can use to book those same flights for less. Because they all share Avios as a mileage currency, you can transfer Avios between British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Qatar Airways, and even Finnair. That means you can transfer Chase points to British Airways … then kick them over to Finnair.

Why the extra step? Because you …

• can book Alaska-operated flights to and from Hawaii for 13,500 Avios each way
• Flying American, it'll cost you 15,000 Finnair Avios each way

Best of all, you can even book flights with connections at these same rates – a huge advantage over redeeming miles through British Airways or even Qatar Airways, which require you to book shorter nonstop flights from the West Coast in order to get the best deal. 

The hitch with using Finnair Avios is that you'll need to call up Finnair at one of its U.S. customer service centers to book these deals – or use its handy (though slow) online chat function to book.

Read more on our favorite ways to get to Hawaii using points!

A Roundtrip for 2 to Europe – Or 1 in Business Class

“European vacation” and “cheap” generally don't go well together. But you could use some Chase points and make it a reality – and even fly in style.

Again, you'll want to transfer your Chase points. This time, you're going to send them to Iberia – the Spanish airline offering some of the lowest rates to get to Europe and back. Chase points transfer to Iberia on a 1:1 basis. That means 34,000 points gets you 34,000 Iberia Avios. Got at least 68,000 points with Chase? That's 68,000 Avios – or maybe even more if you time it right with a transfer bonus to Iberia or one of its partner airlines.

And those numbers aren't random. Using Iberia, you can fly from Boston (BOS), New York City-JFK (JFK), Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD), or Chicago-O'Hare to Madrid (Madrid) for as low as 34,000 miles roundtrip. At that dirt-cheap rate, a stash of 60,000 points is almost enough for two roundtrip flights to Europe!

Traveling solo – or feeling selfish? Why not use those points to fly business class to Spain instead? You can do it for just 68,000 miles roundtrip! That's less than most airlines charge for a one-way business class ticket. Study up on how to book Iberia business class seats for cheap.

With Iberia business class, you're in for a treat. The seats are plenty spacious and recline all the way into a comfortable bed and the food is tasty.

But if you time it right, you might be able to multiply your points by taking advantage of a transfer bonus. Chase regularly offers a big bonus on transfers to Iberia – as well as British Airways and Aer Lingus. By taking advantage of a 30% transfer bonus, you'd only need 53,000 Chase points for the roundtrip. 

Considering these business class flights typically cost $4,000 or more when paying cash, it's a phenomenal way to use Chase points. And with a Thrifty Traveler Premium alert like this one, it's fairly easy to book as long as you have the points.

Read our step-by-step guide on how to book Iberia business class!

Lie-Flat to London for 29K (or Less)

There's a brand-new way to get to London flying business class, and it came out of nowhere. 

Last fall, Virgin Atlantic sent shockwaves through the travel community: It's long-feared transition to dynamic award pricing was … actually a good thing! How?

Here's how: Booking Virgin Atlantic Upper Class, award rates dropped as low as just 29,000 points each way. Better yet, the taxes and fees fell from an eye-watering $1,000-plus to just $250 (or so). 

You might have a hard time finding rates this low now, after the British airline caused a virtual stampede from travelers with Chase points to book up nearly everything. But at just 6,000 points and $74 each way, economy is a much better bargain now, too. Ditto for Premium Economy at 10,500 points and just over $100 for a one-way across the pond.

But it could be even cheaper: Chase regularly rolls out transfer bonuses of 20% to 40% when moving points to Virgin Atlantic … including the current 25% bonus. That means 24,000 Chase points is all you need to book a lie-flat ride to London.

Book Free Hotel Nights with Hyatt

It's not just flights. You can also book hotels using a big Chase bonus. And with Chase points, you've got an ace in the hole: Hyatt.

With free nights starting as low as just 3,500 points per night, World of Hyatt is arguably the most valuable hotel loyalty program. Since Chase points transfer to Hyatt 1:1, you've got a whole bunch of them at your disposal.

So with a bonus of 60,000 points (or so), you could:

• Cover up to 17 nights (a whole month!) at the cheapest Hyatt properties!
• Book up to two free nights at the new, all-inclusive Secrets Tulum Resort & Spa.
• Get up to three free nights at the Park Hyatt Zanzibar. Better yet, some of Hyatt's top-tier hotels, like the Park Hyatt Siem Reap in Cambodia, are bookable from just 12,000 points per night. You'd have enough for five nights here with a big 60,000-point bonus! 

Read More: Why Hyatt is the Best Hotel Rewards Program

Score a Business Class Suite to Tokyo

This isn't just business class. It's ANA's The Room business class. And you can book your trip to Japan flying this with Chase points.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) might not be a Chase transfer partner, but Virgin Atlantic is … and even after a recent devaluation, this is still one of the cheapest ways to fly in style. You can fly from the western U.S. to Tokyo and back for just 105,000 Virgin Atlantic points or 120,000 points from Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) or East Coast cities. One-ways are half the price.

If you time it right with one of the frequent transfer bonuses from Chase to Virgin, like the current 25% bonus, you'll have more than enough points for a one-way flight to Tokyo in business class … no matter where you're starting from.

Just be warned: Finding the award availability to actually book these seats with points has been next to impossible. 

Roundtrip to Singapore – or One-Way in Business Class

Maybe it's the hawker centers with Michelin star food for a few bucks. Maybe it's the twinkling light shows each night in the Garden by the Bay. Maybe it's a byproduct of the hit film Crazy, Rich Asians.

Chase points can get you on a long flight to Singapore on one of the world's best airlines.

You could transfer these points to Singapore Airlines and book a roundtrip in economy for just 84,000 miles from West Coast cities like Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), or Seattle (SEA). The 15-hour flight won't be so bad with Singapore's spacious seats and stellar service.

But we won't blame you if you want to splurge for some extra space for some of the longest flights in the world. So you could also put these points for a one-way business class ticket. And on Singapore Airlines, that's hard to beat.

Read our full review of Singapore Airlines business class!

Singapore has some of the biggest and best business class seats you'll find in the skies. But it's the service and dining where Singapore business class truly shines.

You can book a one-way ticket starting at 107,000 miles using Singapore's KrisFlyer miles – a 1:1 Chase transfer partner. Even a business class flight on the world's longest flight – the nearly 19-hour journey from New York City (JFK) to Singapore – clocks in at 111,500 miles and less than $6 in taxes and fees. Spending 19 hours in business class for a bucket-list trip to Singapore? Yes, please.

But there's an even better way. After pairing up with Air Canada, you can now book these exact same Singapore business class flights for just 87,500 Aeroplan points each way. And since Aeroplan is another Chase transfer partner, your stash of Chase points will have you set.

Fly Lufthansa First Class

If you're looking to splurge for a true bucket list experience, you can't beat flying Lufthansa first class to Europe.

This is truly one of the best ways to fly. While Lufthansa first class disappeared throughout much of the pandemic, it's made a triumphant return to the U.S. as the German flag carrier has redeployed its Boeing 747 fleet to cities like Chicago-O'Hare (ORD), Miami (MIA), Los Angeles (LAX), and Newark (EWR). First Class on the Airbus A380 or A340-600 is another option, including some flights into Munich (MUC) instead of Frankfurt.

But honestly, nothing beats sitting in the nose of a 747, sipping on champagne and noshing on a five-plus course meal (including caviar) on your way across the Atlantic Ocean.

But the Lufthansa first class experience goes far beyond the plane. Whether you're connecting onward elsewhere in Europe or just flying back to the states from Frankfurt (FRA), you'll get access to the incomparable Lufthansa First Class Terminal. And it's so much more than just lounge.

You can skip security at the airport altogether and get scanned in at the lounge itself. There are private sleeping rooms, amazing shower suites, top-notch meals on offer, and even a cigar lounge at the First Class Terminal. You'll be assigned your own attendant to alert you when it's time to catch your flight – then hop in a Porsche for a private ride on the tarmac straight to your plane.

But how to book? Your best bet is, yet again, using Air Canada Aeroplan miles. With Aeroplan, you can book a one-way flight in Lufthansa First class for just 90,000 to 100,000 points each way or more, if you're starting from the West Coast. You can even connect through Frankfurt and continue onward to elsewhere in Europe for the same rate.

Just beware that booking these awards requires a lot of flexibility. You can only book Lufthansa first class within 14 days of departure using partner airline programs like Aeroplan – and oftentimes, you can only find award availability within just three or four days before the flight departs.

Qatar Qsuites from 70K Each Way

Qatar Qsuites are the best business class seats in the world, period. And for years, the best way to book them was redeeming American AAdvantage miles – a program you won't find on the list of Chase transfer partners. 

Things have changed. 

These days, the #1 way to book Qsuites is by using Qatar's own Avios. Unlike American (which only allows you to book flights 330 days in advance), you can book nearly a full year in advance when using Qatar Avios. That gives you critical window to snag your Qsuite before other travelers have the chance. 

Read our full review of flying Qatar Qsuites!

While you won't find Qatar on the list of Chase transfer partners, British Airways is. And because you can combine Avios between airlines, you can send Chase points to British Airways, then kick them over to Qatar Airways and book. 

How many Chase points will it cost you? It depends on where you're going:

• Nonstops between the U.S. and Doha (DOH) will cost you 70,000 Avios each way – though you might see more flights at twice that rate
• Flying to Middle Eastern destinations like Dubai (DXB), Abu Dhabi (AUH) or Muscat (MCT) costs 75,000 miles.
• Other destinations like Amman (AMM) and Cairo (CAI) as well as major Indian cities go up to 80,000 miles each way.
• Getting to the Seychelles (SEZ) or Maldives (MLE) will run you 85,000 miles each way.
• Both Southeast Asia and South Africa typically cost 95,000 miles each way.

Read our full guide to booking flights with Qatar Avios!

Qatar tacks on about $250 for a nonstop flight in business class and north of $300 when making a connection. Still, that's a small price to pay for one of the best business class experiences in the world. 

Book a Thrifty Traveler Premium+ Hotel Deal 

Less than a year after launching, we've sent more than 100 Hotel Alerts to Thrifty Traveler Premium+ members to help travelers use their points to book some of the best properties all over the world, ranging from overwater suites in the Maldives to luxury all-inclusives in the Caribbean and 5-star hotels in Japan. 

You could easily book two nights at the most rare U.S. property bookable with Hyatt points: Alila Big Sur. 

With cash prices of $3,000 a night or more, this is one of the most aspirational properties for points and miles aficionados, period. So go figure, it's also one of the hardest to book with points. An alert like this is a godsend if this property is on your wish list. 

You can regularly scroll through the entire calendar without seeing more than one or two random dates bookable with points. But we just sent Thrifty Traveler Premium+ members a hotel alert with wide-open award space for early next, all bookable for 45,000 points per night … or less! 

Of course, you could also use your Chase points at top-tier Marriott properties (for less value). A great use of these points would be at a prime resort in Florida on the coast near Jacksonville where we found nights bookable for under 90,000 Marriott points all year long: The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island.

Marriott points won't get you nearly as far as Hyatt. But considering this property typically charges $1,300 or more during the peak season, this is a stellar Marriott Bonvoy redemption that we sent to our subscribers.

Join Thrifty Traveler Premium+ (or upgrade your current Premium account) now!

How to Earn Chase Points

These redemptions don’t mean a thing if you don’t have any Chase Ultimate Rewards points to your name. Luckily, it’s easy to pile up Chase points, with plenty of cards to pick from.

The *csp* is a great option for anyone getting started with points and miles because you can easily come out way ahead on the card's low $95 annual fee. And best of all, the card comes with a big welcome offer bonus for new applicants: bonus_miles_full

Learn more about the *csp*

For the more seasoned traveler looking for premium perks, the *chase sapphire reserve* is hard to beat. That’s because it comes with an outstanding set of benefits like an easy-to-use $300 annual travel credit, a free Priority Pass lounge membership, up to $120 toward Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS enrollment, and much more. Those perks can easily outweigh the $550 annual fee. 

Here's the current offer: bonus_miles_full

Learn more about the *chase sapphire reserve*.

For small business owners looking to add to their stash of Chase Ultimate Rewards points, there's perhaps no better option than the *chase ink preferred*.

The Ink Preferred offers solid ongoing return on spending and strong travel benefits. Best of all, the card has a low annual fee of just $95 – making it worth a spot in your wallet for the long run.

With the current bonus offer, you can bonus_miles_full

Learn more about the *chase ink preferred*

Then there are the no annual fee Chase business cards – both the *chase ink unlimited*, and the *chase ink cash*. While both of these cards earn cash back, you'll be able to turn those into Ultimate Rewards points as long as you pair either card with a Chase Sapphire or Ink Preferred card. And both cards also offer solid bonuses.

Bottom Line

This is just the start of what could be an endless list of ways to use a big bonus of Chase points for travel – or other expenses. This list is truly just the tip of the iceberg.

And that's why we love Chase points so much – and why we always encourage travelers to start with Chase credit cards before moving on to other banks.