Have you ever had tons of airline miles, only to find that booking a flight with them feels impossible? That’s exactly what happened when Kathy called me in frustration. “Why can’t I find any flights using my points?” she asked, exasperated. Turns out, Kathy had Delta points, and every search returned sky-high prices – hundreds of thousands of points for a simple trip to Europe! 

A week later, Emily texted me with a similar issue – she was struggling to find a decent flight with her United points. The problem? They were relying on airline-specific points that can trap you into limited, and expensive, redemption options.

If you really want to unlock the best travel deals, the key is earning TRANSFERABLE POINTS. 

When it comes to maximizing your travel rewards, transferable points are indisputably the most valuable type of currency. These points, earned through various financial institutions, can be transferred directly to a variety of partner airlines or hotels.  This flexibility provides you the freedom to explore multiple options and find great redemption options that align with your travel goals.

Conversely, “branded points” are tied to specific airlines or hotels, which limits your redemption options to that particular brand.  For example, miles earned through an American Airlines co-branded credit card can only be redeemed with American Airlines or its partners, and points earned with a Hilton credit cards are only redeemable at Hilton hotels.

The primary transferable point programs include:

• Chase (Ultimate Rewards)
• Capital One Rewards
• Citi (Thank You Rewards)
• American Express (Membership Rewards)

How to use transferable points

Let’s explore how to maximize the potential of transferable points. For this example, we’ll focus on Chase Ultimate Rewards points, but the same principals apply to all the programs listed above. Ultimate Rewards points can be earned through a variety of Chase credit cards, including personal cards like the Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire Preferred, as well as business cards from the Chase Ink family. By strategically using these cards, you can accumulate a substantial pool of points, ready to be transferred to valuable travel partners.

After accumulating a stash of points from your welcome bonus and everyday spending, you have a three primary ways to use them:

• Option 1:  Buy gift cards on the Chase Ultimate Reward Site.  
• Option 2:  Use the Chase Travel Portal and purchase flights or hotels with your points.
• Option 3:  Transfer the points from Chase Ultimate Rewards to one of their transfer airline or hotel partners.

We don’t recommend Options 1 or 2 because you get the least value for your points.  

Option 1, buying gift cards with your points, it is at a 1:1 ratio, so you are only getting 1 cent value per point.

Option 2, booking through the Chase Travel Portal, is a slightly better redemption value of 1.25 – 1.5 center per point.  To understand how we reach this redemption rate, look at this example of booking a flight from New York to Milan in Business Class through the Chase Portal: