Following is a guide on how to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to the Chase travel partners.
(For a list of all of the travel transfer partners see related post: List of Chase Ultimate Rewards Airline & Hotel Transfer Partners.)
How to Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to Travel Partners
Not All Ultimate Rewards Can Be Transferred Directly to Travel Partners
Not all Ultimate Rewards points can be directly transferred to the airline and hotel partners. Only “premium” cards let you transfer your points from your account to a travel partner. However, if you have a premium card you can also indirectly transfer your other Ultimate Rewards points.
There are 2 type of credit cards that earn Ultimate Rewards: 1) premium cards (charge an annual fee after the first year) and 2) no annual fee cards:
1. Premium Ultimate Reward Cards:
• Personal: Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve
• Business: Ink Plus (no longer offered to new applicants) and Ink Business Preferred
If you have one of the premium Ultimate Rewards credit cards listed in (1) above, Ultimate Rewards in that account DIRECTLY transfer to airline and hotel partners.
2. No Annual Fee Ultimate Reward Cards (also sometimes referred to as cash back cards):
• Personal: Sapphire, Freedom (both no longer offered to new applicants), Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited
• Business: Ink Business Cash and Ink Business Unlimited
Ultimate Rewards in a no annual fee credit card account DO NOT directly transfer to partners but can indirectly transfer if you have one of the premium Ultimate Rewards cards. The way to transfer Ultimate Rewards points from one of the cards listed in (2) above, is to transfer the points to an account of one of the premium Ultimate Rewards cards (Chase calls this combine points). See related post How To Combine or Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points Between Accounts.
Example: So if you only have a Chase Freedom Flex credit card, points from your Chase Freedom Flex account cannot be transferred to an airline or hotel program. However, if you have a Chase Freedom Flex AND a Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you can transfer (or combine) points from your Freedom account into your Chase Sapphire Preferred account and then transfer from your Chase Sapphire Preferred to airline and hotel partners.
How to Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to Travel Partners
If you have Ultimate Rewards points in a premium card account, here are the steps to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to a transfer partner:
- Visit the Ultimate Rewards website. You can either access it from your Chase account (click on “Redeem rewards” under your Ultimate Rewards balance) or log in directly at https://ultimaterewardspoints.chase.com.
- You will be presented with the balances of all your credit card accounts and you pick which account to transfer from (has to be a card allows direct transfers).
- To transfer points, click on “Transfer to Travel Partners” from the options on the left side or top of the screen. (You will not see this option for the non-premium Ultimate Rewards cards.)
You will see any travel programs you have created a profile for as well as a list of all the Ultimate Rewards transfer partners. As you can see, only my United account is saved right now.
If you want to save another frequent flyer program, click on that program and enter account information.
As you can see, you can also transfer Ultimate Rewards points to a travel partner account of one another person that is an authorized user on your card and a household member.
Make sure that the name on your Chase account exactly matches the account name you are transferring to. Even minor variations could result in transfer failure.
Most point transfer requests process instantly. However, timing varies depending on the participating frequent travel program and can sometimes take up to 7 business days. Right now the only two partners that don’t transfer instantly are Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer (usually process within two business days) and Marriott Bonvoy™ (usually process by the next business day).
Transfer Points Rules
- You can transfer Ultimate Rewards points in 1,000 point increments.
- You can only transfer Ultimate Rewards points to participating frequent travel program accounts belonging to you, or one additional household member who is listed as an authorized user on your card account. Once you transfer points to an authorized user, that person will be the only authorized user on your account eligible to receive point transfers.
- All points transferred are final and cannot be reversed. Make sure that award tickets/stays are available before you move your points to airlines or hotel programs.
