Chase Ultimate Rewards: Transfer partners & transfer times [updated 2023 Edition]

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Chase Ultimate Rewards offers cardholders of select Chase credit cards the opportunity to earn one of the four big transferable currencies in the miles & points world – Ultimate Rewards points – and these points can be transferred across to a variety of other loyalty programs affiliated to major airlines and hotel chains.

While Chase’s transfer partner lineup may not be as strong as the lineup offered by American Express, the earning rates on some of Chase’s Ultimate rewards cards and a number of unique partners make the Ultimate Rewards program very compelling.

Chase Ultimate Rewards

At the time of writing, Chase Ultimate Rewards has 14 transfer partners which are split into 11 airline partners and 3 hotel partners – that’s noticeably fewer partners than American Express and fewer partners than Citi, but it’s quality, not quantity that’s paramount here.

Chase Airline Transfer Partners

The list of Chase airline transfer partners isn’t bad, but it’s not exactly stellar either, although the addition of Air Canada’s Aeroplan program as a partner (from 3 August 2021) definitely gave the list a stronger look.

The big positive for Chase is that it is the only credit card issuer whose points can be transferred over to United Airlines – for a US bank issuing cards to US customers that’s quite a big deal.

As Aer Lingus Avios, British Airways Avios, and Iberia Avios can be easily transferred between their respective programs (for most people), it’s hard not to view them as one big transfer partner rather than 3 separate ones, but with Avios being a great way to save on short-haul flights, with Avios now useable on Qatar Airways (transfer to BA and from there to Qatar Airways) and with Avios First Class awards on Alaska Airlines now significantly cheaper, these are good options to have whichever way you view them.

As always, the value that each person gets from transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to these airlines/airline programs will vary depending on what the points are eventually used for, but with United miles and Aeroplan points valid for bookings across the Star Alliance family, Flying Blue offering monthly discounted awards to multiple regions of the world, Singapore Airlines offering some of the best premium cabins in the sky and monthly discounted awards, and Virgin Atlantic miles offering great value awards on Japan’s ANA, you don’t have to look too hard to find some very good uses for Ultimate Rewards points when booking airline awards.

Chase Hotel Transfer Partners

Chase may only have three hotel transfer partners, but that’s no worse than Amex and it’s one more than Citi.

One of the three hotel transfer partners is one of the biggest hotel chains in the world (Marriott) and one, arguably, offers some of the best value hotel redemptions that you can find (Hyatt), so these are transfer partners to be reckoned with.

On the whole, I’m not a fan of using transferable currencies for transfers to hotel programs as I generally find that I don’t get as much value as I get when I transfer points over to airlines but with Chase, I make an exception.

I transfer a significant proportion of my Chase Ultimate Rewards points over to the World of Hyatt every year as I find that Hyatt offers good value redemptions across all its hotel categories – from the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi to the Andaz 5th Avenue to the Hyatt Regency Tokyo, I’ve used Ultimate Rewards points to save myself a considerable amount of money at properties across the comfort spectrum.

Transfer times

As far as transfer times go, the information you see in the tables above is a guideline only – some transfers can be reliably instantaneous while with others, the time taken to transfer Ultimate Rewards points can vary significantly

I generally avoid moving points across to an airline program that doesn’t reliably offer instantaneous transfers unless I can place the award(s) I want to book on hold – the last thing I want to happen is for award availability to disappear in the time between actioning a transfer and the points arriving in my airline loyalty account.

Transfer fees

Unlike American Express, Chase doesn’t charge a fee for transfers to any of its partners.

Transfers to other people’s loyalty accounts

Chase allows its cardholders to transfer points to a loyalty program belonging to the cardholder or to a loyalty program in the name of an authorized user who shares the same address as the primary cardholder.

Note: Once a transfer has been enacted to a loyalty account of an eligible authorized user, that person becomes the only authorized user to whose accounts points can be transferred.

Transfers to other people’s Ultimate Rewards accounts

You can transfer Ultimate Rewards points to the account of someone who shares your address, but be very aware that Chase monitors these transfers carefully – abusing this benefit is a great way to get your account shut down.

Here’s the official Chase policy:

You can move your points, but only to another Chase card with Ultimate Rewards belonging to you, or one member of your household. If we suspect that you’ve engaged in fraudulent activity related to your credit card account or Ultimate Rewards, or that you’ve misused Ultimate Rewards in any way (for example by buying or selling points, moving or transferring points with or to an ineligible third party or account, or repeatedly opening or otherwise maintaining credit card accounts for the sole purpose of generating rewards) we may temporarily prohibit you from earning points or using points you’ve already earned. If we believe you’ve engaged in any of these acts, we’ll close your credit card account and you’ll lose all your points.

You have been warned!

Suggested cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points

Consumer cards

• card_name (review) (3 points/dollar on dining and travel + a great list of benefits)
• card_name (review) (3 points/dollar on dining, 2 points/dollar on travel, and + great rental car insurance)
• Chase Freedom Flex℠ Credit Card (review) (5% cash back in revolving quarterly categories and on travel purchased through Chase, 3% cash back in dining and at drugstores, all of which can be converted to 3 – 5 Ultimate points/dollar when paired with a premium Ultimate Rewards card e.g. the Sapphire Credit Card).
• card_name (review) (5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase, 3% cash back in dining and at drugstores, and 1.5% cash back on all other purchases all of which can be converted to 1.5 – 5 Ultimate points/dollar when paired with a premium Ultimate Rewards card e.g. the Sapphire Credit Card)

Business Cards

• card_name (review) (3 points/dollar on travel & other select business categories)
• card_name (review) (5% cash back in select business categories which can be converted to 5 Ultimate points/dollar when paired with a Sapphire Card).
• card_name (review) (1.5% cash back on all other purchases all of which can be converted to 1.5 Ultimate points/dollar when paired with a premium Ultimate Rewards card e.g. the Ink Business Preferred Card)

Related Reading: This Is Why You Should Have A Chase Sapphire Card

Bottom line

Chase Ultimate Rewards may not have the strongest lineup of transfer partners out of the four main transferable currency programs (that crown belongs to American Express Membership Rewards), but the earnings that its Ultimate Rewards cards offer (and the fact that some popular loyalty programs are transfer partners with Chase alone) make Ultimate Rewards a major player in the miles and points world.

Add to that the fact that Chase has, in recent times, shown a willingness to offer transfer bonuses and you start to see why credit cards like the card_name, the Chase Freedom Flex℠ Credit Card, and the card_name are so incredibly popular.