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Chase is now offering a 20% bonus on points conversions from Ultimate Rewards to British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia and card holders have until the end of the month to enact a transfer is they want to lock in the bonus.
Is this a good deal?
Probably not, but if you’ve just decided that the World of Hyatt program is dead to you and you’re now wondering how to use your big stack of Ultimate Rewards points, this bonus may be of interest.
Personally, I can’t imagine converting Chase points into Avios unless I was really desperate to top up an account, but that may not be everyone’s viewpoint.
The way I see it, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are a versatile and valuable currency, while Avios isn’t really either of those things.
Sure, you can get outsized value out of Avios if you’re booking a short-haul flight within Europe and are traveling during a peak period (that’s when I often get over 2.5 cents of value out of each Avios), or if you’re booking a short-hop in a few other regions, and if you have a 2-4-1/companion certificate, Avios can be useful for the occasional long-haul booking despite some of the horrendous surcharges those bookings will attract, but that still doesn’t mean that engaging with this transfer bonus is a good idea.
Firstly, Chase is known to offer 30% bonuses for conversions to Avios (as well as 20% bonuses), so unless you really, really, really, need to boost your account balance right now, why would you accept a 20% bonus when we can be confident that a 30% bonus will appear at some point in the coming months.
Secondly, for the past three summers (at least), American Express has offered a 30% bonus to anyone converting Membership Rewards Points to Avios, so if you’re playing the miles and points game with multiple flexible currencies, you may be better off waiting to see what Amex offers in July/August.
Thirdly, Citi is known to offer bonuses of between 30% and 40% to Qatar Airways (another Avios-issuing airline) and as Avios can be moved from Qatar Airways to BA, Iberia, Aer Lingus and Finnair relatively easily, you may be better off waiting to see what Citi’s next offer looks like … assuming you actually hold Citi ThankYou points.
If, however, you’ve read all that I’ve written and are still considering a Chase to Avios conversion, please make sure you have a very firm idea of how you’ll use any Avios that you generate as there’s no knowing when Avios will get devalued.
Holding a large balance of any currency for the long term is a risky proposition (you’re opening yourself up to unexpected of devaluations), but Avios may be one of the riskier currencies to hold right now given that we believe British Airways would love to introduce dynamic award pricing if it believed that it could “get away with it”.
Sure, if BA goes alone, you may still be able to use Avios effectively with Iberia, Aer Lingus, Finnair and Qatar Airways, but given that Iberia and Aer Lingus are owned by the same entity that owns BA, I would fully expect those two airlines to introduce dynamic pricing at the same time as BA.
That would leave you with Qatar Airways and Finnair as your only two non-devalued options and while that wouldn’t be a disaster, it may spoil your plans if you weren’t already planning to use Avios through either of those airlines.
So, in summary, think before you transfer. Unless you desperately need Avios now, this probably isn’t a “deal” with which you should engage.
Bottom Line
Chase is now offering a 20% bonus on points conversions from Ultimate Rewards to any of three Avios-issuing airlines and with the bonus offer running though to 31 March 2026, there’s no immediate rush to transfer points across … so take your time and think things through before you pull the trigger on a transfer.
