Chase is offering a rare transfer bonus on moving points from the bank’s Ultimate Rewards currency into British Airways Avios.
Avios can be a great play for transatlantic travelers looking to use points for flights or upgrades, and also for those using points regularly on Oneworld airlines like American, JAL, Qantas, Qatar and Cathay Pacific.
Since Ultimate Rewards are one of the most valuable loyalty currencies in the world, here’s how to assess whether it makes sense to move your points with the current 30% bonus going.
Chase Offering 30% Bonus On Avios Transfers
Avios can be fantastic for a few things, and if you’re considering a move to transfer points from Chase to Avios, the best plays that stand out are typically…
- British Airways Upgrades from premium economy to business class, or business class to first class. You’re typically looking at about 20,000 points each way.
- Using Avios for flights on airlines like American, when cash fares are high and points costs are relatively low.
- Redeeming for British Airways first class, where even with surcharges, the savings and joy versus paying cash are typically immense.
If you have the British Airways Credit Card in addition to a Chase Card earning Ultimate Rewards Points, like the revamped Chase Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve, this bonus could be a good move, particularly if you’re a bit short on points.
A downside of most British Airways Avios redemptions is that the cash surcharges are quite hefty, but the British Airways Card from Chase comes with fee credits, which can help mitigate those worries and make each redemption into better value.
Ultimate Rewards To Avios 30% Bonus Details
This bonus is live until midnight on the 26th of September, 2021. If you transfer 10,000 Ultimate Rewards, you’d end up with 13,000 Avios. 100,000 – 130,000 etc. How? Easy.
Login to your Chase Ultimate Rewards account, select travel transfer partners and then British Airways Avios. You’ll have the opportunity to transfer points, and a window will show the current bonus highlighted.
Chase Ultimate Rewards is such a phenomenal currency, it’s always hard to think of parting ways with the points, but Avios is a unique outlier where it’s possible to extract just as much value, or better, with well timed upgrades or niche flights.
I absolutely love using Avios to turn a discount business class ticket into first class, with no cash charges and just about 22,000 points each way. I also love finding real savings when domestic US flights are crazy expensive, but seats using Avios are widely open.
Whether the Avios transfer bonus makes sense for you, is for you to decide. But, it’s good to know about, right?
Can you transfer to Iberia AVIOS and still get the 30% deal? Iberia doesn’t have the crappy surcharges that BA imposes.
You can transfer to BA, and then as long as email and actual name are the same, move onward to Iberia. That’s always been ok. BA>Iberia>BA continuum is always there.
“ I also love finding real savings when domestic US flights are crazy expensive, but seats using Avios are widely open.” can you give some examples of that? When domestic flights are expensive, usually means no Saver Awards to use Avios for.
There’s no correlation between flight pricing and Avios avail. Flight pricing is based on markets, not always loads. They can intermix, but some routes are just expensive as principle, yet Avios are extremely open.