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Chase is currently running a 30% transfer bonus from Avios to Ultimate Rewards: British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus. The offer runs until December 9th, 2020 so you have roughly a month to make a decision. Let’s take a look at the offer and whether it could make sense to utilize the bonus.
What are Avios?
Avios are used by three IAG airlines: British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus. Each of these airlines have their own award charts and redemption levels, but use Avios are the overarching currency for award redemption albeit each airline runs their own program. Avios are also able to be transferred within and between the airlines as well.
Each airline has an award chart that is broken into peak and off peak travel and pricing can considerably vary. By far the easiest Avios to book are British Airways Avios since both Iberia and Aer Lingus have clunky websites that often glitch. However, Iberia has a couple of very solid redemptions that are worth the hassle. The biggest downside to Avios bookings are the taxes and fees associated with them which is why many prefer to use alternate currencies.
Chase Ultimate Reward Transfer Partners
The history of Chase transfer bonuses
Chase has not had many transfer bonuses when compared to American Express and this matches their best offer on Avios. During the pandemic we also saw transfer bonuses to Southwest and IHG, but 30% is solid for Avios.
Great uses of Avios
As I mentioned before, the biggest downside of using Avios are the taxes and fees. The best redemptions are ones that utilize off peak award pricing and redemptions that minimize these fees.
Iberia 68k r/t Business Class
Iberia has a great sweet spot when flying from the Midwest and East Coast to Spain. 68k Avios roundtrip in Business Class. This is hands down one of the best possible prices for roundtrip business class, barnone, in points and miles. I actually made use of this price in 2018 when I flew Iberia business class from Chicago to Madrid. It’s a solid, lie flat, all aisle access business class and with a 30% transfer bonus can be had for just 53k Avios and about $130 in fees. That is unreal.
Upgrading with British Airways
This is another fantastic use of Avios and circumvents the high taxes and fees. You can utilize Avios to upgrade one class of service, and all you owe are difference in award price and fees. Typically, if you’ve booked a business class fare, there will be no difference in taxes and fees between business and first. Similarly, there will be minimal difference between Economy and Premium economy; however, you may incur a few hundred in fees jumping from Premium Econ to Business Class. One of the best uses I’ve made is purchasing discount business class fares out of Europe and bumping up to first class. I’ve been able to do this several times by making use of ExpertFlyer award alerts.
I was able to upgrade a discount business class fare into first class by using 25k Avios.
Short Haul Economy Flights
This is probably my favorite use of Avios since you can book on partners and avoid a ton of the taxes and fees. Many American Airlines city pairs in the US will only cost 6k to 11k Avios vs the 12,500 you’ll typically pay on AA. Add in a 30% bonus and you have a real steal.
Overall
There is a ton of award space out there, and if you have a trip planned in the next year, this could be a great way to access award inventory at reduced rates.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
$300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel℠. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel℠ purchases within your first year
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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