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If you max out the deal you’ll be getting Alaska Air Mileage Plan miles at just under $0.02/mile
I just wrote an article a few days ago about Alaska Air Award Sweet spot: Middle East
Some other notables: business/first
- US-Europe on American for 50k and 62.5k
- US-Europe on BA First: 70k + fees ( which are substantial)
- US-Asia on Cathay Pacific: 50k and 70k
- US-Africa on Cathay Pacific: 50k and 70k
- US-China on Hainan: 50k
- US-Australia on Cathay Pacific: 60k and 80k
- US-Australia on Fiji: 50k
- US-Australia on Qantas: 55k and 70k
Another way to think of this is the cash value of these flights. These are great values as alternatives to buying a ticket.
- American to Europe in business/first: $1000/$1250 each way
- British Airways to Europe in First: $1400 + taxes and fees each way
- Cathay Pacific to Asia in biz/first: $1000/$1400 each way
- Cathay Pacific to Africa in bis/first: $1000/$1400 each way
- Hainan to China in biz: $1000 each way
- Cathay to Australia in biz/first: $1200/$1600 each way
- Fiji Air to Australia in biz: $1000 each way
- Qanta to Australia: $1100 and $1400 each way
*People have also had success repeating this offer as many times as they want. So if you want to buy a Million, I’m pretty sure you can.
Don’t forget Alaska allows free stopovers!
You can break up your trip and see another city En Route to your final destination. So if you’re thinking of taking a trip to the Taj Mahal you can stop in Hong Kong along the way. Hong Kong is a really cool city and worth spending a few days touring. I also mentioned in the Middle East post you can stop in London en route to the Middle East * you will definitely pay taxes and fees going through London tho.
Miles Loves London and you can read about how much he enjoyed flying roundtrip in Business and First Class for a wedding last year
Alaska Air Mileage Plan miles are great for International Premium Cabin redemptions
You can read my Cathay Pacific Business review and First is on my list to experience
British Airways First Class which my parents loved on their Trip Around the World
American Airlines Business Class 777-300ER – review to be published in the next couple weeks. Miles loved it
- Europe for 50k in business and 62.5 in first class
Don’t forget that Japan Airlines is a new partner as well and their chart should be available soon, this will offer stopovers in Tokyo!
Go here to buy if you’re interested!
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
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 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)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
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® Card is great 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: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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