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OMAAT broke the story earlier today….United poured gasoline all over their program, struck a match, and lit it on fire. It’s an absolute afront to their loyalty members to raise redemption rates by over 30% across the board and not even send a single email. This really goes to show you how important it is to maintain your points in flexible currency accounts like Amex, BIlt, Chase, Citi, or Capital One since all of those programs can transfer into partner programs and you’d have access to Star Alliance award availability at lower prices than United now charges. This devaluation makes the likes of Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, Singapore, ANA, etc far more attractive.
The greatest use of points and miles is to make travel that you’d otherwise not take…possible. The biggest aspirational trips for a lot of Americans is to the see the world, and high on that list is Europe. Well…that was the first destination to get hit, and I’d guess it’s just a matter of time before we see the rest of the world get gutted as well. Let’s take a look at the damage.
Going to Europe on United planes
It used to be that you could redeem United miles to fly to Europe at the following rates
- Economy was 30k
- Business Class was 60k
You’d pay a few thousand extra if you were redeeming within 30 days, but that was the base rate. You may find some cheaper econ rates here and there, but now these are the base rates
- Economy is 40k
- Business Class is 80k
What a joke.
Going to Europe using United miles for Partner flights is even worse
Partner used to be
- Econ was 30k
- Business was in the 70k to 77k range
Now look at this disaster
- Econ is 43.9k
- Business starts at 88k, sometimes 99.8k and even 102.4k
To put this in perspective here are some partner redemption rates to Europe
- Avianca LifeMiles are 63k
- Aeroplan is 70k
- Singapore 81k
A tad bit of a devaluation to Asia…
Partner used to be 88k and there is a close in booking surcharge being added which bumps both sides up.
Disappointing to say the least
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
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.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 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 Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
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.
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