Complete Guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partners [2021 Version]

Ultimate Rewards points are among the most valuable credit card rewards points thanks to their flexibility, high value when used for travel, and valuable transfer partners. One of the best aspects of the Chase Ultimate Rewards program is its lineup of 13 transfer partners including 10 airlines and 3 hotel programs. In many cases, you can get a value of 2-4 cents per point when you transfer Ultimate Rewards points to airline miles -- if you know which partners to use and the best redemption options.

Here's a complete look at all 13 Chase transfer partners, including how to make the best use of each one.

Which Chase Credit Cards Earn Ultimate Rewards Points?

Chase has several personal and business credit cards that participate in the Ultimate Rewards program. It's very important to note that only some Chase cards earn transferrable Ultimate Rewards points; four cards are technically cash back cards. If you have one of the latter cards, you can still transfer your points to a different Chase card to convert the points to transferrable Ultimate Rewards points.

It's often best to have two Chase credit cards that participate in the program to maximize bonus categories.

For example, the Chase Freedom earns 5% back at gas stations, select streaming services, and on internet, cable, and phone services. The rewards you earn with the Chase Freedom Flex can then be transferred to your Chase Sapphire Preferred. Then you will be able to transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to travel partners.

Related: Learn more about the Best Ways to Earn Chase Ultimate Rewards Points!

The following Chase cards participate in the Ultimate Rewards program.

Personal Chase Ultimate Rewards Cards

Only the Chase Sapphire credit cards earn Ultimate Rewards points. If you have one of the Chase Freedom cards, you'll need to transfer cash back rewards to a Chase Sapphire card to turn them into transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Earning points with the Chase Sapphire Preferred

• Current Bonus: The Chase Sapphire Preferred offers 100,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months..
• Benefits: This card earns 2x points on all travel and dining purchases and 1x on all other purchases. It has no foreign transaction fees. You also get an array of travel perks including trip interruption/cancellation insurance, delayed baggage insurance and primary car rental insurance. The perks on this card and low annual fee make it our favorite starter travel card.
• Annual Fee: $95
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Earning points with the Chase Sapphire Reserve

• Current Bonus: The Chase Sapphire Reserve offers 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months.
• Benefits: With this card you'll get amazing travel benefits such as a $300 annual travel credit, airport lounge access with Priority Pass Select membership, and a $100 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck fee credit. This card also earns 3x points on restaurants and travel (after using your annual $300 travel credit) and 1x points on everything else. Not to mention that you can transfer your earned Ultimate Rewards points at a 1:1 ratio to valuable airline and hotel partners.
• Annual Fee: $550
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Earning points with the Chase Freedom Flex

• Current Bonus: The Chase Freedom Flex offers $200 after spending $500 in the first 3 months.
• Benefits: This card earns 5% cash back per dollar in rotating categories (up to $1,500 in purchases per quarter, then 1% cash back after that) and 1% cash back on all other purchases. Maxing out the card’s 5x rotating categories is one of the best ways to boost your Chase Ultimate Rewards points earnings.
• Annual Fee: $0
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Earning points with the Chase Freedom Unlimited

• Current Bonus: The Chase Freedom Unlimited offers $200 after spending $500 in the first 3 months.
• Benefits: This card earns 1.5% cash back on every purchase you make. The best part about this is that your cash back will actually tracked as Ultimate Rewards points, which means you earn 1.5x Ultimate Rewards points on every dollar spent. This makes the Chase Freedom Unlimited an excellent credit card for your daily spending.
• Annual Fee: $0
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Business Chase Ultimate Rewards Cards

Only the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card earns Ultimate Rewards points you can transfer to Chase airline partners, but cash rewards earned with the other Ink Business cards can be transferred to the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card.

Earning points with the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card

• Current Bonus: The Ink Business Preferred Credit Card offers 100,000 points after spending $15,000 in the first 3 months.
• Benefits: This card earns 3x points on travel, shipping, internet, phone, cable, and advertising on social media (on up to $150,000 spent per year) and 1x points on everything else. The 3X points earning in the bonus categories are a powerful way to earn lots of valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards points. When you redeem your points for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal you’ll get 25% more value.
• Annual Fee: $95
• Learn More →

Earning points with the Ink Business Cash Credit Card

• Current Bonus: The Ink Business Cash Credit Card offers $750 cash back after spending $7,500 in the first 3 months.
• Benefits: This card earns 5x points on office supplies and internet/cable/phone services (on up to $25,000 spent per year), 2x points on gas and restaurants (on up to $25,000 spent per year), and 1x points on all other purchases. With its 5x earning categories the Ink Business Cash Credit Card is the highest Ultimate Rewards points earning Chase card.
• Annual Fee: $0
• Learn More →

Earning points with the Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card

• Current Bonus: The Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card offers $750 cash back after spending $7,500 in the first 3 months.
• Benefits: This card earns 1.5x points back on every purchase which can be an excellent way to leverage your points earning when paired with another premium Chase Ultimate Rewards earning credit card. It’s one of the best options for non-bonus category spending.
• Annual Fee: $0
• Learn More →

Chase Airline Transfer Partners

Chase Ultimate Rewards has 10 airline transfer partners, some of which offer a great value. All transfers have the same transfer ratio of 1:1, an important perk of the Chase Ultimate Rewards program.

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• British Airways Executive Club
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• Emirates Skywards
• Iberia Plus
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
• United Airlines MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Note that Chase sometimes offers transfer bonuses such as a 30% bonus when you transfer Ultimate Rewards points to a transfer partner. This can be very lucrative, especially with the best Chase transfer partners.

Chase Hotel Transfer Partners

You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to three major hotel loyalty programs at a 1:1 ratio:

• World of Hyatt
• IHG Rewards Club
• Marriott Bonvoy

As a general rule, it's usually only worthwhile to transfer Chase points to World of Hyatt which has valuable points and an amazing award chart whereas IHG and Marriott points have an inflated value and award charts with higher point values.

You can use your Chase points to book free Hyatt stays starting at 5,000 points per night for a standard room or 10,000 points for a premium suite. You can even enjoy free award stays at all-inclusive Hyatt resorts in Los Cabos, Cancun, and Puerto Vallarta for just 20-25,000 points per night with meals and entertainment included!

It can make sense to transfer points to IHG or Marriott to top off your account for a specific redemption, though.

How to Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to Airline Miles

It's easy to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to airlines within a few minutes. After logging-in to your Ultimate Rewards account, choose your Chase Freedom or Chase Freedom Unlimitedcard. If you have another Chase card and need to transfer points between Chase accounts, you'll need to do that first.

Next, choose "Transfer to Travel Partners" under "Use Points" and select "Transfer Points" next to the loyalty program of your choice. You'll need to enter your airline member number and choose a recipient -- which is either you or an additional household member who is an authorized user on your Chase account. You'll just need to enter the number of points you want to transfer and confirm the transfer.

Note that you must make transfers to Chase transfer airline partners in 1,000-point increments.

Ultimate Rewards Portal vs Transfer Partners

There are two primary ways to use Chase Ultimate Rewards points for travel:

1. You can transfer points to a partner airline program.
2. You use the points directly through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.

Before transferring points to book an award flight, it's always good to compare the value of your points with each option.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed through the portal at these rates:

• 1 cent each: Chase Freedom Flex, Chase Freedom Unlimited, Ink Business Cash Credit Card, Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card
• 1.25 cents each: Chase Sapphire Preferred, Ink Business Preferred Credit Card
• 1.5 cents each: Chase Sapphire Reserve

You'll always want to transfer points to the Chase card that gives you the best value if you book through the portal. If booking an award flight with a Chase transfer partner will give you a better value than you'll get with your card, it's a good bet.

Best Chase Airline Transfer Partners

Want to maximize the value of Ultimate Rewards points? You can get the most value by transferring Ultimate Rewards points to transfer partners. Not all partners are equal, though. Some of these Ultimate Rewards airline transfer partners are an amazing way to maximize the value of your Chase points, but others are only a good option in more limited circumstances. Still, each of these programs has some value you shouldn't overlook.

Aer Lingus AerClub

There's no getting around that the Aer Lingus program is confusing. It uses Avios, just like Iberia Plus and British Airways Executive Club, and Avios can be used on any of the three but with different award availability, prices, and options. While overly complicated, there are plenty of sweet spots to explore when you transfer Chase points to Avios.

For example, you can fly from the East Coast to Ireland for just 13,000 Avios miles with Aer Lingus with no fuel surcharges during the off-peak season or from anywhere else in the U.S. for 16,250 miles.

You can also get a great deal when you add a connection on Aer Lingus. Many destinations in the Mediterranean, for example, add as few as 4,000 miles to your award price.

Just remember: if you want to fly British Airways or Iberia Plus, you're typically better off transferring your Aer Lingus Avios to their programs first for lower Avios award prices.

Air France/KLM Flying Blue

Flying Blue allows you to transfer points from Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou, Capital One miles, and Marriott Bonvoy to potentially pool points from many sources.

The Flying Blue program has a lot of faults. It has confusing award prices that are based on its pricing calculator, not regions or distance, but award prices don't even correlate to the revenue prices for flights and can seem random. Surcharges are also passed on with partner awards.

Still, you can find some good value in the program. For example, Flying Blue places Israel and Morocco in its Europe 3 region which means award flights from the U.S. to these countries can be a good deal, usually around 43,000 to 58,000 roundtrip.

The highlight of the Flying Blue program is its Promo Rewards, monthly discounted award flights that can give you up to 50% off select routes. Sometimes routes are between select cities or a city and a specific region, and sometimes there's a date range for the promotion. You can book Promo Rewards within 3 months and, even with the fees and surcharges, they're often a steal. Sometimes there are deals to fly from the U.S. to Europe for as little as 10,750 to 14,000 miles.

Recent Promo Rewards through Flying Blue within France and Europe.

British Airways Executive Club

British Airways Executive Club, like the other Avios-based programs with Aer Lingus and Iberia, has a lot of flaws including notoriously high carrier fuel surcharges, but it's definitely not without value. You can find some sweet spots in the British Airways distance-based award chart when you transfer Ultimate Rewards points to British Airways.

The program offers the best value on non-stop, short-haul economy seats which start at 4,000-4,500 miles. This is especially true in expensive Asian markets.

In the U.S., you can book short-haul flights of up to 1,150 miles for 7,500 to 9,000 miles while American Airlines requires 12,500 miles. Be sure you look for non-stop flights -- British Airways prices award seats per segment rather than total distance.

Avoid using British Airways to book transatlantic award flights to or from the UK which are hit with massive surcharges.

Iberia Plus

There are some advantages to using Iberia Plus instead of British Airways, which also uses Avios. While British Airways is known for its high fuel surcharges, including on Iberia-operated flights, surcharges are much lower with Iberia Plus.

You'll also want to use the Iberia Plus program if you're booking awards on short-haul American Airlines flights. If you book through British Airways, you may end up paying higher surcharges.

Iberia Plus is often the better option for American flights with connections because British Airways calculates award prices based on the distance per segment while Iberia uses the total distance.

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Let's start with the negatives: KrisFlyer passes on surcharges on award flights and you need to pay 2,500 miles or $25 to book award flights over the phone, including partner flights. With that said, the program has great value if you know where to look.

You can also transfer and pool points from Marriott, Citi, Amex, Capital One, and Chase to book award flights sooner.

You'll find good deals on nonstop flights from LA to Singapore or Tokyo, New York to Frankfurt, or between Singapore and Hong Kong. You can book awards on United to fly economy from the mainland U.S. to Hawaii for 17,500 miles instead of 22,500 booking through United or fly to Europe for 27,500 miles instead of at least 30,000 miles.

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards

Southwest is a great carrier for low-cost flights within the U.S. or to the Caribbean. Rapid Rewards doesn't charge fees for cancellations or flight changes and lets you book award flights without blackout dates.

If a cash ticket is available, you can book a seat with points. Southwest doesn't have an award chart as Rapid Rewards points are tied to the revenue cost and worth 1.4 to 1.8 cents each.

You can get a good deal when you transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Southwest to book Wanna Get Away fares which typically give you a value of 1.8 cents per point. If you can't make flexible or last-minute travel arrangements, Southwest Rapid Rewards can be a smart use of your Chase points.

United MileagePlus

Transferring Ultimate Rewards points to United can be a winning strategy, especially if you want to book award flights on a Star Alliance partner or one of United's non-alliance partners like Hawaiian. Sometimes you'll get a better deal simply booking travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards -- especially with the Chase Sapphire Reserve -- but United has some advantages. The biggest perk is United doesn't pass on partner fuel surcharges. You can also see most partner flights using its award search, a functionality most airline websites lack.

With 70,000 miles, you can fly on partner Turkish Airlines in business class from the U.S. to Europe or make it to Japan for an extra 10,000 miles. You can also experience United's new Polaris business class from the U.S. to Europe for 60,000 miles. United even makes it easy to get to Europe in economy class without burning through too many miles. You can fly one-way on Turkish Airlines or Lufthansa for 30,000 miles and skip Lufthansa's infamously high surcharges.

Interested in a more tropical destination? 35,000 miles roundtrip is enough to fly from the U.S. to the Caribbean in economy. You also get a free stopover to see more of the region.

United Polaris business class delivers a premium cabin experience with aisle access from every seat. Image courtesy of United.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Virgin Atlantic has a bad reputation for its huge fuel surcharges on its own award flights. Even on an economy roundtrip award from the U.S. to Europe, you'll face at least $440 in fees. It's rarely a good idea to use Flying Club miles on Virgin Atlantic, but partner awards are a different store.

You can book award flights on eight airlines with Flying Club Miles: Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Delta, Hawaiian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, and Virgin Atlantic. You'll need to book award flights over the phone and each partner has their own award chart, but it can be worth it.

You'll get great award prices using Virgin Atlantic miles on ANA-operated flights, especially between the U.S. and Japan with roundtrip economy flights at 65,000 or first class at 120,000 miles.

Another great use of Flying Club miles? Booking Delta awards with no fuel surcharges except on flights from or to the UK. You can even get access to extra Delta award space not available through other partners. While Delta charges 25,500 for nonstop cross-country flights, you can book an award flight on Delta for 12,500 through Virgin Atlantic. You can also get steals on long-haul business class international flights from the U.S. to Asia and South America.

Not-So-Great Chase Transfer Partners

There are two transfer partners that you probably shouldn't ever waste your Ultimate Rewards points on except in very limited cases such as topping off your account balance.

Emirates Skywards

You can sometimes get a good value with miles flying in the Middle East. Unfortunately, there just isn't much value to Emirates' award chart. You're usually better off booking through Chase Ultimate Rewards to get the 25-50% bonus on the value of your points.

JetBlue

JetBlue doesn't use an award chart. Award costs are tied to the cash price of a seat and points are worth 1.3 to 1.4 cents each. You'll get a better value using your points to book through Chase Ultimate Rewards instead with the 50% bonus with the Chase Sapphire Reserve making each Ultimate Rewards point worth 1.5 cents each.

Learn more: 8 Best Ways to Use Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

Wrap Up

At first glance, the Ultimate Rewards transfer partners may not seem too exciting, but there are some great redemption options with most partners. Your points also transfer almost instantly in most cases at a 1:1 ratio to quickly snag award seats before they disappear. Its valuable transfer partners are one of the reasons Chase Ultimate Rewards is one of the best and most valuable credit card rewards programs in the industry.

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