How to Use 130K Chase Ultimate Rewards
130,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards are a lot of points, but surprisingly easy to obtain. Right now, you can basically earn 130,000 Ultimate Rewards with just one welcome offer from the Chase Ink Business Preferred. To celebrate this all-time high elevated offer, I figured I would share some ideas on how to use 130K Chase Ultimate Rewards.
RELATED: Does Chase Match Increased Ink Offers?
Earning 130K Ultimate Rewards
Right now, you can earn close to 130,000 Ultimate Rewards with a single credit card. Currently, the Ink Preferred has an all-time high welcome offer of 120,000 Ultimate Rewards after spending $8,000 in 3 months.
With this welcome offer, you will net you at least 128,000 points (120,000 points from the welcome offer and at least 8,000 points from the minimum spend). If you meet any of the minimum spend by spending on the card's bonus categories, you will end up with even more than 128,000 Ultimate Rewards.
Roundtrip Business Class to Japan
Virgin Atlantic (a Chase transfer partner) offers one of the best sweet spots in all of award travel through its partnership with All Nippon Airways (ANA). Flights between the West Coast and Japan cost just 105,000 points round-trip! If you're flying from Chicago, Houston, or the East Coast, flights cost 120,000 points round-trip.
ANA's new business class cabin is regarded as one of the best business class products in the world. Whether you end up with the new or old business class seat, you'll be in for a treat and receive excellent service.
Despite Virgin Atlantic increasing the cost of these redemptions over the years, this remains one of the best deals in all of award travel. For more details on how to book this, check out this post.
Four Nights at a Category 7 Hyatt
In the World of Hyatt program (a Chase transfer partner), category 7 hotels charge 30,000 points per night for a standard room during standard nights. Off-peak nights cost 25,000 points, and peak nights cost 35,000. With 130,000 URs, you can spend 4 nights at a category 7 property at standard or off-peak pricing.
Category 7 is the second highest category in Hyatt's award chart. This means we're talking about five-star hotels here, such as the Andaz Papagayo or the Park Hyatt Vienna.
As always, you can spend even more nights at a Hyatt property in a lower category.
Round-Trip to Ireland in Business Class with Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus offers non-stop service to a surprising number of US airports, which you can book with your Ultimate Rewards by transferring to either Aer Lingus or British Airways.
Both airlines charge the same price for Aer Lingus award redemptions. Off-peak business class flights between Ireland and most of its US destinations cost 50,000 Avios each way. Flights to/from the West Coast or Florida cost 62,500 Avios each way in business class. No whatever where you live in the US, you can fly round-trip business class to Ireland for under 130,000 Ultimate Rewards.
ToP Tip: Aer Lingus does not let you book connecting flights with miles. So if you want to continue on to elsewhere in Europe, you might want to book through British Airways. But keep in mind that connecting itineraries will cost additional miles under BA's distance-based award chart.
How to Use 130K Chase Ultimate Rewards: Lots of Short-Haul Flights on United Airlines
Ultimate Rewards offer you multiple ways to book flights United Airlines. One of our favorites is through Air Canada Aeroplan, which uses a distance-based award chart. Here is Aeroplan's pricing for United flights within North America:
Domestic awards on United start at 6,000 points in economy and go as high as 22,500 points, depending on the flight distance.
- Under 500 miles: 6,000 points for economy, 15,000 for business
- 501-1,500 miles: 10,000 points for economy, 20,000 for business
- 1,501-2,750 miles: 12,500 points for economy, 25,000 for business
- 2,751+ miles: 22,500 points for economy, 35,000 for business
To give you an idea of what you can fly within these bands, consider that flights between Boston and Los Angeles or San Francisco are under 2,750 miles. You can fly between Washington-Dulles (IAD) and Toronto (YYZ) on United for just 6,000 Ultimate Rewards. A flight from Houston (IAH) to Cancun (CUN) will cost you just 10,000 points. (You can take this flight TEN times with your 130,000 Ultimate Rewards!) And a transcontinental flight from Boston (BOS) to Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO) will be 12,500 points.
Aeroplan's award chart offers a ton of value for flights on United. As with other distance-based award charts, non-stop flights offer much better value.
United itself is also a Chase transfer partner, but you will often find much better value by booking with Air Canada Aeroplan.
Round-Trip to Europe in Business with Iberia for Two
Iberia offers one of the cheapest business class awards between the US and Europe. Iberia charges only 34,000 miles one-way in business class during off-peak periods for flights between 3,000 and 4,000 miles. This covers destinations in the US like Boston, New York, and Washington, DC. Iberia's definition of off-peak is quite broad, and you can check their calendar for peak/off-peak dates here.
At just 34,000 Avios each way, you can book two round-trip flights to Spain with 136,000 Ultimate Rewards. (Excuse me for going a little over 130,000 points with this one).
How to Use 130K Chase Ultimate Rewards: ToP Thoughts
Earning close to 130,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards from a single Chase Ink Business Preferred welcome offer is fantastic. The flexibility we have from transferable points like Ultimate Rewards opens the doors to the world for award travelers like us. These are just some ideas out of many other great things we can do with 130,000 points.
How do you plan to use 130K Chase URs? Come share your thoughts in our Facebook Group!
