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OK, so it’s not a Hyatt transfer bonus that we might all be hoping for, but Chase has launched an interesting new transfer bonus today, offering an additional 20% when transferring Ultimate Rewards to Southwest.
The Deal
- Get a 20% bonus when transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Southwest.
- Direct link to offer.
Key Terms
- Expires October 31, 2020 at 11:59pm ET.
- Bonus Rapid Rewards points (“Bonus points”) offer is valid for point transfers to your Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards account (“Rapid Rewards”) from your Chase Ultimate Rewards account (“Ultimate Rewards”) completed between 12:00 a.m. ET on October 1, 2020 and 11:59 p.m. ET on October 31, 2020 (“Promotional Period”).
- Minimum transfer is 1,000 Ultimate Rewards points. Bonus points will be awarded by Southwest Airlines in your Rapid Rewards account when your transfer is complete.
- For the Bonus points offer, you will receive 20% Bonus points for each Ultimate Rewards point transferred during the Promotional Period. For example, if you transfer 1,000 Ultimate Rewards points, you will receive a total of 1,200 Rapid Rewards points.
- You must be enrolled in Rapid Rewards with both your membership in good standing and your Ultimate Rewards credit card account open, and not in default in order to participate in this offer. Visit Southwest.com to enroll in Rapid Rewards.
- Once you have transferred Ultimate Rewards points, they become subject to the Rapid Rewards Rules and Regulations and cannot be transferred back to your Chase Ultimate Rewards account.
- Taxes, government imposed fees, and all applicable charges apply on Southwest Airlines reward flights and upgrades.
- Individual airline carrier restrictions may apply.
- All Rapid Rewards Program rules and regulations apply and can be found at Southwest.com/rrterms.
- Reward flights are subject to availability.
- Chase is not responsible for availability of flights or any other rewards in the Rapid Rewards program.
Quick Thoughts
I don’t remember ever seeing a transfer bonus from Ultimate Rewards to Southwest, so I guess we can still hold out hope that we might see one to Hyatt in the future.
Southwest points are tied to the cost of flights, so it’s not possible to get outsized value for award flights. However, this transfer bonus means you should be getting about 1.7-1.8cpp of value when transferring Ultimate Rewards to your Rapid Rewards account. As a result, it’s now more likely that you’ll get better value by transferring Ultimate Rewards to Southwest rather than booking through the Chase travel portal for 1.5cpp of value if you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
As always, we’d caution against transferring points speculatively, especially seeing as the government’s support for airlines is due to expire overnight. The great thing is that Chase has stated that this transfer bonus will last all month, so there’s plenty of time to take advantage of it in the coming weeks.
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Thanks for the article. Unfortunately, the direct link to transfer points doesn’t work for me. I was going to try this as you demonstrated. I called Chase and they were unsure about this transfer option also. Probably have to go through 4 people before finding the right one anyway.
Can you tell me if it works this way…I have 8084 Chase UR points which is worth $80.84 in cash. If I transfer them, they are worth 9700 Southwest points with the 20% bonus. To find the cash value of the points, would I multiply the 9700 points by the SW point value of 1.5 cents (typically), to make $145. Does that mean the 8084 UR points could be worth $145 in Southwest points?
That’s close, yes. You can only transfer in 1,000 point increments, so 8,000 Ultimate Rewards would become 9,600 Rapid Rewards points. If valuing Southwest points at 1.5cpp, that would be worth $139.20.
If you’re able to transfer to Southwest, that means you have a premium Ultimate Rewards card which allows you to book through the Chase travel portal at a rate of 1.25cpp or 1.5cpp depending on which card you have. If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the travel portal rate would be 1.5cpp. That means those same 8,000 Ultimate Rewards could buy $120 of airfare. That’s obviously less than $139.20, but you would earn miles by paying for the flight rather than redeeming Rapid Rewards points. You’d still likely be marginally better off transferring to Rapid Rewards though unless Southwest was offering a bunch of bonus points for paid flights.
n.b. To see the transfer bonus, simply go to your Ultimate Rewards account and select the option to transfer points to travel partners.
Will transferred points and bonus points count towards Companion Pass?
Sadly not.
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Of course I transferred a few points over there for a flight a few days before this announcement . . . 🙁
with all these southwest point transfer specials from travel funds or UR lately, I have this feeling Southwest will make an announcement soon about how they revamp their RR program to offer their customers more flexibility and value, you know, the Marriott style, where you can actually buy cheaper tickets, but in the middle of November for late night flights. And that of course will be offset by more expensive tickets when people actually want to fly. Call me an alarmist but I’m not transferring anything unless I need to book a flight.
Keep ur options open like Steve said . I transferred a canceled ticket to points and have the $149 sw card BUT may not need SW for years . Deals now but @ 6am no thanks I can get a charter flt for less.I’m down to $400 a year AF from $1000 just to keep the points live and options open .
Not fun anymore.
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