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Chase recently lost Korean Air as a transfer partner but has today added a brand new partner: JetBlue TrueBlue.
On the one hand, this isn’t particularly exciting news given that JetBlue is already a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou and Marriott Rewards.
On the other hand, additional partner airlines are always welcome. It also looks like Chase is now offering the best day-to-day transfer rate. That’s because Ultimate Rewards can be transferred on a 1:1 basis.
A 1:1 transfer basis isn’t normally something to get excited about. However, Membership Rewards usually transfer on a 250:200 basis and Citi ThankYou on a 1,000:800 basis. (Marriott Rewards transfer on a not-worth-it 6:1 basis.) That said, transfer bonuses are sometimes offered, such as the current Membership Rewards bonus on a 250:250 basis.
One factor to take into account is how you value these transferable currencies. If you need to top up your TrueBlue account and value Ultimate Rewards significantly higher than Membership Rewards and ThankYou points, it might be worth saving your Ultimate Rewards for more valuable redemptions and using one of the other transferable currencies, even though they (usually) only transfer at an 80% rate. You can see a full list of Chase transfer partners here.
Be aware that you’re charged a federal excise offset fee when transferring Membership Rewards to TrueBlue. It doesn’t look like you’ll be charged that when transferring from Ultimate Rewards, so that’s something else working in Chase’s favor.
If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you might be better off booking flights through the Chase portal rather than transferring points. That’s because Ultimate Rewards are worth 1.5cpp through the portal, plus booking that way would earn you TrueBlue points.
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[…] recently introduced JetBlue TrueBlue as a 1:1 transfer partner (See: Chase Ultimate Rewards: JetBlue Added As Transfer Partner). Citi has responded by increasing the transfer ratio from ThankYou points effective 9/13/18 to […]
[…] on from their addition as a Chase transfer partner, JetBlue has launched an award sale offering a 20% discount on flights booked using TrueBlue […]
“If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you might be better off booking flights through the Chase portal rather than transferring points. That’s because Ultimate Rewards are worth 1.5cpp through the portal, plus booking that way would earn you TrueBlue points.”
True true
Although if you have the Jetblue card you get 10% back in your points.