Best Redemption of Chase Ultimate Reward Points

• United Airlines – Southeast Asia: 1 round-trip economy class ticket will cost 65,000 points (this will save you about $1,5000 + give you 35,000 points left over). This is giving you a redemption value of 2.3 cents/point. Or, if you prefer business class, just a little more spend on your card and your 7% annual bonus can get you the 120,000 points needed. A paid ticket will cost about $4,500. This is giving you a redemption value of 3.75 cents/point (and this is being pretty conservative).
• United Airlines – Europe: 1 round-trip economy class ticket will cost you 60,000 points. Depending on where you are going and the time frame, this can save you anywhere between $700 and $1,300. I’ll average it out and put a redemption value of 1.6 cents per value – not a great redemption value, but still free. A business class ticket will give you a better redemption value, but requires 100,000 points for a round-trip ticket. Since paying for this ticket will cost about $4,000, the redemption value is 4 cents/point.
• Korean Air – North America to Korea: 70,000 miles round-trip for economy class during off peak times (which is 90% of the time). You can check the number of miles needed to redeem plus their peak/off-peak time table here). The cheapest non-stop I found from JFK to Seoul costs about $1,700. This gives you a redemption of about 2.4 cents per point. If you were to fly business class (125,000 miles), you could get close to 5 cents per point!
• British Airways – US domestic and international travel: Remember that flights to London have hefty fuel charges, so typically using your points on a partner airline will be your best bet. Here are my top British Airways Avios redemption awards, but check out this prior post for a Top 10 list.
  • New York (JFK or LGA) to Montreal or Toronto: These tickets average about $350 roundtrip, but can many times be as high as $450 – this was the case the entire Spring. A roundtrip redemption will cost you 9,000 Avios points. This will entail you to use your British Airways Avios points on partner airline American Airlines. Assuming a $350 flight, this will give you a redemption value of about 3.333 cents/point. You can also use the cash & points option to reduce the number of points you need to use (as little as 4,500 points). You can read more on this specific redemption in this previous post here.
  • Boston to Dublin, Ireland: You can redeem 25,000 Avios points roundtrip using partner Aer Lingus. Since you do not go through London the taxes and fees are extremely low at $146.28 total! While this flight is relatively inexpensive compared to other European destinations, you will still be looking at an average of $800 for this flight. This is an unbelievable use of your avios miles and will give you a redemption value of about 2.6 cents/point. You can also redeem on business class at 50,000 Avios points, which will give you a much better redemption value of about 8 cents/point since a paid ticket goes for about $4,000! This route is also available from Chicago and JFK for 40,000 points in economy and 80,000 points in business.
  • Sydney to Alice Springs (the outback): Flights can be over $1,000 to go to Alice Springs (although flights to Ayers Rock can be less on Virgin Australia)! However, with your British Airways Avios points, you can redeem 20,000 points + $64.08 to fly on partner airline Qantas. Availability is great and this will allow you a quick stop to the center of the country that you might not have otherwise done. This will give you a redemption value of 4.75 cents/point! You can use your points to fly on other routes throughout Australia as well via Qantas.
  • Miami to Bermuda: This is an extremely expensive route and if you want to go direct on the American Airline flight you’ll be looking at a $600+ per ticket. However, you are able to take advantage of your points and redeem 15,000 Avios points + $101.15 for this flight. Award availability seems to be pretty good too! This will give you a great redemption value of at least 3.333 cents/point. You can also redeem the same 15,000 points roundtrip to fly from JFK direct to Bermuda, although prices are about half the cost since you also have JetBlue as an option as well.
  • New York (JFK) to Vail, Colorado: This seasonal route will cost you over $600, but only 20,000 Avios points + $5 in taxes. What is surprising is that availability for the winter time still seems to be great! This will give you an awesome value of using your points domestically at 3 cents/point. If you do not currently have any Avios points, but are looking for a roundabout way on purchasing points for redemption, read this previous post for US domestic travel with British Airways Avios.
  • Dallas to Vancouver: You can fly direct to Vancouver on partner airline American Airlines for 20,000 points + $51.94. This flight otherwise will cost you about $650, which is absolutely ridiculous. Since this is an international destination you can also use the cash & points option similar to flying to Montreal or Toronto. You can also fly direct from JFK to Vancouver on Cathay Pacific, but will cost 25,000 points and about double in taxes. The redemption value of this flight is about 3 cents/point!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I will only list the best credit card offers as my goal is for you to travel on a deal!