I’ve always recommended the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card as one of the best “travel” credit cards out there, and while it’s still a great card, if you travel more than a couple times a year, I would now recommend the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. The travel perks are better, and the Ultimate Rewards points you earn through the Reserve card have a higher value than points through the Preferred card. (1.5 cents per point rather than 1.25 cents per point.)

There are a myriad of ways to spend your Ultimate Rewards points, like transferring the points to other travel partners, but the easiest and most straight forward way to use your Ultimate Rewards points is by booking directly through Chase.com. It is very similar to booking a flight through Orbitz, Expedia, etc.

The information below applies to both the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve cards.

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Step 1

Login to your Chase account via chase.com.

Step 2

On the lefthand side of the website, click on the Ultimate Rewards link.

Step 3

Scroll down and find the flight finder. Search for your specific flight. (I would recommend first finding your flight details via google.com/flights.)

Step 4

Select your departing flight.

Step 5

Select your return flight.

Step 6

You will then be asked how many points you want to use towards the flight. In the screenshot below, you can see that I used 73,354 out of my 90,509 points to cover the total cost of the 2 round-trip flights. Final balance, $0.

The great thing about Chase is that you can use any combination of points and dollars. You can easily adjust the green slider to suit your needs, then click “continue”.

Above, I’m using my Ultimate Rewards points via my Chase Sapphire Reserve account. As mentioned above, these points are worth 1.5 cents each (73,354 x .015 = $1,100.32). If I only had a Chase Sapphire Preferred account, I would need to use 88,025 points, because they are only worth 1.25 cents each (88,025 x .0125 = $1,100.32).

Step 7

After clicking “continue”, you will be able to review your trip details. If satisfied, click “proceed to checkout”.

Step 8

The next page will ask you to add your traveler information (name, birthday, passport info, etc.). Click “save & continue”.

Step 9

Now you will be at the payments page. Here, you can again adjust how many points you want to use.

If your points cover the total cost of the flight, you just click “confirm booking”. If you still owe a balance, you will be asked to enter credit card information (you do not have to use your Chase here if you don’t want to). Either way, you will be sent your confirmation details via email.

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If you have any other questions, feel free to email us!