Chase uLtimate Rewards

Chase Reserve will give you 3x on flights and hotels. Despite only having a 3x Ultimate Rewards return on fights and hotel, Chase Reserve is better then American Express Platinum as it allows you to double dip on points. Book at a travel reward websites such as hotel.com or priceline.com for 3x Chase Ultimate Reward points and you still be able to get bonus Amex Membership Rewards via a cashback rewards extension such as from Rakuten.com

Best RedEMPTION Value

Best Value in Business Class: ( > 5 cents per points)

Transfer points to Emirate Airline: 90K round trip from New York City, NY to Milan, Italy or Athens, Greece

Transfer points to Iberia Airline: 60k round trip from New York City, NY to Madrid, Spain

Best Value in Economy Class: ( > 2 cents per points)

Transfer points to British Airway: * 5k one way tickets via American Airlines.

Transfer points to United Airline: * cheap award tickets for last minute flights. * 5k one way with ANA airline while in Japan.

*Make sure your redemption value is great then 2:1

American Express Membership Rewards

American Express Platinum gives an amazing 5x Membership Rewards on travel. However, it is limited to purchases through American Express’s travel portal or through the airline companies directly.

AMEX travel portal is good for airline tickets. The airline tickets are often competitive if not better then directly purchasing from the airlines themselves. This is especially true for business class tickets.

AMEX travel portal is typically not good for booking hotels. Hotels will often command a premium and void your hotel status benefits (ex: no Hilton Gold benefits via booking through AMEX travel portal).

Rakuten.com is a great way to earn extra American Express Membership Rewards points. They will often run 10% cashback deals on Hotel.com or Priceline.com bringing in more value then booking at AMEX own travel portal

Best REdemption Value

Best Value in Business Class: ( > 5 cents per points)

In addition to Chase’s Airline partners, ANA offers significant value for redemption of business class tickets

Transfer points to ANA Airline: 80K round trip from Washington DC or NYC, NY to Tokyo Japan.

105k round trip tickets from NYC, NY to Cape Town, South Africa (currently not running due to COVID)

*similar deal deals via United but often 20-40% more points with a larger surcharge fee.

Best Value in Economy Class: ( > 2 cents per points)

Overlap with Chase Ultimate Rewards. However, it’s better to use Chase Ultimate Reward points as American Express Membership Rewards points are significantly more valuable.