A lot of people pick up cards like the Chase Sapphirre Preferred and quickly find themselves with 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards. But what are the best ways to maximize 60,000 Ultimate Rewards? There are a number of possibilities and a few different factors that you will want to consider before using your points.
In this article, I’ll cover some of the best ways to use your points so that you can get maximum value and be aware of all of the different possibilities.
Table of Contents
Earning 60,000 Ultimate Rewards
The easiest way to quickly earn 60,000 Ultimate Rewards is by getting a great welcome bonus like that offered by the Chase Sapphirre Preferred (review here) which offers 60,000 points after you spend $4,000 in the first three months after opening up your account.
Other cards also offer bonuses that could get you up to 60,000 pretty quickly like the Chase Sapphire Reserve which is a premium card loaded with benefits that set you up with a 50,000 point bonus after spending $4,000 in the first three months after account opening.
Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!
Ultimate Rewards airline partners
Below are all of the Chase Ultimate Rewards airline partners.
| Airline | Transfer ratio |
| Aer Lingus AerClub | 1:1 |
| British Airways Executive Club | 1:1 |
| Emirates Skywards | 1:1 |
| KLM/Air France Flying Blue | 1:1 |
| Iberia Plus | 1:1 |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | 1:1 |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1:1 |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards | 1:1 |
| United MileagePlus | 1:1 |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1:1 |
As you can see, the ratio for transferring points is always one to one.
That 1:1 transfer ratio is one reason why Chase Ultimate Rewards is a special program because other transfer programs do not have 1:1 transfer ratios for all airlines.
Related: 12 Best Chase Ultimate Rewards First Class Redemptions
Best uses of 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards
Get up to $750 worth of value in the Chase Travel Portal
If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, your 60,000 points will be worth $900 when booking travel through the Chase Travel Portal. Meanwhile, if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, your 60,000 points will be worth $750 when booking travel through the Chase Travel Portal.
The advantage to using your points this way is that you don’t have to contend with blackout dates, transferring points, dealing with customer service issues for booking, etc. So if you highly value convenience then this can be a great route to book your flights, hotels, and other forms of travel.
Book Hyatt stays
The best way to maximize value with hotel stays is to transfer your Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt. The amount of value that you will get from the redemptions will vary but it’s often possible to get between 1.5 and two cents per point when booking Hyatt stays.
Getting around two cents per point would put the value of your 60,000 points at $1,200 which is fantastic for a top travel rewards credit card.
If you want some inspiration for using your points at Hyatt hotels, here are a couple of lists that you will find handy:
Fly domestic on United, American, or Delta
If you just want to fly around the US, you can use your Ultimate Rewards to fly on all of the major US carriers.
United is the easy option since it is a direct 1:1 transfer from Chase to United but you could also book United after transferring your points to partner Singapore Airlines since they are both members of the Star Alliance. For a round-trip domestic flight in first class you would be looking at 50,000 miles on many routes though the price could vary.
But you can also use British Airways Avios to book American Airlines flights which sometimes can be a bargain, especially on shorter flights.
You can book domestic routes for pretty cheap rates, especially if you can find nonstop flights. For example, I found business class flights between Miami and Phoenix for only 22,000 Avios, which is a great rate.
You can also look at partners like KLM or Virgin Atlantic to book Delta flights around the country.
Read more about American Airlines Domestic First Class and United Airlines First Class.
Maximize value domestically and internationally with Southwest
Southwest Airlines is another option for getting around the country and also to other international destinations like Mexico and various Caribbean locations.
If you seek out Wanna Get Away fares you’ll be able to save a lot and stretch your points pretty far. 60,000 Rapid Rewards could easily get you three or four roundtrips depending on the deals you find. Here are a few examples of some flight prices:
- HOU – LAX 11,622
- FLL – BOS 15,366
- MDW – LAS 13,026
- LGA – SEA 10,764
- PHX – MCO 15,444
The extra upside here is that if you have the Southwest Companion Pass then you can essentially double your travels since one person will be able to fly virtually for free on every flight. Chase also offers Southwest credit cards so it is easy to supplement your balance and bank even more Rapid Rewards.
Fly JetBlue Mint
JetBlue Mint is arguably the number one domestic first class product and you can transfer your points directly to JetBlue to book it.
Prices will fluctuate based on the cash price so it’s a good idea to book in advance a lot of times but this could be a great way to cash out your Ultimate Rewards if you value comfort when flying around the US.
Mint routes have gotten more expensive over the past few years but here are some of the award rates that I’ve found for one way flights in the past:
- JFK to SFO: 65,000 one way + $5.60 in fees
- JFK to LAX: 57,700 one way + $5.60 in fees
- BOS to LAX: 45,300 one way + $5.60 in fees
- FLL to LAX: 53,100 one way + $5.60 in fees
Fly between the US and Europe
You can find economy flights for 60,000 points round-trip from the US to Europe on United Airlines. Alternatively, you could use those 60,000 points to fly in business class on United for a one-way trip.
Using Virgin Atlantic, you can book multiple economy flights for under 60,000 points round-trip from the US to Europe on Delta Airlines. Depending on where you are departing from, an economy trip may cost between 20,000 and 30,000 miles round-trip. So you could get up to three round trips from 60,000 miles.
That’s very cheap but the fees will be pretty high on roundtrips so be prepared to shell out over $500 on fees. If you are just flying one way you can use your Virgin Atlantic to get from the US to Europe with very minimal fees on Delta. Also note that you could fly in Delta One for as low as 45,000 miles!
Fly one way between Italy and New York on Emirates
Using points on Emirates can get pricey sometimes but you can find some decent redemption options between certain routes such as between Italy and New York. You could fly from Italy to New York in economy for just under 39,000 miles and about €50 in fees. You would also be able to fly in business class for 62,500 miles and around €66 in fees.
Those are not the cheapest prices out there but if you really want to experience Emirates, which is one of the top airlines in the world, it can be a worthwhile redemption for sure.
Fly between the US and Australia
For 40,000 miles one way, you can get down to Australia from the US on United Airlines. That’s actually a very competitive rate and among the best offered by many airlines.
If you would rather fly with Singapore Airlines, shelling out another 20,000 miles for a total of 60,000 miles will get you to the land down under. Also, don’t forget that you can use British Airways to fly American Airlines down to Australia for 62,500 miles.
Availability can be very tough to Australia but if you are flying economy and booking well in advance, you may have much better luck.
Fly between Asia and Australia using Singapore Airlines
You can fly in Singapore Airlines business class between China/Hong Kong or Taiwan and Australia for 65,000 miles one way on a saver award. Business class on Singapore Airlines generally gets good reviews and we have a review you could check out as well.
Fly between US in South Africa
For only 31,000 Virgin Atlantic miles, you can get down to South Africa on KLM. United requires 40,000 miles for a one-way trip and you can fly with United or you can select one of the different partners that sometimes fly to destinations like Cape Town.
Final word
As you can tell, there are tons of different ways to use 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards. You will have enough to fly business class for one way flights on many routes and enough for round trips in economy in a lot of flights. However, I would try to beef up that balance another 50,000 points if you wanted a lot more options in premium cabins such as first class in business class.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
