Vault’s Viewpoint on the New Chase Sapphire Preferred Bonus
- The Chase Sapphire Preferred comes with an increased welcome bonus of 75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points earned after spending $4,000 within the first three months.
- Chase partners with multiple airlines, allowing you to convert your points into airline miles.
- By transferring the card’s current bonus to airline loyalty programs, you can visit nearly anywhere in the world.
The Best Way to Redeem Chase Points Is for Travel
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a travel credit card. You don’t have to spend the rewards you earn from the card on travel, but it’ll give you the biggest bang for your points.
The current 75,000-point bonus is worth $750 in easy cash. You can take the money and walk away, or you can use your points to cross something legendary off your bucket list—something you never thought you’d be able to do—by transferring them to airlines and booking award flights.
To transfer Chase points, you’ll need to first enroll in whichever loyalty program you’d like to use. That may sound inconvenient, but it takes all of two minutes—and it’s free.
You Can Use the Current Chase Sapphire Preferred Bonus to Fly Nearly Anywhere
After you meet the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s minimum spending requirement on the welcome offer, you’ll have at least 79,000 points by our check—75,000 points, plus at least 4,000 points from meeting the spending requirement. Let’s see where you can go with a stockpile of points like that.
Just a couple of caveats before we dive in:
- Award flights come with taxes and fees. Sometimes they’re just a few dollars, and sometimes they’re over $100 each way. We’ll minimize the out-of-pocket cost in the examples below, but just realize that even award flights aren’t completely free.
- Award prices can vary drastically from day to day. To get the lowest prices, you’ll need to have a bit of flexibility with your vacation dates.
With that out of the way, here are some pointers for traveling (almost) anywhere with the increased Chase Sapphire Preferred bonus.
North America
Transfer to Southwest. Southwest serves the vast majority of the U.S. (including Hawaii). It also flies to several destinations around Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America.
Southwest’s points price is directly tied to its cash price. In general, you’ll get a value of around 1.4 cents per point. For example, a $100 flight will typically cost around 7,200 points. With the 79,000 or more points you may have after meeting the minimum spend and earning the Chase Sapphire bonus, you shouldn’t have trouble receiving at least $1,106 in Southwest flights.
Here’s a sample round-trip itinerary between Indianapolis (IND) and Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR), on Southwest. You’ll pay just 41,002 points and $84.60 for the trip.
South America
Transfer to British Airways. British Airways prices its awards based on the distance of each leg of your trip. In general, the closer you are to your destination, and the fewer connections you have, the lower your price will be.
Here’s an example: The itinerary below is from Columbus (CMH) to Lima, Peru (LIM), with a connection in Miami. You’ll pay 27,000 Avios points and $20.60 one-way.
Meanwhile, you can travel nonstop from Dallas (DFW) all the way to Santiago, Chile (SCL), for just 25,750 Avios points and $5.60 one-way. All to say, you can book a round-trip flight to nearly anywhere in South America with plenty of points to spare.
Europe
Transfer to Air Canada Aeroplan or Iberia. Europe is an easy destination to reach with Chase Ultimate Rewards. Just about every transfer partner can chauffeur you across the Atlantic for a reasonable amount of points.
Air Canada Aeroplan can get you from the East Coast to popular Western European destinations at an extremely competitive rate. For example, a one-way flight from Washington, DC (IAD) to Paris (CDG) costs 35,000 points and $78 CAD.
Alternatively, Iberia charges a dirt-cheap 17,000 Avios points one way between Spain and select U.S. cities such as New York (JFK), Chicago (ORD) and Boston (BOS). If you don’t mind first flying to Madrid and then buying a cheap ticket to your European city of choice, you can potentially save a lot of Chase points. Just note that Iberia tends to charge around $100 in fees each way.
Asia
Transfer to Flying Blue or Virgin Atlantic. The loyalty program of Air France and KLM, Flying Blue charges bewilderingly low prices to Asia. You can fly all the way to the Indian Subcontinent for just 35,000 points, or you can fly to the Middle East for even less. Here’s a sample itinerary between Dallas and Tel Aviv for 30,000 miles and 84.60 euros one-way on Air France.
Or, if you’re heading to Japan, you can transfer 30,000 points to Virgin Atlantic for a one-way flight to Tokyo (HND) from the Western U.S. However, these flights can be difficult to find. And ANA often incurs higher fees than most other airlines—which Virgin Atlantic will pass along to you.
Africa
Transfer to Flying Blue or Virgin Atlantic. You can reach Northern Africa for under 25,000 Flying Blue miles. In some cases, it’s cheaper than a visit to Europe. Below is a flight from Washington, DC (IAD) to Casablanca, Morocco (CMN) on Air France for 22,000 miles and $91.10 each way.
Alternatively, Virgin Atlantic charges considerably less for flights on its partner, Air France, than you’ll find directly with Flying Blue. For example, you’ll pay just 38,000 Virgin Atlantic miles one-way between the U.S. and Cape Town on Air France.
Oceania
Transfer to Flying Blue or British Airways. Admittedly, finding round-trip travel to Australia and French Polynesia for under 100,000 points can be difficult. One exception is from Los Angeles (LAX) to Tahiti (PPT) on Air France for just 27,500 Flying Blue miles and $63.90 one-way.
Getting to Australia will take a bit more creativity. One trick to lower your award price is to book two strategic flights via British Airways: One between the Continental U.S. and Hawaii and another between Hawaii and Australia.
Award flights from the West Coast to Honolulu (HNL) cost 16,000 Avios points and $5.60. Book this as the first leg of your trip.
Then, book a flight from Honolulu to Sydney (SYD) for 25,750 Avios points and $71.60. This will total 41,750 points one-way—meaning you’ll need 83,500 points to pull off a round-trip. That’s considerably less than 100,000 points, though slightly above the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s current bonus. You may have to put a month or two of additional spending on the card before you can afford this trip.
Bonus: Book Airfare Through Chase Travel
Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders can use points to “buy” flights through Chase Travel at a rate of 1.25 cents each. Because you’ll have a minimum of 79,000 points after meeting the minimum spend to earn the Chase Sapphire Preferred bonus, you’ll have at least $987.50 to spend on airfare by our math. This may well take you just about anywhere you want to go—without the extra step of transferring your points to airline loyalty programs.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred Is a Good Card to Keep—Even After the Bonus Is Spent
The Chase Sapphire Preferred benefits make it an excellent travel credit card worth keeping for someone who takes a trip at least once or twice each year. For a $95 annual fee, you’ll get:
- Up to $50 in annual statement credits to reimburse hotel stayed booked through Chase Travel
- Solid travel protections, including trip delay insurance, primary rental car insurance and baggage delay insurance
- Limited-time benefits with DoorDash, Lyft, Peloton and Instacart
And the card’s generous earning rate can help you quickly replenish your points stash with everyday spending. You’ll earn:
- 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel (excluding the $50 annual hotel credit reimbursem*nt)
- 5X points on qualifying Lyft rides (through March 31, 2025)
- 2X points on all other travel purchases
- 3X points on dining (including eligible delivery services, takeout and dining out)
- 3X points on online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 3X points on select streaming services
You’ll earn 1X points on all other purchases.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Chase Sapphire Preferred Worth It?
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is worth it if you can organically get more than $95 in value from the card each year to offset the annual fee. With its various travel insurances and valuable rewards program, frequent travelers shouldn’t have difficulty justifying the fee.
Is It Hard to Get the Chase Sapphire Preferred?
The Chase Sapphire Preferred enforces a few unique application restrictions. You won’t be approved for the card if you’ve opened five or more credit cards (with the exception of most small-business cards) in the past 24 months with the unofficial Chase 5/24 rule. Also, you won’t be approved if you currently have any card in the Sapphire credit card family or if you’ve earned a Sapphire welcome bonus in the past 48 months as a previous cardmember.
Is the Sapphire Preferred Better Than the Reserve?
In terms of benefits, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is better than the Chase Sapphire Preferred. It comes with airport lounge access, hundreds of dollars in easy-to-use travel credits each year and more. However, its annual fee is $550—which is substantially higher than the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s $95 annual fee.
