10 best ways to use 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points

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These days, it's not too hard to rack up 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

If you're a small-business owner, you can pick up the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card and earn 100,000 points after spending $15,000 on purchases in the first three months after card opening.

Plus, the card can help you rack up even more points quickly, too — for example, you can earn 3 points per dollar (on the first $150,000 you spend each account anniversary year) in a variety of different business-oriented spending categories and 1 point per dollar on other purchases.

You can also earn big welcome bonuses on Chase's personal credit cards, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. New card applicants currently earn 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. It’s not hard to top this balance up to 100,000 after putting regular expenses on the card for a few months, as it earns 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through the Chase portal, 2 points per dollar on other travel purchases, and 3 points per dollar on dining and online grocery purchases (along with 1 point per dollar on other purchases).

Chase advertises 100,000 points as being worth $1,250 when you book travel through the Chase travel portal. That’s already a terrific value. However, this value isn’t taking into account Chase’s vast list of airline and hotel transfer partners. If you take advantage of these partners, you can stretch your points far beyond Chase’s $1,250 valuation.

With that in mind, here I’ll show you 10 of the best ways to redeem 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points through transfer partners. I’ve made a point to look through various redemptions in this piece, including everything from booking high-end international business-class tickets and five-star hotel stays to quick domestic hops.

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Before we get started, I want to be completely transparent with you: Some of the redemptions here will be slightly more than 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points.

So while these awards are higher than the Ink Business Preferred's welcome bonus, keep in mind that you’ll need to meet the $15,000 minimum spending requirement to get the bonus.

This means you’ll have a minimum of 115,000 points after meeting the spending requirement. Plus, you can use the Ultimate Rewards shopping portal to earn even more points on your online purchases.

Related: Redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points for maximum value

Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners

Below you’ll find a quick rundown of the program’s current partners, including the name of each partner and the transfer time. Note that all transfers process at a 1:1 transfer ratio, so 1 Ultimate Rewards point equals 1 airline mile or hotel point.

There’s a bit of variation when it comes to TPG’s valuation of each transfer partner’s points or miles. As a general rule of thumb, I recommend staying away from low-value transfer partners, such as Marriott Bonvoy or IHG Rewards Club ... with one exception.

Additionally, if you can find a specific redemption that works for your travel plans and gives you more than 1.25 cents per point in value (the value you can redeem toward paid travel with the Ink Business Preferred or Sapphire Preferred through the Chase Travel portal), it may be a good deal. This minimum changes to 1.5 cents per point if you also have the Chase Sapphire Reserve because you can transfer points from another Ultimate Rewards-earning card to that account and redeem them for 1.5 cents each toward travel.

I say that it may be a good deal because TPG values Ultimate Rewards points at 2 cents per point. WIth this in mind, I don’t usually redeem points for an award ticket unless I’m getting at least 2 cents per point in value. This is because I know I can get a higher value on a different redemption.

Of course, you don’t have to follow my rule, but it’s something to keep in mind when you’re redeeming Ultimate Rewards points.

Fly the world’s longest flight in business class

Singapore Airlines is known for operating some of the most luxurious planes in the sky, and some of the world’s longest flights. Currently, the longest flight in the world is Singapore’s nonstop service from Singapore (SIN) to New York-JFK on the carrier’s A350-900ULR aircraft.

The plane doesn’t offer Singapore Suites first class like you’ll find on the carrier’s A380, but the business-class cabin is still a very comfortable way to fly. Seats are spacious and — in true Singapore Airlines fashion — you can expect excellent onboard service and dining.

A one-way flight on this route costs 99,000 Singapore KrisFlyer miles plus minimal taxes and fees, which is a lot for a one-way flight. That said, it’s a small price to pay for nearly 19 hours in business class on one of the world’s most renowned airlines.

Don’t want to drop all your points on a one-way ticket? The airline also operates a premium-economy cabin — but no economy cabin — on this flight, too. You’ll pay 73,000 miles for a one-way ticket in premium economy, but I recommend paying the difference for business class if you can.

You can book Singapore award tickets by searching for availability on the Singapore Airlines website. Just search for the award using the search box on the Singapore Airlines website and look for dates with Saver award availability. Once you’ve found this, call Singapore Airlines at 312-843-5333 and have the phone representative put the ticket on hold for you.

Once you’ve secured a hold, transfer the number of miles needed to book your ticket after the hold is secured. Note that Singapore Airlines transfers take up to 24 hours to process, so you’ll need to call back the next day to finalize your hold.

Related: 18 hours in nonstop style: Singapore business class on the world’s longest flight

Fly Delta One business class to Europe for 100,000 points round-trip

Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines partnered up in 2012 when Delta purchased a large chunk of the U.K.-based airline. The two airlines entered a non-alliance partnership shortly after this purchase, meaning Virgin Atlantic Flying Club members can redeem points for flights on Delta Air Lines and vice versa. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is an Ultimate Rewards transfer partner, so in effect, you can use your Ultimate Rewards points to book Delta Air Lines tickets.

Round-trip Delta One tickets from the U.S. to Europe (excluding the U.K.) cost just 100,000 Flying Club miles round-trip, or 50,000 miles one-way with minimal taxes and fees. This includes routes with the Delta One Suites product. As of early 2020, all of Delta’s Airbus A350-900s and A330-900neos are equipped with these seats, while some Boeing 767s have a modified version of them.

Related: The ultimate guide to Delta One Suites

What’s so great about Delta One Suites, you ask? Simple: This brand-new product offers the privacy of a fully enclosed suite, complete with a sliding door and a “Do Not Disturb” indicator. Delta’s service is known as some of the best of the big three U.S. carriers — you can expect delicious food, a solid wine selection and attentive flight attendants. To me, this business-class product is miles better than both American Airlines’ international service and United’s flagship Polaris business-class product.

Thankfully, you can book most Delta routes online — just head over to the Virgin Atlantic website and search for your flight of choice. Once you find this space, you can transfer miles and book your ticket by calling Virgin Atlantic.

Sometimes, however, Virgin Atlantic’s website won’t show all available routes. If you want to book a route that you can’t find on the Virgin Atlantic website, give the Flying Club call center a call at 800-365-9500 and ask the agent to help you find Delta award space.

Related: How to save thousands of miles on Delta One awards to Europe

Fly from the US to Tokyo in ANA first class for 110,000 points

Interestingly enough, Virgin Atlantic is also partners with Tokyo-based ANA (short for All Nippon Airways). As with Delta, you can use your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles to book tickets on ANA at really attractive rates — in fact, it’s hands-down the best way to book tickets on ANA. Plus, ANA’s first-class cabin is pretty awesome too — you can expect top-notch service, great new seats and a selection of delicious meals and Champagne.

ANA first-class flights cost 110,000 miles round-trip from the U.S. West Coast and 120,000 miles from the East Coast and Chicago. For comparison, United MileagePlus — another Ultimate Rewards transfer partner – charges a minimum of 110,000 one-way for a first-class ticket from the U.S. to Asia on ANA, so you’re effectively doubling the value of your points when you book through Virgin Atlantic.

There's one restriction you need to be aware of: You can’t book ANA tickets online through the Virgin Atlantic website. Instead, you first have to find award space using ExpertFlyer (owned by Red Ventures, TPG’s parent company) or United.com. Doing this is pretty simple: On the United site, look for nonstop, ANA-operated flights with first-class “Saver” award space. Make sure to take note of the flight numbers you want to book. See an example of a bookable award below.

Once you find a flight, call Virgin Atlantic Flying Club at 800-365-9500 and ask the agent to put the ANA flight on hold. Transfer points from Chase to Virgin Atlantic after the hold is secured and ask the agent to finalize your ticket. Then, you’re all set to fly.

Related: Partner award flights on ANA just got even better: One-way redemptions now possible

Round-trip ANA first-class tickets from Chicago to Tokyo usually cost somewhere around $15,000 round-trip. This means that you can get a whopping 12.37 cents per point in value when booking ANA first class through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club — talk about an incredible deal.

Spend 3 nights at the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome for 90,000 points

Let’s switch gears to hotel redemptions for a second. I generally don’t recommend transferring Ultimate Rewards points to hotel partners as they’re usually not a great deal. However, I make an exception to this personal rule for World of Hyatt transfers. Despite the recent addition of peak and off-peak pricing, the program is known for its excellent award chart, with many high-end hotels running 40,000 points per night or less.

One of my favorite Hyatt redemptions is at the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome. This five-star hotel is located in the heart of Paris, and since it’s a Category 7 hotel, it costs just 30,000 Hyatt points per night on standard dates, and as low as 25,000 per night on off-peak dates.

With this in mind, your 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points will be enough for as many as four free nights at the property on off-peak dates, or three on standard dates at 30,000 points apiece.

Booking this stay is easy, too. Just head over to the Hyatt website and search for your stay using the search box at the top of the website — just make sure to select the “Use Points” button at the bottom of the menu before you search. If award nights are available, you’ll be prompted to select a room. At this point, calculate the number of points needed and transfer them from Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt. These transfers process instantly, so run your search again and book your free hotel stay.

Rooms at the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome average about $800 per night. That means this redemption gives you a solid 2.77 cents per point in value, which is higher than our 2-cent-per-point valuation for Ultimate Rewards points.

Related: Your guide to maximizing redemptions with Hyatt

Take 4 round-trip flights from the West Coast to Hawaii

Are you on the West Coast of the U.S. and considering an island vacation? You can use your 100,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points to fly you and three of your family members or friends to Hawaii from any of Alaska Airlines’ West Coast hubs. And while Alaska Airlines isn’t an Ultimate Rewards transfer partner, the Seattle-based airline has a partnership with Singapore Airlines that lets you use Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles to book Alaska Airlines tickets on the cheap.

Singapore Airlines’ Alaska Airlines award chart can be a bit confusing, though. The award chart is split up into different regions, and you can only use Singapore miles for nonstop tickets on Alaska Airlines.

Thankfully, award pricing is very reasonable. A West Coast-to-Hawaii redemption costs just 12,000 Singapore miles and $5.60 in taxes one-way on any of Alaska’s nonstop routes to Hawaii in economy class. This means that a flight from Portland, Oregon (PDX), to Kahului on Maui (OGG), costs just 24,000 Singapore Airlines miles round-trip, making it one of the best ways to get from the U.S. to the Aloha State.

Related: The best ways to get to Hawaii with points and miles

Like booking ANA award tickets with Virgin Atlantic points, you can’t book Alaska Airlines flights on the Singapore Airlines website. Instead, use ExpertFlyer or the American Airlines website to find award space.

Finding award space on AA.com is simple: Just enter the route you’d like to fly and make sure to select the "Redeem miles" button before you run your search. Then, look for nonstop award flights that are operated by Alaska Airlines and have open saver award space. See the screenshot below for an example of a bookable flight.

Flights from the West Coast to Hawaii can be pricey during peak summer and winter travel dates. For example, round-trip tickets from PDX to OGG cost $650 per person in July 2020. This means that you can get 2.7 cents per point in value when booking during peak dates — a pretty solid deal, especially when you book for a family of four.

There is one major downside to booking this ticket. Singapore Airlines points can take up to 24 hours to transfer from Ultimate Rewards, and Singapore Airlines doesn’t let you put Alaska Airlines award tickets on hold. With this in mind, I only recommend that you transfer points to Singapore Airlines if you have flexibility in your travel dates and can fly on alternate dates if award space dries up.

Fly round-trip to Madrid in business class from 68,000 points

Iberia is one of my favorite ways to fly from Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD) or New York-JFK to Europe. The Madrid-based airline flies from all of these airports to its hub in Madrid (MAD) using Airbus A330 and A350 aircraft. Each of these planes is equipped with a solid business-class product with lie-flat seats. You can see TPG senior writer Lori Zaino’s review of Iberia’s A350 business class for a look at what to expect.

But the real reason to fly Iberia from the U.S. to Europe is its stellar off-peak award pricing. Round-trip business-class tickets from Boston, Chicago or New York to Madrid cost just 68,000 Iberia Avios during the airline’s off-peak award dates. These dates change annually, but you can see the 2022 calendar in the screenshot above. You may be surprised to see that most of the year is considered off-peak, and even late May and early June have a plethora of off-peak days available. Taxes and fees are roughly $200 on a round-trip business-class ticket.

Actually booking this ticket is simple too. Head to the "Book flights with Avios" page on the Iberia website and enter your search details. You'll have to log into your Iberia Plus account. All available flights will appear on the search results page, and you can book directly on the website — no phone call required. I’ve found that Iberia’s business-class award space is relatively easy to come by during these off-peak dates, especially when booking a few months in advance.

A round-trip Iberia business-class flight from New York to Madrid usually costs around $2,650 when booking three to four months in advance. This means you’ll get around 3.6 cents per point in value when taking the award’s taxes and fees into account. Oh, and you’ll still have 32,000 Ultimate Rewards points left to use for hotels in Madrid or short-haul flights around Europe.

Book up to 5 nights at an all-inclusive hotel

People like to call award travel “free” without factoring in all the other costs that go into a vacation. With Hyatt’s all-inclusive hotels, you have one less thing to worry about because it’s possible to check out with a $0 bill. Everything from your room to the meals (even room service) and some non-motorized sports are included in your point booking.

With 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points, you can book up to five nights at a Hyatt Ziva or Zilara hotel in Mexico or the Caribbean.

• Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta – 17,000 to 23,000 points per night.
• Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos – 17,000 to 23,000 points per night.
• Hyatt Ziva Cancun –21,000 to 29,000 points per night.
• Hyatt Zilara Cancun – 21,000 to 29,000 points per night.
• Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana – 21,000 to 29,000 points per night.
• Hyatt Zilara Cap Cana – 21,000 to 29,000 points per night.
• Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall – 21,000 to 29,000 points per night.
• Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall – 21,000 to 29,000 points per night.

Hyatt’s Ziva and Zilara hotels take the all-inclusive experience to a new level. With many of their resorts being newly built or renovated, you get beautiful rooms and amenities. Granted, things aren’t always smooth on opening day but over time they’ve gained a reputation as being great spots for a relaxing vacation.

TPG values Hyatt points at 1.7 cents each and with rates at these resorts often exceeding $425 per night, you are bound to get value out of your 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points.

Related: 100-plus all-inclusive resorts you can book with points

Take 11 short-haul flights on American or Alaska Airlines

Want to stay stateside instead? You can use 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points to take 11 short-haul flights on American Airlines or Alaska Airlines by transferring Ultimate Rewards points to British Airways Avios.

Flights under 1,151 miles one-way in economy cost 9,000 Avios and $5.60 in taxes. This includes business-heavy routes like Chicago to New York (LGA) and Washington, D.C. (DCA), to Toronto (YYZ), and others that can be expensive when booking at the last minute or during holidays, trade shows and other special events.

You can book longer routes at competitive rates with British Airways Avios, too. See the British Airways partner award chart for partner economy flights below.

* Zone 1 Avios awards are not available for flights to, from or within the US.

American and Alaska flights are bookable on the British Airways "Book With Avios" website. Just run a search and look for flights on the day you want to book. Then, you can transfer your points from Ultimate Rewards and book the flight as soon as the miles hit your British Airways account. Note that you may need to log out of your British Airways account and log back in to see your updated mileage balance.

There is one thing you should keep in mind when booking airfare with British Airways Avios, though: Itineraries with stopovers are considerably more expensive than nonstop flights. This is because British Airways prices its award tickets leg by leg. So if you fly from Boston (BOS) to New York (LGA) to Chicago (ORD), you’ll pay 18,000 Avios as you’re essentially booking two short-haul tickets. Alternatively, you can book the BOS-to-ORD nonstop flight for 9,000 Avios.

The cent-per-point value of this ticket depends on how much the cash cost of an award ticket is. When writing this article, I found a next-day American Airlines ticket from Chicago to New York with open award space. This same ticket was $374 one-way when booked with cash, giving a valuation of 4.15 cents per point for this specific booking.

Related: Maximizing the British Airways distance-based award chart

Fly United Polaris business class to Europe for 60,000 points one-way

United’s Polaris business-class seat is undoubtedly a top contender among U.S. airline products. Seats offer direct aisle access for all, Saks Fifth Avenue bedding and — when flying from United hubs — entry to United’s tony Polaris lounges. The Polaris hard product is already flying on all United Boeing 777-300ER and 787-10 aircraft and select Boeing 767, 777-200, 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft.

Despite United MileagePlus switching to dynamic award pricing in 2019, the airline still offers standard pricing for most award tickets with saver-award space. In the case of United-operated flights, you can expect to pay 60,000 miles for a one-way Polaris ticket from the U.S. to Europe. Do note that United now tacks on up to 3,500 extra miles if you book award tickets within 30 days of travel.

Related: How to avoid fuel surcharges on award travel

Most United-operated award tickets to Europe have low fuel surcharges too. For example, I looked for a ticket from Newark to London — a Boeing 767 Polaris route — and found that award tickets require just $5.60 in taxes and fees. Other routes may be higher if the origin or destination country levies high fuel surcharges, but since United doesn’t pass on fuel surcharges or other carrier-imposed fees, you can usually redeem your United miles with low taxes.

As mentioned earlier, not all of United’s long-haul fleet is equipped with the Polaris hard product. You can see if your United flight has Polaris seats by clicking the "Seats" button to the left of award pricing on United’s website. If the seat map shows staggered blue business-class seats (as shown in the screenshot above), your flight is equipped with Polaris seats. On the other hand, if the seat map shows orange seats, your plane is not equipped with the Polaris hard product.

Again, the value you’ll get from this redemption largely depends on the route you fly and when you fly it. However, I looked for a Newark-to-London round-trip ticket departing three months from my date of search; a paid flight was $3,254 while an award ticket was 120,000 United miles and $327.15. This means that you’d get 2.43 cents per point in value for this sample redemption, but you can likely get much more if you’re booking on a higher-demand date.

United doesn’t offer holds for award tickets, but points transfer instantly from Ultimate Rewards. Remember, it’s best practice to only transfer miles after you’ve found award space on a flight you want to book. This ensures that you’re not stuck with United miles that you can’t use.

Related: The ultimate guide to United Polaris

Enjoy a lie-flat transcontinental flight for just 46,000 points round-trip

If you’re based on the East Coast or West Coast, you know the pain of getting to the opposite coast for business, a vacation, or visiting friends and family. The flight is nearly as long as a flight to Europe, and the time change on an eastbound flight can leave you without a good night’s rest.

The better alternative is to fly the route in business class — the big three U.S. airlines all offer lie-flat seats in business class, so you can arrive at your destination rested and well fed. Unfortunately, though, these tickets usually cost $2,500 or more on most transcontinental flights, putting the redemption out of reach for most of us — unless you have Ultimate Rewards points to spare, that is.

You can transfer just 46,000 (or 23,000 for one-way) Ultimate Rewards points to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and book a round-trip transcontinental ticket on United Airlines. United flies a mixture of Boeing 757, 777-200 and 787-10 aircraft on its transcontinental routes, and all aircraft are configured with lie-flat seats. Oh, and if you’re lucky enough to score a flight on a 787-10 operated route, you’ll fly in the top-notch Polaris hard product I mentioned in the last section.

You can book United tickets on the Singapore Airlines website. Just log in with your KrisFlyer credentials, enter your search criteria in the search box on the homepage. Make sure to select the "Redeem flights" button at the top of the search box before running your search.

You’ll see all available United flights on the search results page. We highly recommend looking at the plane type before you book your ticket, though — this is because some of the Boeing 777 aircraft on the Newark-to-Los Angeles route still have 2-4-2 seating in business class. This means that you can be stuck in a middle seat even if you’re traveling in business class, which is incredibly annoying even if you’re flying on an award ticket.

You can view your plane type by clicking the arrow button located to the right of the flight number. If your flight is operated by a Boeing 777, enter your flight number on SeatGuru to see if it has the 2-4-2 seating we discussed earlier.

Transferring Ultimate Rewards points to Singapore Airlines can take up to 24 hours to process, and you can’t place holds on partner award tickets. I only recommend transferring points to Singapore Airlines if your itinerary is flexible so that you can move to another date with award space if needed. Regardless, 46,000 miles is an incredible deal for lie-flat transcontinental business class, so it may be worth the risk if you’re planning a trip from coast to coast.

I looked for a last-minute award ticket from Newark (EWR) to Los Angeles (LAX), departing just six days from when I searched. There was some award space, and my total came to a modest 46,000 Singapore miles and $11.20. This ticket would’ve been $2,137 if I paid cash, meaning that this redemption is worth a whopping 4.62 cents per point. This is double the TPG valuation and is undoubtedly a great way to transit between the U.S. coasts.

Bonus: Check out Air France-KLM Flying Blue Promo Rewards for discounted tickets

Flying Blue is Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines’ joint loyalty program, and it’s also an Ultimate Rewards transfer partner. The program transitioned to a dynamic award chart years ago. While this has skyrocketed the price of some awards, there are still some good deals to be found — especially if you take advantage of Flying Blue’s famous Promo Rewards.

If this is the first you’re hearing of Promo Rewards, here’s a quick overview. Every month Flying Blue releases a new set of these rewards from specific cities at a discount of 25-50% of the normal mileage required on one airline or the other. Generally, the airline releases economy, premium economy and business-class Promo Rewards for different destinations in regions worldwide, but all Promo Rewards originate or end in Europe.

Further, these discounted tickets must be booked by the end of the month and flown within a specified set of travel dates. Additionally, Promo Reward tickets must be booked online and you can’t make any changes or cancellations. Flying Blue phone agents cannot book Promo Rewards.

Sometimes these deals are better than others — for example, in November 2019 we saw 26,500-mile trips from Chicago to Europe. Be sure to check the Flying Blue Promo Rewards website at the beginning of every month to see the latest Promo Rewards.

Related: The easiest airline miles to get and why you want them

Bottom line

The Ink Business Preferred Credit Card is one of the most rewarding business credit cards on the market, and the welcome bonus of 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points can go a long way toward your next vacation or business trip. There are many different ways to use Ultimate Rewards points for maximum value, but I hope this post gave you a good jumping-off point for redeeming your newly minted Ultimate Rewards points.

Additional reporting by Ariana Arghandewal and Benji Stawski.