Chase Travel gave us a deal on our first class seats on United for August to Maui, this is through the UR portal

[rickandcindy23]

The Ultimate Rewards Portal offered us a special price on flights, Denver to Maui. I was expecting to pay around 60,000 points, but there were some discounts on the points required. For a flight that is ~$850, the points were 42,060 per ticket.

 

[gravityrules]

Congrats, sounds like a great deal! RT, correct?

 

[letsgobobby]

The Ultimate Rewards Portal offered us a special price on flights, Denver to Maui. I was expecting to pay around 60,000 points, but there were some discounts on the points required. For a flight that is ~$850, the points were 42,060 per ticket.

did you buy using UR or transfer to United?

 

[rickandcindy23]

Congrats, sounds like a great deal! RT, correct?

This is first class to Maui from Denver for both of us, one way. The cost would have been $1,893 for both of us, if we paid cash, but the discount was on the UR Points that we have accumulated.

 

[rickandcindy23]

did you buy using UR or transfer to United?

UR Points are always a much better deal.

 

[linsj]

Cindy, I'm not familiar with how UR points work. Does Chase act like a travel agent and you have to go through them for any travel changes?

 

[dioxide45]

Cindy, I'm not familiar with how UR points work. Does Chase act like a travel agent and you have to go through them for any travel changes?

Yes and yes. You lose some flexibility with the savings.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Yes and yes. You lose some flexibility with the savings.

For the points that are equal to $600 per person to Maui, we can live with the cost.

We have changed our flight by one day in the past through the portal. The flight was slightly less, I think just a few thousand points less, so we didn't get a refund, but the flight better-matched our timeshare reservation. I rarely change our flights after booking.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Cindy, I'm not familiar with how UR points work. Does Chase act like a travel agent and you have to go through them for any travel changes?

With the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, we build 3X points for our timeshare MF's, which is substantial. A $50,000 spend gets us 150,000 points. 150,000 points = 1.5 cents per point through the portal, $2,250 of value.

The flights cost the same going through the portal as through the airline directly. I check Google Flights for the best deals, and I book our flights through the portal. All of the airlines I see on Google are there, but not in the same order. I can narrow down the search to flight time, nonstop, etc.

I book our Hawaii first-class flights this way, and it builds points and miles in United, Alaska and Hawaiian. This is a bonus. When we use our UR points to book flights, we get credit from the airline as though we paid cash. Our miles are building quickly in those portals. I use the award miles occasionally, when I find a deal on a flight. For example, our return flight on 9/1/2025 from Maui, there is a 40,000 mile seat on Alaska/Hawaiin from OGG>LIH>OAK. I chose not to take that flight because of the stop, but it's there if I wanted it. We will use UR points to book our return to SFO. The Hyatt at SFO is our go-to, and I transfer UR points to Hyatt to book the hotel, usually only 30,000 points. It's a Grand Hyatt, we just take the airport train to get to it.

The portal used to be managed by Expedia, now it is managed by Chase, supposedly.

The points never expire. Chase was giving full point value on purchases at grocery stores during Covid. I could subtract a lot of points that way. I have a lot built up again. I should see if that option is still available.

 

[Ken555]

Congrats, sounds like a great deal! RT, correct?

Please let us know where you find roundtrip first class to Hawaii for ~$850.

 

[Thomfam]

That is a good deal, a little over .02/ point.

 

[letsgobobby]

UR Points are always a much better deal.

definitely not always

congrats on the deal

 

[rickandcindy23]

Rick is not being offered the discount on points. He would tell you I am running amok with this deal. I booked our flight to Maui in August, our return from Maui 9/1 first. Both flights were discounted for first class.

Then I booked our flight going to Maui on 2/6/2026 for a bargain price, same as the first one, 42,060 per person. This is from Denver.

I also booked SAT-DEN for 7 of us, first class, and cancelled our Southwest flights. The first class United flights were 11,000 points.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Check the portal, if you have a Chase card and see what you can book with points. Neither Rick nor our son were offered these bargain fares.

I had 500,000+ points available, now I am down to 124,000.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Congrats. AFAIK Chase UR portal is strictly 1.50 points per dollar so it is based on the cash fare. They must have had a special.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Congrats. AFAIK Chase UR portal is strictly 1.50 points per dollar so it is based on the cash fare. They must have had a special.

Delta flights are discounted as well, but only in my account.

Is anyone else getting these discounts? Log in and book a flight somewhere.

 

[DebBrown]

Cindy, I'm not familiar with how UR points work. Does Chase act like a travel agent and you have to go through them for any travel changes?

They usually have competitive rates on United for for AA first class, they charge a higher price. Of course, it's free with points but still annoying.

 

[rickandcindy23]

They usually have competitive rates on United for for AA first class, they charge a higher price. Of course, it's free with points but still annoying.

The prices for United flights matched Google Flights exactly, but then the discount on the points made the price unbeatable.

 

[claraj]

It might be this promotion I found. It appeared to be targeted.

(EXPIRED) Chase Travel Promotion: redeem points for flights with up to a 50% bonus (back again)

There is currently a targeted promotion out that can get you a 50% bonus when redeeming your points for flights.

frequentmiler.com

 

[rickandcindy23]

I see that the travel should be completed by the end of December, yet I was able to book our Maui flight for February. We are not coming back until 3/14. I hope the offer sticks around for me for another week.

Ironically, I booked a flight last month for Orlando through the portal and paid full points. Maybe that triggered the discount.

 

[magmue]

The portal used to be managed by Expedia, now it is managed by Chase, supposedly

Right. Chase bought out a travel/company called cxLoyalty in 2020 and migrated to that platform over a couple year period.

The 1.5 UR bump is tempting, but we had a couple of stressful episodes where the airline changed something and we were forced to use the Chase agents as middlemen to resolve it. That doesn’t work well if you’re mid-travel, the clock is ticking, and alternatives are being scooped up by other travelers who can deal directly with the airline.

 

[rickandcindy23]

United has been good to us, even when we book through the portal. Cannot say the same for a few other airlines. I wouldn't choose Delta over United, even if it was less expensive.

Southwest had me barely holding on as a customer after a few flights were cancelled and we were stuck in the airport for hours due to flight delays. That's not fun, but at least DEN has the Capital One lounge, which was comfortable. But SW handled the last delay badly, and we almost missed our connecting flight.

 

[Ken555]

United has been good to us, even when we book through the portal. Cannot say the same for a few other airlines. I wouldn't choose Delta over United, even if it was less expensive.

Southwest had me barely holding on as a customer after a few flights were cancelled and we were stuck in the airport for hours due to flight delays. That's not fun, but at least DEN has the Capital One lounge, which was comfortable. But SW handled the last delay badly, and we almost missed our connecting flight.

For every positive story about United, I'm sure the collective experience of TUG can recount a negative one, including some of my own. For example, there was the time they stranded me in Denver for over 10 hours before finally admitting they couldn't fly that day. They eventually arranged a bus for the entire flight, which caused me to miss a family holiday party.

 

[rickandcindy23]

For every positive story about United, I'm sure the collective experience of TUG can recount a negative one, including some of my own. For example, there was the time they stranded me in Denver for over 10 hours before finally admitting they couldn't fly that day. They eventually arranged a bus for the entire flight, which caused me to miss a family holiday party.

I am sure. DEN is our airport.

They arranged a bus? To get you to the destination?

Our sister-in-law was a flight attended for 41 years with United (after United absorbed her airline in the 1970's). She was happy to not work in the call center after flights were delayed and cancelled. She heard enough from first class passengers about their issues with United.

 

[Blues]

The 1.5 UR bump is tempting, but we had a couple of stressful episodes where the airline changed something and we were forced to use the Chase agents as middlemen to resolve it. That doesn’t work well if you’re mid-travel, the clock is ticking, and alternatives are being scooped up by other travelers who can deal directly with the airline.

Never used it for airfare. But you're right, the 1.5x bump is wonderful for booking hotels. Occasionally, the base rate they give is higher than I can find on my own. But even then, the 1.5 bump more than makes up for it, so it's still cheaper. In those cases, when on a trip with multiple destinations, I'll try to use the points in a city where the hotel of choice isn't discounted, and use cash for the hotel in the city where I can get a better rate online.