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Chase Sapphire Preferred 80,000 Point Bonus is Ending
That didn’t take long. Launched on April 14th, we all got pretty excited to see the bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card bump back up to 80,000 points from 60,000 points.
Elevated bonuses like this tend to last a month or two and this one will survive for about 6 weeks. We now know that it is slated to end on May 31st at 6pm ET.
If you are in a cash crunch, you should avoid travel rewards credit cards until you are caught up. Here are our favorite credit cards for Intro 0% APR offers and for balance transfer offers
Here’s a reminder on everything you need to know to decide on jumping on this or not.
Click to learn how to apply for the 80,000 point bonus offer.
If you redeem in the simplest way possible, which is for travel using the Ultimate Rewards Portal, your points are worth 1.25 cents each and therefore the bonus is worth $1,000. But if you have read my guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards, then you know that by utilizing transfer partners, the value gets even richer.
Getting Extreme Value from Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
For example, by transferring the points to World of Hyatt, you could book 2 nights at Ventana Big Sur, worth around $5,000.
You could book two nights at the $1,500 a night Topping Rose House in “The Hamptons” (excluding peak nights) or even book a couple of nights at the private Calala Island off the coast of Nicaragua which is 35,000-45,000 points per night.
Of course there are loads of ways to use 80,000 points for some great First or Business Class travel or just $1,000 worth of coach travel via the portal
Eligibility Criteria
Anyone that does not currently have a Chase Sapphire Reserve or Chase Sapphire Preferred card is eligible as long as they have not received a bonus on a Sapphire series card in the past 48 months. If it’s been 48 months but you currently hold the card, you are able to downgrade your Sapphire card to a no-annual fee Chase Freedom Flex or Chase Freedom Unlimited, wait two weeks or so, and then apply anew for this fantastic offer. I’d say you could still likely do that downgrade today and apply on the 31st and be fine.
Click to learn how to apply for the 80,000 point bonus offer.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred Remains the Best “Starter” Card for Miles and Points
Don’t confuse that with “best card” or “best earning card” because it’s not. With an earn rate of 2X on travel and dining, and 1X on everything else, it’s “OK,” however, we can do better in all categories.
But the points you earn are fully transferable to Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners and 80,000 is more than enough to get the hang of how the Chase points ecosystem operates. (And I’ll help you!)
With just a $95 annual fee, it’s a low risk way to get started. As soon as you have your bearings, I advise adding a Freedom Flex or Unlimited, which both earn 3X on dining and drugstores and can be combined into your Sapphire points balance (As an aside: Why not only have one of those Freedom cards? Because you can’t transfer points unless you have an Ultimate Rewards card with an annual fee like the Chase Sapphire Preferred). You could also consider a full-on Chase Trifecta.
It also comes with these card benefits:
- Primary car rental CDW (collision damage waiver) coverage.
- Trip delay insurance benefits, up to $500 per covered claim
- Trip cancelation insurance benefits, up to $10,000 per person per covered claim $20,000 per trip max.
- Baggage delay and lost luggage insurance benefits
- Purchase Protection covers new purchases made with the Preferred card for 120 days against damage or theft (Up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account).
- Extended Warranty Protection extends the U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by an extra year (on eligible warranties of 3 years or less).
- No foreign transaction fees.
- 5X on Lyft rides through March 2025.
Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partners
For me, Hyatt is the number one transfer partner, hands down, because of the redemption options like the ones I mentioned above. But you have lots of options.
| Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partners | Last Updated: August 2021 | |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer Ratio | Expected Transfer Time * | |
| Aer Lingus Avios | 1:1 | Instant |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 1:1 | Instant |
| Air France Flying Blue | 1:1 | Instant |
| British Airways Avios | 1:1 | Instant |
| Emirates | 1:1 | Instant |
| Iberia Avios | 1:1 | Instant |
| JetBlue | 1:1 | Instant |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1:1 | ~ 1 - 2 days |
| Southwest Airlines | 1:1 | Instant |
| United MileagePlus | 1:1 | Instant |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1:1 | Instant |
| Hyatt | 1:1 | Instant |
| Marriott Bonvoy | 1:1 | ~ 1-2 days |
| IHG Rewards Club | 1:1 | ~ 24 hours |
Bottom Line
While it’s not as high as the 100,000 point bonus we saw during COVID, we have no idea if that size bonus will ever return. 80,000 points is 20,000 more than the “standard” offer of 60,000 we’ve had going for a while. I’ll also note that if you are near a Chase branch and have some time, you can get the annual fee waived the first year in-branch. Also, if you are in “two player” mode (meaning you and a spouse) and one of you already has the card, you should be able to refer the other person and get an extra 20,000 points from the referral.
If not, click to learn how to apply for the 80,000 point bonus offer. (Your application via this link supports MilesTalk.)
Questions?
Let me know below in the comments, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group.
And if this post helped you, please consider sharing it!
You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards.
New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
