rewrite this title Chase’s Points Boost on Flights Is a Massive Points Bust – NerdWallet

Chase has introduced a new feature called Points Boost in its travel portal. But don’t let the name fool you. Points Boost is really a points bust — a massive devaluation for travel booked through Chase.

Our team has been digging through Points Boost data for flight bookings, and one thing is clear: If you use Chase points to book flights through Chase, you’ll very likely get just 1 cent apiece for them now — 20% to 33% less than before. Exactly when this change takes effect will depend on when you got your card.

Points Boost has upended the value of Chase’s travel portal, and not for the better.

For over a decade, Chase let you redeem points in the travel portal at fixed values depending on your card.

That value is now changing. Moving forward under the Points Boost system:

This new system is for applications from June 23, 2025 onward. If you had or applied for one of these cards before then, any points earned prior to Oct. 26, 2025 can still be used at the old value — but only until October 26, 2027.

According to Chase, Points Boost may be offered on select airline tickets, hotels, car rentals, activities or cruises. However, our study focused specifically on airlines.

To find a qualifying Points Boost flight, complete a search in Chase’s travel portal. Once the results show up, you’ll see a scrollbar of Points Boost options at the top of the screen. You can also filter the results by “Points Boost only” by toggling the slider below that box.

Although a result may say “Points Boost” in the top left, it only qualifies for special pricing if you see the points price in blue beneath the cash price.

We checked 81 domestic and international roundtrip itineraries covering 13,316 departure flights. Selected routings included airports to target both Chase partners (including United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, British Airways and Air Canada) and non-partner hubs. Here’s what we found.

Fewer than 10% of flights qualified for Points Boost. Out of more than 13,000 flights, only 1,259 (9.5%) had at least one seat that qualified for Points Boost pricing, which is primarily available on premium economy and first class seats.

Only 3% of the Points Boost itineraries were in economy. All of the economy tickets we found were in United’s Economy Plus (economy with upgraded legroom). The remaining 97% of flights were in business or first class.

The prices for those economy tickets were sometimes outrageously high; Numerous flights were priced higher on United economy with Points Boost than a first class ticket cost without Points Boost. If you want to fly economy, it now appears that your points will be worth 1 cent each when booking flights through Chase.

More than 80% of the Points Boost options we found were on United Airlines. Other airlines that appeared include Air Canada, Emirates, EVA, Qantas and LATAM. No Points Boost options were found for Chase partners Southwest Airlines and British Airways, or non-partners Delta Air Lines, American Airlines or Alaska Airlines.

For most domestic first class tickets, we found the pricing comparable between Chase’s travel portal and booking direct with United. These tickets appear to be the one potential spot of value in the new Points Boost program.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® offered slightly more Points Boost options than other cards. Chase says in its terms that Points Boost availability varies by card. Here’s what it looked like for us:

Many Points Boost itineraries had bad pricing, long layovers or inconvenient routings. You might get a decent redemption rate on these bookings, but that doesn’t mean they’re a good deal. Just a few examples from our study:

When an airline or hotel devalues its rewards program, you can often just switch to another program. But Chase is the largest credit card issuer in the country, and there are only a handful of other issuers that offer flexible travel rewards, limiting your options to look elsewhere. Due to the number of cardholders impacted, this change is potentially the broadest devaluation we’ve ever seen.

Unless you want to fly in a premium cabin on one of those 9.5% of flights where we found a Points Boost seat, your Chase Ultimate Rewards® are now worth 1 cent each in Chase’s travel portal. That’s 33% less value for Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders and 20% less value for Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card holders.

Sure, opportunities exist to get greater value than before. But there are far more ways to get worse value. And it’s not just flights. Your points are now worth less (only 1 cent each) towards car rentals, cruises and most hotels booked through Chase if they don’t have a Points Boost option.

You can still get good value from your Chase points — but not frequently through Chase’s travel portal. Fortunately, Chase still lets you transfer points to travel partners, such as World of Hyatt. Those transfer partners are generally the way I suggest you use your points to get outsized value.

If you don’t have time to learn about transfer partners, here is my advice: