How To Book Delta Flights With Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

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If you have ever looked at the Chase Ultimate Rewards airline transfer partners, you may have noticed that Delta Skymiles is not a direct transfer partner. You may or may not be surprised to learn that you do not need Delta Skymiles to book a flight operated by Delta. If you have transferable Chase Ultimate Rewards points, there are 3 other ways to book Delta flights.

Transferable bank points such as Chase Ultimate Rewards points are my favorite type of credit card rewards. Chase Ultimate Rewards points are easy to earn and easy to redeem.  There are several redemption options thanks to Chase’s airline and hotel transfer partners.

When you use an airline co-branded card, you only earn miles for that airline program. For example, if you only have a Delta co-branded card, you only earn Delta Skymiles. Airline miles generally to not transfer to other airlines; you cannot transfer Delta Skymiles to other airlines. Airline co-branded cards are great for welcome bonuses and for benefits such as free checked bags. For everyday spending, it usually makes more sense to accumulate transferable points such as Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership rewards points.

The most common argument is “but I fly [insert airline] so I need [insert airline] miles”. This seems like a reasonable argument, but most people overlook the fact that transferable points such as Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards have airline partners.

American Express Membership Rewards points transfer to Delta Skymiles. So it’s pretty easy to argue that Amex Membership Rewards are better than Delta Skymiles because I can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to 17 different airlines including Delta.

Delta Skymiles is not one of the 11 airline transfer partners of Chase Ultimate Rewards, so I can’t really make that argument.

You cannot transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to Delta, but I’ll explain why you don’t need Delta Skymiles to book Delta flights. There are 3 ways to book Delta flights with Chase Ultimate Rewards points. No Skymiles necessary.

You do not need Delta Skymiles to book Delta award flights

There are three ways to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for Delta flights

1. Redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for Delta flights by booking via the Ultimate Rewards redemption portal.
2. You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic to book Delta flights.
3. You can also transfer to KLM/France to book Delta flights

With Chase Ultimate Rewards partner, you can book some Delta flights for significantly less than the amount of Delta Skymiles required

The way Delta Skymiles prices award tickets often makes Skymiles have a pretty low value. The amount of miles required for some tickets gets pretty insane. There are some great deals occasionally, but without Delta publishing any type of award pricing information, it’s hard to predict. As you’ll see in an example below of a roundtrip Delta flight from the US to Paris, you would not want to use Delta Skymiles even if that is an option. This particular flight would be 98,000 Delta Skymiles. But Chase has 2 partners that can book the exact same Delta flight for 60,000 miles or less.

Transfer partners are generally the most valuable way to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points. But first, I’ll explain the Ultimate Rewards booking portal option.

Redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for Delta flights using the Ultimate Rewards redemption portal

You can use your Ultimate Rewards points to ‘pay’ for all or part of your airfare by booking through the Ultimate Rewards redemption portal. Note that you can also use Ultimate Rewards to book hotels and cars through the redemption portal. This portal is powered by Expedia, so they should have the same options for flights, hotels, rental cars, and tours as what Expedia.com offers.

The advantage to this (as opposed to transferring to airline partners) is that you have lots of options in terms of airlines and routing. You do not have to worry about award seat availability since the ticket is issued as a paid ticket, not an award ticket. This also means that you will actually earn miles for the flight the same way you would on a paid ticket.

The disadvantage is that you will be redeeming the points at a fixed rate. Sure, there are no blackout dates to worry about. You also don’t have to worry about award seat availability. The problem is, a more expensive plane ticket is going to require more miles/points. This can be a problem if you’re trying to book travel on peak dates such as holidays.

How much are Chase Ultimate Rewards points worth if I redeem via the redemption portal?

Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1.25 cents per point or 1.50 cents per point, depending on which card you hold:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred: 1.25
• Chase Ink Business Preferred: 1.25
• Chase Sapphire Reserve: 1.50

Redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points for travel via the Ultimate Rewards redemption portal is a good option when paid fares are low, but tickets with higher fares may require more Ultimate Rewards than you care to redeem.

How to book via the redemption portal

I’m using a nonstop Delta itinerary between the US and Europe for this and other examples throughout the post. You will be able to see that each of the three ways to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards for Delta flights will result in a different redemption price. The best way to book depends on routing, paid fares, and availability.

Log in to Ultimaterewards.com using your Chase username and password. On the main menu, select travel.

Type in your dates and destination. All available flights will populate. You can filter by airline, nonstop, etc. The cheapest nonstop route is $1285.

A nonstop Delta flight from Atlanta to Paris is just over $1,285 on these dates. That would require 85,238 points if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve (points are worth 1.5 cents each). If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Business Preferred, the price would be 102,789 points as pictured above (points are worth 1.25 cents each).

Depending on which Chase Sapphire credit card you have, this itinerary is 102,789 points or 85,238 points

Using points to book in the redemption portal is a good option when fares are low. Even if you feel like the fare and thus the redemption price is low, it’s always a good idea to check transfer partners for award ticket availability as well. This is how you can get more than 1.25 or 1.50 cents value out of your Ultimate Rewards points. To put it another way, this is how you can potentially book the same flights for significantly less points.

This exact ATL-Paris Delta itinerary that requires 85,238 points or 102,789 in the Chase redemption portal can be booked for just 58,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points if you use one of Chase’s airline transfer partners to book.

Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to airline partners

The second way to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards for flights is to transfer them to airline partners. Transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards to airline partners is how you can potentially get more value out of your points. Once transferred, your Ultimate Rewards become miles for the program to which you transfer. You can redeem the miles according to the policies of the airline program.

You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to these 11 programs at a 1:1 ratio.

Chase Ultimate Rewards has 11 airline partners, but Delta Skymiles is not one

Delta Skymiles is not a transfer partner of Chase. You cannot convert Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Delta Skymiles. But you can still book a flight operated by Delta.

This is possible because Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue are transfer partners of Ultimate Rewards. Both of these airline programs have a partnership with Delta. As a result, you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue. Then you can use miles of either program to book a flight operated by Delta.

The best part is, using these programs sometimes results in a better redemption price than if you were to use Delta Skymiles.

Can I transfer Virgin Atlantic Flying Club or AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue miles to Delta?

No.  But you can use the loyalty program of either to book award flights operated by Delta (subject to availability).

Award ticket pricing when booking Delta flights with Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners

When you use a partner program to book a Delta flight, your redemption price is determined by that partner program, not Delta Skymiles:

• If you use AirFrance/KLM miles to book a flight operated by Delta, AirFrance KLM Blue determines your award ticket price, not Delta Skymiles.
• If you use Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles to book a flight operated by Delta, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club determines your award ticket price, not Delta Skymiles.

Each airline program has its own way of pricing award tickets

You can read more about the different types of award ticket pricing here.

Most frequent flyer/airline loyalty programs I discuss on this blog fall into one of these categories:

1. Region/Zone based 
2. Distance-based
3. Fare-based
4. Dynamic pricing

• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club uses a zone-based award ticket pricing model for US-Europe routes operated by Delta. Other Delta routes booked with Virgin Atlantic miles have a distance based pricing model. You can find Virgin Atlantic’s redemption pricing for flights operated by Delta here.
• AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue is distance based for partner flights such as Delta

Depending on your route, one type of pricing may be better than another.

Each of these programs will likely have a different redemption price for the exact same Delta flight. Sometimes zone-based results in a lower redemption price, but other times distance-based may be lower.

The great thing about transferable points such as Chase Ultimate Rewards points is that you can choose the partner that results in the lowest redemption cost. If you only have miles with one airline, you don’t have a choice because you can only redeem the miles with that airline.

Comparing award pricing of AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

I’ll give 3 different examples to show the differences in pricing.

1. Delta nonstop flights from the US to Europe

I’ll use the roundtrip nonstop flight in economy from Atlanta to Paris from the redemption portal example. Remember, this would have been $1285 or 85,238 or 102,789 Ultimate Rewards points (depending on which card you hold).

I can use Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles or AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue miles to book the Delta flight. This itinerary happens to be available, but keep in mind that not all Delta flights are going to be available for partner bookings. I’ll discuss that more in a moment.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (zone-based) is 60,000 miles roundtrip

AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue (distance based for partner flights such as Delta) is 58,000 roundtrip

Your options for this itinerary with Chase Ultimate Rewards are:

• Redemption portal: 85,238 or 102,789 Ultimate Rewards points (depending on which card you hold).
• Virgin Atlantic-60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• AirFrance/KLM-58,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue

2. Delta flight from US to Europe (with a connection)

This is a roundtrip flight in economy from New Orleans to Paris. There is one stop each way. The entire itinerary is operated by Delta. The lowest paid fare on the dates I searched for a decent itinerary (meaning 1 connection and/or reasonable layover times) between New Orleans and Paris across all available airlines is $1170.

To book this ticket in the redemption portal, you would need either 78,000 Ultimate Rewards points or 93,600 Ultimate Rewards points, depending on which card you have.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club redemption price is 75,000 miles roundtrip

Nonstop flights are definitely the best value with Virgin Atlantic miles because if the flight requires a connection, the additional amount of points for that particular segment is required.

For example, Atlanta to Paris is 60,000 miles. But a flight from MSY that connects in Detroit, Atlanta, or anywhere in the US would require additional points/miles for the MSY-ATL segment which is 15,000 roundtrip. Virgin Atlantic has a distance based chart for Delta segments within the US, and for segments less than 500 in distance, the price is 7,500 Flying Club miles each way. MSY to ATL is just under 500 miles, but if the connecting segment is more than that, you’ll need even more miles.

So the total for the roundtrip would be 75,000 instead of 60,000.

AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue is 58,000 roundtrip

This is the same as the nonstop ATL-CDG.

So your options with Chase Ultimate Rewards for this itinerary are:

• Redemption portal- 78,000 or 93,600 points, depending on which card you have
• Virgin Atlantic- 75,000
• AirFrance/KLM- 58,000

3. One more example- US-Hawaii (and US domestic flights)

Of course, you should also check paid fares. For example, at the time of publishing (June 2021) the LAX-KOA roundtrip flights below are less than $400 on the dates I searched. For that price, you could book in the portal with ~32,000 or ~26,700 points, depending on which card you have. The lowest I could find for DFW-KOA was more like $700 which would be ~56,000 or ~46,700 points in the Ultimate Rewards portal, depending on which card you have.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club pricing for US-Hawaii on Delta is as low as 30,000 miles roundtrip

Whether or not Virgin Atlantic is the best way to book a Delta domestic flight depends on two different things: Nonstop vs. connecting itinerary and distances.

Virgin Atlantic has switched to a distance based pricing model for domestic Delta flights. The distance is calculated by adding each sector’s redemption price. For example, LAX to Kona, Hawaii on a nonstop Delta flight falls in the 2,000-3,000 distance band, so each way is 15,000 miles (see chart in previous section).

But if there is a connection, more Virgin Atlantic miles are required. For example, DFW to Kona via LAX would be priced as:

• DFW-LAX (distance falls in 1,001-1,500 range which requires 11,500 miles each way) plus
• LAX- Honolulu (requires 15,000 miles each way)
• Your total would be 26,500 each way (15,000 plus 11,500
• Roundtrip is 53,000 Virgin Atlantic miles.

AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue is going to be the better option in this scenario.

AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue is 35,000 miles roundtrip for either of these US-Hawaii itineraries

For LAX-KOA, you would be better off either redeeming Virgin Atlantic miles since the price is 30,000, or redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points in the redemption portal if fares are low. But for DFW-KOA with a connection at LAX, AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue would be the best way to book the ticket.

Air France does pass on some sort of airport tax for these flights (see below), but 35,000 miles for the DFW-KOA route is much better than what Virgin Atlantic would require (53,000 miles)

So your options with Chase Ultimate Rewards for these itineraries are:

LAX-KOA nonstop

• Redemption portal- if the ticket is $400, you would need 32,000 or 26,700 points, depending on which card you have
• Virgin Atlantic- 30,000
• AirFrance/KLM- 35,000

DFW-KOA (connection at LAX)

• Redemption portal- if the ticket is $700, you would need 56,000 or 46,700 points, depending on which card you have
• Virgin Atlantic- 53,000
• AirFrance/KLM- 35,000

Ready to book Delta flights with Chase Ultimate Rewards partners?

If you are planning to transfer your Ultimate Rewards to a partner program such as Virgin Atlantic Flying Club or AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue, do not transfer yet.

Do not transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to any airline until you have confirmed price and availability

Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers to airlines are permanent. You need to make sure your dates are available and you will want to confirm the exact amount of miles needed before transferring. Transfers are usually immediate, so there is no reason to transfer before you find availability.

Once you transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to partner airlines or hotels, you cannot get them back

When you transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to a partner airline or hotel, your points become the currency of the airline or hotel program.  For example, if you transfer 20,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, you now have Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles.  Those miles are now subject to the rules and policies of Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

You CANNOT transfer those points back to Chase Ultimate Rewards.  If you transfer and then the Delta (or other partner) flights that you want are not available, you are stuck with 20,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles.  If you wait to transfer, you can check other Chase Ultimate Rewards partners for other options if a Delta flight is not available.

Award ticket availability

Award seats are not always going to be available on any given flight, especially when the flight you’re trying to book is a partner flight.

If you’re using a partner program, such as Virgin Atlantic, to book a Delta flight, Delta only makes a certain amount of seats available. In other words, just because a seat is available to book with Delta miles, it doesn’t mean a partner Virgin Atlantic will have that seat available to book with Virgin Atlantic miles. The same applies to other partner programs with which you can book Delta flights.

If you’re trying to book a Delta flight, you most likely will always be able to book it with Delta Skymiles since that program has dynamic pricing. However, you may end up having to redeem a lot more miles than what a “saver” ticket would require. Once the lower level, or saver, seats are gone, Delta will still let you redeem miles for a ticket, but the redemption cost is usually going to be too high to consider. Anyway, that doesnt even matter since Delta Skymiles isn’t a partner of Chase.

The best way to check price and availability is to search online with each partner program you’re considering. You can search for and book Delta flights online with Virgin Atlantic and AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue. You should not have to call to book.

Tip: In general, if a flight is available with one partner, it will be available to other partners. For example, if a Delta flight is available to book with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles, it should also be available to book with AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue.

Final thoughts

You do not need Delta miles to book Delta award flights. If you have Chase Ultimate Rewards, you can still book flights operated by Delta. The great thing about having flexible points such as Chase Ultimate Rewards is that you have options. If you only have a Delta-cobranded card, you only earn Delta Skymiles. You cannot transfer Skymiles to any airlines. Your redemption options are limited to the Skymiles program.

There are three ways to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for Delta flights:

1. Redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for Delta flights by booking via the Ultimate Rewards redemption portal.
2. You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic to book Delta flights.
3. You can also transfer to KLM/France to book Delta flights

Redeeming Ultimate Rewards points for travel via the Ultimate Rewards redemption portal is a good option if paid fares are low (option 1). But you may be able to redeem less points by using transfer partners (options 2 and 3). Transferring to airline partners is how we’re able to get max value out of Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Earn your first 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points when you open a Chase Sapphire Preferred

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