There are a lot of reasons to collect transferable points. For me, there’s really only one that matters:
When I find award space, I want to be able to move points instantly and book it before it disappears.
That’s the whole deal. You earn points in a flexible currency, and when the moment comes, you transfer to the airline or hotel program you need. Simple.
Except lately, Chase Ultimate Rewards hasn’t been simple at all.
This isn’t a play-by-play of phone calls
Before I get into what happened, this isn’t going to be a minute-by-minute recap of every conversation I had with customer service. That’s not the point of this post.
And to be fair: every rep I spoke with was pleasant, and they genuinely seemed to want to help. The problem is that the reps can only do so much.
The one consistent message I received was that if the transfer doesn’t go through, that’s basically the end of the story.
On my last call, the rep even gave me the error number and the exact error message the system was throwing. But that doesn’t actually help me fix anything.
Getting told “something doesn’t match” when it clearly does gives me nowhere to go. There’s no actionable next step beyond “try again later” or “we’ll escalate it.”
What happened: transfers that just… don’t work
Over the past month, I’ve had multiple issues using Chase Ultimate Rewards as intended.
First: I had trouble combining points between my own accounts. The kind of thing you do in seconds when you’re consolidating points for a booking. Instead, I got errors and eventually had to call Chase to resolve them.
Then this weekend, I tried transferring points to airline partners and ran into another wall.
- I attempted to transfer to United and initially got told it was due to a name mismatch between my Chase profile and my airline account. More specifically, I was told that my United account had the letters “MR” (short for “Mister”) in my name, which I’d have to call MileagePlus to have removed.
- I fixed that by calling United. Called back to Chase. Transfers still failed.
- I then tried transferring to my wife’s accounts. After adding her as an authorized user, I attempted to transfer points to both her United and Aeroplan account. Both failed.
- The “solution” I was ultimately given was to update my name on my Chase account, which requires Chase to send a secure document (in a few days) and then either upload the documents or mail the information back to Chase.
Multiple representatives, multiple calls, and the end result was basically: “We’re not sure why this is happening.”
Why this matters: award space doesn’t wait
This isn’t a minor inconvenience like a slow website.
Award pricing and availability are dynamic. The flight you’re looking at can vanish in minutes. The hotel suite can disappear while you’re still on hold with customer service.
So when the core promise of transferable points breaks — “transfer now, book now” — the value of earning that currency drops fast.
Is this just me?
Unfortunately, no.
I started looking around and found a steady stream of people reporting similar problems: transfers failing, “identity verification” errors, transfers that only work by calling in, and point-combining issues that used to be painless.
Maybe there’s an eventual fix. Maybe it’s tied to security/verification settings. But from a consumer perspective, the bottom line is the same:
If I can’t trust UR transfers to work when I need them, it’s hard to justify putting in more effort to earn Ultimate Rewards.
I’m not giving up on Chase — I’m giving up on chasing UR
Let me be clear: this isn’t a dramatic “I’m closing everything” rant.
There are Chase cards I still think are outstanding values, and I plan to keep them:
- Ritz-Carlton Card: I still think it’s one of the best all-around travel cards available.
- World of Hyatt Card: I’m keeping it for the annual free night certificate, and because the extra free night at $15K spend can still make sense.
- IHG One Rewards cards: These provide Platinum status and a free night certificate for a reasonable annual fee.
And yes — we both currently have Chase Sapphire Preferred cards, and for now, we’re keeping them too.
For one thing, Chase has changed the rules around Sapphire bonuses so there’s currently no realistic path for either of us to get another Sapphire sign-up bonus anytime soon… and maybe ever. So closing or product-changing in frustration doesn’t really help me.
Second, if Chase actually fixes whatever’s going on with transfers, I’ll be glad to have the Sapphire Preferred ready to go. I’d love nothing more than for this to become a temporary headache I can laugh about later.
But that’s very different from continuing to build my strategy around UR points while the system feels unreliable.
Chase’s “unique partners” advantage isn’t unique anymore
Even if Chase resolves these issues tomorrow, there’s a bigger strategic question sitting underneath all of this:
The “must-have” reason to stockpile UR points isn’t as strong as it used to be.
Chase still has valuable partners — but most of them overlap with other transferable currencies, and some of the partners that used to feel like Chase exclusives aren’t really exclusive anymore. I no longer need to hoard UR points for my next Hyatt stay or United award flight.
In addition, Chase has shifted away from the old “fixed-value” bonus when redeeming points through Chase Travel (the 1.25–1.5 cents-per-point rate that made the portal an easy fallback). Now, many portal bookings are effectively priced at 1 cent per point unless a specific itinerary qualifies for a higher-value “boost.” That’s another drop into the “Are Ultimate Rewards worth it?” bucket.
Finally, other programs can offer better earning setups (AMEX Trifecta, Citi Strata + Double Cash), which makes UR less compelling if reliability is in question.
So what am I doing now?
For the moment, I’m going to fix the problems with my Ultimate Rewards accounts and may transfer some points to Hyatt. But Ultimate Rewards aren’t going to be the foundation of my award strategy.
- I’m keeping the Chase cards that deliver consistent value (Ritz-Carlton + Hyatt, IHG, and, for now, the Sapphire Preferred).
- I’m not looking for any new Chase Ultimate Rewards cards.
- I’m also not putting meaningful spend on my Sapphire, Ink, or Freedom cards until I can trust that transfers and combining points work the way they’re supposed to.
Because right now there’s too much uncertainty about whether I’ll be able to use the points for the reason I’m earning them in the first place.
Transferable points only matter if they’re… transferable.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
