Chase’s Factors Enhance on Flights Is a Huge Factors Bust

Chase has launched a brand new function referred to as Factors Enhance in its journey portal. However don’t let the title idiot you. Factors Enhance is known as a factors bust — an enormous devaluation for journey booked by way of Chase.

Our staff has been digging by way of Factors Enhance information for flight bookings, and one factor is obvious: For those who use Chase factors to e book flights by way of Chase, you’ll very seemingly get simply 1 cent apiece for them now — 20% to 33% lower than earlier than. Precisely when this modification takes impact will rely on once you received your card.

Factors Enhance has upended the worth of Chase’s journey portal, and never for the higher.

For over a decade, Chase allow you to redeem factors within the journey portal at mounted values relying in your card.

That worth is now altering. Transferring ahead below the Factors Enhance system:

• Each level is value 1 cent every (10,000 factors equals $100), whatever the card you maintain. 

• Choose bookings marked as Factors Enhance will enhance the purpose worth to between 1.5 and a couple of cents every. 

• The worth and availability of Factors Enhance awards will fluctuate relying on what card you’ve. 

This new system is for functions from June 23, 2025 onward. For those who had or utilized for considered one of these playing cards earlier than then, any factors earned previous to Oct. 26, 2025 can nonetheless be used on the previous worth — however solely till October 26, 2027.

In response to Chase, Factors Enhance could also be supplied on choose airline tickets, motels, automobile leases, actions or cruises. Nevertheless, our examine centered particularly on airways.

To discover a qualifying Factors Enhance flight, full a search in Chase’s journey portal. As soon as the outcomes present up, you may see a scrollbar of Factors Enhance choices on the high of the display screen. It’s also possible to filter the outcomes by “Factors Enhance solely” by toggling the slider beneath that field.

Though a outcome might say “Factors Enhance” within the high left, it solely qualifies for particular pricing when you see the factors worth in blue beneath the money worth.

We checked 81 home and worldwide roundtrip itineraries overlaying 13,316 departure flights. Chosen routings included airports to focus on each Chase companions (together with United Airways, Southwest Airways, British Airways and Air Canada) and non-partner hubs. Right here’s what we discovered.

Fewer than 10% of flights certified for Factors Enhance. Out of greater than 13,000 flights, just one,259 (9.5%) had no less than one seat that certified for Factors Enhance pricing, which is primarily obtainable on premium economic system and firstclass seats.

Solely 3% of the Factors Enhance itineraries have been in economic system. All the economic system tickets we discovered have been in United’s Economic system Plus (economic system with upgraded legroom). The remaining 97% of flights have been in enterprise or firstclass.

The costs for these economic system tickets have been typically outrageously excessive; Quite a few flights have been priced larger on United economic system with Factors Enhance than a firstclass ticket price with out Factors Enhance. If you wish to fly economic system, it now seems that your factors can be value 1 cent every when reserving flights by way of Chase.

Greater than 80% of the Factors Enhance choices we discovered have been on United Airways. Different airways that appeared embody Air Canada, Emirates, EVA, Qantas and LATAM. No Factors Enhance choices have been discovered for Chase companions Southwest Airways and British Airways, or non-partners Delta Air Strains, American Airways or Alaska Airways.

For many home firstclass tickets, we discovered the pricing comparable between Chase’s journey portal and reserving direct with United. These tickets look like the one potential spot of worth within the new Factors Enhance program.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® supplied barely extra Factors Enhance choices than different playing cards. Chase says in its phrases that Factors Enhance availability varies by card. Right here’s what it seemed like for us:

• Of two,907 departures searched with the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, 356 (12.2%) had a Factors Enhance possibility.

• Of seven,557 departures searched with the Chase Sapphire Most well-liked® Card, 644 (8.5%) had a Factors Enhance possibility.

• Of two,852 departures searched with the Ink Enterprise Most well-liked® Credit score Card, 259 (9.1%) had a Factors Enhance possibility.

Many Factors Enhance itineraries had dangerous pricing, lengthy layovers or inconvenient routings. You would possibly get an honest redemption price on these bookings, however that doesn’t imply they’re deal. Just some examples from our examine:

• All Factors Enhance awards between Phoenix and Minneapolis had a layover in Denver (United’s hub). This route has continuous service on Delta, American and Solar Nation Airways. A Factors Enhance ticket (with a connection) additionally price round 5,400 factors greater than the direct, non-Factors Enhance ticket. 

• The most affordable Factors Enhance award between Seattle and Salt Lake Metropolis required a seven-hour journey with a layover, and nonetheless price extra factors than a firstclass ticket on a 2-hour direct flight on Delta (non-Factors Enhance).  

• All Factors Enhance awards between Miami and Dallas have a layover. This route has continuous service on Southwest and American. A Factors Enhance ticket (with a connection) price nearly 4,900 factors greater than the direct, non-Factors Enhance ticket.

When an airline or resort devalues its rewards program, you may usually simply swap to a different program. However Chase is the biggest bank card issuer within the nation, and there are solely a handful of different issuers that supply versatile journey rewards, limiting your choices to look elsewhere. Because of the variety of cardholders impacted, this modification is doubtlessly the broadest devaluation we’ve ever seen.

Except you need to fly in a premium cabin on a type of 9.5% of flights the place we discovered a Factors Enhance seat, your Chase Final Rewards® are actually value 1 cent every in Chase’s journey portal. That’s 33% much less worth for Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders and 20% much less worth for Chase Sapphire Most well-liked® Card and Ink Enterprise Most well-liked® Credit score Card holders.

Positive, alternatives exist to get higher worth than earlier than. However there are way more methods to worsen worth. And it’s not simply flights. Your factors are actually value much less (just one cent every) in the direction of automobile leases, cruises and most motels booked by way of Chase in the event that they don’t have a Factors Enhance possibility.

You may nonetheless get good worth out of your Chase factors — however not ceaselessly by way of Chase’s journey portal. Happily, Chase nonetheless helps you to switch factors to journey companions, equivalent to World of Hyatt. These switch companions are typically the way in which I counsel you employ your factors to get outsized worth.

For those who don’t have time to study switch companions, right here is my recommendation:

• For those who had a Chase Sapphire Reserve®, Chase Sapphire Most well-liked® Card, or Ink Enterprise Most well-liked® Credit score Card earlier than June 23, 2025, you continue to e book by way of Chase’s journey portal on the previous level worth (1.25 or 1.5x) earlier than October 26, 2027. 

• For those who received a Chase Sapphire Reserve®, Chase Sapphire Most well-liked® Card, Ink Enterprise Most well-liked® Credit score Card or Sapphire Reserve for Enterprise℠ after June 23, 2025, redeem your factors for an announcement credit score at 1 cent per level. Then, pay for journey together with your card. The quantity of your assertion credit score will change into a part of your journey finances, and also you’ll earn extra factors from each your bank card and the airline or resort loyalty program since you paid together with your card and booked instantly. Maybe most significantly, this additionally avoids points that may come up when reserving journey by way of third events, together with inflated costs and an absence of accountability when issues go improper.