This is an historic moment. Chase Ultimate Rewards is a program that has never offered any sort of bonus when transferring miles from their program to any of their partner loyalty programs. Everything has always been at a 1:1 ratio, in increments of 1,000 points.

But now they have released their first limited time transfer bonus opportunity!

Chase British Airways transfer bonus

For a limited time you can receive a 30% transfer bonus when converting your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to British Airways Avios. If you log into ultimaterewards.com, you will see that transfer will earn this bonus if completed from now through June 16, 2019.

One cool aspect of this transfer is that this is technically a 30% bonus to Iberia and Aer Lingus Avios, as the miles are transferable between all three IAG-owned airlines that use this shared currency. If you have a specific use of Avios in mind for an upcoming trip, this is a great opportunity.

One of the first uses I thought about was the ability to leverage this for nonstop short-haul U.S. and Caribbean flights on American Airlines that are less than 1,150 miles, which cost 7,500 Avios. The 30% bonus means that you are effectively getting these flights for only 5,770 Ultimate Rewards. Routes such as Dallas-Miami, Miami-Bermuda, Miami-Aruba, and Charlotte-Cancun are all potential options. If you live in an American Airlines hub, this is an excellent deal!

Conclusion

While this bonus is personally not especially appealing, it is a great opportunity for many folks. More importantly, I hope this opens the door to Chase offering transfer bonus opportunities for other currencies in the future. I’d love to see bonuses for Virgin Atlantic, Flying Blue, United, or even Hyatt. The last two are probably a pipe dream, but I can dream, can’t I?