Tag Archives for chase.
The Chase Sapphire Lounge at New York LaGuardia airport only just opened on Tuesday. Usually it takes awhile for new lounges to get crowded because word of mouth has to spread that the lounge even exists. This one is 22,000 square feet – twice the size of the nearby American Express Centurion lounge. And the existence of both in the same terminal should help spread out the crowding.
And yet there’s already queueing to get into this new Chase lounge!
Chase’s new Sapphire Lounge is now open at New York LaGaurdia airport. The JFK lounge opens next week, in the old Etihad Airways space. Chase’s airport lounges are managed by Airport Dimensions, which is part of the same company as Priority Pass.
Answering this question starts with looking at the transfer partners each program has (they’re all different), which partners provide the most value, and also how flexible each currency is when you want to use your points directly against a paid ticket or hotel night rather than redeeming for a free flight or free hotel award night.
Chase travel did $8 billion in sales in 2022 with 40% growth in number of customers purchasing travel through their portal. They have had public goals to hit $10 billion in sales this year and $15 billion in sales by 2025.
Chase Travel believes they’ll pass American Express and become the third largest travel agency within two years. Last year they were less than 8% behind.
Competition in the rewards credit card market has gotten so intense that I believe the Sapphire Reserve card – the ‘it’ product when it was introduced just six years ago – has become passé. It was the most rewarding in the marketplace, and now merely a good card that I think has been surpassed in its rewards-earning.
But what if that card threw in a full United Club membership at no extra cost?
The other possibility that was speculated two falls ago was a premium Hyatt credit card. And that’s back on the table, as a survey of possible benefits reveals. Some of the things under consideration appear to be:
With the American Express Membership Rewards 30% transfer bonus to British Airways ending August 31, Chase is picking up the mantle. They’re offering a 30% bonus on transfers to British Airways and fellow Avios airlines Iberia and Aer Lingus through September 22, in addition to their less valuable Marriott transfer bonus which continues through September 30.
The new Chase Sapphire Lounge Boston Logan airport is better than expected. I visited just before noon on a Friday and it was busy but not overcrowded. The food and drink options were good. There was too long of a wait for a shower and a ‘wellness room’ but otherwise the first U.S. Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club is an absolutely great addition to the pantheon.
Chase is offering a 20% bonus on transfers from Ultimate Rewards to Air Canada Aeroplan through July 31, 2023.
I think this is great. If this is something you want to support, you can earn more miles doing so. And if it’s not, you can ignore the offer. Of course in 2023 it’s not so simple.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
