The Chase Trifecta

If your goal is to travel without thinking too much about credit cards, here is what I would recommend for you: The Chase Trifecta.

 

All you need is the following:

• Chase Freedom (rotating 5%)
• Chase Unlimited Rewards (everything 1.5%)
• Chase Sapphire Preferred (Transfer Power and 2% in Dining and Travel) - $95 annual fee, the first year waived.

Example

Three flights DEN-PHX

 

• $79 (4,339 points)
• $108 (6,282 points)
• $123 (7,489 points)

If you had 8,000 points on Chase Freedom and redeemed it for cash, $80... Only enough to get $79 of flights. Instead, you are effectively buying a $79 ticket with $43.39 of potential cash.

 

Thus, the 5% back you get on Freedom can be equivalent to 9% because 1 point is worth 1.8 cents.

 

If you had the Southwest card, you only get 2% back on Southwest purchases... 1% on everything else. And you can only use those points on Southwest flights (Southwest card is worth it when going for the Companion Pass). With the Sapphire Portal you can transfer miles to other airlines to maximize value:

• United MileagePlus
• Southwest Rapid Rewards
• Air France Flying Blue (lets you book Delta and Alaska flights)
• British Airways Avios (lets you book American Airlines flights)
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (lets you book Delta flights)
• Korean SkyPass (lets you book Delta flights)
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Instead of the Sapphire Preferred, you could get the Sapphire Reserve. I got that card when it had a 100k bonus. Without that big bonus, much of the value is gone and I didn't want to pay a $450 fee again. Remember, you can always downgrade the Sapphire cards to a free one, or go ahead and cancel it.

 

Transfer Power

 

I think this is where some people get confused. Rightfully so. All chase cards have points. Points can become either cash money or flight miles.

 

Without a Sapphire Reserve or Preferred card, the Freedom and Unlimited cards can only be redeemed for cash. However, with the magic of Sapphire you can easily transfer the combine from Freedom and Unlimited to Sapphire and from Sapphire, you can transfer them to an airline.

 

I included hyperlinks with referrals from my account. I get points if you use them and if you find this information useful, please do.