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Activate the Chase Freedom 5X Bonus for Q1 2024 for Grocery Stores, Fitness Clubs, and Spa and Salon Services, and finish your Q4 2023 5X spend with PayPal, wholesale clubs, and select charities.
We're always glad to see grocery stores as a 5X bonus category, since we can easily maximize it with our 5 Chase Freedom cards. In addition to actual grocery spend at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, it's easy to purchase gift cards for future spend. Some grocery stores also sell gift cards for other merchants, making it easy to front load spend and earn 7500 points ($1500 max spend for the quarter x 5x points) per Freedom card, or 37,500 points total among our Chase Freedom cards. That may not sound like much, but when combined with recurring Ultimate Rewards transfer bonuses (at time of writing, there's a 20% transfer bonus to Air Canada Aeroplan until 1/15/24 and a 25% transfer bonus to JetBlue True Blue until 1/10/24, and past transfer bonuses have been to British Airways Avios, Iberia Plus, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, etc.) it can be a significant part of a business class award flight such as Iberia Business Class or ANA Business Class.
Spa and salon services is a new bonus category, and could be great for those who get regular massages or other spa services. Again, at many salons it should be possible to front load spend by purchasing gift cards to use later in the year, so as to max out the bonus. Be careful, however; as the Chase FAQ notes, spas and salons that are part of a hotel won't count. It's always wise to first do a single purchase to see how it codes, before charging more to your enrolled card.
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Best Uses of Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
One of the key benefits of transferable points currencies such as Chase Ultimate Rewards points and AMEX Membership Rewards points is the ability to transfer to multiple , rathairline frequent flyer programs, instead of being locked into a single airline's miles (such as Delta SkyMiles, one of the least valuable frequent flyer programs). While it's possible to redeem Ultimate Rewards points for gift cards, Amazon purchases, and paid flights, you'll earn the greatest value by transferring to certain frequent flyer programs to reserve first class or business class award tickets. Keep in mind that award ticket availability is limited, so you'll want to reserve far in advance (most frequent flyer programs open up their award calendar 330-360 days in advance, depending on the program) and be flexible with your dates. Search for award availability before transferring points, and be aware that not all points transfers are instant.
Due to earning 3X-5X Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on most of our major spend, thanks to Chase Freedom 5X quarterly bonuses and 5X from our Ink Cash and old Ink Plus card on cell phone, Internet, as well as gift cards, we find it useful to transfer points to British Airways with a transfer bonus so as to reserve Iberia Business Class, and less frequently, to Aeroplan or United MileagePlus for SWISS Business Class, Brussels Business Class, Austrian Business Class and SAS Business Class, as well as United Polaris flights to Hawaii. In the past we've also transferred to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club to redeem for ANA The Suite First Class.
Which Chase Freedom 5X category in Q1 2024 is your favorite?
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