How to Earn 9% Cashback on Chase Travel Purchases (Using Your Chase Freedom Flex®)

The 9% back on Chase Travel℠ purchases is a pretty amazing benefit on the Chase Freedom Flex®. Chase Travel purchases can oftentimes be more pricey than booking a cash fare outside of Chase Travel but with this benefit it could definitely be worth it.

How does the earning come out to be 9% on the Chase Freedom Flex®?

This is a bit more complex than it should be:

• So firstly with the Chase Freedom Flex® you get 1% base cash back.
• Then you get 4% back on Chase Travel.
• And finally you get an additional 4% back with the quarterly bonus category.

The quarterly bonus category is technically supposed to be 5% back but that’s only ON TOP of the 1% base cash back. I decoded the fine print so you didn’t have to:)

What are the other categories for the quarterly bonus of quarter four?

You can earn a total of 5% back in spending at Old Navy and department stores (October 1st to December 31st). You will also get 5% cash back on PayPal purchases but only for the month of December.

If you have some holiday clothing shopping coming up, the Old Navy and department stores categories are wonderful. My only concern is that the “department stores” category is vague. It’s hard to know what stores will trigger the department stores category. I’m assuming stores like Macy’s or Kohl’s would be included. The PayPal benefit is great if you make a lot of online purchases—I just wish it was available for the whole quarter!

What are some potential bookings to earn the 9% cash back?

I’m from the Massachusetts area and I always love a tropical getaway. I have some family in Florida, most of them in the Orlando area. I looked at flights from Boston to Orlando airport from December 1st to December 6th—both on google flights and on Chase Travel. I found the same JetBlue flight for $223.67 roundtrip in both places. Since I would only receive 1% cash back on the Chase Freedom Flex® booking through JetBlue directly, I knew Chase Travel was the way to go.

With the Chase Freedom Flex® card you already get 5% cash back booking on Chase Travel (1% base plus 4% on Chase Travel) and with the Q4 bonus category you get 4% more (9% cash back total).

If you book through the airline directly, you will receive $2.24 in cash back. However, if you book through the Chase Travel portal, you will get $20.13 in cash back. A remarkable difference.

Logistically, what’s the difference between a Chase Travel booking and booking directly through an airline?

When you book a flight on the Chase Travel portal, it’s important to remember that IF you have any issues with your booking you have to contact Chase Travel. So that means you can’t contact the airline, hotel, or cruise company to alter or ask about your booking. Essentially you are contacting Chase Travel (a third party) who would manage your reservations.

How can you get the best possible value after receiving 9% back on your Chase Travel bookings?

In order to get the possible value after getting 9% cashback on your Chase Travel bookings with the Chase Freedom Flex®, you need to first convert your cashback into Chase points. Let’s say you have $50 in cashback. That would convert into 5,000 Chase points. The next step is to transfer the Chase points to your <chase-sapphire-preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve®. And then you would transfer the Chase points to Chase’s airline & hotel partners.

The truth is that although 9% cash back seems promising, the value with airline & hotel partners is always superior. The only time I would say that its a good idea to take advantage of the 9% cash back when booking through Chase Travel on your Chase Freedom Flex® is if you do not have the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve®. You can check out our article on the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card here. And here’s an article on the revamped Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

You can think of the 9% cash back on Chase Travel bookings as a way to travel while also earning points to eventually transfer over to a <chase-sapphire-preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve®. It’s good for those staarting out on their credit card journey as well as their travel journey. The Chase Freedom Flex® is great for college students early on in the credit card game with the no annual fee and solid quarterly bonus redemptions.

What are some possible redemptions using the 9% cash back you earned?

After transferring the points from your Chase Freedom Flex® to your Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you can then transfer your Chase points to Chase’s airline & hotel partners. This is the best way to redeem your points as you can get two to three cents per Chase point. Or even more. The potential redemptions can be endless.

One possible redemption is to fly to idyllic Paris, France. You could fly from Boston airport to Paris airport on December 9th for just 22,000 Chase points. All you have to do is transfer 22,000 Chase points to your Air France account and then you can book your flight! It’s a nice thing for those with just a more beginner travel card like the Chase Freedom Flex® for them to look forward to.

And Chase sometimes has bonuses when you transfer Chase points to Air France. For instance, sometimes they have a 20% transfer bonus when you transfer your Chase points to Air France.

Final Remarks

The 9% cash back on Chase Travel with the Chase Freedom Flex® isn’t the best redemption value in the credit card space but it’s solid for those starting out. Booking through the Chase Travel portal is pretty straightforward on your Chase account and you have all the options at your fingertips. I myself have a Chase Sapphire Reserve® so I’m always transferring my Chase points to hotel & airline partners like Hyatt hotels or Iberia airlines.