Frequent Miler on the Air - Preparing for the Sapphire Reserve® 10/26 transition | Coffee Break Ep69 | 9-2-25

Episode Date: September 2, 2025

Back in June, Chase released an updated version of the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card. Those who already had the card before that date found themselves in a sort of limbo with the old features of the card, and with new features set to trigger on October 26th. If that's you, here are some things you may want to do to prepare for that upcoming transition.(00:21) - An updated Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card was introduced on June 23, 2025. Anyone who obtained their Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card before that is in a transition state through October 26(01:00) - Features before Oct 26...(02:01) - Features you'll have access to starting Oct 26...(10:10) - What might you want to do to prepare for October 26th?(13:09) - What is Nick going to do?(15:44) - What is Greg going to do?(17:56) - What to do if you're a new Sapphire Reserve cardholder...Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media.Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads

This is a Voyescape podcast. You can find all of our travel podcasts from around the world at voyescape.com. Welcome to Coffee Break, where we focus on a single topic related to miles and points. And each coffee break is limited to 20 minutes or less for your money back. On today's coffee break, we're going to be talking about how to prepare for the Sapphire Reserve, October 26th, transition. Back in June, June 23rd, to be specific, Chase released a new version of the Sapphire Reserve card. But those of us who had the card before that date are in this kind of limbo period where we mostly just have the old features of the card. But then starting on October 26, we get

the new features of the card. And for some things that's good and for some things that's bad. And we're going to talk about that transition. And specifically, if you're in that limbo period, what you should be doing between now and October 26th to position yourself for the best outcome. Yeah. So if you obtained your Sapphire Reserve card before June 23rd, like Greg said, you're in this sort of transition state where you've got the old features like 3X on travel and your floor on redemptions is a minimum of 1.5 cents per point when you're redeeming. through chase travel for hotels and flights and things like that. That's going to change. But again, if you open the card before June 23rd, 2025, you've got that up until October 26, 2025. The only new feature that you've already gotten access to is points boost. And only when points

boost gives you more than one and a half cents per point. So in some cases, if you're looking at hotels or flights through chase travel, you'll see opportunities to get. at 1.75 or 2 cents per point, they're just giving you the better of the two, whether it's 1.5 cents or the 1.75, 2 cents, depending on the redemption that you're looking at. So that's the only new feature you've had so far, but starting on October 26th, you'll get access to a whole bunch of new stuff. First of all, you may not be as excited about getting access to the new annual fee, but you will get billed the new annual fee at your next renewal after October 26th. So if your card renews on November 1st. You're going to get hit with the new fee on November 1st.

If you just recently renewed in September or early October, then you won't get hit with the new annual fee until next year when it comes around again. And starting October 26th, you'll get access to the new earning rates, eight points per dollar on Chase Travel. That replaces five points on flights and 10 on hotels. You just get the flat 8x on Chase Travel starting October 26th. 5x on eligible lift purchases through September 30th of 2027. 4x on flights and hotels purchased directly with the airlines and the hotels. That's going to replace 3x on all travel. You will no longer get 3x on all travel. You will get 4x on flights and hotels booked directly with the airlines and the hotels. And then 3x dining worldwide sticks around,

including eligible delivery. No change there, I don't think. And then 1x everywhere else, including on travel that is not covered in either the 8X Chase Travel category or the 4X flights and hotels. The rest of those things are all going to be 1X purchases. Right, right. You'll also finally get access to some of the new goodies that the Saffir Reserve Card offers, like a free subscription to Apple TV and Apple Music, and the new coupons, like where you can get $150 back every six.

months on Sapphire Reserve exclusive tables, which is a really exclusive set of restaurants where you can get a rebate for dining there. Also, $250 back every six months for two-night or longer bookings with The Edit, which is Chase's luxury hotel collection. And $150 back every six months for Stubhub and Viagogo purchases, and then $10 a month back on Peloton. So all those rebates are intended to make up for that new, that enhanced annual fee. And you'll, you know, even if you're not paying the annual fee right at October 26, most people won't until their next anniversary date. You will get access to all those coupons at that point.

Yeah. And to be clear, the every six months coupons are once between January and June and once between July and December. So the Sapphire Reserve tables and the edit, for instance, you'll be able to use once between October 26th, then December 31st of this year. And then again, starting in January of next year. So you want to look for an opportunity to use those if you can right away. Now, if you heard me giggle a little bit on the Sapphire Reserve tables being very exclusive, it wasn't because of the exclusivity of the tables. It was because of the fact that it excludes the vast majority of restaurants on earth. There are very few of those Sapphire Reserve exclusive tables places. So you have to be lucky that either you live in a place that has them or that you're traveling to a place that has them and you want to dine at one of them between October 26 and December 31st if you want to use it this year. Right. If you don't live in a big city in the U.S., but you're traveling to New York, Chicago, etc.,

that's a really good time to look up the list of. these tables to see if you can dine out there and get $150 back. With the edit credit, which is the hotel thing, keep in mind, you just have to book. So after October, starting October 26 and before the end of the year, in order to get your credit for the second six months of this calendar year, you just need to book during that window because these are for prepaid stays. They're not necessarily, they're often free to cancel. It's just that you have to pay up front. And as long as you do, during that time frame, you'll get, you should get the $250 credit during that time. So that's a good time to plan your travel, even if it's for 2026.

Very good. All right. And let's see. Now is where it really gets complicated. If that didn't seem complicated yet you'll be grandfathered into one and a half cents per point redemptions to minimum one and a half cents per point through chase travel for two years for some of your points so yeah that gets crazy why don't you explain it does let me explain first of all um for those who are not grandfathered in um so for those who who got the card after um june 23rd or as of june 23rd um the only way, you get better than one cent per point value with your chase points through chase travel is when you have a points boost on a hotel or an airline booking. So any other type of travel, all you'd get is one cent per point, and that's, that's lousy. There's no point in

booking through chase travel, if all you're going to get is one cent per point. So anyway, So the nice thing is for those who are grandfathered in to the 1.5 cent thing, you get to keep that for up to two years, but only for points earned up until October 26 of this year. So any points earned up until October 26 will then, you'll be able to use those points to get 1.5 cents through Chase Travel until October 26 of 206, will then, you'll be able to use those points to get 1.5 cents through Chase Travel until October 26 of 206. 27. So two full years. So that's the way it works. I don't know why Chase decided to make this so darn complicated, but that's the world we live in right now. And so the good thing is it's not just points earned really. It's also points that if you move points from other Chase cards you might have, other Chase Ultimate Rewards cards, or even if someone in your household has other Chase Ultimate Rewards cards, they can move those points to you.

And as long as they're on your Sapphire Reserve account, that's one of these grandfathered accounts that was obtained before June 23rd, then those points are worth 1.5 cents when redeemed for travel through Chase Travel until October 26 of 2027. So you've got two plus full years to use them for that way. Yeah. And if that doesn't sound complex, because Greg just did a great job explaining it. Keep in mind that I'm not sure how you're going to know which of your points were earned before October 26th and which were earned after October 26th. We don't know yet. Is Chase going to, like, show you two different counters of your points? It seems like it's going to get complicated in terms of keeping track of that. But at least at the bottom line, like Greg said, is that you can get those points put together now. And that would probably be a smart strategy if you want. want to ensure that you get at least the one and a half cents per point. You want to get them

on a qualifying Sapphire Reserve between now and then. All right. So let's talk, since I'm kind of mentioning strategy anyway, let's talk about the strategy for those who want to get two years of at least 1.5 cents per point. And I'm saying at least 1.5 cents per point because that's a benefit that we've always said was reasonable to use. Using your points through Chase travel to book travel at 1.5 cents per point is generally reasonable. Now there are situations where it's not going to be your best bet. But it's generally a reasonable use of points. Of course, you could often transfer to partners and get even better value. And that's how Greg and I use the vast majority of our points. However, that minimum of one and a half cents per point might be important to you. So how do people

strategize? What should they do now? Yeah. I mean, as I said before, any points you have in other cards, other Chase Ultimate Awards cards. So for example, if you have a Freedom card or a Chase, Inc. Business Cash or Chase Inc. Business Unlimited or Business Preferred. Any of those types of cards or a different Sapphire card yourself, you can just get online and move all your points to your Sapphire Reserve card. And as long as you do that before October 26, those points should count. Same thing.

If there's someone else in your household who has any of those other cards, including maybe a brand new Sapphire Reserve card, they could move. their points to you now if you've never done that move before they'll have to call chase and sort of set up that connection and then once that connection set up they can go online and it's called combining points through the chase travel through the chase portal ultimate rewards portal and then you can move your they can move their points to you um probably easiest for them if they have multiple chase ultimate rewards cards to move all of their points to one of their cards first and then just move all those points from one card to your one card rather than doing

it separate batches but just to save a little bit of trouble. I mean, the other thing you could do is try to earn more points between now and October 26. It's a little bit late in the game, I think, to earn a lot through welcome bonuses. I mean, you could. You could like apply for, for example, a Chase Inc card now. And if you hit the spend requirement really fast, maybe you'd get the points in time. No guarantee. It depends what the whole cycle, you know, looks like. I have no idea whether that would work or not. The statement cuts, though relatedly, if you have a card like a Freedom Unlimited or a Chase Inc. Business Unlimited and you have a major purchase coming up and you know your statement is going to cut before October 26th, you know, you could make whatever major

purchases you have now and take those points and before October 26th when they post to your ultimate rewards account, make sure you get them moved over onto the Sapphire Reserve. We just did that with a big purchase the other day that we put on an Inc. Business Unlimited because I figured, oh, well, the points will post soon when the statement cuts and then we'll move them right over to the Safari Reserve. Also, take advantage of your 5x categories. If you have the Chase Inc. business cash card, take advantage of the 5X categories there before your next statements cut or the Freedom Flex card. Take a look at the current 5x categories and maximize those are all ways of earning more points. And then you just have to remember, once you get those points on those cards, move those points to your Sapphire

Reserve card by October 26. And then you've got two full years, a one and a half cent per point value for travel booked through Chase travel. Nick, what are you going to do? Are you going to try to maximize this? Yeah, you know, I don't redeem very many points at one and a half cents. cents per point. However, it's nice to have the option to be able to do it. And with points boosts, I've seen a number of good opportunities to get two cents per point in situations that would fit our needs. So there's really no downside for me in getting as many points as possible onto my wife's Sapphire Reserve card. She's the Sapphire Reserve card holder in our household. So before October 26th, I certainly intend to move all of our points onto her Sapphire Reserve, all of our Chase Ultimate Rewards

points onto her Sapphire reserve card. And in part, I have no problem doing that because I know that later, if, say, in November or December or next January, we need points in my account, she can always just move them back to my account. And so we'll have fewer points that we can use at one and a half cents per point. But if, say, I want to transfer points to my Hyatt account come January, she could still just move those points back from her Sapphire Reserve card to one of my qualifying cards so that I can transfer them to my Hyatt account. Hyatt is a weird example because she could probably just transfer them to her Hyatt account and then Hyatt to Hyatt. But if I wanted United Miles, for instance, in January, again, she could just move ultimate rewards points from her Sapphire Reserve back to my

Chase Inc. Plus is the card I have that would allow me to transfer to partners. And then I could transfer those on to my United account. So there's, it really doesn't lock us out of very much. So we're going to pull them all together. We're going to pull them all together in her account. And, uh, And so that's good, and I think that's the strategy. The one pain point for me here is that for some reason, Chase has, I don't know, put extra security measures on her account where every time now she wants to move her Chase ultimate rewards points around, she has to call in and get like a code to be able to do it, even between her own cards, which this is not common. We've had Chase cards for years and years and always been able to move them back and forth online without any issue from her account to her account to my account, my account. to her account. Never had a problem until recently. However, I have occasionally heard from other readers who've run into this, too. So I don't know what causes it or if it will resolve itself at some point.

But there's a slight pain point there in that sometimes she has to call it now. She has to call in to get a code. And it only takes a few minutes, but it is kind of annoying and does make it a little bit more difficult sometimes. I'm not so concerned about that, though, that it's going to prevent me from moving all of our points to her Sapphire Reserve for now. Yeah. And so similar situation with me, I've already actually started moving points from my own different accounts to to this card. Now, in my wife's case, we've never set up the connection. So she would have to call Chase to set up the connection to mine to move her points over. And I don't think I'm going to bother because I have a lot of points just in my own and I've it's been so long since I've ever used the 1.5 cents per

point redemption I don't think it's likely that I don't think there's any chance actually of me using more than what I already have for that particular particular use so I'm not going to bother but that's more because I just I don't want to um there there's only so many times I'm going to go through what it takes, get my wife to call a bank. And this does not meet that threshold. Doesn't feel like that. Well, I think it's a really good point that if you have far more points already on the Sapphire Reserve, then you are likely to use at one and a half cents per point over the next two years, then maybe it's not worth the hassle. That's, I mean, I think that is a very valid point. If you're somebody who's sitting on hundreds of thousands, millions of Chase ultimate

rewards points in a single account already, you might look at your travel patterns and say, am I ever going to spend all of that between now and October of 2027? If not, then I don't really need to worry about getting prepared for this at all. Right, right. Although, you know, to the extent it's easy to do, you just might as well do it, right? Like, so that's why I said, I'm just already moving my own points over because why not. Why not? But, yeah, for my wife, I'm not going to bother. Yeah, yeah, that's fair. So then if you're in that boat, like Greg, is, then what you're going to want to focus on is remembering to use those coupon credits between October 26th and December 31st.

Now, quick question, because I know somebody out there probably has it. Do you have to enroll in those benefits? The MX makes you enroll in a lot of those types of benefits in order to get the rebates. Do you have to do that with Chase? Some of them you do. I don't remember off the top of my head which ones you do and which you don't. So definitely pay attention to that. And check out the link that we will have in the show notes to our post that tells you what to do

if you're a new Sapphire Reserve cardholder because effectively after October 26 you're going to be kind of like a new Sapphire Reserve card holder in that sense. Really good post to check out. Don't forget if you've enjoyed this and you'd like to get on our email list,

you want to go to frequentmiler.com slash subscribe to join our email list, follow us on all the various social media and check out our frequent mile around the air episodes dropping every Friday. Hi, I'm David Brody, co-host of the Travelin10 podcast. Together, myself and my co-host, Tim Johnson, have traveled to over 150,

countries around the world and all seven continents. Now we're sharing our favorite places, some of our best tips and experiences from all around the world in just 10 minutes on Travelin 10. Join us at Voyescape.com. I'm Pauline Fromer. I've spent most of my life writing, talking, and thinking about travel, not just where to go, but how to go in a way that's meaningful. On the Frommers Travel Show, we explore the trends, people, and ideas shaping how we see the world. If you care about the why, as much as the where, I hope you'll join me. You can find new episodes weekly at voyescape.com.