We've mentioned Chase Ultimate Rewards as well as how to maximize Southwest Credit Card bonuses recently, but Chase is creating some buzz with their announcement today that you can now transfer Ultimate Rewards points to your Rapid Rewards account on an even 1:1 basis.  Southwest points are some of the most valuable rewards points out there, and as we've previously explained in detail, you can get a lot of bang for your buck with Southwest points.  (You can bag a round trip ticket for just over 10,000 Rapid Rewards points, whereas most airlines will require 25,000 points)

1 cent per point is our benchmark for knowing if you're getting good value for your rewards points.  Any less than $.01 per point and you're not getting great value for your points.  More than $.01 per point, and you know you're honing your travel rewards hacking skills and making the most of your points.  With that in mind, the absolute best way to use Rapid Rewards points is to book 'Wanna Get Away' fares.  You'll get at least $1.7 cents of value for every point that way.  Anytime fares are worth about 1 cent each, and if you need to book a flight at the last minute you'll end up getting only about 0.8 to 0.6 cents per point.  

The big secret to getting some serious travel power from Southwest's rewards program is to qualify for the companion pass!  Million Mile Secrets recently wrote a fantastic post on how he qualified for the pass this year.  While the terms and conditions of the Southwest Rapid Rewards program state that: 

"Partner bonuses do not count toward Companion Pass status."

But the Southwest Credit Card bonus points are definitely currently counting towards Companion Pass status.  It's unclear whether the Ultimate rewards transfers will count towards the bonuses, but I'm guessing that they will soon make it more difficult or impossible to qualify for the companion pass with bonus miles.

Chase seems eager to compete with the other major rewards credit card programs, and as they catch up the big guns of the American Express Membership Rewards program, I think we'll see more and more partnerships come online.  

Let's see what they're up to next!