On June 23, 2025, Chase Sapphire Reserve is removing the ability to redeem points giving a 1.5% value (1.5 cents per point) toward purchases with the Chase Travel booking platform.
If you apply for or upgrade to the Chase Sapphire Reserve card before June 23rd, you’ll lock in the 1.5% redemption option for more than two years, until October 2027, for all points earned before October 26, 2025. Points earned after October 26, 2025 will not have the 1.5% redemption option via Chase Travel.
Presumably, if someone upgrades to the Sapphire Reserve card before June 23rd, all of their points balances from prior earnings will maintain the 1.5% redemption option until 2027. Likewise, presumably, any points transferred to a Sapphire Reserve card before October 26, 2025 will maintain the 1.5% redemption option until 2027. (We have yet to receive confirmation on any of this.)
For someone interested in getting the Sapphire Reserve card by upgrading a Freedom or Sapphire Preferred card, many will opt to do so before June 23rd for two reasons:
- You’ll lock in your first membership year at the lower $550 annual fee
- You’ll get 2+ years of the 1.5% Chase Travel redemption option
Someone who appreciates the new perks and credits coming on the refreshed Sapphire Reserve card might prefer to upgrade after June 23rd to get a few extra months of those benefits.
Those looking to signup for a new Sapphire Reserve card will probably prefer to wait until after June 23rd since it’s likely the signup bonus will then be significantly higher at that time versus the current 60,000 points bonus. I wouldn’t give up on that upside unless I had boatloads of points that needed the 1.5% redemption option.
I upgraded on 6/22. When should my new AF date be if the old AF was 7/1? Can I get a $300 travel credit before the new AF posts, and another one after? When will the other benefits like stubhub credit start?
Folks that upgraded to CSR before 6/23, is anyone not seeing the 1.5x redemption on Chase portal? I PC’d a Freedom to CSR in early June, but Chase portal is still showing 1x redemption rate. Maybe it just takes a while for the system to update? Hopefully it’s not an IT glitch due to this card refresh.
I remembered this kinda late and made the switch but hopefully it doesn’t end up caught in any timezone shenanigans. It was already the 23rd back east.
I have points pending on a different account, are you able to transfer pending points?
PC’d my Freedom to a CSR with no issue this evening.
Picked my Freedom rather than my CSP to avoid the possibility of losing the Chase Travel portal 20k point promo attached to my CSP (I haven’t completed my stay / gotten the points yet)
Did you have to pay the $550 AF when you upgraded?
not immediately
Is it possible to apply before 6/23, then match higher SUB later?
maybe but sounds risky
If I PC from a freedom unlimited card to a CSR now, would I still be eligible for the new CSR SUB in future?
It all depends on the terms for the new offer. However, you will almost certainly have to close your CSR at the very least before applying for the new offer.
Don’t see making a mad dash to convert to the CSR. I’d just wait it out.
Just upgraded CSP. I wonder if I can get second Reserve with SUB in October? I will be eligible for another Sapphire sub
Will be mostly pop-up blocked. I don’t think they will allow two big bonuses in a short timeframe.
As another data point, I just did a product change from Sapphire Preferred to Sapphire Reserve this morning. I’m well over 5/24 right now and won’t be under for ~20 months, so I decided to switch. I’ve got 650k Ultimate Rewards points, and while I rarely use the 1.5x redemption, it will be nice to have that option.
My wife is under 5/24 right now and hasn’t had a Sapphire card for 4 years, so we’ll apply for the new card for her next week (and hopefully get a juicy sign-up bonus).
Did you have to pay a pro-rated AF from the $550 figure when you did hte product change?