How do Chase Ultimate Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards transfer partners compare?

Question

ClearValue Editorial Team · Accepted Answer

Both offer strong transfer-partner rosters but serve different travel styles. Chase has deeper domestic U.S. airline coverage (United, Southwest) and the Hyatt hotel program; Amex has broader international airline coverage (Delta, Cathay, Emirates, Etihad) and Hilton. Neither is universally better — it depends on which airlines and hotels you actually use. Both let you transfer points at 1:1 (or close) to airline and hotel programs, where the best redemptions typically yield 1.5-2+ cents per point. Chase's roster leans toward U.S. domestic strength — United and Southwest for domestic routes, World of Hyatt (widely rated among the best hotel programs for point value), and IHG. Amex leans international — Delta (the only major U.S. carrier that transfers from Amex but not Chase), Hilton (the largest hotel footprint), Cathay Pacific, Etihad, and Avianca LifeMiles. They share several partners, including Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, British Airways Avios, and others. Transfer lists and ratios change and issuers can modify or drop partners at any time, so verify the current roster on the issuer's site before you transfer — and let the airlines and hotels you genuinely fly and stay with decide, not the raw partner count.