💳After downgrading to Sapphire Elite, will my travel benefits still be there? Let’s find out in one article! ✈️🏝️
If you own a Chase Sapphire Preferred®, you are likely a smart user who has a travel habit, credit awareness, and knows how to use your points. 👏
But when the annual fee is approaching, the frequency of travel decreases, or you just want to try the easy life of a card with no annual fee, the option of “downgrading” is particularly tempting.
But a big question immediately arises:
❓If I downgrade my CSP, will all those great travel benefits be gone?
Don’t panic! This article will analyze in detail what benefits you can still keep after downgrading, what you will lose, and whether there are alternative options, and help you make the most sensible decision. 💡
🔁First: What is “downgrading”?
In Chase’s system, “downgrading” means converting an annual fee card to a no-annual-fee card, for example:
The original card can be downgraded to
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Chase Freedom Unlimited® or Freedom Flex℠
This allows you to avoid the annual fee while retaining your account history and credit limit, which is good for your credit score.
🎯Benefits:
✅ Avoid $95 annual fee
✅ Keep account age and credit limit
✅ No hard query (soft pull) required
✅ You can apply for CSP again in the future (as long as you meet the conditions)
✈️Your travel benefits in CSP, at a glance👇
First, let’s take a look at the super travel benefits you have on the Sapphire Preferred Card:
Benefits Content
🏥 Travel Delay Insurance If the trip is delayed for more than 12 hours, reimburse meals, hotels, etc., up to $500/person
🧳 Baggage Delay Insurance If the baggage is delayed for more than 6 hours, up to $100/day (up to 5 days)
🚗 Rental Car Collision Insurance Main insurance, covers rental car accidents, does not affect your own insurance
💰 Trip Cancellation/Interruption If the trip is cancelled due to illness, weather, etc., up to $10,000/person reimbursement
🔁 Points Transfer to Airline Hotel Can be transferred 1:1 to 10+ partners including Hyatt, United, Southwest, etc.
🛒 Travel category spending points 2x UR points for travel spending
🌐 No foreign transaction fees 0% foreign currency fees for overseas spending
👉 Once downgraded, some of these benefits will disappear completely, and some will be greatly weakened.
⚠️After downgrading, you will lose these core travel benefits
1️⃣ Points transfer to airlines/hotels ❌
This is one of the most valuable highlights of CSP:
You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points 1:1 to airline or hotel miles, for example:
Hyatt
United
Southwest
British Airways
Marriott Bonvoy
👉 But once you downgrade to Freedom Unlimited or Freedom Flex, these transfer functions will be closed. You can only:
Exchange points for statement credit (fixed value $0.01/point)
Exchange for gift cards or purchases through Amazon (lower value)
🧠 **Recommendation:** Before downgrading, transfer all UR points to a CSP or CSR (Sapphire Reserve) account in your spouse’s or your own name, otherwise the value will be greatly reduced!
2️⃣ Primary Rental Insurance❌
The collision insurance provided by CSP for rental cars is “primary coverage” – meaning that even if an accident occurs, it will not affect your own car insurance policy. This is especially valuable for overseas rentals!
After downgrading, you will:
🚫 No longer enjoy the primary insurance
✅ Some cards offer “secondary insurance”, but you have to declare your own insurance first
🧾 Some credit cards simply do not include any car rental protection
3️⃣ Baggage delay & trip cancellation insurance ❌
These unexpected protections during travel are not found in most cards with no annual fee:
Baggage delay: reimbursement of daily necessities
Flight delay: reimbursement of meals and accommodation
Trip cancellation: loss protection caused by illness, weather, etc.
👇 Freedom Unlimited or Flex do not provide these protections.
4️⃣ No foreign transaction fee ❌
CSP does not charge any additional fees when used overseas.
But if you switch to the Freedom card series, you will be charged a 3% foreign transaction fee! 🌍
For example:
$100 spent on a card in Europe = $103 paid
✈️ For users who like to travel or frequently shop online for international products, this loss cannot be underestimated!
✅What benefits can you still keep?
Although downgrading means losing a lot of travel benefits, you can still keep some good general benefits:
Benefits Items Whether to keep Card description after downgrading
🛒 Travel spending bonus points ✅ Yes Freedom Unlimited has 1.5% general cash back, Flex has 5% quarterly category
🛍️ Chase Offers ✅ Yes You can continue to participate and enjoy additional cash back discounts
🔐 Fraud Protection ✅ Yes All Chase cards have fraud protection
💳 UR points system ✅ Yes You can continue to earn points, but you can’t transfer points
📞 Customer service ✅ Yes Chase’s customer service is consistently rated excellent
🔄Is there an alternative way to keep travel benefits?
Yes! You can “alternatively” retain some of your travel value by pairing it with other Chase credit cards:
✅ Option A: Keep CSR or spouse has CSP
If your spouse or family member has a CSP or CSR card, you can still:
Transfer UR points to their account and then transfer airline/hotel points
Shared points pool for family (same address required)
✅ Option B: Upgrade to Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR)
If you still travel frequently but want stronger protection, upgrading rather than downgrading may be more suitable for you.
CSP ($95/year) CSR ($550/year)
Travel Points 2x Travel Points 3x
Car Rental Owner Insurance Enhanced Owner Insurance with Car Rental Discount
No Priority Pass Includes Priority Pass Airport VIP Lounge
No $300 Travel Credit $300 travel expense reimbursement per year!
🧭 Summary of downgrade suggestions: Should I downgrade or keep it?
Situation Recommendation
😴 Rarely travel, unable to use the annual fee value ✅ Downgrade, retain credit history
🧳 Have other high-end cards that can cover travel protection ✅ Downgrade, use together
🧭 Still have multiple travel plans every year ❌ It is recommended to keep or upgrade to CSR
🧮 Points value is important to you ❌ Be sure to transfer UR points before downgrading
✨Real case sharing: save annual fees, less trouble
User L has only traveled once a year in the past three years, and he hardly uses CSP’s UR points transfer and luggage insurance.
He decided to downgrade to Freedom Flex before the annual fee in the 4th year, and found that:
Using the quarterly 5% category, he earned a lot of cash back at supermarkets, Amazon, and gas stations
No more $95 annual fee
Credit history was retained, and credit score did not change
His conclusion:
“When I don’t need a travel card, downgrading makes me feel relaxed and saves money, and it’s not too late to upgrade back later!”🎯
📌Conclusion: Choosing to downgrade is choosing an active lifestyle!
Chase Sapphire Preferred is a very valuable travel credit card, but it is not suitable for you at every stage of life.
When you choose to downgrade, you are not “losing something”, but making a wise financial decision for your current life. ✅
🧭 Whether you are temporarily stopping your travel steps or preparing for the next card opening, as long as you know what you are doing, downgrading can also be a wonderful turning point in your credit card career!
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