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TRAVEL: Points, Miles, Discounts, Tips, Advice & Questions


Spankytoes

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On 1/23/2020 at 4:13 PM, LocoDino said:

Long time lurker here but I've followed this thread since page 1.  It feels like this is a full time job to keep up with all of these offers and to play the chess game correctly.  It all just makes my brain hurt.  Being Surly, I doubt anyone will take any pity on me and that's cool with me.  However, I'm hoping a few of those that appear to be winning at this credit card game would consider helping an old and talk to me like I'm a five year old.

My scenario is that my wife (no pics) and I currently have one Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select for personal and one Aadvantage CitiBusiness Select for business transactions (we are a small business owner).  We have both cards tied to one AA member number so all miles are consolidated.  We've had these cards for 20+ years and have never even considered another card out of sheer laziness to look around.  However, I clearly see we are missing out on maximizing rewards.  These two AAdvantage cards do nothing for us except offer 1 mile per $ spent.  Currently, we charge all of our monthly personal expenses on our personal card, pay as much of our business expenses as we can on the business card and then pay off the balances at the end of each month.  Thus, we currently have approx 1.2M AA miles.

My goal at this time is to get a new business card in order to capture as many rewards as possible.  Our goal is to complement all of the AA miles that we can use to fly with a card that will allow us the best opportunities for cheap and/or free hotel rooms/resorts.  Our business expenses that we charge to our business card currently average about $20-30k per month.

So I come to you assholes for advice.

My questions are what would you do and what's the best way to maximize rewards?  Should I open a new business card and have my wife apply separately as well?  If we did that, can rewards be merged into one account?

 

This is definitely complicated. There are some things that need to be known.

a) what do you want from a card besides some points?

b) what kind of points do you want? AA miles? BA Avios? Generic points (Chase, etc) that can be transferred to a partner?

c) hotel points as well?

d) straight cash, homie?

e) how much homework do you want to do while using a card? (some cards offer quarterly rotational categories, which can be a bother to keep up with for some.)

 

If you want AA miles, call Citi and ask them about a product change from what you have now, to something better. (find out what that is before you talk to them.) If you can do a PC instead of a new app, you keep the entire history (and its weight) and value on your credit report. This will also not create a "new account", which is important for hitting the Chase cards with their 5 new cards within 24 months (5/24) rule. Same goes for the business card, and the same goes for your wife. If you cannot do a PC, keep those cards and use them every couple of months. This is to keep them active, open, and reporting.

 

You do NOT want to roll ahead too quickly,

 

Now for Chase. They have several good personal cards. Ignore those to start, and get set up with the business side of their cards first. Why? They don't report to your personal credit report, thus no new account shows up, and therefore no ding against you for the 5/24 rule. Why business cards first? Because even though they don't count against your 5/24, you must be under 5/24 to apply, even for a business card.

 

Business cards:

- Ink Business Preferred (80k UR points signup bonus for $5k/3mo spend)
- Ink Business Unlimited ($500 bonus for $3k/3mo spend, BUT they credit as 50k UR points.)
- Ink Business Cash (same bonus as Unlimited)**

Apply for the above cards 46 days apart, in that order working down. Chase also has a 2/30 limit as well as the 3/90 limit that aren't regularly discussed.


 

Personal Cards:

- Sapphire Preferred (60k UR points for $4k/3mo spend)
- Freedom Unlimited ($200 bonus for $500/3mo spend, credited as 20k UR points)
- Freedom (same as Unlimited)**

Wait 90 days after you apply for the last business card, start with the Preferred, work down the list and apply 46 days after the previous application just like with the business cards.

 

**: These two cards have rotating bonus spend categories that change every quarter. The bonus cats are worth 5% (5pts/$1) up to $1500 of purchases combined across the bonus cats for that quarter. So effectively that's a max of 30k points off bonus categories per year. Some people may not want to fuck with rotating categories, so don't waste a slot if you're not sure, or try the business one first.

 

 

Hotel Cards:

Pick a chain, and a backup chain. Me personally, I picked IHG and Hilton. Between the two I can most likely find a place to stay just about anywhere. If IHG is one of your picks (or marriott, or hyatt), then get that card next since it's from Chase, and subject to 5/24. At this point, before the hotel card, you would be at 3/24.

 

Now you can branch out to other things, unless you have something else you would like to fill up your 1 (or 2 if you didn't grab a hotel card) 5/24 slot(s) with.

 

 

American Express:

Their hilton cards are great, if hilton is one of your hotel chains of choice. They also have a marriott card that is a tick better than Chase for points, but has a $450 annual fee (AF) that is way out of fucking line. Don't do it. Back to the hilton card, I'd suggest the Surpass. AF is only $95, and the points work out pretty well. The Aspire is better, but the $450 AF may be hard to get your money back unless you stay at a hilton resort every year. Even then... it's not for the weak and you can lose out if not careful.

AMEX has other cards you may or may not be interested in.

 

 

The biggest thing is finding cards that match your needs both for points, and for financials. No point of having a hotel card if you never use hotels, or no point in having a Delta card if you never fly on Delta.

So figure out the points you want to earn, then research cards for them. For AA, be advised that you're stuck to Citi or Barclay. Having Chase UR points (or AMEX MR points) is much more flexible as you can transfer them out to BA or other airlines.

 

BA? WTF?

You may not be aware, but you can book domestic awards on AA through BA, and usually a tick cheaper on points, too.

 

That should get you started thinking, then we'll try again with some more info.

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So what’s the best all around card with regards to getting bonus points, points for hotels, points for flights, and etc? I have a honeymoon to pay for by the end of this year as well as some wedding items(hotels, food, etc). Was thinking of getting a rewards card to get free perks since the cost will have to be paid for anyway. Also will use it to spend on the honeymoon.

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3 minutes ago, Bevo VIII said:

So what’s the best all around card with regards to getting bonus points, points for hotels, points for flights, and etc? I have a honeymoon to pay for by the end of this year as well as some wedding items(hotels, food, etc). Was thinking of getting a rewards card to get free perks since the cost will have to be paid for anyway. Also will use it to spend on the honeymoon.

Best all around is probably Chase Sapphire Preferred

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Not sure if I've ever posted this before so SIAP but this is my current rotation

  • Chase Sapphire Reserve - restaurant and travel spending only
  • Chase Freedom - only use for 5% category spending, will manufacture that spending to meet my limit if I need to
  • Chase Freedom Unlimited - all other purchases don't meet the criteria of the other two

I have many other cards but I only keep them for status with the brand like Hilton. Honestly I would evaluate them for sign up bonus first before you dig deep into daily spending strategy. You've been given some great advice already. Good luck @LocoDino

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22 hours ago, Bevo VIII said:

So what’s the best all around card with regards to getting bonus points, points for hotels, points for flights, and etc? I have a honeymoon to pay for by the end of this year as well as some wedding items(hotels, food, etc). Was thinking of getting a rewards card to get free perks since the cost will have to be paid for anyway. Also will use it to spend on the honeymoon.

Sapphire Preferred and Amex platinum.  Best points and most flexibility by far. 

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Sapphire Preferred and Amex platinum.  Best points and most flexibility by far. 

With the $550 fee worth it?

 

 

What are the benefits of Amex Platinum over Sapphire Preffered and vice versa?

 

Seems like Sapphire Preferred is a ton more flexible and may be better for me due to my traveling not being as often

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7 hours ago, HRSchenker said:

Not sure if I've ever posted this before so SIAP but this is my current rotation

  • Chase Sapphire Reserve - restaurant and travel spending only
  • Chase Freedom - only use for 5% category spending, will manufacture that spending to meet my limit if I need to
  • Chase Freedom Unlimited - all other purchases don't meet the criteria of the other two

I have many other cards but I only keep them for status with the brand like Hilton. Honestly I would evaluate them for sign up bonus first before you dig deep into daily spending strategy. You've been given some great advice already. Good luck @LocoDino

It’s the way to go. I’ve had my freedom card since 09, back when it was cash reward only, and been using this iteration since the sapphire was released. It’s crazy how many points you can accumulate.

I think I posted awhile back that I’ve spent around 1.75 million points on travel. I just recently pushed that number near 2 million. Not too bad for a decade. 

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17 minutes ago, Bevo VIII said:

With the $550 fee worth it?

 

 

What are the benefits of Amex Platinum over Sapphire Preffered and vice versa?

 

Seems like Sapphire Preferred is a ton more flexible and may be better for me due to my traveling not being as often

$200 airline credit

global entry fee reimbursement

$200 yearly Uber credit

There's $500 of the fee plus there are many other benefits.  The transfer partner airlines work great for me and Amex offers transfer bonuses from time to time which Chase never does.  
 

Example.  Iberia Avios transfered for me at 1.4:1.   18000 Amex points gets me from Madrid to JFK in business class in May.  Chase transfers can’t touch that. 

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2 hours ago, VABuckeye said:

$200 airline credit

global entry fee reimbursement

$200 yearly Uber credit

There's $500 of the fee plus there are many other benefits.  The transfer partner airlines work great for me and Amex offers transfer bonuses from time to time which Chase never does.  
 

Example.  Iberia Avios transfered for me at 1.4:1.   18000 Amex points gets me from Madrid to JFK in business class in May.  Chase transfers can’t touch that. 

 

Not quite. It's more like $420/yr since GE isn't an annual fee and $100/5yrs.

 

But the spirit of it remains. You do get a lot of value to offset that fee.

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1 hour ago, thunderlounge said:

 

Not quite. It's more like $420/yr since GE isn't an annual fee and $100/5yrs.

 

But the spirit of it remains. You do get a lot of value to offset that fee.

You can add $100 for Saks Fifth Avenue credits. I'm unlikely to ever actually use them, but it's a benefit. There's other stuff as well.

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2 hours ago, Thetexashammer said:

You can add $100 for Saks Fifth Avenue credits. I'm unlikely to ever actually use them, but it's a benefit. There's other stuff as well.

Buy gift certificates in the store.  Then you give it out to your girlfriends and such.

 

6 hours ago, Bevo VIII said:

With the $550 fee worth it?

 

 

What are the benefits of Amex Platinum over Sapphire Preffered and vice versa?

 

Seems like Sapphire Preferred is a ton more flexible and may be better for me due to my traveling not being as often

Amex platinum has steadily been losing value for, i dunno, a decade? 

 

The points are hard'ish to redeem compared to chase.  The perks are more restrictive compared to chase - for example a $200 credit, only for certain things, only on a certain airline, vs chase's $300 use-for-anything travel cashback.

 

The customer service and real perks are great though.  I use lots of their purchase protection, extended warranty, travel insurance, and such.  Over the years, its definitely paid itself off

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I don’t find Amex points hard to redeem at all but I only transfer them to airlines and once in a blue moon to Hilton.  The transfer bonuses are great when they’re offered. 3:1 for Hilton.  1.4:1 for Avios and others.  Chase doesn’t do this at all.  That’s a huge difference in point redemption when transferring.  Like another poster I run a ton of business expenses through Amex so I’m able to pile up points quickly. 

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1 minute ago, VABuckeye said:

Yes they do.  When you go to transfer partners the ones with current bonuses are generally prominently shown. 

I just went and bookmarked that page. They have a bonus on Bonvoy points, which sucks IMO. But they did have 1.3 to 1 for Avios a while back, which would have been amazing for me since I just learned you can book on AA using Avios.

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On 1/28/2020 at 12:30 AM, Thetexashammer said:

You can add $100 for Saks Fifth Avenue credits. I'm unlikely to ever actually use them, but it's a benefit. There's other stuff as well.


True. There can be value there for some, but as a whole I find it difficult to get my money back with it. Sapphire Reserve was a lot easier at $450, but $550 gives me a bit of pause now. 
 

 

 

On 1/29/2020 at 6:46 AM, VABuckeye said:

You can also transfer To Iberia Avios if Spain is your thing.  Great off-peak redemptions there especially when they have the transfer bonus going on.  Aeromexico also gets transfer bonuses from time to time if a South American trip is in the works. 

 

I’m doing this in July. 
 

 

On 1/29/2020 at 6:47 AM, VABuckeye said:

Booking AA domestic with Avios is a great value as the BA charts are mileage based.  I can fly from Dulles to Miami for as few as 7500 Avios one way. 

 

Truth!

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Has anyone been to Tehran? I'm looking to do a DXB-IKA-IST combo because I'm sick of Europe, I can't go to Rio without the Mrs. and don't have the time for Thailand this year. Because of the travel sanctions, you have to have a tour guide as a US citizen. But everything I've searched is basically a "Taste of Persia land cruise". I hate the fact that I have to do any tour, especially since I'll be the youngest there by 20 years, but it is what it is. I'm looking for something for Tehran only that I could have approved for my Visa. Not enough info out there on whether hiring a private guide for 3 days is acceptable and I don't want to pay the fee, or risk things overseas, to find out. 

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On 1/29/2020 at 1:59 AM, Thetexashammer said:

Buying Saks gift cards is genius. Thank for the advice.

Make sure you buy it in the actual store.  Won't work with online GC order.

18 hours ago, Spankytoes said:

Has anyone been to Tehran? I'm looking to do a DXB-IKA-IST combo because I'm sick of Europe, I can't go to Rio without the Mrs. and don't have the time for Thailand this year. Because of the travel sanctions, you have to have a tour guide as a US citizen. But everything I've searched is basically a "Taste of Persia land cruise". I hate the fact that I have to do any tour, especially since I'll be the youngest there by 20 years, but it is what it is. I'm looking for something for Tehran only that I could have approved for my Visa. Not enough info out there on whether hiring a private guide for 3 days is acceptable and I don't want to pay the fee, or risk things overseas, to find out. 

Plenty of operators selling invitation letters for visa purposes, under guise of fake tours.  I used the same scheme for Russia.  Works fine.  If you're not a KGB/FSB/Ayatollah target, nobody cares.

 

Always planned to but never got around to doing it.  Coworker came back last year with full on bed bug attack though, which is nice.

 

***

On AMEX I don't know how people use it.  Back in the days they had some good airline and hotel partners and that was a decent use.  Recently, I couldn't use their partners searches for shit.  Air Canada, ANA, British, Iberia, etc, can barely find redemption for shit.

Conversely, Chase to United was an instant transfer, and United lets me *easily* redeem on Star Alliance.

Don't really find value from hotels.  Hate how one hotel has it's currency nominated in the thousands, and the other tens of thousands, and the other hundreds of thousands.  At least the miles world is fairly universal in 100k = decent roundtrip. 

But anyway I don't game the points stuff anymore, it just does my head in

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1 hour ago, 52-80 said:

On AMEX I don't know how people use it.  Back in the days they had some good airline and hotel partners and that was a decent use.  Recently, I couldn't use their partners searches for shit.  Air Canada, ANA, British, Iberia, etc, can barely find redemption for shit.

I'm booking a flight from SAT to HAN and then SGN back to SAT for 90k pts through the AMEX travel portal most likely on American.   It's really not that complicated

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1 hour ago, midtown said:

I'm booking a flight from SAT to HAN and then SGN back to SAT for 90k pts through the AMEX travel portal most likely on American.   It's really not that complicated

Going through amex portal means booking revenue flight, paid for through points to cash exchange, which is at unfavorable rates. 

It's usually a 1% cashback equivalent, except you don't get the flexibility of having actual cash.

Booking award flights yields 2x, 3x, 4x the value.  Like a $4000 business class ticket at 100k miles.  But these redemptions are only offered by the FF programs.

 

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2 hours ago, 52-80 said:

Make sure you buy it in the actual store.  Won't work with online GC order.

Plenty of operators selling invitation letters for visa purposes, under guise of fake tours.  I used the same scheme for Russia.  Works fine.  If you're not a KGB/FSB/Ayatollah target, nobody cares.

 

Always planned to but never got around to doing it.  Coworker came back last year with full on bed bug attack though, which is nice.

 

***

On AMEX I don't know how people use it.  Back in the days they had some good airline and hotel partners and that was a decent use.  Recently, I couldn't use their partners searches for shit.  Air Canada, ANA, British, Iberia, etc, can barely find redemption for shit.

Conversely, Chase to United was an instant transfer, and United lets me *easily* redeem on Star Alliance.

Don't really find value from hotels.  Hate how one hotel has it's currency nominated in the thousands, and the other tens of thousands, and the other hundreds of thousands.  At least the miles world is fairly universal in 100k = decent roundtrip. 

But anyway I don't game the points stuff anymore, it just does my head in

Do you have mileage accounts with the partner airlines?  Transfer the points from Amex to the partner airline when you've found the redemption you want and book it direct through the airline.  Works for me and I've never had a problem redeeming miles, AVIOS, whatever using this method.

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7 minutes ago, VABuckeye said:

Do you have mileage accounts with the partner airlines?  Transfer the points from Amex to the partner airline when you've found the redemption you want and book it direct through the airline.  Works for me and I've never had a problem redeeming miles, AVIOS, whatever using this method.


Same here. Although at times it can be challenging to find flights, or at least flights with a decent enough schedule.

BA is pretty good with it though, I’ll have to admit. Whether you transfer from AMEX or Chase won’t make a difference once it’s transferred. 
 

I will say that AMEX does have some outstanding customer service though. Not that I’ve had a problem with Chase, but AMEX is over the top when I’ve needed them. 

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2 hours ago, VABuckeye said:

Do you have mileage accounts with the partner airlines?  Transfer the points from Amex to the partner airline when you've found the redemption you want and book it direct through the airline.  Works for me and I've never had a problem redeeming miles, AVIOS, whatever using this method.

My issue is more the airline itself.  Outside of United and Turkish, ive never found their award engines to ever give any results worth a shit.  Avios is decent, and enjoyed a BA First flight when I was living in UK, but I no longer want to fly to or through LHR.  Basically my Amex balance have been sitting dormant until i find a good opportunity to actually use it. 

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4 hours ago, midtown said:

I'm booking a flight from SAT to HAN and then SGN back to SAT for 90k pts through the AMEX travel portal most likely on American.   It's really not that complicated

I ooked three round trip to and from Europe for 180 last year on American. It was summer adn I didn't have to book too far in advance.

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I've had 2 international flights this year that I booked through Chase Sapphire that were changed by the airline and would have really fucked our plans and Chase re-booked everything without cost on similar itineraries.  Nice little bonus that comes with the card.

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6 hours ago, 52-80 said:

Going through amex portal means booking revenue flight, paid for through points to cash exchange, which is at unfavorable rates. 

It's usually a 1% cashback equivalent, except you don't get the flexibility of having actual cash.

Booking award flights yields 2x, 3x, 4x the value.  Like a $4000 business class ticket at 100k miles.  But these redemptions are only offered by the FF programs.

 

I see what you mean.  I guess the better option is to look at all the Asia based airline partners then transfer those points (hopefully with a bonus) because unless its a sale Delta's reward chart is just as expensive as using the amex portal.  

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10 hours ago, 52-80 said:

My issue is more the airline itself.  Outside of United and Turkish, ive never found their award engines to ever give any results worth a shit.  Avios is decent, and enjoyed a BA First flight when I was living in UK, but I no longer want to fly to or through LHR.  Basically my Amex balance have been sitting dormant until i find a good opportunity to actually use it. 

Avios. Transfer to Iberia.  Profit. Transfer to Aer Lingus.  Profit.  Stop looking at the primary airlines and look at the partners.  
8 Best ways to use Aer Lingus Avios

no fuel surcharges 

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Needed a solo trip to clear my head this summer. Wife and I are heading to the Caribbean next week and she doesn’t think she’ll have time for another trip beyond extended weekends. So I got the pass.

-I have a party in Dallas to attend on 7/3 so I burned some Southwest points from LGA and used a credit for taxes. Wife is dropping me up at LGA and our kids picking me up at DAL and dropping me off at DFW the next day. 

-Flying DFW-SYD nonstop on 7/4. Arrive in Sydney on 7/6 

-5 nights at the Hilton Sydney

-Flying SYD-BKK on Thai Airways (Arrive at 4:55 PM in Bangkok the same day)

-3 nights at the Holiday Inn Sukhumvit 

-Flying BKK-HKT on Thai Vietjet Airways (Arrive at 4:00 PM)

-2 nights at the DoubleTree by Hilton Phuket Banthai Resort w/ 2 PM late check-out

-Red-eye flight from HKT-IST, so I have an extra day in Phuket. Have a 13.5 hour layover in Istanbul beginning at 4:55 AM, on purpose, to explore for the day. (Roughly 7 hours with transfers) Taking a tram to the city center and booking a Hop-on/Hop-off bus tour to hit all the main sites. Luggage will be transferred for my next flight.

-Continue on IST to JFK at 6:30 PM. Arrive around 11 PM same day. Wife picking me up from JFK

-Have the full weekend to recover before returning to the office

1 night in Dallas, 5 nights in Sydney, 3 nights in Bangkok, 2 nights in Phuket and a day in Istanbul. I’m Diamond with Hilton so breakfast is covered in Sydney and Phuket. All excursions will be booked with Citi Thank You points. I used Chase points for the Thailand airfare portions and AA miles for Qantas. With all tours, private transfers, rental cars/fuel, metro fees, tourist visa for Turkey…basically everything but food and misc. charges, the total cost of the trip will be $358.78. 

That’ll do.
 

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1 hour ago, gecko said:

When transferring Amex points to Delta how fast do they deposit in your account? When I transfer Chase Sapphire to United is almost instantaneous.

I think they have a qualifier that says up to 48 hours, but it should be instant based on my experience

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4 hours ago, Bevo VIII said:

Would you recommend either of these cards for cash back cards or should you avoid cash back cards? Or do you recommend something different?

bacfbeae447d5e9e59d3c1c560cd0e65.jpg

To follow up, if I plan on getting a Chase Sapphire Preferred at the beginning of 2021 to pay for wedding/honeymoon items should i go with Chase Unlimited cash back reward card? I read that I can parlay my cashback rewards into the sapphire rewards.

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