Amex Platinum...

[Scarpozzi]

I'm gonna be traveling some in the next year. I've got 2 trips in July and another in November... probably more after that for kicks. I'm tempted to pickup the Amex Platinum card to get Delta Sky Club access and use the incidental credits to upgrade to comfort+ class....and to pay for TSA Precheck and reimbursd Uber rides. I figure with all that, it'll cut the $550 fee down.

Is there a better alternative? I checked the Chase Reserve Saphire and Hilton Aspire (or Ascend... whichever is better). I usually fly Delta and stay at Hilton properties...

 

[deadlyapp]

The CSR is nice because it gives you choice - travel through their portal gives access to just about anything and the built in priority pass gives you access to a range of different lounge options, many of which are just restaurants. 300 dollar yearly travel credit almost makes up for the 450 annual fee.

 

[Jeeebus]

I just booked $25,000 for a few of us (business class for work) to dubai on my amex platinum. that's 125,000 AmEx points right there. well worth it with the other benefits, and I also have the full line up of chase cards including the reserve.

 

[JulesMaximus]

If you travel at all it is worth it. Love the points, I use mine all the time.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

If you travel at all it is worth it. Love the points, I use mine all the time.

I tried using the points - but I always felt ripped off by the point prices for travel. I always compare to the cash price and felt like it wasn't a deal. Tried looking hotels and stuff too - same deal.

I actually at one point had 350,000 or so AMEX Points, ended up not finding anything to do with them. I enrolled in another AMEX Platinum called the AMEX Platinum Schwab. It allows you to instead cash in points... So I signed up, ended up cashing them all out over $4,000.

 

[Exterous]

I'm gonna be traveling some in the next year. I've got 2 trips in July and another in November... probably more after that for kicks. I'm tempted to pickup the Amex Platinum card to get Delta Sky Club access and use the incidental credits to upgrade to comfort+ class....and to pay for TSA Precheck and reimbursd Uber rides. I figure with all that, it'll cut the $550 fee down.

Is there a better alternative? I checked the Chase Reserve Saphire and Hilton Aspire (or Ascend... whichever is better). I usually fly Delta and stay at Hilton properties...

You can (or at least you still could as of January) also buy airline gift cards to trigger the credits. There are a few restrictions that vary by airline but there are some flyertalk forum threads covering those and they get updated yearly.

I think airline miles are more useful than hotel miles so I would pick either the platinum or CSR over the aspire to start with. The platinum and CSR are different so what works best depends on what you want. The Platinum will get you more lounge access from its Centurion and Delta lounges - which may or may not matter depending on the airports and airlines you use. The platinum comes with Medical Evacuation coverage for you and your spouse (maybe dependents too? I don't remember) just for having it so no need to purchase any medical evacuation coverage, assuming you are ok with their T&C. Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts is a much more robust program that the Visa Signature Hotels or Chase's Luxury Hotel and Resort collection. That said, prices vary a lot with that program from Holy Crap thats a Great Value to OMG thats expensive. We've stayed in some locations (Chicago(Lowes), DC(Willard,Mandarin), NYC(The London), Dublin, Auckland(Langham), Melbourne(Langham)) for $150-$200\nt for 5 star properties which came with free breakfast, room upgrade, early checkin, late checkout, and $100 to use at the hotel on food. You also get Hilton Gold status and some rental car company status like National Executive Club just for having the card.

The CSR comes with primary rental coverage for no additional charge so it is the better choice to use to cover car rentals. The baggage\trip delay coverage also applies to award ticket flights as long as you pay for the taxes and fees on the card. This is not true for the Amex platinum. My experience with Chase's trip coverage has been excellent the 4 times I've used them. I do not have any experience with Amex. Domestic transfer partner options still likely beat out the Amex options despite United's change to their award flight structure. I've had some of my best mile redemptions with United, a Chase transfer partner, but I have not yet searched to see how badly United destroyed their redepmtions.

The CSR is nice because it gives you choice - travel through their portal gives access to just about anything and the built in priority pass gives you access to a range of different lounge options, many of which are just restaurants. 300 dollar yearly travel credit almost makes up for the 450 annual fee.

You can use Amex points through their travel portal although I am not familiar enough with either portal to have an opinion on which one is better. You also get Priority Pass with the Amex platinum. For lounge access the Platinum is a little better as you get Centurion lounge access and Delta lounge access when flying Delta.

I tried using the points - but I always felt ripped off by the point prices for travel. I always compare to the cash price and felt like it wasn't a deal. Tried looking hotels and stuff too - same deal.

I actually at one point had 350,000 or so AMEX Points, ended up not finding anything to do with them. I enrolled in another AMEX Platinum called the AMEX Platinum Schwab. It allows you to instead cash in points... So I signed up, ended up cashing them all out over $4,000.

The travel value in Amex points comes with transfer partners. The caveat is that while those partners have some great value redemptions they are more destination specific with airlines that have a few more hoops to jump through. With Delta and United going to dynamic award pricing and AA thinking about it the less well known Amex partner programs could become even more valuable for those times that ticket prices are high

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

The travel value in Amex points comes with transfer partners. The caveat is that while those partners have some great value redemptions they are more destination specific with airlines that have a few more hoops to jump through. With Delta and United going to dynamic award pricing and AA thinking about it the less well known Amex partner programs could become even more valuable for those times that ticket prices are high

Yeah I guess that is true. I guess I don't do international trips often enough - we tend to do them once a year. That, and we always pick the destination first, but if you're trying to effectively use your AMEX points it's almost like you need to pick the airline first instead of where you want to go.

 

[purbeast0]

If you have a family and are flying somewhere Southwest goes, I'd recommend 2 Southwest Chase cards over anything else solely for the companion pass. We save thousands of dollars a year for probably the past 5 or so years because of those cards. I'm talking like $5k - $7k per year saved.

 

[Exterous]

Yeah I guess that is true. I guess I don't do international trips often enough - we tend to do them once a year. That, and we always pick the destination first, but if you're trying to effectively use your AMEX points it's almost like you need to pick the airline first instead of where you want to go.

Yeah, picking a destination first can make using miles pretty hard. I take the approach of understanding where certain airlines can get us and then look for available award space to determine where we're going. Flexibility really helps. We ended up in the Seychelles over NYE because the Caribbean, central and South America had no award flights and was expensive from all the other people trying to vacation there. Africa, meanwhile, was wide open (and probably a way better trip)

 

[brianmanahan]

CSR's 300$ travel credit plus primary rental vehicle liability is always worth at least 450$ to me per year, so i get the annual fee back out of it

but i really need to find someplace cool to travel with my 150k+ points. i have thought about flying business class one time in my life with those points.

 

[rcpratt]

If you have a family and are flying somewhere Southwest goes, I'd recommend 2 Southwest Chase cards over anything else solely for the companion pass. We save thousands of dollars a year for probably the past 5 or so years because of those cards. I'm talking like $5k - $7k per year saved.

Didn’t the companion pass go away in 2019?

 

[purbeast0]

Yeah, picking a destination first can make using miles pretty hard. I take the approach of understanding where certain airlines can get us and then look for available award space to determine where we're going. Flexibility really helps. We ended up in the Seychelles over NYE because the Caribbean, central and South America had no award flights and was expensive from all the other people trying to vacation there. Africa, meanwhile, was wide open (and probably a way better trip)

My buddy got me into the CUR points long ago, a lot due to the really cheap flights you can get on United after transferring points to them. The problem though is that (at least the past 2-3 years) those flights are very far and few between, and they are usually on obscure days/hours.

He is single and travels all over by himself, so he can accomodate those types of vacations easily. It's a lot harder for me to do so since it's my wife and son, so I've really only used those points for 1 flight, and it was only one leg to Grand Cayman. Flight back we used SW points.

I've been sitting on CUR points for quite some time now myself just because I haven't found any great deals on flights to places we go at the time. I've actually transferred some of them to SW for flights for us too when we were out of RR points but still had the companion pass.

 

[purbeast0]

Didn’t the companion pass go away in 2019?

Nope. I got one in February so my wife is my companion until the end of 2020.

And I'm her companion until the end of this year.

Then come January next year, she will get 2 new cards and we'll get 110k points + another companion pass for me.

It's a great cycle to be in if you have a SO.

 

[rcpratt]

Nope. I got one in February so my wife is my companion until the end of 2020.

And I'm her companion until the end of this year.

Then come January next year, she will get 2 new cards and we'll get 110k points + another companion pass for me.

It's a great cycle to be in if you have a SO.

Yeah, it’s a great perk. Wish they had a bigger presence at DTW.

 

[rcpratt]

If you're talking about a card at that level, it is really just the Amex Platinum and the CSR.

Both have similar fees. The overall opportunity for statement credits is better with the Platinum, with $200 in travel fee credits, $200 in Uber credits, and $100 in Saks credits. CSR has the $300 in travel fee credits, which is easy to earn as it applies to pretty much anything travel-related.

As Exterous covered, Platinum has better lounge access. Priority Pass is great in a lot of places, both for the lounge access and restaurant credits. But some places (like DTW) don't have any Priority Pass coverage, which is where the additional Centurion and Sky Club access comes in handy.

Both cards have a lot of options to transfer points. One difference is that you can redeem Chase points for 1.5x on their portal with the CSR. This has been a big value to me as someone who is booking in economy, where you don't find as good of value as those that are redeeming business or first class flights. You can book almost any flight that you can find (some of the budget airlines aren't covered) and still get 1.5x value -- i.e., 20,000 points for $300 dollars. You still earn miles when you book this way too.

Personally, I think CSR has better ability to earn points. Platinum may come out ahead if you're booking significant amounts of travel on the card for business purposes (5x on flights and hotels). But for me, my goal is to turn my everyday spending into points so that I don't have to pay any more to travel. CSR gets 3x on travel and dining, and you can also leverage other Chase cards, such as the quarterly 5x Freedom bonuses, 2x gas on the Ink Cash, and 1.5x on everything with Freedom/Ink Unlimited.

CSR has a 50k point sign-up bonus and Amex Platinum will get you 60k, although you might be able to find targeted offers for 100k. Another big perk of the CSR for me was the ability to earn signup bonuses on other cards. The Ink business line can get you 180k points between three cards with only $95 in fees. Between me and my wife, we were able to earn almost 500k points between a CSR, CSP, and both opening up all of the Ink cards. That got us at least $7,500 in travel that we could easily redeem through the Chase portal, although we got a bit more value by transferring points.

 

[Exterous]

As Exterous covered, Platinum has better lounge access. Priority Pass is great in a lot of places, both for the lounge access and restaurant credits. But some places (like DTW) don't have any Priority Pass coverage, which is where the additional Centurion and Sky Club access comes in handy.

DTW now has a Priority Pass lounge as the DTW Lufthansa lounge joined Priority Pass late last year. I think they saw it as a way to offset the costs of having a lounge there for the 1x daily Lufthansa flight. It's been a nice change.

I do with the Southwest route network was better out of DTW but at least it's close to major hubs like BWI and MDW.

 

[rcpratt]

DTW now has a Priority Pass lounge as the DTW Lufthansa lounge joined Priority Pass late last year. I think they saw it as a way to offset the costs of having a lounge there for the 1x daily Lufthansa flight. It's been a nice change.

I do with the Southwest route network was better out of DTW but at least it's close to major hubs like BWI and MDW.

McNamara still has nothing, sadly.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

If you're talking about a card at that level, it is really just the Amex Platinum and the CSR.

US Bank Altitude Card isn't half bad either.

 

[dr150]

Chase Saphire rewards is a better card. Check out "The Points Guy" for valuations (Google it).

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Chase Saphire rewards is a better card. Check out "The Points Guy" for valuations (Google it).

The Points Guy is a huge shill for the credit card companies and his "valuations" are BS.

If you want real information on credit card related information I recommend either http://doctorofcredit.com/ or reddit sub called churning

 

[Scarpozzi]

I'm torn, mostly because my local airport is a regional. This means the departure isn't bad and there are no airport lounges available. It's only going to be a perk when I have a layover I design into my trip...or when I get stuck on my returning leg. (which is pretty common) I have a pretty short flight from ATL and am delayed pretty frequently when there are issues with planes.

I know I'll probably be able to offset about $200 of costs in the next year easily. It's the other $350 of the fees that I'm not so sure about. Unfortunately, I booked 3 flights in the last few days for work, but put them on a company card rather than a personal card, so I won't get points. I 'm going to think about it, but will have to decide if I should shoot for the Amex Platium or if I should go for the Hilton top card instead (since I typically stay at Hilton or Marriott properties)

 

[Scarpozzi]

I ended up choosing the Amex Hilton Aspire over the Amex Platinum. This whole point of this was to get some benefits and earn some points that I can actually use for personal travel.

The Aspire annual fee was $100 cheaper than Platinum card...was a Credit Card, rather than a Charge Card. I looked over all the statement credits offered as benefits between hotels and airlines, diamond status (really just free breakfast credits or points bonus at brands without free breakfast), and a free weekend night ($200-400 value) and realized this was the best card. My primary reason for picking this card is that I travel frequently, but fly infrequently due to high ticket fees from my local regional airport. With my family and tons of annual leave, this makes flying impractical right now. I'm rarely in a rush and only 6 hours from the coast...it's just easier to drive most places we frequent. I'm not stuck on airline schedules or dealing with 2 hours preflight, 1 hour flight, 1-2 hour layover, 1 hour flight messes...

I figured that I'll basically break even by getting this card by the benefits at the very least...with $130 of Delta credit, $350 of Hilton Credits, and all the extra points I'll earn from the 14X + 100% Diamond status points match as viable perks I'll actually use.

Thanks for all the info. I reviewed a lot of different cards and was looking hard at this one and the Delta line up of cards. I just think I'll use hotel stays more than I will skymiles at this point in my travel plans. That may change in about 3 years when my kids are little older and we have about another $2k of disposable income a month.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I ended up choosing the Amex Hilton Aspire over the Amex Platinum. This whole point of this was to get some benefits and earn some points that I can actually use for personal travel.

The Aspire annual fee was $100 cheaper than Platinum card...was a Credit Card, rather than a Charge Card. I looked over all the statement credits offered as benefits between hotels and airlines, diamond status (really just free breakfast credits or points bonus at brands without free breakfast), and a free weekend night ($200-400 value) and realized this was the best card. My primary reason for picking this card is that I travel frequently, but fly infrequently due to high ticket fees from my local regional airport. With my family and tons of annual leave, this makes flying impractical right now. I'm rarely in a rush and only 6 hours from the coast...it's just easier to drive most places we frequent. I'm not stuck on airline schedules or dealing with 2 hours preflight, 1 hour flight, 1-2 hour layover, 1 hour flight messes...

I figured that I'll basically break even by getting this card by the benefits at the very least...with $130 of Delta credit, $350 of Hilton Credits, and all the extra points I'll earn from the 14X + 100% Diamond status points match as viable perks I'll actually use.

Thanks for all the info. I reviewed a lot of different cards and was looking hard at this one and the Delta line up of cards. I just think I'll use hotel stays more than I will skymiles at this point in my travel plans. That may change in about 3 years when my kids are little older and we have about another $2k of disposable income a month.

Posting back to say how I've made out so far.

I took 2 trips in July for work. My card got me free breakfast at a Hilton ($25 buffet) and food and drink credits at Waldorf Astoria worth $60....room upgrades at both to suites due to diamond status. (My co-workers were jealous). On the flights, I got reimbursed for checked bags and got food/drinks on the flights. I've used almost $200 of Delta credits.

I also used my Priority Pass lounge access to get bacon in ATL while waiting on a flight....and some adult bevs while waiting. Also got lunch/dinner a few times in some lounges. I'm guessing I supplemented my travel with about $60 of non-inflated value (airport inflation).

So...$450 annual fee and I got around $380 value counting airport lounge, food credits on 2 trips.

I used my $250 Hilton resort credit in August on a last minute trip and used my priority pass lounge access for breakfast and dinner...as well as food and bev credits on the property and had a 3 day vacation to Disney for about $100/day including airfare, food, and airport parking (I have a Disney annual pass).

I got my 150k point bonus and was able to save up another 110k miles from 3 trips and points earned since July... which gave me 300k points. I paired that with a free 5th night and a free weekend bonus night (card benefit) to comp a week vacation on an island next Spring... That's valued at around $1700, not to mention I will get free breakfast at the hotel too...so that's worth maybe another $150-200. I should also be able to switch airline benefits and get another $250 out for food and baggage fees on the trip.

Just wanted to share because I was nervous about paying $450 for a credit card. I haven't travelled enough for work the past few years to gain much, but I feel like this was a good move and the right card for me to get real returns.