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[EXPIRED] Gold Delta Amex 70,000 SM & $100 Statement credit

[EXPIRED] Gold Delta Amex 70,000 SM & $100 Statement credit

Old Sep 19, 2012, 9:23 am
  #346  
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Originally Posted by PDXBRU33
Originally Posted by blackmamba
Can we stop the nonsense argument about whether the 70K is worth it or not and focus on how the heck we can meet the 5K spend and the $100 statement credit? Ideas anyone?
+1

+++++1
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Old Sep 19, 2012, 10:07 am
  #347  
 
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Originally Posted by blackmamba
Can we stop the nonsense argument about whether the 70K is worth it or not and focus on how the heck we can meet the 5K spend and the $100 statement credit? Ideas anyone?
amazon payments
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Old Sep 19, 2012, 11:22 am
  #348  
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Gold Delta Amex 70,000 SMs& $100 Statement credit [targeted]

If you have a business or know some one who can run $ 5000 charge it will cost you $ 125 in credit card fees but still you will get 70000 MR points worth atleast $ 10000
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Old Sep 19, 2012, 12:29 pm
  #349  
 
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Originally Posted by TorontoSingh
Unfortunately Delta`s redemption isn`t that good for South East Asia.
EDIT: But in addition to the good redemption for within North Asia, the redemption is good from North America to Asia especially with Korean Airlines with lower taxes and fees. I think it's great on Tahiti to Bora Bora as well. Any other good uses?
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Old Sep 19, 2012, 12:30 pm
  #350  
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Is there any easy way to get "targeted"?
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Old Sep 19, 2012, 1:19 pm
  #351  
 
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Originally Posted by jk1joel
I'm not sure about Delta, but for most airlines, buying miles posts as points.com, not the actual airline.
Thank you for posting this - it never would have occurred to me that buying miles might not post as a Delta transaction! This was going to be my Delta transaction if I don't end up taking a flight in the next 3 months.

Does anyone know for sure how buying Delta miles shows up on the credit card?
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Old Sep 19, 2012, 3:15 pm
  #352  
 
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Originally Posted by amolkold





They're not free. You have to spend $5000 to get them. You're giving up >$100 in cash-back or other points to get those miles. To put that into perspective, $5K with vanilla beans = 25K miles. You're giving up 25K UA or BA points for these miles.


.
How can I spend 5K and get 25K UA miles ?
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Old Sep 19, 2012, 3:19 pm
  #353  
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
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Originally Posted by kathiel
I for one do not intend to spend anywhere near that amount to get them and I don't think anyone else here does either. If we pay our cell bill, buy our groceries, fill our gas tanks and then top off the spend through strategies such as free-after-rebate and fully reimbursed activities, how can the miles be a negative?

++++++++++++++++++EXACTLY

Also, Because I don't use my miles to fly around the world I get ripped off.
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Old Sep 19, 2012, 3:29 pm
  #354  
 
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Originally Posted by flyer4512
How can I spend 5K and get 25K UA miles ?

Ok , someone told me you could get the Chase Ink 5x card on office purchases and buy gift cards.

Are these gift cards fee free ? I ask because I was goig to by a $50 gift card ( Visa I think) at Walmart and they were going to charge me a $4.95 fee
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Old Sep 19, 2012, 3:57 pm
  #355  
 
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Link is dead

Looks like it died. Worked for me yesterday but not any longer. Too bad I didn't have my wife's SM# yesterday
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Old Sep 19, 2012, 4:19 pm
  #356  
 
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re: statement credit.

Does Duty Free purchases made on board count as "delta" purchases?
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Old Sep 19, 2012, 4:33 pm
  #357  
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Originally Posted by amolkold
They're not free. You have to spend $5000 to get them. You're giving up >$100 in cash-back or other points to get those miles. To put that into perspective, $5K with vanilla beans = 25K miles. You're giving up 25K UA or BA points for these miles.
Originally Posted by kathiel
I for one do not intend to spend anywhere near that amount to get them and I don't think anyone else here does either. If we pay our cell bill, buy our groceries, fill our gas tanks and then top off the spend through strategies such as free-after-rebate and fully reimbursed activities, how can the miles be a negative?
Originally Posted by flyer4512
++++++++++++++++++EXACTLY

Also, Because I don't use my miles to fly around the world I get ripped off.
You need to learn the concept of "stretching" your miles even in the way you use your miles. Would you like to be able to "fund" for 5 trips with the same $ spend to earn the miles or you are quite content as long as you would get 3 trips out from it? I find it hard to comprehend why people would not be willing to change their thought process just a tad in order to understand why miles are not created equal and the "value" derived from them largely depends on how you redeem them - which of course, require knowledge and skills - armolkold actually is very kind to point out the obvious and lists examples. Unfortunately his words are totally lost in those with a closed-mind.

No, amolkold does not say the miles are negative, he just says the miles are not free and I wholeheartedly agree.

For you to earn those miles, you would have to give up an earning that is CASH - on a Cash Rebate cards some of them still pay 1.5 to 2%. Essentially you are exchanging (or dare I say, buying) your miles with the Cash Rebate you forfeit by putting your spend on the mileage earning cards.

Granted, miles always worth more than straight cash - WHEN you know how to maximize the value of your miles. The flight to TPA is not it. I am sorry, despite the poster thinks he has saved a lot of cash - because if he puts his $5K spend into Chase Sapphire Preferred card or AMEX Membership Reward card - he would earn the points that can be transferred to UA (via Chase) and BA (via AMEX) - with the UA miles he then has access to all Star A flights including the US. Currently believe it or not, UA miles have the BEST availability. It is almost like a complete turn table from the past. With the BA Avios the poster would have access to AA flights. On top of that, AMEX runs 40% to 50% transfer bonus to BA at least 2 to 3 times a year - this means your $5K would earn 7500 BA Avios when you transfer your 5K MR pts to BA AVios during the bonus period. Further more, BA Avios is a distance / segment based program - it costs A LOT LESS on a single segment domestic Mid Con or better, the short hop.

As the example give, ORD-TPA only costs 7500 Avios versus 12,500 on either UA or AA and may be 20,000 on DL...

You need to look beyond your initial "saving cash" basics and learn how to save a lot more cash with the same outlay.

If someone tells you, here on the table, you have a $1000 worth gadget, and a $500 worth gadget - both would require you to spend $300 to get it. Both gadgets would perform the same task. Which gadget you would reach out for? Dont tell me you would opt for the $500 gadget... But the TPA redemption on DL essentially equals to reaching out for the $500 gadget while completely ignoring the $1000 gadget because it is not so straight forward - it does require some thinking and some analytical skills that some here may find it a bit daunting.

Last edited by Happy; Sep 19, 2012 at 4:46 pm
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Old Sep 19, 2012, 4:35 pm
  #358  
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Originally Posted by blackmamba
Can we stop the nonsense argument about whether the 70K is worth it or not and focus on how the heck we can meet the 5K spend and the $100 statement credit? Ideas anyone?
There are already multiple threads on how to meet spend requirements right in this forum.
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Old Sep 19, 2012, 4:37 pm
  #359  
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Originally Posted by GreenWing
Thank you for posting this - it never would have occurred to me that buying miles might not post as a Delta transaction! This was going to be my Delta transaction if I don't end up taking a flight in the next 3 months.

Does anyone know for sure how buying Delta miles shows up on the credit card?
If DL used Points.com like all other airlines do, to handle the transaction, your billing is from Points.com not from DL, and would definitely not count as DL purchase.

If DL bills the purchase of DL gift card (assume it even has such), then you have a chance.

Originally Posted by vmsea
re: statement credit.
Does Duty Free purchases made on board count as "delta" purchases?
On the statement credit of the Citi AA card - it listed Duty Free purchases in flight is INELIGIBLE. Dont know about DL but I would not take a chance. Buying food / drink on board qualifies for the Citi AA card statement credit. You may want to try that - cheaper than a Duty Free purchase anyway.
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Old Sep 19, 2012, 5:42 pm
  #360  
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
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Originally Posted by Happy
You need to learn the concept of "stretching" your miles even in the way you use your miles. Would you like to be able to "fund" for 5 trips with the same $ spend to earn the miles or you are quite content as long as you would get 3 trips out from it? I find it hard to comprehend why people would not be willing to change their thought process just a tad in order to understand why miles are not created equal and the "value" derived from them largely depends on how you redeem them - which of course, require knowledge and skills - armolkold actually is very kind to point out the obvious and lists examples. Unfortunately his words are totally lost in those with a closed-mind.

No, amolkold does not say the miles are negative, he just says the miles are not free and I wholeheartedly agree.

For you to earn those miles, you would have to give up an earning that is CASH - on a Cash Rebate cards some of them still pay 1.5 to 2%. Essentially you are exchanging (or dare I say, buying) your miles with the Cash Rebate you forfeit by putting your spend on the mileage earning cards.

Granted, miles always worth more than straight cash - WHEN you know how to maximize the value of your miles. The flight to TPA is not it. I am sorry, despite the poster thinks he has saved a lot of cash - because if he puts his $5K spend into Chase Sapphire Preferred card or AMEX Membership Reward card - he would earn the points that can be transferred to UA (via Chase) and BA (via AMEX) - with the UA miles he then has access to all Star A flights including the US. Currently believe it or not, UA miles have the BEST availability. It is almost like a complete turn table from the past. With the BA Avios the poster would have access to AA flights. On top of that, AMEX runs 40% to 50% transfer bonus to BA at least 2 to 3 times a year - this means your $5K would earn 7500 BA Avios when you transfer your 5K MR pts to BA AVios during the bonus period. Further more, BA Avios is a distance / segment based program - it costs A LOT LESS on a single segment domestic Mid Con or better, the short hop.

As the example give, ORD-TPA only costs 7500 Avios versus 12,500 on either UA or AA and may be 20,000 on DL...

You need to look beyond your initial "saving cash" basics and learn how to save a lot more cash with the same outlay.

If someone tells you, here on the table, you have a $1000 worth gadget, and a $500 worth gadget - both would require you to spend $300 to get it. Both gadgets would perform the same task. Which gadget you would reach out for? Dont tell me you would opt for the $500 gadget... But the TPA redemption on DL essentially equals to reaching out for the $500 gadget while completely ignoring the $1000 gadget because it is not so straight forward - it does require some thinking and some analytical skills that some here may find it a bit daunting.

Well as far as the Delta card goes those miles are free, even if you earned 2% back($100) on another card. The Delta card makes that a wash as you get a $100 credit for a Delta purchase, of course you have to buy a flight but you said many people consider Domestic flights a waste of miles and pay for those.

You have to remember I only want Domestic flights so any talk of maximizing miles by flying around the world is of no interest to me.

Now my question about the gift cards, do they not have a fee in addition to face value ?


To get 5K points on INK I would have to buy all gift cards at an office supply places ( no fee for the gift cards ?) . Even if I did that and transfered the 25K to United how is 25K with United worth more than 75K on Delta ?


I may venture out from my simple churning but my only goal is to accumulate miles ( maybe some hotel points) and not how to maximize their value with exotic vacations


Thanks for taking the time to explain some things to me

Last edited by flyer4512; Sep 19, 2012 at 5:51 pm
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