cbn42

Capital One Venture miles are worth one cent each, so the amount of miles you need depends on the cost of the ticket, not on the amount of actual airline miles you need to obtain it. Basically you purchase the ticket with your card and then use the miles to offset the purchase. You are not limited to award inventory.

But in a broader sense, each card has its own earning and redemption rates which you will need to evaluate based on your travel patterns. If you want to get international F rewards, then an airline-branded card will probably be better for you.

pdxasflyer

That's kind of what we figured. Redeeming 1.4Million Miles (converted to dollars on the CapOne card) vs. 140,000 miles for the same ticket just didn't compare at all.

[QUOTE-WrightHI]That doesn't help if you're after AS miles, but possibly worth noting that SPG Amex earns 1.25 miles/$ if transferred in 20K increments. Whether that justifies an additional $65 annual fee depends on how much spend you're putting across it. [/QUOTE]
The SPG Amex is definitely one card we're looking at given the 1.25 transfer ratio, which is definitely worth the $65 annually given what it costs to purchase that same amount of miles from AS (our annual spend would be in excess of $40k). The only con I can see is Amex acceptance, but we can supplement with the AS branded card.

I can't see using the CSP Card, unless we supplemented that with obtaining the BA Exec Club card from Chase as well to accumulate BA Miles. CSP won't allow transfers to AS, and we're not UA flyers. The 1:1 transfer isn't really a big seller either because if we wanted AS miles, why not just use the branded card and get 2x miles on AS airfare purchases, a companion certificate annually and (I think) 2,000 anniversary bonus miles? For that matter, the same would hold true with the BA Exec Club Chase Card, where the sign up bonus is 50,000 Avios vs CSP's 40k bonus miles?

Again, it seems a lot of people are clamoring for these cards, but just want to make sure I'm not missing something else, but can (and do) see how it's dependent on who their preferred carrier/hotel chain for amassing points/miles might be.

Thanks again for the help and input! Really appreciate it.

sharka

CapitalOne card has its merits as you can purchase tx with no blackout dates so its 100% open inventory= same as if you were to buy the tx in cash. Using FF miles has limitations as when you can only fly when seats are available as only a small % of seats are allocated to FF.

pdxasflyer

I agree, though the ability to purchase a ticket with no blackout is not worth 1.4 Million miles to cover the cost of the example F ticket, IMHO.

dukerau

Have you considered SPG Amex? With the 5K bonus when transferring 20K into airline partners (AS included), it is effectively 1.25 miles per $1. Still might want to keep your AS card for purchases directly with AS and the companion pass, but for reg spending, SPG Amex would be superior. Should be an increased sign up offer for SPG Amex soon (usually July/August goes to 30K instead of normal 25K).

freakflyer

You are taking one of the worst examples when comparing cash-back cards with frequent flyer cards. If your goal is international business or first and you would otherwise pay for that ticket then absolutely go for the frequent flyer ticket. Easy decision. However most people cash in on domestic coach tickets, and they truly may prefer to have $500 in cash for spending 25,000 miles versus a one free domestic coach ticket with limited availability.

I love frequent flyer tickets, but not many people can spend $140,000 on a card to get 140,000 miles.

Oreto

[QUOTE-pdxasflyer]
I can't see using the CSP Card, unless we supplemented that with obtaining the BA Exec Club card from Chase as well to accumulate BA Miles. CSP won't allow transfers to AS, and we're not UA flyers. The 1:1 transfer isn't really a big seller either because if we wanted AS miles, why not just use the branded card and get 2x miles on AS airfare purchases, a companion certificate annually and (I think) 2,000 anniversary bonus miles? For that matter, the same would hold true with the BA Exec Club Chase Card, where the sign up bonus is 50,000 Avios vs CSP's 40k bonus miles?
[/QUOTE]

Personally, you appear set on staying with Alaska so this effectively ends the debate on the CSP. Where I think you are still confused is the earning rate associated with it.

While the points transfer 1:1, the earning rate is higher with the CSP. For example, a dinner with your significant other will produce 2.14 UR points/$ spent which would then transfer to whomever. Under the AS card, you would obtain 1 mile/$ spent for same. 2.14 UR>1 AS mile as far as value is concerned. Of course, this also assumes that you'll hold the card past the AF in order to receive the dividend for the CSP.

A similar argument can be made with travel as well. However, given your devotion to Alaska and spend projections, I would say that the SPG is a better fit for you and your family just as others have mentioned.

sdsearch

Indeed. Which is why people instead spend (for example) $9000 to get 159000 AA miles:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...ost-first.html

(That trick -- "frequently" churning the same cards -- only works with Citi, no other bank that I know of. And thus it only works for AA, and no other miles, unless perhaps you go through Hilton HHonors, in which case you need a lot more card apps to get to the same amount of miles, but OTOH you can do it with any airline Hilton HHonors partners with.)

miniaturekat

As others have noted, it depends.

In general the cash back-type cards (like the Venture) only offer any comparable value when buying coach tickets. As your example above notes, it's not even close when using points to redeem for F.

If you're hell bent on staying with Alaska then yes, stay with the Alaska card.

If you're looking at a general card to redeem points for coach/lowest fares, then use something like the Venture.

If you're looking to rack up points to transfer to partners then the CSP is the best, by a wide margin. 1.07 pts/$1, plus 2.14 pts/$1 (dining), plus the rewards mall. If you stuck all your shopping for a year on one of these cards, you'd earn significantly more points using the CSP, especially if you used the Mall wisely.

stevento

There's more to travel than just getting to a destination.

If you're looking for a credit card to help you get there in style, CapOne DoubleMiles won't measure up to airline or point transfer cards. Not even close. Especially if most of your spending is in categories which earn multiple points per dollar, airline card may indeed beat CapOne 10:1.

But what are you going to do when you get there? Are you going to book a non-chain hotel? Are you going to take a tour? Are you going to visit any attractions?
CSP or Explorer card won't help you there.
But CapOne will. You can easily use CapOne miles to "erase" purchases for vast range of travel expenses, like hotels, tours, or even museum tickets.

Everyone's situation is different. I have lots of regular business spending in non-bonus categories, that earn 1 pt/$1. Most of it goes to the CapOne DoubleMiles card.
I try to use miles to get to a destination, but usually my schedule is very tight.
I can't afford to spend hours in connections and lose vacation time that's extremely valuable to me. So oftentimes, rather than an award ticket with stops, I'll use CapOne miles or TY points to buy a cash ticket for direct flight, even if it's coach vs business.

jmw

Not always true. If you spend exactly $25k, you get a 10k mileage bonus which gives you an effective 1.4 UA miles per dollar in any spending category. There is no additional bonus for spending beyond $25k. There is no bonus at all if you fail to reach $25k in a calendar year.

I usually don't fly C/F, so I need the free bags from the Explorer card as well.

SuperKirby

Also, if one qualifies for an Explorer business card, in addition to what you said, it also gives 2x pts on gas, restaurants, and office supplies making this card superior to the CSP, assuming all your CSP points go to UA anyway...

jr57

It sounds like you've been pretty savvy with your Alaska miles. I understand wanting to keep adding to the same pot, but one benefit of CSP is being able to transfer to different partners. I know it's not your preferred carrier, but sometimes it is useful to have miles on multiple carriers, which CSP allows you to do (just transfer whenever you're ready to use them). This will give you the same advantages as your Alaska miles (leveraging a smaller amount of points for intl tix compared to Cap One). The benefit is you aren't confined to the award availability of one carrier and its partners. United has great availability, so chances are you'll be able to put your miles to good use.

You can use your UR points like Cap One miles, essentially paying a fixed cash rate toward travel purchases, but that's not where the real value is unless you're redeeming for a domestic coach ticket to begin with.