Credit Card Strategy, living in Seattle
Sep 28, 2014, 10:27 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 163
Credit Card Strategy, living in Seattle
Cards I have:
Delta Amex
CSP & Freedom
Arrival+
I push about $40k through them a year between regular and MS.
Status I have: None. I was going to be Aegean *G in December but their changes have made that impossible.
I usually do 2 transcons, three intra west coast and one or two international trips a year.
When I lived in Atlanta, this all made sense. Delta card annual fee was paid for with baggage fee waivers and zone 1 boarding was nice. The CSP was great because I flew ATL-NYC and AA used to fly that so Avios made it a deal and having easy access to WN points was becoming more compelling.
Now I live in Seattle and so am much more airline agnostic. Delta has a lot of service here but in my (admittedly limited) experience they are not price competitive on the transcons or internationally. Avios still has some value for intra west coast but not as much.
When I go back east for Christmas I am saving a bunch of money flying United on the outbound and American on the return.
The obvious answer is Alaska but their credit card does not have free checked bags or priority boarding.
Since SEA has a fair amount of *A international service (ANA, EVA, Lufthansa, Asiana) and UA flies to three of my main domestic destinations (SF, LA, NYC) I am considering dumping the DL card for the MP Explorer card. While I realize that I will never get status with UA it seems like they are the best choice for chasing free flights since they don't have fuel surcharges on awards and offer reasonable credit percentages for partners.
What do you all think? Am I missing something great?
Thanks!
Delta Amex
CSP & Freedom
Arrival+
I push about $40k through them a year between regular and MS.
Status I have: None. I was going to be Aegean *G in December but their changes have made that impossible.
I usually do 2 transcons, three intra west coast and one or two international trips a year.
When I lived in Atlanta, this all made sense. Delta card annual fee was paid for with baggage fee waivers and zone 1 boarding was nice. The CSP was great because I flew ATL-NYC and AA used to fly that so Avios made it a deal and having easy access to WN points was becoming more compelling.
Now I live in Seattle and so am much more airline agnostic. Delta has a lot of service here but in my (admittedly limited) experience they are not price competitive on the transcons or internationally. Avios still has some value for intra west coast but not as much.
When I go back east for Christmas I am saving a bunch of money flying United on the outbound and American on the return.
The obvious answer is Alaska but their credit card does not have free checked bags or priority boarding.
Since SEA has a fair amount of *A international service (ANA, EVA, Lufthansa, Asiana) and UA flies to three of my main domestic destinations (SF, LA, NYC) I am considering dumping the DL card for the MP Explorer card. While I realize that I will never get status with UA it seems like they are the best choice for chasing free flights since they don't have fuel surcharges on awards and offer reasonable credit percentages for partners.
What do you all think? Am I missing something great?
Thanks!
Sep 29, 2014, 11:51 am
#2
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SEA
Programs: DL, SPG, UA.
Posts: 230
I too recently moved to Seattle and have been going through similar debate. I was UA flyer before i moved up here.
How much of your $40k/yr spend is in CSP (or other) bonus categories (e.g., dining, grocery, gas, etc)?
If you are going to be airline agnostic and will not fly a single airline enough to accrue a lot of miles your spend may be better off on a card like the Arrival + and holding something like the DL AMEX or UA exp for the boarding and bag benefits.
I am coming around to believing that ~2% cash + some bonus cash back categories is a better option unless one has a lot of spend and / or spends a lot of time in planes. There is too much devaluations and capacity restrictions these days. YMMV.
That said, if UA fits your route needs (and aspirational wants) and you have enough spend in CSP / freedom categories it may make the most sense to maximize those categories (amassing UR points), fly UA / *A as much as possible (build the airline balance), and put the rest of the spend to the UA card (assuming you think you can hit the $25k annual spend for the bonus miles; plus the sign-up bonus they have running). That would help you build the UA point balance for *A flights out of SEA.
You should do the math to see how many point you would actually earn in year 1 and subsequent years and see if that is enough for the awards you want. Some back of the envelope math; $40k in spend an a handful of flights under UA's 2015 earning rules will likely be short of international premium cabin travel (maybe you are good with coach redemptions which may be more obtainable).
You may want to take another look at AS. They have a number of good international partners (although some have YQ). you can accrue AS points through AS, DL, and AA travel. There are more limited credit card earning potential, but the SPG AMEX would txfr at 1.25 mi/$ on all spend, and the new diners club with 3x at gas, grocery, and drugstore in one of the only bonus options i know of (with a high AF).
How much of your $40k/yr spend is in CSP (or other) bonus categories (e.g., dining, grocery, gas, etc)?
If you are going to be airline agnostic and will not fly a single airline enough to accrue a lot of miles your spend may be better off on a card like the Arrival + and holding something like the DL AMEX or UA exp for the boarding and bag benefits.
I am coming around to believing that ~2% cash + some bonus cash back categories is a better option unless one has a lot of spend and / or spends a lot of time in planes. There is too much devaluations and capacity restrictions these days. YMMV.
That said, if UA fits your route needs (and aspirational wants) and you have enough spend in CSP / freedom categories it may make the most sense to maximize those categories (amassing UR points), fly UA / *A as much as possible (build the airline balance), and put the rest of the spend to the UA card (assuming you think you can hit the $25k annual spend for the bonus miles; plus the sign-up bonus they have running). That would help you build the UA point balance for *A flights out of SEA.
You should do the math to see how many point you would actually earn in year 1 and subsequent years and see if that is enough for the awards you want. Some back of the envelope math; $40k in spend an a handful of flights under UA's 2015 earning rules will likely be short of international premium cabin travel (maybe you are good with coach redemptions which may be more obtainable).
You may want to take another look at AS. They have a number of good international partners (although some have YQ). you can accrue AS points through AS, DL, and AA travel. There are more limited credit card earning potential, but the SPG AMEX would txfr at 1.25 mi/$ on all spend, and the new diners club with 3x at gas, grocery, and drugstore in one of the only bonus options i know of (with a high AF).
Sep 29, 2014, 2:21 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: RSW
Programs: Delta - Silver; UA - Silver; HHonors - Diamond; IHG - Spire Ambassador; Marriott Bonvoy - Titanium
Posts: 14,185
I find Seattle notably AMEX-hostile in terms of acceptance at restaurants and smaller stores.
Sep 29, 2014, 4:20 pm
#4
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SEA
Programs: DL, SPG, UA.
Posts: 230
Haven't seen this this restaurants (but my go to card has been my Forward), however, i have seen this in a a lot of small businesses. A ton of my non-bonus spend each month is at V/MC only places. It sucks.
Sep 29, 2014, 4:44 pm
#5
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: San Francisco
Programs: United
Posts: 62
If Alaska is a no-go, the surprising correct answer for you is Virgin Premium. Read up on the card - particularly the ease of acquiring status, rolling points from year to year and 8X plane tickets.
Sep 30, 2014, 2:30 pm
#6
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
I assume you mean Virgin America credit cards discussed in this thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/virgi...ital-bank.html
...rather than Virgin Atlantic cards (which also earn rewards which can be redeemed on Virgin America, Delta, etc)?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/virgi...ital-bank.html
...rather than Virgin Atlantic cards (which also earn rewards which can be redeemed on Virgin America, Delta, etc)?
