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Chase United Pres Plus vs. Sapphire Preferred
I currently have 2 Presidential Plus credit cards, one personal, one business, originally acquired for the Flex EQM. I'm 1k now with a pile of flex EQM, so really don't need more of them, and despite several tries, I have been unable to get Chase or United to NOT charge me the full $395 fee on both cards.
Looking at the cards, it appears I can earn points on the Sapphire Preferred card and then transfer them into United, the annual fee is only $95, and the points on the Sapphire Preferred appear to accumulate faster than on the Pres Plus card.
Seems like I'd be an idiot not to switch to the Sapphire Preferred, esp. with the now-expiring-useless-for-1k flex EQM. Is there something I'm missing? (I might keep one card as a Pres Plus card for the lounge membership.)
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Your flex EQM are not useless. Earlier this year I applied a chunk of them. The system still counted them if used up to 75,000. For calendar 2012 I will hit 150,000 and gain the extra GPUs and RPUs as a result. January 1st I will apply another chunk.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mwix
Your flex EQM are not useless. Earlier this year I applied a chunk of them. The system still counted them if used up to 75,000. For calendar 2012 I will hit 150,000 and gain the extra GPUs and RPUs as a result. January 1st I will apply another chunk.
Can I use flex EQM to get to 150,000? My understanding was that, after 75k, they did not count. If I can, that would be handy, as I'm going to be a few K short of 150k without a mileage run this year, and it's unlikely I'll do one just for some GPUs/RPUs.
Either way, I currently have over 34,000 flex EQM, so.... not really needing to accrue more for a while.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mwix
Your flex EQM are not useless. Earlier this year I applied a chunk of them. The system still counted them if used up to 75,000. For calendar 2012 I will hit 150,000 and gain the extra GPUs and RPUs as a result. January 1st I will apply another chunk.
Programs: UA 1k, CO Plat, NW Plat, Priority Gold, Hilton Gold, Marriott Silver
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mwix
Yes.
I wouldn't apply if you've already earned over 75k.
I guess I'm still not sure which answer you're giving... can you use Flex EQM to break a RPU/GPU threshold?
How many FEQM did you apply this year, was that enough to put you over 150k (i.e. without the FEQM you'd be under 150k, but with the FEQM you're over), and did you get the RPUs/GPUs for going over 150k?
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To address the OP's question about the Sapphire Preferred -- yes, it's a good card. Some of the benefits are reproduced by the Club card (purchase protections, insurance, no foreign transaction fee iirc), but from a mile-earning perspective:
(1) The Sapphire gives Chase UR points, which can be instantly converted into United miles but also convert to Hyatt, BA, etc. I haven't considered anything but United miles yet, but the flexibility is nice.
(2) You get 2 points per dollar on several categories, which is slightly better (for those categories) than the Club card's blanket 1.5 miles per dollar rate.
(3) You get access to the Ultimate Rewards Mall, which can occasionally be a huge winner (extra points for Best Buy, Apple, Kohls, Sears, and a couple hundred other online retailers). If you happen to spend $1K at Kohls, earning 11K miles for beats the heck out of 1.5K.
(4) The signup bonus is a compelling reason to get the Sapphire Preferred.
I have both cards, and I see them as complementary -- Sapphire for earning, Club for perks. I wouldn't pay the fee for two Club cards (haven't completely decided if I'm going to pay the Club fee next year or not, although I'm leaning toward keeping it).
I think it would be wise to switch over to Sapphire Preferred (or one of those INK cards for business), depends on your spending categories. If you charge a lot and no longer need Flex EQMs then perhaps take at close look at the new UA Club card (1.5 miles per $ spend on all charges).
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34,000 is not a lot of Flex EQMs;
340,000 is!
I would stay with both Pres Plus cards for now
If you are earning a LOT of them, > 75000 EQMs every 2 years, then I would consider getting a Club card as that gives 50% bonus miles and then use the club card as soon as you hit that level
To get 75k Flex, you have to spend 375k and that will give 187.5k extra UA miles with the united Club card
That also means indirectly for me, 1 EQM is worth 2.5 RDMs
If I spend 5k on the PP card I get 1 EQM
IF I spend 5k on the Club Card I get 2.5k RDMs extra
I plan to dump 75k in January and then switch all spend to the club card until next year.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ffI
34,000 is not a lot of Flex EQMs;
340,000 is!
It's more than I have use for. I'll end the year at 146,000 EQM from flying. What on earth am I going to do with 34,000 FEQM? Especially when I'm earning them at 25,000 a year...
Quote:
I would stay with both Pres Plus cards for now
If you are earning a LOT of them, > 75000 EQMs every 2 years, then I would consider getting a Club card as that gives 50% bonus miles and then use the club card as soon as you hit that level
To get 75k Flex, you have to spend 375k and that will give 187.5k extra UA miles with the united Club card
But with a Sapphire Preferred card, I'd be earning 3x or 2x miles on a lot of my most-used categories.
Quote:
That also means indirectly for me, 1 EQM is worth 2.5 RDMs
If I spend 5k on the PP card I get 1 EQM
IF I spend 5k on the Club Card I get 2.5k RDMs extra
How are you coming up with that value? As a BIS 1K, FEQM are worth pretty much zero to me, unless maybe I can use them to bump me up over 150k and pick up the extra RPUs/GPUs (assuming I can even use 8 GPUs....)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by raehl311
It's more than I have use for. I'll end the year at 146,000 EQM from flying. What on earth am I going to do with 34,000 FEQM? Especially when I'm earning them at 25,000 a year...
But with a Sapphire Preferred card, I'd be earning 3x or 2x miles on a lot of my most-used categories.
How are you coming up with that value? As a BIS 1K, FEQM are worth pretty much zero to me, unless maybe I can use them to bump me up over 150k and pick up the extra RPUs/GPUs (assuming I can even use 8 GPUs....)
When you quit being a BIS 1K, you suddenly have a use for the EQMs to maintain status that you are used to
Unless you have 2 MM on United BIS, which gives you PP lifetime.
You can always get a free sapphire card
The PP card is a legacy product and is not replaceable with a new cc application
So I woud cancel or change 1 card not both, to be safe.
I did 89k so far on UA, but am not sure how many I will get next year from work
I do not do MRs
The flex Eqms give me peace of mind
I will be happy to take the useless GPUs off your hands at any time
I would push the EQMs in my account say in Jan 2014 when you have 60-65k and sart the year with a bang and get the benefits beyond 1k, but really I would keep it for the years when you may not hit 1k/PP
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The problem with that is the FEQM expire after 3 years now. Also, if I'm suddenly not making Plat on actual travel, I doubt I'm going to care too much about not having plat benefits. I certainly don't forsee falling below Plat travel in the next 3 years, so earning more FEQM now is useless for me.
Looks like I'll probably switch my business card to a Club card since the ink bold bonuses don't match my business spend very well and my personal card to Sapphire Preferred.
I'm not sure if Chase is smart or dumb, because my personal spend matches the Bold bonus categories while my business spend matches the Preferred categories very well.
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IMO, I would go for the Sapphire Preferred if you do not care much about having United Club access. You cannot beat flexibility and I do not like the idea of having all of my points tied into one Frequent Flyer program.
This is why I have AS, UA, a little of BA, and the Sapphire Preferred.
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Since the OP is eligible for a business card...
I don't think it's well advertised that the basic United Explorer for Business earns 2x points on dining and gas, as well as United. It also has the 10,000 mile annual bonus when you spend $25k per year, which works out to about a 1.4 mile per dollar earn when you spend exactly $25k, more with the dining/gas bonus.
There's a calculator at this page that sorts out based on category spend:
