Originally Posted by
MDtR-Chicago
Awesome that you've put so much thought into this... Everything hinges on this one statement:
If you really and truly would be paying cash for business class at the equivalent of 4 cents/point, then a true mileage earning card might actually be your best option. Even at 1 pt/$, that would be 4% back, which is better than most of your spend right now.
Very true. The last two int'l flights i bought the J class fare, but fares are going up and now I'm more often looking for two tickets so that may limit my premium spend.
Originally Posted by
MDtR-Chicago
That Club Card has a hefty fee after the first year. If you're going to blow a credit pull, you might be better off going for the Explorer card with 50k signup bonus. The difference between 1 mi/$ and 1.5 mi/$ means you'd need to spend $100k over the year to make the Club Card worthwhile. As far as the other benefits, what do you actually need? The Explorer gives you most.
True, i was looking at it from the benefits of the premium access (SFO security, etc) but the bonus is likely worth more, even if the club card in free the first year.
Originally Posted by
MDtR-Chicago
US is a good transfer partner and you can book most of the same flights at US, if you can deal with their unfortunate award booking and award change fees.
Yes, but as you noted below, might be better to centralize.
Originally Posted by
MDtR-Chicago
I think it's worth your time to figure out if that 4 cents/point return is likely to be typical of your future travel plans or not - then standardize on one airline for your earning, preferably the airline you're flying anyway on paid tickets. You can use your infrequent signup bonuses to round out your portfolio. And you can keep using the 5%+ return options you have for the half of your spend that applies to them.
Which likely means that the 5%+ category spend (e.g. dining) would be better done in cash on the US Bank card rather than the forward card paired with the premier. Thanks.