Originally Posted by
PowerMan572
How much in activation fees did that take? It might be worth it to get a card like the Platinum which offers instant Gold status to SPG.
$450 annual fee - $200 in airline gift cards = $250 annual fee. My guess is your gift card activation fees came close to this if not more?
Just a food for though
But doing it through manufactured/real spend earns you 30k spg points on the way to gold status. If the plat card gave you gold status plus redeemable points, the plat card might be a clear winner.