Originally Posted by
dhuey
$550
-$200 airline credit
-$200 Uber credits (very likely that we will use all of it)
-$150 for airport lounge access we would otherwise not have had
=$0.
I'm unsure how much this math extends to the general case:
$200 airline credit - Judging by the number of posts on the thread about how to break apart the charges so AA gift cards look like "airline fees", it looks like there are quite a few having difficulty making use of this benefit.
$200 Uber credits - This is only valuable if you were going to take $15 worth of Uber rides per month plus $35 worth of Uber rides in December. If one is trying to figure out how to make use of the benefit with UberEATS, one is having difficulty using the benefit.
$150 for airport lounge access - Again, this expense would only have been incurred if you were going to enter the lounge regardless of whether or not you had to pay for it. I think far fewer are willing to pay to enter lounges but are using them since it's an included benefit.
Even with the higher annual fee, I get the benefit from the card, but from all of the other threads about how to use the benefits it seems as though some people struggle to justify the annual fee. Contrast this with Chase Sapphire Reserve with its $450 fee:
$300 travel credit - Would I have at least $300 worth of travel category spend annually, regardless of this benefit? Yes. Taking the net annual fee down to $150:
$150 vs $95 for the Chase Sapphire Preferred so $55 more - Let's value Ultimate Rewards conservatively at 1¢ since that is their cash back redemption value. Do I spend at least $5500 per year in the travel and/or dining category? Yes.
The CSR is far easier to justify mathematically for me than the Platinum.