Originally Posted by
acarney
I have the Amex platinum card and the CSR card. (As well as the Alaska card that I got a few years ago when I thought I would use the companion fare enough to make it worth while; fast forward to now when all my friends, who I usually travel with, have moved away and now I never use the companion fare >.<)
Amex for the Centurion lounge and Delta Sky Club (when flying them) access. Usually fly Alaska short routes (based in PSC but hit SEA or PDX for weekend getaways) but Delta when doing SEA to LAX/LAS or something because they usually have well priced F fares and a better F product (especially for a vegetarian). The travel credits are nice, but obviously this Hilton card would be just as good or better.
The CSR for the amazing 100k sign up bonus and for the super easy to use $300 travel credit. Honestly Chase points are easier to use and seem more valuable to the personal traveler so it makes sense to be my main daily spend. However, PP is a joke with Alaska lounges now and no access to Delta sky clubs. Basically I consider it worthless for lounge access with this card.
Together those two cards do pretty well for me and I at least break even on the cost with them and then points/status are just bonus points that make it worth while. However, I'm still really pretty weak on hotels. Gold is nice to have but I never really am able to build up many hotel points. If Amex had just offered some access to the centurion lounge with this top end Hilton card I probably would ditch the platinum and switch to this. Even if it was limited to 10 or 15 passes a year or something to keep control of crowding. But I did find myself paying for lounge access (daily pass) when I didn't have access and four to six times a year plus the travel credits almost makes it break even, so ya... no perfect card, but at the same time I'm not really sure I want to build in a budget for 3 premium cards a year because that's getting pretty crazy.
The PP benefits have become less useful in the past year with the capacity controls by Alaska and the Escape at MSP no longer accepting it. But some airports are giving F&B credits with PP like the PGA lounge at MSP. I like being able to use it at the Club at Vegas since Delta doesn't have a lounge there and also at the Club at ATL if I have long enough layover, the skyclub has better food but the alcohol selection is better at the club. I always have access to international lounges as a delta diamond but if someone doesn't have status and is riding in coach there are quite a few international lounges that accept pp.
My issue with using Chase points on Delta is that it will only select E fares if they are available and it won't allow you to buy up to the next highest fare class so that means booking an E ticket and then calling delta immediately and paying to upgrade the ticket to the lowest available fare class.