Originally Posted by
nologic
I like to use my miles/points for international F redemptions to Europe/Asia, etc.
IMO, the SPG cards used to be best w a 1 point to $1 earning rate plus the 25% transfer bonus. Now it's equivalent to a .667 point per $1 earning rate which jumps to a whopping .834/$1 rate with the 25% bonus.
So, clearly any 1 point to $1 card with a broad range or partners is better than any SPG card (except for SPG earning and SPG redemptions).
But I want to focus on F redemptions on the likes of AF, LH, SX, SQ, QF, CX, JL, NH...possibly expanding to ER and EK at the best rates...
AF is out because you need to be top tier...maybe same with SX and SQ.
Right now, I am using a combination of Alaska Airlines Visa and BA Visa (BA Visa is only good for the $30K spend 2 for 1 award redemptions and then I book an annual trip to Europe in F for 150,000 Avios round trip for two plus $2000-$2500 in crazy fees.
But I am considering Chase UR, or a Citi Card, and AMEX MR card, or maybe a Barclays card?
Also, some people have said airlines like KE, LA, AV, and even AC have the "best" premium F redemption values.
Your suggestions?
It sounds like cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve or some of the Amex Membership Rewards family of cards would be perfect for you.
The SPG Amex used to be a good way to get very specific awards (like, back in the day before they were devalued, Emirates awards through Alaska for example) where you need a particular type of miles that are hard to accrue. But if you're willing to be somewhat flexible with what airline you fly and what miles you use to get there, the Chase UR and Amex MR transfer partners give you lots of options. And with certain combinations of cards, like CSR + CFU or Amex Preferred Rewards Gold + Amex Everyday Preferred (plus Amex Platinum if you have a lot of airfare spend), you can earn significantly more miles per dollar than the 1-1.25 that the SPG Amex used to get you, at the cost of a smaller set of transfer partner options. (Citi TYP can also have similar benefits, but IMO with their somewhat clunkier set of transfer partners, there's not much reason to choose Citi as a first pick now that their sign-up bonus bonanza is over.)
The one area where the Amex and Chase transfer partner portfolio is somewhat weak is oneworld awards; you can transfer either type of points to BA for F awards on CX, JL, and QF, but BA's miles requirements and fees on longhaul awards can be steep. (Though AA miles aren't quite as attractive as they used to be for some of those awards, either.) And Amex does sometimes have bonuses like the current 40% bonus on transferring points to BA that can take some of the sting out of BA's high award prices. But if it's just a matter of "I want to fly to Asia in a decent first class product" and you're not picky about the exact airline you fly on, you can usually find a good enough option via transferring Amex or Chase points to one of their Star Alliance transfer partners.