Originally Posted by
scubadu
I don't think this is wildly out of the norm. First, though you make some key assumptions that differ from my own. The annual fee isn't $550. Though people love to quote that, because it sounds big, but with airline credits, Uber credits, Saks credits and statement credits for having a Charles Schwab account the effective fee (which is the only fee that matters to me because it's what comes out of my pocket) is significantly less than $550 for most people.
So, example ok: wife and I just came back from Bali, Indonesia. Booked 2 round trip business class tickets on Cathay Pacific from LAX-HKG-DPS, all in paid business. IAP fare was ~$714 per ticket less than cathaypacific.com (verified with exact same routing in second browser, side by side) or anywhere else I could find.
$714x2 tickets = $1428 savings.
Mapped against my effective annual fee, yes, that is several years worth of annual fee saved on one purchase.
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Regards
The key word here seems to be "effective," as in "effective annual fee." And given THAT, your original proposition does make sense. Hell, I get close to $550 in food and bev value per year at Centurion Lounges myself.
But thank you in particular for your example, and well done for scoring it. It comes close to making your case, even without allowing for the card's other benefits.
To be clear, I have NO argument whatsoever with the value proposition in the Plat Card. I've just yet to see a $714 per ticket savings using the IAP, including on Air France La Premiere RTs USA-Europe (though I'm sure I would if I was booking the $15-16,000 ones).