FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Sapphire Reserve 60k, $4,000 spend in 3 months, $550 fee.
Old Feb 20, 2020 | 7:14 pm
  #911  
VegasGambler
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,906
Originally Posted by RedSun
Not sure if you know AmEx regularly runs bonus on partner transfers. Sometimes it is as high as 50% more. Its partners have been extensive. There are many good ones.

Avois: BA, Iberia, AER lingus
Aeroplan
ANA
Delta
Emirates
Singapore
VA

Bonus on Chase UR transfer?
Most of those are also Chase partners.

Bonuses are nice if one happens to come up when you need to make a redemption. Usually they are useless.

The CSR is still the only card that gives 3x pts on general travel expenses, and now 10x on Lyft. I love 5x MR on airfare, but I also want bonus pts on the rest of my travel expenses. Ground transportation and accommodations add up to more than the airfare for most of the trips that I take.

Again, it's not a competition. I don't need to choose. Both cards provide huge value to me; why would I get rid of either one? Amex Plat pays for itself with IAP; the rest is just gravy. CSR pays for itself with the travel credit + 10x pts on Lyft; again, everything else is gravy. Chase Hyatt is a no-brainer for me with the amount that I stay at Hyatt.

I'm going to NY next weekend. Airfare was cheap (~$240 round trip). So of course I'm happy to earn 1200 MR with that. But also I will pay about $150-$170 for 4 airport lyft rides, so I'm happy to get 1500-1700 UR for that. And my hotel stay (at a Hyatt) is about $300 for 2 nights (NY is so cheap this time of year...). So that's another 1200 Hyatt pts.

This is all spend that I would be making anyway; I'm not choosing a vendor specifically because of a partnership. Why would I get rid of any of these cards?
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