Lesurgo

I've had the AS signature Card for a couple years now and put it to plenty of good use. But in talking to other people (and reading through this thread) it seems like many others are getting a ton of value out of having other cards as well, at least to supplement their AS card.

I've been looking online and found a lot of popular names coming up - Chase Sapphire, Starwood Preferred, Citi Prestige, etc - but it's kind of unclear how good any of them are for AS travelers since many are linked up with non-AS airline alliances.

So I thought I'd point the question to you all: as common AS and AS-partner flyers, which cards do you use and why?

acrollet

Cards I can think of that are specifically useful to AS flyers:

* Starwood preferred guest: earns 1 starpoint per dollar spent, and 20k starpoints transfer to 25k AS miles.
* Citi prestige: boardroom access via priority pass, also admiral's club access when flying AA same day.
* BA card from chase or ultimate rewards earning cards to transfer to avios and spend fewer points on shorthaul AS flights. (Also Amex points, but they devalued the transfer rate)

that's off the top of my head...

Eastbay1K

If you incur ancillary AS fees, then the American Express Platinum will rebate the first $200 per year, plus you get Priority Pass included, which will get you in all the AS BRs, plus their own lounges.

missamo80

Chase Sapphire Preferred or American Express Platinum are excellent cards to have if you fly with Alaska a lot:

1) Both have points that transfer to British Airways. BA has stupid cheap redemptions on Alaska for shorter flights. For example, I'm flying two round-trip from Seattle to Santa Rosa for 18,000 Avios. Total. That's 4,500 per person each way! Note that the AmEx transfer rate just devalued, but it's still a good deal especially when the yearly transfer sale happens (usually at the start of the year). I believe they also both transfer to Korean Air which is a good way to do longer-haul redemptions to Hawaii on Alaska.

2) CSP, at $95 a year, is a great daily use card that makes it trivial to rack up the points to transfer to BA. It also has primary rental car coverage.

3) American Express comes with Priority Pass which gets you into Alaska boardrooms. Note, however, that it's just for you. Guests cost extra ($27? $29? Something like that).

4) If you get the AmEx Business Platinum card it comes with 10 gogo inflight passes per year.

Note that having said all the above I'll be cancelling my AmEx when it's up for it's $495 annual fee renewal and switching to Citi Prestige instead. Prestige provides Priority Pass lounge access for you *and immediate family/guest*. It also has a higher airline fee rebate ($250/yr) than the AmEx platinum card. Downside is the points don't transfer to BA, but my CSP earns plenty of points for that. upside is you can redeem Prestige points as straight cash on AA flights (which will earn AS points!) for 1.6cpm.

Neil

wwongo

I got the Citi Prestige card earlier this year and I love it. The annual fee is $450 but there is a statement credit for airline purchase(including ticket purchase) of $250, so it is essentially a $200 annual fee. The Priority pass that comes with it includes guests and gets you into all the Boardrooms as well as a bunch of other lounges. There is a fourth night free hotel benefit when booked through their travel service that I have used twice so far.

The prestige card earns "thank you points" and whether that is better or worse than miles really depends on how you fly and what you use your points for. If you use your AS miles for international first class then the card earning AS miles is probably better, but if you almost always fly domestically and you have accumulating AS miles because you hate to use them for your flights and miss out on the elite qualifying miles and/or the chance of an upgrade then Thank You points may be more valuable to you. 1 thank you point is worth 1.33 cents when booking any airline ticket except 1.6 cents if it is an American ticket(including American tickets on other airlines). The best part about using Thank you points is that they are paid tickets to the airline and they earn miles and are eligible for upgrades.

IWontRegretThis

+1 Here.

I have both TY Citi Cards + Alaska CC, and it works out very well all things considered.

Dieuwer

Why does BofA not create a transferable point card? Similar to CSP, but then you can transfer points 1:1 to AS.

JPat

Am I correct that the Amex Platinum card would also get just the cardholder into the Centurion Clubs & Studios run by Amex but the Citi Prestige card would not?

dayone

You are correct, but with guest.

NoStressHere

CORRECTION :

Amex Plat card gets you into Centurion Clubs, with a guest. I have done it multiple times. (vegas)

http://thecenturionlounge.com/info/f...lounge-network

PDXPremier

If you're using the Amex Platinum card for the Centurion Clubs & Studios (like the new one in SEA), then you can bring guests or immediate family. With the Priority Pass access (like AS Boardrooms), you have to pay for guests.

My "other" card is the Amex Platinum and it's been a great supplemental card. The problem I have with the Citi Prestige card is that I've never been able to find a "free year free" link so even with the $200 airline fee credit, I'm still out over $200 in annual fee which is far more than I am willing to pay given the fact that the Ameriprise Amex Platinum is free of the annual fee (first year) AND you get the airline credit which I use for AS gift cards (and yes, they are reimbursing those again). So for $0 I get Centurion Club & Studio access for my entire family, Priority Pass, and $200 per year in AS gift cards....definitely a no-brainer card in my opinion. I'm on my 3rd year of churning this card so I've never paid the annual fee.

missamo80

I'm not convinced I'll hold on to the Prestige card after the first year, but by applying now I'll make money. $250 airline rebate this calendar year and $250 next calendar year is $500, and I only paid $350 for the annual fee in the first place by applying in person. Throw in the lounge access and the 50,000 ThankYou points and (at least for the first year) I definitely come out way ahead.

This thread has started to veer off into the other forums

Neil