Explorer789

That's your preference. To me, it mostly depends on where I am going and who has the best prices. For example, anyone will have a hard time beating UA for ORD-SFO, but I would fly DL or AS for ORD-SEA.

Secondly, transferring UR points to UA's program does not mean you have to fly on UA metal. It gives you access to book awards with any of their Star Alliance partners (e.g. LF, TK, LX, OZ, BR, NH, etc). Most of these will offer better flying experiences than UA on the same international routes with lots of saver award availability and booking can all be done directly through the website. If AA had the same type of deal with TYP transfers, then it would give me something to think about.

hiima

Amex beats chase in customer service. You don't like what you bought, amex will give your money back. Want to use your extended warranty on the item you smashed with a hammer, fill out the form online, no worries. Your expensive hotel room wasn't too your liking, we'll take their money and give it to you. Amex almost always sides with the customer. Chase not so much, they'll follow the terms. If amex had trip delay protection, I'd use that too much on my flights.

hiima

Saying UR is better because you can transfer to united and you only fly united and partners is the same as saying Mr is better because you can transfer to Delta and you only fly Delta.

hiima

MR to AC is an even better option for star alliance.

hiima

What? That entire thing doesn't make sense.

mikesyr18

I wish they did, or at least have cancellation insurance on PRG and Plat. I live in the snow belt and would be pretty irritated if I lost my flight tickets and money because of a 3 day snow storm.

lepmd

Unfortunately, this isn't as true as it once was. One of the reasons that I started looking at the CSR was because AmEx denied a pretty cut-and-dry dispute. It's the first dispute that I lost. Then, they did it again with something else. One of my best friends closed his AmEx after they failed to resolve a couple of issues for him. For years, they sided with the customer and I never had an issue, but I'm hearing of more stories now where they're siding with the merchant.

Also, it is increasingly difficult to speak with an actual person when you call AmEx. Chase has remedied that. The featured article largely discusses why AmEx is losing millennial customers to Chase. For those of us that want convenience and flexibility (like millennials), Chase is becoming the better option.

A group of my friends recently discussed the fall of the traditional country club at dinner. We're all either Gen X or millennials. AmEx came up at the same dinner and most people are either paying with hotel cards or Chase (CSP or CSR). Will AmEx Plat accompany the fall of the country club? I will admit that I like having the silver card in my wallet (it looks good), but it isn't worth it for me to have it anymore. I don't fly enough and I live in a small equestrian town that is only serviced by two airlines. I don't have the option to fly with Singapore Airlines regularly, for example. AmEx Plat will either be the travel card for people that frequently travel or the status card for people that want the silver show, but I can't imagine that occasional luxury travelers like myself will continue to carry it with the CSR beating it in terms of routine benefits.

*note that I said "routine benefits" because it does still have some benefits over the CSR, especially when traveling with certain airlines and the 5x credit. If you book with FHR, though, you can't use points (at least that's what I was told recently) and you don't get the 5x points on those bookings.

notquiteaff

Forgive me my ignorance; I have never had TYP card. But looking at the TYP transfer partners, there are at least two *A programs included (EVA and Singapore Airlines). So shouldn't you have access to the same inventory as with United? (more ignorance alert: I don't know how much they charge in comparison to UA for award trips)

Explorer789

Simply no. MR to AC is a valid redemption route if you don't want to use any of the other transfer partners, even ANA. There's plenty of FT threads that compare AC to UA, and almost all of them will favor UA.

When booking awards, you want maximum flexibility with the fewest restrictions and cash payment. UA has no fuel surcharges ever and taxes are less. Whereas with AC, half of them have the surcharges. Furthermore, UA tends to have significantly better availability than AC.

hiima

I understand the flexibility and surcharges, UA wins there. But, they share the same partner inventory. So availability is the same unless it's UA metal.

Explorer789

Yes, you can book with other *A partners, but the redemption rates are higher than UA in general. There might be some sweet spots where they cost about the same, but in general SQ miles will get best value for SQ metal.

Explorer789

I like UA because it is the one program where what you see on the website is basically everything that is available for booking with partners, except SQ awards.

Even if it is the same, the number of options you see on AC website always seems less. Like recently I ran a search for ORD-BKK on both sites and AC only showed a few options while UA showed more than a dozen saver options for business.

AA is even worse since they don't show any partner awards. You have to use the other sites like BA and then call AA to book. It's extra work and time is money.

So bringing it back to the topic of Amex, best redemption for MR (at least my plan for it) is to use their exclusive partners, like ANA, Emirates, JAL, maybe even Etihad, to fly first class.

hiima

I'm certain that the awards showing available on UA but not on AC are phantom availability. Also, UA partner award rates are really high.

Explorer789

I've booked many awards over the years and never had an issue with phantom availability. Whatever is there has always been bookable.

Sure, if you book the full award rate, they are very expensive and horrible value (I have never paid full rate for an award). But there almost always saver awards to fly on partners, even a month or two before departure date, and these rates are extremely competitive with the other *A programs. 50-60k to Europe on LH/LX/TK/etc and 80k to Asia NH/OZ/BR each way in business is tough to beat, especially with how easy Chase UR is to accumulate with daily expenses. With that said, if I were to recommend someone to put all their spend on group of cc's, it would be with Chase.

JHake10

UA does have excellent award space. While you may be able to save a few points on partner first class by going through Aeroplan, these have high fuel surcharges witch UA doesn't tack on. Also, if you have status with UA you can change/cancel awards for little charge or free as well.