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Chase UR points value vs Amex MR?
I have both Amex platinum and csr.
flights I currently expense on Amex 5x hotels I expense on csr so I can get 3x plus the Hilton points (I use to expense it on Amex 5x portal but learnt Hilton would not get me points for the stays because it was done by third party agency reservation). question: anyone know what is the value of Amex platinum vs CSR for flights only? The points guy and other say it's about 2.0 for chase reserve while platinum is 1.9. But then on their same articles I get conflicting answers saying platinum's 5x has more value than chases 3x when using their respective portals for using up your MR and UR points. what card do you recommend I expense my flights. Objective is for a trip to Europe, on both cards I have around 100k points. Side note: obviously all other travel expenses like dining car I expense on chase reserve 3x. |
If you accept that one UR point and one MR point are approximately equal in value, then obviously 5x > 3x points accrual. That said, if you book through the Chase UR portal, you'll get 50% more points value - so then the equation becomes 5x MR points vs. (3x * 1.5) = 4.5x UR points.
Pretty much a toss-up, IMO, if you are planning to book through the Chase UR portal. That said, if you plan to fly in J/F to Europe, you can often get much better value by transferring points directly to the airline itself instead of using a portal. Other things to consider, though: a. How much do you value trip insurance? CSR has trip insurance coverage for your flights, AMEX offers none unless you buy it from them at additional cost. b. What airline(s) do you want to fly to Europe? Both programs offer multiple different options for getting to/from Europe and the USA. You haven't really said if you want to fly to Europe in Y/J/F nor whether you are interested in using your points for hotel rooms also. These would be other factors to consider when choosing which program best fits your individual requirements. |
The value of MR points and UR points depend on what partner you transfer to, what you redeem for, and whether you can find "saver' availability or not. This is all hard to determine ahead of time, since you don't know ahead of time who will have avaiability, and then where you can redeem for that availability, and how much it will cost (both in miles and cash for fees + taxes).
If you don't know how to use international transfer partners, and only look at Delta for Amex MR and United for Chase UR, then it depends on the season. In "high" season, Delta is likely to be useless. In "shoulder" or "low" season, Delta has a chance perhaps. But it depends a lot on specifics, not just dates but also destinations. For example, there are some places in Europe that only Star Alliance can get you all the way (northern Norway, for example), and in that case you have to have miles in the right alliance. Other places, like London or Paris, anyone can get you there. |
IMO Chase points are worth slightly more because I think the transfer partner menu is slightly better. In particular, you can transfer UR to KE, Hyatt, and UA, which are three of the best programs for using points.
The Chase cards also provide excellent travel protection, which the AMEX Plat does not. So you are giving a little something up in exchange for 5x points on airfare purchases. |
If you fly on *a you will probably prefer using AMEX points to NH but it differs by person.
Like if you fly all NH than you can transfer to Virgin Atlantic and still use UR. UR is great going to Europe on AF 80k J RT. |
Flying to Europe in first class or business class at a minimum preferably on emerites, Lufthansa, or other luxury airline. Destinations are SaintPetersburg Russia and Rome Italy. My job requires me to travel twice a month so I'll likely have platinum pro or exec by end of year on AA (their 3rd 4th tier status). I rack up expenses on both CSR and AmexPlat. Many online "travel" guides say, keep it simple and dump all expenses on CSR so you deal with one portal end of story. And churn cards for bonuses. others recommend finding the max value of each card and expensing it separately. truth is I'm still learning about this whole points. Example many say transfer points to airline, so does that mean I look up what flight I want first then transfer to the airline? How do I know if it's cheaper to get first class using UR portal on British airway vs transferring; is there a website? currently I'm doing the following: if im not churning the next bonus points card that month then I'm doing: flights - Amex platinum 5x hotels, car, dining - chase reserve 3x My question is : should I expense flights to chase reserve for the flexibility? Or continue to put on platinum. Since I'm date flexible, I always hear about people getting first class to Europe for pennies; where can I get info on this, is this where you transfer points to an airline and not use the MR or UR portal? I plan to fly to these destinations (and other euro places) in two years or in 2020. As for flight insurance, what does chase cover? Plane crash or trip delay insurance (if flight is delayed I assume it's free for them to reschedule me). Chase has good car insurance. Which of the two cards is more European friendly? |
Originally Posted by jungly
(Post 29406745)
Which of the two cards is more European friendly? I don't know why you can't just continue to use both like you're doing now, unless you're looking to avoid the annual fees. You say you usually fly on AA--neither allows direct transfers to AAdvantage. You'd have to transfer to BA instead. And if you're wanting to redeem for flights, AA is the absolute worst. I have found Chase's travel site to be useful, even in the short one year I've had the card. Comes in handy sometimes when you can book a room cheaper that way than by transferring the points to a program. If your home airport has a good Priority Pass lounge that you can use regularly, that's a plus for Chase. But the Amex lounges are nicer--if fewer in number--so if you have THAT at your home airport, maybe that counts. Overall, I'd vote for Chase. |
Originally Posted by TennisNoob
(Post 29406725)
If you fly on *a you will probably prefer using AMEX points to NH but it differs by person.
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Originally Posted by hotturnip
(Post 29406896)
The Chase Visa. Amex is not as widely accepted.
I don't know why you can't just continue to use both like you're doing now, unless you're looking to avoid the annual fees. You say you usually fly on AA--neither allows direct transfers to AAdvantage. You'd have to transfer to BA instead. And if you're wanting to redeem for flights, AA is the absolute worst. I have found Chase's travel site to be useful, even in the short one year I've had the card. Comes in handy sometimes when you can book a room cheaper that way than by transferring the points to a program. If your home airport has a good Priority Pass lounge that you can use regularly, that's a plus for Chase. But the Amex lounges are nicer--if fewer in number--so if you have THAT at your home airport, maybe that counts. Overall, I'd vote for Chase. My question is do I get more bang for my buck using Chase UR 3x on flights or Amex MR 5x on flights over the next year? With an end goal objective of flying to Europe in either first class (emirate, Lufthansa, etc) or sending the whole family on economy (any airline, even AA where I have elite status will suffice although their airline is not as fancy as the euro ones). You say nether card transfers to AA, which is fine I'm looking to see where do people find these great cheap deals to fly first class or send a family of 8 on economy for a fraction of the price. Forecast: if I stop putting points on Amex then I should have 300k points on chase and 100k on Amex by end of year. This does not include the other churning card points I do for hotels and cars. Other cards I'm picking up are chase ink preferred and freedom. Plus a whole slew of other churning cards like Amex Hilton ascend, Marriott, hyat, to cover my hotel stays for free. Long story short is 3x chase flights better then 5x Amex points when redeeming? Or does it not matter because in the end people transfer them to a one world airline like British and technically I might squeeze a few more points using Amex 5x? im curious to know of anyone who uses both cards why do you select one over the other for putting flight points in that one. |
Originally Posted by jungly
(Post 29409272)
... is 3x chase flights better then 5x Amex points when redeeming? ...
American Express, Chase, Citi, Diners Club and Starwood all have transfer partners in all three alliances. If you want to fly a specific airline on a specific route one program may be better than another, but not 66% better, and not consistently better across a range of destinations and routes. Using you own examples, redeeming for flights operated by LH might best be done through UA which is a transfer partner of Chase. However, redeeming for flights operated by Emirates might favor American Express because Membership Rewards transfers to Skywards. |
You are doing the right thing to investigate how to use the points that you earn, before you earn them. Many posters come to flyertalk and ask (for example) "I have a lot of points but I can't find any first class flights to Australia for my family of six at the end of December" or "how can I combine all of my points into one program so that I can get the flight that I want" or "I am so mad because I earned all of these points but it is too hard to figure out how to use them".
Spend the time to understand what each program provides. It does make sense to earn points in multiple programs as long as you are not spreading it so thin that you end up with not enough points in any program to achieve what you want. Find out what airline partners of each program (Amex, UR) you are most likely to use (which ones fly where you want to go, which ones are more likely to have availability, how many points does it cost for the redemption that you want). I'd agree that 5 Amex points are probably better than 3 UR points when used to transfer to airline partners. |
Coming from a person who doesn't have an AM card of any kind should I get one? I have The CSR, Ink Bold, Freedom, and Mileage Plus card. What benefit would a amex give me over any of these? or is it equal to most of these. The only obvious thing I see is the 5x on flights with the plat.......
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Originally Posted by airline101
(Post 29426407)
Coming from a person who doesn't have an AM card of any kind should I get one? I have The CSR, Ink Bold, Freedom, and Mileage Plus card. What benefit would a amex give me over any of these? or is it equal to most of these. The only obvious thing I see is the 5x on flights with the plat.......
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Originally Posted by airline101
(Post 29426407)
Coming from a person who doesn't have an AM card of any kind should I get one? I have The CSR, Ink Bold, Freedom, and Mileage Plus card. What benefit would a amex give me over any of these? or is it equal to most of these. The only obvious thing I see is the 5x on flights with the plat.......
Ie, before worrying about whether you earn better or not with an Amex card, figure out if the points you'd earn would be useful to you, since each bank's points system works differently. |
Chase UR definitely worth more than the AmEx MR. To me, it is about (1.5-1.7) to (1.0-1.2). My best use is UR -> Hyatt and MR -> Delta. Also, you pay tax when you transfer MRs to airline/hotel.
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