ejk.maine

Hey All - New here, looking forward to learning more.

I have a Chase Sapphire Reserve card, and I've gotten great benefits from it. I live in northern New England, and with the nature of our local airport, I haven't been able to be loyal to one airline. Now however, my step daughter will be going to college in Chicago next year. United flied direct from my home town to Chicago. So I was thinking of getting a United Card, since my next four years will likely involve paying for lots of round trips on that circuit.

Questions:

1. Does that make sense?
2. If so, what United Card would I get?

I pay the card off monthly, and I use the Chase Sapphire Card now for essentially everything I buy, so I get pretty good travel value out of it.

Any advice or wisdom is greatly appreciated!!!

mia

When you use the Sapphire Reserve card you earn Ultimate Rewards points which can be converted to United miles, or to miles/points in other programs. When you use a United card you earn United miles directly, with no ability to transfer to any other program.

1) Who will be making "most" of these trips: your stepdaughter, your wife or you? Some card features apply whenever a card is used to pay for a ticket, but other benefits may only apply if the cardholder is the passenger.

2) Are you interested in access to the United Club?

notquiteaff

How much money do you spend annually on your credit card, and what’s the rough breakdown by categories (travel, gas, dining, groceries, misc other….)?

Would you benefit from ancillary card features like free checked bag?

Are you planning to stay at hotels in Chicago and is perhaps a Hyatt convenient (Ultimate Rewards transfers to Hyatt, and it probably is one of the best uses for points transfers in general and certainly one of the best hotel transfers).

How have you used your UR so far?

Welcome to FT!

ejk.maine

Thanks for the responses! I think it will be 2/3 me and my wife and 1/3 our daughter.

So I spend about $125,000 on my card in 2023, 25% food and drink, 20% "shopping" and 15% travel.

I use the Chase points diligently, and always book through their travel portal. Would definitely use the United Club at O'hare and would probably be happy to check a bag.

I tend to use Hiltons, but I don't stay in hotels that often (I use Air BNB).

I have actually never used the transfer points to miles feature, because I have hard time figuring out if it is worth it.

Thanks so much, this is incredibly helpful!!!!

guv1976

I would probably get the Chase United Explorer card ($95 annual fee, waived the first year), which would give you and those traveling with you on the same record one free checked bag each, when you purchase the tickets with that card. It also includes two free United Club passes annually. There are more expensive versions of the Chase United credit card which offers unlimited United Club access, but whether you would use the United Club often enough to justify the additional annual expense is something only you can decide. You should be able to see the various card options at both united.com and chase.com.

Of course, if your wife is credit-worthy, she could also get the United Explorer card, for the additional bonus miles and two extra United Club passes.

Ilove2fly

It is a good idea to get a fee waived card to see if you like it. I find UA miles difficult or expensive to use. I like the Chase Sapphire Reserve for the airport restaurant benefits with the Priority Pass membership it provides. I also second the comment on transferring points to Hyatt.

I have only used UR points once to book travel directly. It was an United flight because it took more points booking it on United.com comparing to using UR points to buy tickets. As I mentioned, United miles can be expensive to use.

The last point I would make is the potential earnings. Check the T&C on the UA card and see your potential earnings. If you get similar point/$ earnings, I would stay with SR because it is more flexible unless the free bag check and 2 United Club passes are important to you.

Dr Jabadski

At that level of annual spend and travel, suggest you consider multiple cards as multiple SUBs will generate MUCH greater rewards. With 2 (or 3) players, between Chase and AmEx (MR cards which can redeem for UA flights), there are many options.

If aggressive credit card applications is acceptable and possible, suggest annually alternating UA Club card and another UA card between you and your wife (and maybe your daughter). The Club card high annual fee makes it less desirable to keep open after 13 months, the high SUB “pays” for the first year annual fee and has several better perks when spending and flying on UA.

After 1 year of Club card, suggest another UA card (Biz Club, Explorer). If amenable to a Biz application, same logic applies to the Biz Club card. If not, then Explorer.

Once it’s been 25 months from last Club card SUB (presuming it was closed at 13 months), reapply for that card. Wash, rinse, repeat.

FWIW, as a solo player, I’ve been successful in churning UA Club card and UA Biz Club card every 13-15 months for several years so that I’ve never paid a second AF and always have one or the other open (to take advantage of benefits). FWIW, I’ve also been successful in doing a similar churn with Hyatt cards (personal and biz) so I rarely pay a second year annual fee (personal card only, gets a FNA and depending on timing gets some “gratuitous” elite qualifying nights) but can still get a SUB almost once per year.

There are multiple Hilton cards with significant SUBs and benefits, even for infrequent Hilton guests, and there are many Hilton options near ORD and Chicago. (The Air BNB debate is off topic for this thread, suffice it to write I’ve read more than enough horror stories.)

hightide

Currently, the United Business card is the best deal in my opinion -- requiring $5K spend in 3 months for the 100K UA miles bonus. Annual fee is $99.

worldwidedreamer

I think the sweet spot right now is to have a United Card for free bags etc, and a CSR points earning.

Hawkeyefan

The Biz version of the Explorer card has the 100k mile bonus right now but no AF waive. Addl 40K miles for the 99 bucks probably a fair value IMO.

I will say, I have the Club card and every time I fly we use the Clubs at hub airports and/or MSP. That is for our entire family of four. I figure that saves us $75-$100 eating in the terminal each time, if we fly four times a year thats $400 saved and makes up much of the AF itself. let alone the other bennies. The Biz version of the Club card has a nice bonus right now with 1000 PQP if you need them.

time_stamp

One big advantage United personal cards have is that you can pay the annual fee with United miles at a rate of 1.8 cents per point. Or at least it's 1.8 cpp for the club card, can't remember if the rate is the same for the explorer card.You can earn the points on Reserve card and just the United card for the benefits. You do have to pay for flights on your United card to get the free bag.

MDtR-Chicago

The option is available on all United cards I've ever had, including the Business card, though the rate is only 1.5 cents for Business card. And not all personal cards are at 1.8 cents (Quest is only 1.6).

time_stamp

Thanks for the correction. So the personal Club card cost $525 cash VS. $450 cash for the business, but the personal costs 29,167 miles VS. 30,000 miles for business. However the personal also earns 4x miles on flights VS. 2x on the business. Therefore, since you have to pay for your flights using the card to get free bags, another way to evaluate the cost is you'd need to spend $15,000 on flights to fully pay for the business card VS. only $7,292 on flights to fully pay for the personal version.

MDtR-Chicago

Redeeming miles for the annual fee is technically a part of the Chase Pay Yourself Back Program, covered here: Pay Yourself Back - Sapphire Reserve & Preferred, INK Preferred & Plus, UA (2024-)

time_stamp - I added your report to the wiki there. Thanks!

Just to clarify, the redemption rate on the standard Business card without club access is 1.5 cents/mile... I'm not sure about the Club version and haven't seen any specific reports on it.