Hello

I have a PRG and Venture card and I fly only Delta right now because I like the direct flights I get from MSP to CMH.

What I am trying to understand is, is there a better card combo out there? I use the PRG for the bonus categories only. I use the Venture for the miles to pay off or reduce my airfare when I buy tickets. For the PRG I usually transfer to Delta every month and then use the "pay with miles option" or "miles+cash" option and then pay the rest on the Venture card.

I seem to find that it works well, however I was curious if there was something else I should look into?

Thanks!

Welcome to Flyertalk.

1. How much are the cash fares, typically?

2. How many Skymiles would Delta typically require if you were to redeem for an award flight, rather than using Pay with Miles or Miles + Cash?

Hi Mia

Thanks I have been reading the posts for a while and thought I might join!

1. Cash fares is usually = $450

2. For award flights its usually around the 25,000 range, the reason I don't get them often is because I don't always book very far in advance. Not sure if that has much to do with it. "Cash+miles" = 15,000 miles and usually $190

Thanks

How about a AMEX DL card?

It may not be a bad idea since you fly with DL.

I don't feel like I get the best deal in miles with that though. its only a one mile per dollar with that

I'm a bit confused, you say you only use the PRG for the bonus categories only, but pay for tickets with your Venture. Why aren't you buying your airline tickets on the PRG which gives 3 point/$ on airfare? Better than the points earning on the Venture.

Moderator action
 

Two substantially similar threads started by the same member have been combined.

I use the venture to buy the tickets and then pay with miles from the card. I use the bonus categories on the PRG to accumulate points and then transfer to my Skymiles.

So I pay with my Skymiles first then the double points I get with my Venture

A more cost effective strategy would be to replace Venture (which carries an annual fee) with (example) Citi Double Cash (no annual fee).

Venture "miles" have a fixed monetary value of $0.01 each. Earning Double Miles is just a distracting way of saying that Venture rebates 2% in the form of credit which can only be used for travel. Citi Double Cash rebates 2% in the form of money which can be used for anything.

You would use Skymiles to pay part of the ticket cost, then Premier Rewards Gold to pay the balance (and earn three points per dollar). Use the money from Citi to help pay the American Express bill.

Thanks for the tip Mia!