vincewy

Does anyone know if there's an US credit card out there that has the following?

1. Annual fee of $0 - $200.
2. Covers/reimburses airline baggage fees of $80 to $200, don't even need others.
3. Not limited to 1 airline.
4. Covers bags for Spirit.

I wouldn't even care about earning and rewards, they will most likely be pure gravy to me. Most cards are either airline specific or have some restrictions, I was looking at following but all have certain limitations

-BOA Premium Rewards - doesn't cover charge from NK (this card comes really close).
-AmEx Premier Rewards Gold - need to designate to 1 carrier.
-USB Altitude Reserve - covers more than I need, not to mention the hoop you need to jump to get the card.
-Citi Prestige - already have Premier and don't need the other perks that you pay annual fee for.

gregorius

The PenFed Pathfinder Rewards AmEx has no AF and gives you a $100 airline incidental credit each year. Unlike the AmEx PRG/Plat, it's not tied to one airline (and their terms say Spirit is one of the airlines covered!). You do need to join the CU first, but I don't believe their membership requirements are too hard to meet.

Personally I'd prefer the FNBO Travelite, but it's almost never available for non-targeted applicants.

guv1976

If you can get the USB Altitude Reserve (I was eligible because I had the USB Club Carlson card), you should reconsider it. For the $400 AF, you automatically get $325/year reimbursed for "travel" charges, be they baggage fees, airline tickets, hotels, rental cars. All travel charges earn 3 points/$, and points can be redeemed for 1.5˘ each on travel. And with free primary car-rental loss/damage insurance, four Priority Pass lounge visits/year, and twelve GoGo wi-fi passes/year, all for a net AF of $75, I think the card is a very good value.

vincewy

I know of PenFed and it's Pathfinder Rewards, you can make a contribution to a military organization if I read it correctly in the past.

I found Travelite here, so technically you have to be targeted to be approved?

https://www.travelitecard.com/


Wow, I missed out this one and thought only Chase CSP/CSR has it, then I'll definitely try to get it.

AFAIK, USB is very conservative and discrete when it comes to issuing new cards (I noticed this when I was applying for mortgage with them). I do have mortgage with them along with Raddison Visa but they do not automatically approve credit if you have opened too many accounts recently.

gregorius

Yup, nowadays you need to be targeted and get a mailer to even apply for the Travelite. In 2014 they had public applications for the card with a $99 AF, and in 2017 they had public applications for the card with no AF (which is when I got it). No telling if/when it'll be back, but the PenFed card is very similar.

If you can take advantage of the 3x on mobile wallet purchases, the Altitude Reserve is a sweet card to have.

vincewy

Well with introduction of AmEx Gold this will meet my need for now.

It basically

1. Covers incidental charges of $100, since the only carrier I fly within US that I would need to pay for bag is NK, this works well.
2. 4 MR points per dollars with US supermarkets and dining, basically covering all the gaps other than travel and gas.

The annual fee is a bit high but given the extra MR points given I'll at least break even with this card.