Are travel credit cards really worth it now?
 

With the changes happening with some of the airlines (Delta and United to speak of) towards "free" trips I'm wondering if getting a credit card for miles is really worth it any longer. Delta won't let people booking with miles to reserve a seat until they check in at the gate about 30-45 minutes before the plane takes off, usually meaning a middle row seat. I heard starting in late January that they'll now change their boarding process and basic economy seats will be last, meaning there may not be room for a carry-on. United has already stopped carry-on bags for basic economy. These free tickets are not free, they're earned from purchases throughout the year. I'm starting to think that getting a credit card that gives cash back is a better deal than getting miles, can you please tell me why miles are better?

Miles are better in some situations; cash is better in others. A lot depends on the routes and dates when you want to fly, class of service, etc.

You missed my point guv, I'm saying that I don't think the airlines are giving rewards members any respect now by treating them lower than first class customers. On my last flight with Delta I had a paid ticket while my wife had a "free" rewards earned ticket and I couldn't reserve a seat for her even though I booked our flight over two months in advance, just because she didn't actually pay for her ticket but earned it through points on our credit card. Maybe I'm being petty but I remember in the past that a ticket earned through points meant loyalty to the airline and the airline gave loyalty back to the customer.

Wait, so if were to book the flight I did earlier this year (I used 140K miles to do D1 to Europe RT) I would not be able to choose my seat ahead of time?

I'm a little confused with this post as OP seem to be a bit misinformed.

Delta already has basic economy as boarding last and nothing changes in January.

Correct me if I'm wrong. It seems you used your credit card points to purchase a Delta ticket through their travel portal, and not with Delta miles through Delta website. This would essentially be trading cc points for a paid ticket instead of cash. Their travel portal is essentially any other travel site (e.g Expedia, Orbitz, etc) and probably allows you to book basic economy tickets like the one you got for your wife.

If you had actually booked your Delta award ticket two months ago through the Delta site with actual miles, then your award ticket would have been equivalent to a full main cabin economy ticket, which allows you to select your seat and have a carry on.

Basic Economy is a paid fare class. Delta now also offers Basic Economy Awards, discussed here:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delt...-awards-2.html

It may well be that Basic Economy fares and awards do not include advance seat selection, and board last, but that does not mean that ALL award tickets have those characteristics. If you purchase, or redeem for, a standard economy ticket you should be able to choose seats at time of booking.

The clincher here is that OP got his ticket two months ago, while Delta only just announced basic economy awards like 15 days ago and they were only being tested on a few routes.

Delta Airlines is changing its boarding process worldwide on January 23, 2019.

Yes, I understand they are changing the boarding process, but nothing changes for basic economy. Both are still last.

Current: https://www.delta.com/content/www/en...-priority.html
New: https://news.delta.com/boarding-simp...tte-tie-it-all

This is not at all accurate. I booked an award trip to South America two weeks ago, and chose my seats at the time of booking. I do have elite status with Delta, however a friend is coming on the same trip, she doesn't have status, and was able to choose her seats at the time of booking as well.

The only thing I can think of would be basic economy, which is now available as award travel, and which does not allow for advance seat assignments.

Earn elite status with the airline and all of the concerns in this blog become moot. Much like paying cash for the lowest tier plane ticket the airline sees you as meat in the seat and nothing more, you get no benefits for being a casual flyer. If you want to be treated Elite then you need Elite status. Similar to any other club, average Joe is just an average Joe to the airline too.

I'm a very casual flyer, but I'm pretty sure the value of elite status has gone down dramatically in the last 20-30 years.

It certainly has for the lower level elites, but as airlines have debundled services and made a practice of nickel & diming for everything, I've fond the value of higher tier elite to be worth it just to make flying bearable

As to the original post, I have the Citi Exec card since it gives me Admirals Club membership for less than the cash price plus I get miles to boot. But I have shifted the bulk of my spending to the Citi Double Cash Mastercard

You missed the point about "class of service".

None of these issues you mention exist if you use miles exclusively for business class longhaul international flights, which would cost $5000++ if you had to pay for them, and give you "lie flat" beds.

Or with Delta domestic, if you use miles to reserve Comfort+ which on Delta separate cabin, again those issue you mentioned don't exist.

Meanwhile, unless you have enormous annual spend you can put on such card, a cashback card can't get you into a business class longhaul international seat more than maybe once a decade or so perhaps.

So yes, if all you use miles for is cheap economy flights, then cashback is probably simpler and better for you.

I wasn't talking about "class of service" and all the extra fees some people are willing to pay to get better seats. If you reread my post you'll see that I was talking about basic economy seating, which for us people who fly two or three times per year usually get. I try to save as much money as I can on the flight so I'll have more for spending on vacations and I try to get my airline tickets as cheaply as possible. My point/question was about the airlines and how they're trying to eliminate free basic economy tickets for credit card travelers (that's my opinion and I was looking for others). I'm beginning to think it's not worth the free ticket if you cannot reserve a seat in advance and end up boarding last with the possibility of not being able to have a carry-on, which means you probably won't be able to sit with spouse. Being that I'm disabled I need an isle seat, but that will be very difficult to get if I have to wait for seating. Sorry if I offended anyone with my posts, I'll stop and move on.