whipwhitaker

Hello fellow flyers,

I think I’ve been in some sort of Cinderella sleep for the past years, since I didn’t exactly look into all these travel cards and just sailed on with my Chase United Club card, which earns me 2 United miles on United ticket purchases and 1.5 miles on everything else. Needless to say, I almost exclusively fly United (I’m 1K), and personally don’t view the Club membership as worth $450 a year anymore.

I’ve been looking into either the Amex Platinum or the Chase Sapphire Reserve. It looks like both sport the $100 TSA/Global Entry credit and the Priority Pass Select, with the Amex not paying for non-lounge locations anymore. It looks like the Chase has a $300 airline credit which can be applied to ticket purchases and Incidentals, the Amex only has $200 limited to incidental fees — which are pretty tough to accumulate when you get bags, drinks, Economy Plus etc. for free. The Amex also has the Uber credits and Saks credits, which are nice, but frankly I don’t know if I’m accumulating $15 every month (or $35 in December) on Uber, and I’ve never shopped at Saks, which isn’t to say I never will. Lastly, the Centurion Lounges are super nice, but the one at my home base in DEN just had its opening date pushed into 2020, which pretty much leaves me with only IAH as the one that I could actually visit. Besides that, none of the Amex benefits would really make a difference for me.

I guess what it all boils down to for me are the rewards programs. I understand that Chase gives me 3 points per $1 for everything travel, which would translate 1:1 into United miles. Amex points, as far as I understand, cannot be transferred over to Mileage Plus, which is a bummer, but Amex appears to have a travel booking site similar to the one Chase has.

My questions to you are:

1.) Are the point redemption options on Amex worth a serious consideration of the Platinum card vs. Sapphire?

2.) I received the targeted offer for the 100K points welcome bonus on Amex, vs. the 50K on Chase. Does that change the answer to 1.) dramatically? (I suppose it only does if redemption options on Amex are at least similar to Chase’s)

3.) To those who have the Chase card, is it possible to have 2 CCs with them? I understand you cannot (and wouldn’t want to) upgrade from a United branded card to the Sapphire card. Which means that I would apply for Sapphire, move my existing credit line from the United card over to the Sapphire card and then close the United one.

4.) Did I leave anything substantial out of my analysis that would be a game changer? Other United FFs who went with the Amex card, what made you pick that one over the Chase one?

Apologies for this novel, and I hope I posted into the right forum. Thank you in advance for your responses.

Whip

Yoshi212

Both the Amex Platinum and the CSR have their strengths & award program advantages along with some overlapping but not redundant benefits. I wouldn't pass up the 100k MR bonus. That covers a return/open-jaw J trip to Asia using ANA which is a great transfer partner. The $200 benefit can be used towards a UA Club membership making it easy to recoup that part. The Sak's credit can be combined by purchasing a gift card at the store, not online, and then using them for yourself, a significant other or given as gifts to someone including a work assistant. Uber is easy enough to recoup between rides, Uber eats delivery and uber eats takeaway. Where the best value comes in is the Amex MR trifecta of Amex Plat (benefits, Amex Travel, Amex FHR & 5xMR for direct booking flights), Amex Gold (4x on Grocery, dining & Bars) & Amex BBP (2x on all spending up to $50k). Amex Offers definitely beats Chase Offers by a mile in my opinion & experience.

That said the CSR is a great card also. Easy to recoup annual fee with broad travel category along with dining. Can be paired with CIU, CIC, CF, CFU for increased earning possibilities. Chase's 5/24 limit is something to be monitored & its lower SUB for the CSR makes it less appealing compared to the Amex SUB.

Many people have multiple Chase CC cards. I myself have 2 but have 12 cards. Changing your card to a Sapphire product to me would be counter to the points game. It can be converted into one of the freedom cards as you probably want to keep that credit history while avoid AF & create a points earning avenue.

It all depends on how aggressive you want to get into the game, what benefits from the card do you want & how much you're willing to spend in time & money for AF & using the right card.

ericcheung

How do you book your travel? If you book directly and spend a lot, the 5x multiplier on the Amex is worth a lot. If not, the Amex Plat is primarily a benefits card and you should pair it with a high multiple rewards card.

Given your patterns, I'd say get the chase sapphire reserve for the better bonuses and priority pass access. Once the centurion lounge opens up, apply for the Amex Plat. The chase sapphire points being 1:1 convertible to united points and 1:1.5c for travel purchases gives you a lot of flexibility. Add up a chase freedom unlimited for 1.5x non bonus items.

Although Amex has star alliance partners, as a 1k, you would miss out on the free redeposit of miles that you would only get on united. The centurian lounges are generally high quality and if you are a frequent traveler it's certainly worth paying for if you have access at your home airport.

guv1976

Re Point #1: Why would you care that Amex MR points cannot be transferred to UA? MR points can be transferred to a number of Star Alliance programs, any of which can be used to redeem on UA -- sometimes at a better redemption rate than what UA itself would charge!

What are your intended redemption routes, and in what class of service?

whipwhitaker

I book my airfare directly with United, hotels mostly through Priceline or Total Rewards (I visit LAS a lot), occasionally via Marriott Bonvoy — all of which fall in the Chase “travel” category though.

So what I’m gathering is that one reward card doesn’t really cut it?

whipwhitaker

Is it confirmed that a Chase United branded card can be downgraded to a CFU? I am aware of the 5/24 policy but that’s not an issue. Like I said, I’ve been smooth sailing with the United Club card for the longest time and getting aggravated almost every single time at the poor drink and food selection. When in IAD, I always go to either the LH or the TK lounge just to avoid the Club.

I have been to the Centurion Lounge in DFW once, and if I had one at my home base in DEN, I would gladly spend the annual net $250 after (useful) benefits to get in there. I would not get a UC membership again, so I don’t see how I could actually max out the $200 airline credit.

whipwhitaker

I care primarily because I don’t know how else to use the Amex points Are you saying that I would just sign up with ANA to have a mileage account to link and then buy my awards through that one? I primarily redeem miles for last minute domestic Y awards or last minute Y/J awards to/from Europe.

guv1976

Could be ANA; could be Aeroplan; could be Avianca Life Miles. Amex might even have a few more Star Alliance transfer partners. But each FFP has its own redemption rates, fees, and -- in some cases -- carrier surcharges, so you have to do your due diligence. And your UA status won't get you increased award-seat availability on UA when you redeem through a partner program.

garykung

No.

A targeted offer is definitely an incentive. But if you don't believe you need such card, there is no such point.

Yes.

I believe the $1 million question is what kind of 1K you really are.

To make this short - each card has some wins and losses. But how you travel determine how well the card can work for you. This is missing from your OP.

While you may find the Club Card's $450 AF not worth it, the reality is switching to another card does not necessarily mean the situation has been improved.

Hence, how you travel is really the game changer here.

whipwhitaker

How do you mean?

WrightHI

Everything you’ve said about how you got to where you are says Sapphire Reserve to me. It works nicely with United, earns better than your Club card, and keeps your life simple. Next add if you want more value and can live with a little more complication is Chase Freedom Unlimited, to get 1.5 miles/2.25 cents anywhere your CSR doesn’t get 3/4.5 If you’re having fun with those two and want to expand further, then think about Amex. But if all you’re looking for is a one for one replacement that’s more valuable than what you have, it’s not a hard question.

OTOH, if you’re intrigued by the comments above and interested in getting more deeply involved in exploiting American banks’ eagerness to spend their marketing budgets sending Flyertalkers on nice trips, that’s more complicated and you have more reading to do.

garykung

Why don't you start by saying about your travel with UA?

bigbuy

Chase Reserve has vastly superior travel insurance and primary car rental insurance.

christianj

whipwhitaker ..

1. Do you have a lot of dining charges?
2. Do you feel that getting 5x for flight bookings vs 3x is worth approx. $300 to you?

Why the questions? I decided against the Platinum card and paired the CSR with an AMEX Gold card instead. I did this for reasons similar to what you said.....Centurion Lounge not that important for me and I spend a lot on dining. IMHO the real benefit of the Platinum over the Gold is the lounge and the extra 2 points on travel. For me the extra points on dining make up for the loss of 2 points on flights for the Gold vs the Platinum AMEX.

jerseytom

I was in a bit of a similar situation - somehow had slept on all of these travel rewards cards and eventually went with the Amex Platinum this year, even though I fairly exclusively fly AA rather than DL, where the points are directly transferable.

My personal thoughts / thought process with Amex:

• I'm happy to book flights and hotels directly, and the earn rate on points at 5x is mega
• The sign-on bonus is substantial (even more so for you with 100k) and for me covers the annual fee for several years even short of any other benefits
  • Likewise I only use Uber intermittently, can't say I've shopped at Saks but wouldn't rule it out, don't get a lot of use out of the $200 airline credit, but I do get use out of Centurion lounge
  • Even with my home airport CLT not opening its own Centurion lounge until 2020, that's really not far off
• As far as point redemption...
  • I can transfer directly to ANA and can get a really good value on it (I like going to Japan)
  • I like flying direct out of CLT, but for destinations where a flight on AA would involve a stop anyway, I could look at DL and direct transfer / redeem there
  • A hoop to jump through, but even for AA flights I could transfer to BA and redeem that way (as I believe you likewise could do with a Star Alliance partner)
  • Could redeem directly through Amex's travel portal... though giving it a perusal doesn't seem to be a good deal on flights, at around 1 cpm

I think either way, CSR or Amex Plat would probably be an improvement over your existing situation... though it'd be interesting to run the numbers on how much you spend on airfare vs. "everything else" and how the bonus miles would shake out. If "everything else" is way more than your airfare spend, the 1.5x you're currently getting may not be trivial to give up.