Laumeister

Not sure if this is the right group.

Wife just started a new job that requires int'l travels to Asia by United Airlines (mostly business class), and I'd like to go with her as much as I can (self funded). Which credit card is the best for this purpose? A Mileage Plus card, or some other travel cards such as Chase Sapphire?

EmailKid

Have you looked at the charts Even a coach ticket will require a boatload of miles. Of course I don't know your spending habits, and you may be able to earn a ton of miles. On the bright side, fares are historically cheap right now, and planes aren't very full. Not a bright side for airlines of course

yugi

If you want to pay for the tickets, then Citi Prestige and Amex Platinum will give you 5x. United partner and Star Alliance member Turkish is the best right now to deposit miles from United, and it's also a Citi transfer partner.
On Amex side there is another good Star Alliance member - ANA, where you can deposit your miles from UA.

Laumeister

In both Citi and AMEX cases, is the strategy to transfer miles from Citi / AMEX to Turkish /ANA and then redeem miles on their website by choosing United flights?

I actually already have citi Premier, are those points the same as points earned with Prestige? Both are called Thankyou points.

Can you pls give a downside of United MileagePlus credit card? Both Citi Prestige and AMEX platinum have very annual fee, even with the transfer credits.

another option I was considering is Chase Sapphire Reserve...

yugi

Yes

And CSR doesn't have high annual fees? If you want lower annual fees, then Citi Premier can't be beat, but it's 3x only.
USB Altitude Reserve also very good card, with $75 effective AF and 3x (4.5% cashback) return, but no transfer partners. Also rumored Altitude Connect will have 4x, and I hope that points will be transferable to Reserve, so they will also be 1.5c, but this will add $95 AF, so to break even compared to Reserve, you will need to spend $6333 per year on travel, although there is rumored streaming credit of $30, which I think is mostly useless, and first year is free.

darthbimmer

The downside of the Chase United Explorer card is that it only pays 2x on UA tix. I sock-drawered my Explorer card then canceled it as I charged all my UA purchases to the CSR. CSR pays 3x on all airlines (plus other categories), and that 3x can be transferred to selected airline/hotel programs or redeemed at 1.5cpp (total 4.5%) in the Chase travel portal.

Yes, CSR has a big fee, but the various credits can knock it down significantly. You'll have to decide how valuable those are to you and if the card's other benefits are worth the remaining cost. There's an extensive discussion over in the Chase forum about this.

yugi

There is new United Club Infinite card, which earns 4x on UA, but AF is also high at $525
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/new-u...25-annual-fee/

Laumeister

Thanks for all the useful thoughts here.

Looking into this more, I am now debating between AMEX Plat and CSR. For my wife's work, airline tickets are booked by company, but hotels (no set chain or brand) can be booked ourselves. Which card is better for us in this case? Also, isn't the CSR travel credit better than AMEX plat?

mia

Chase's credit is simpler to trigger, and the amount is larger, but they are both just a way to attach a higher price tag to the card and refund part of it. There is no sense in which this in a genuine benefit.

yugi

With Citi Prestige you will get 3x on hotels, and you can get 2 free nights per year, if you book 4 nights on TYP portal. Not sure how it codes, but if it codes as OTA, you will get 5x. You can also use Prestige at other OTAs and get 5x for non-chain hotels. For chain hotels I recommend sticking with one chain, and use hotel CC, such as Amex Hilton Aspire, Chase Hyatt, etc. You can also use card which earns transferable currency, such as Prestige, Premier, CSR, Amex Green. New US Bank Altitude cards also look promising. Altitude Connect will earn 4x on hotels, and 5x on hotels booked via USB portal. Details on AC are not clear yet, but Altitude Reserve earns 5x on hotels booked via USB portal, and 3x directly with hotels. You can cash those points at 1.5cpp.