paramount

As a Cardmember you may redeem Travelocity Points for the following Account statement credits when they purchase travel, services, and products on Travelocity.com:

paramount

Also see this post Mikeoracle

somdave2005

I've been looking for a replacement for my AMEX SPG card since the redemption on transfers to UA is only 2:1. I'm seriously considering this Travelocity card. My candidates are the UA mileage plus card, Citi Premierpass elite, versus Travelocity Mastercard

- Starwood: ability to transfer to many airlines programs (but lower transfer rate to UA) 1-5% cashback value. $45 annual fee
- Citi PP elite: earns flight points (but need to match with purchases, making it a 2% card at best) 2% cashback value with 4% on EDP's. $75 annual fee.
- UA mileage plus card: earn 1:1 UA miles per dollar. 1-5% cashback value. $60 annual fee.
- Travelocity: 4% back on ALL purchases. 4% cashback value. $69 annual fee.


Another thing that bugs me about the SPG card or the UA card is that you have to really make an effort to get more than 1% redemption. Even with SPG hotel redemptions, you're really just getting 1-2% back redemption a lot of times. I know a lot of people here says they sometimes get more than 4% redemption on SPG hotel redemptions or UA international award redemptions, but how often is that? Whereas with the travelocity card, I'm pretty much always guaranteed getting 4% cashback unless I'm redeeming at levels below 20K pts. Even then the lowest I can go on redemptions in the Travelocity program is 2% back at the 5K level. Guaranteed 4% back seems a lot better than playing the miles/hotel redemption game where you're getting 1-5% redemption.

On top of that, the award redemptions on Travelocity earns you miles/hotel points whereas the hotel/miles programs don't. I'm favoring using a non-miles card because you can still earn miles when you make a flight redemption, and you can alternate between miles award redemptions and credit card award redemptions.

Redemptions on Travelocity also seem very flexibile becuase you can redeem for anything on the travelocity website, including flights, hotels, cars, vacation packages, cruises, activities, events/sports tickets, etc.

If you look at it from a pure cashback perspective, then it seems the Travelocity wins hands down at 4%. Let me know what you guys think

skofarrell

The Travelocity card is a great card.

Ken in Phx

I dont want to hijack the thread because this card is great for all non SPG properties but I've never gotten 1% on SPG. That would mean Cat 3's for $70 (I can find some in demand CAT 3's in the $200's when I want to travel). Just booked a CAT 5 in Italy 20k SPG pts that was $600+USD. SPG Amex is usually in the 3-5% range. Travelocity certainly takes that "need" to get your moneys worth out of the equation. Glad to hear its easy to redeem especially after a few yrs of using the terrible Citi TY cards.

somdave2005

I agree with you that usually you can get over 1%, but getting over 2% is much more difficult esp in the US. Maybe becuase hotel prices are in general lower these days due to the economy, and maybe I mainly look at domestic SPG hotels.

st50

How are Traveelocity Mastercard credit limits assuming you have good score > 780+? Is it same as any other card from Citibank etc? I have seen few places that it only gives out < $5000 credit limit.

Zentos

My wife's score was around 780+ and she got 12K on this card.

g50

Not sure if this helps you but if you have other Barclay's accounts, you can move their line of credit over.

Schutzee

I just called and requested to move credit from my LL Bean card to Travelocity and Barclay refused. They also refused to increase my limit. Both cards have only a 10K limit.

g50

Not sure about LL Bean but I was able to move my USAir line of credit to my AirTran line of credit. Then just recently, I have moved most of my AirTran Visa line of credits( I have two) to my Travelocity MC. Try again and get past customer service. Also, try during regular business hours. I think I said I wanted to talk to someone about my credit line. I was transferred at least once.

g50

Update on my Travelocity statement:

02/10 20,000 Points Redeemed -400.00


02/10 DELTA 006------------------ 209.00

02/10 DELTA 006------------------ 209.00


So for 10k spend and around $18 we got two tickets with taxes, points earned, double points earned(with status), upgrades (with status),mqms earned, no redemption fees, and we didn't have to worry about finding low award seats that would have taken around 50k in spend for the two.

I would have a change fee that I would not have had on a DL award seat with DM status.

The only reason SPG, Membership rewards, Diners and airline cards are worth keeping is for Int First Class Travel, a few hotel stays, and perks like clubs, MQMs etc.

I don't see how they do it.

Flyer737

One factor to keep in mind... Travelocity is guaranteed to get the Travel Agent commission for the travel purchase (at redemption) along with the merchant fees when you use the credit card. This is fine with me and does help make it a little more affordable for them vs. the pure cash back and other cards.

g50

True, but this does not add up to anywhere near the 4% they are giving back.
I think Barclays is the one that is actually running the program. I guess since the the no annual fee card pays 2% and the $69 fee card pays 4% then the other 2% would have to come from the profit made on people carrying a balance and the merchant fees.

perkunas

Does Travelocity waive the $69 annual fee in your first year of membership?

Either way, this card seems like one of the best deals out there. 5000 points after first purchase + 5000 point for balance transfer, effectively means $200 instant reward. Even if they don't waive the first year of the annual fee, you've got 3 yrs free with a 5K balance transfer. At 4% return, I think I just talked myself into signing up.

Bye bye, Worldperks!