beckmaster

I currently live near IAH and do the majority of my travel with United, currently silver status. I'm also with the Chase UR program currently using CSR, INK, Freedom, and unlimited to max my points. Last 2 years I have been redeeming UR points for the 1.5% cash back via CSR. Have redeemed for thousands of dollars in these two years.

I am being relocated near SLC and will very likely be need to fly SLC-IAH-SLC twice a month. I guess my question is, do I stick with United as I'm currently silver and likely will be gold next year or do I move over to Delta and jump to Amex ecosystem?

Here is how I see it Pros and Cons:

Pros United/Chase:
I am already very comfortable with the system.
Priority pass in IAH has good options
Already Silver so luggage and extended legroom is pretty much free

Cons United/Chase:
There are no lounge options at SLC. Hopeing that will change as COVID clears up.
Flying United from SLC is a bit of a pain considering its terminal B and takes a good amount of walking. Not the end of the world, but if I'm looking to do this twice a month, maybe it will get old.
Any of our family leisure travel would likely start with delta out of SLC so no status there.
Chase cards are easier to churn

Pros Delta/Amex:
I will have access to a very nice sky miles lounge at SLC plus get the centurion lounge at IAH
Delta is much easier to fly out of SLC
Most of our leisure travel would be with delta and it would be nice to have status when traveling with the family.

Cons Delta/Amex:
I have no status with Delta so I will have to earn it and it will take a few months.
I am not as comfortable with with Amex ecosystem and will need to study up
I will have to use up my small amount of united miles 70k prior to the switch.
Amex cards are tough to churn

Is there anything I am missing? What would you do?

EDIT: added con of Amex ecosystem that it is tougher to get credit card bonuses

Mwenenzi

What are your ffp objectives? Family award travel? [look a cost of DL awards and earn to burn]
Any corporate travel policy preferred airlines?
UA & DL ff miles do not expire. AA & AS ff miles can expire if no eligible earning

beckmaster

goal is to have free upgrades to extended legroom and the very rare, unlikely first class which I currently get even with silver status.

goal is to be comfortable before a flight. I really hope priority pass gets something back again at SLC.

as with the points/miles I just want to get value. It doesn’t necessarily have to be business class overseas travel, I just want value from my points.

last 18 months I have converted UR points to 1.5cents cash which I thought was a bargain considering I kept getting points paying for travel and I have not done any overseas flights.

We are also about to buy a car which makes getting an Amex platinum very tempting if they will let me put $25k on the card and if this place is considered a small business. I’m having a hard time figuring this out.

Anyways, TL;DR I’m looking for value and comfortable travel arrangements that isn’t necessarily business or first.

MSPeconomist

Have you investigated whether DL will give you a status challenge? If you can earn UA Gold this year, you'll probably have a better chance for a good status challenge from DL.

DL seems to have better operational reliability and customer service, although both have deteriorated during COVID-19.

Will the car purchase be in 2021 or 2022? Have you considered a DL Plat or Reserve credit card rather than the AmEx Plat charge card?

beckmaster

Sorry for the confusion, I will likely get Gold in 2022 due to traveling 2x per month every month for work plus some recreational travel.

I think everything has deteriorated due to COVID. Even first class continental US travel has gone down hill significantly. I have not traveled international but I bet it has deteriorated as well.

Status Challenge: I have not heard of that. Is that when you ask Delta to match United status? Does that even work? If so maybe flying United for the first year and getting gold and then doing said status challenge is the best solution.

Car purchase: We are asking the car manufacturer to build what we want. They took the order and state it will take 12 weeks once they start building that particular package. Due to the chip shortage it can be a few more weeks before the begin. So looks like ti will be bought in 2022. The reason why I am thinking Amex platinum is because of the buy small promotion they have for up to $25k spend giving 10x points which is huge. Why would you recommend the DL card? Is it to boost status via spend?

EDIT: Did a little research regarding Delta's match. It looks pretty straight forward.

MSPeconomist

You can earn DL status miles (MQMs, which rollover) from $25,000 spend on DL AmEx Plat credit cards and $30,000 spend on the Reserve card, multiple times per calendar year. You also earn redeemable miles, normally one per dollar, more on DL purchases.

beckmaster

Although I think it is nice if I am close to a status cutoff to make some spending to get over the top, Unless I am missing something, I think its a relatively poor value proposition especially compared to the shop small benefit Amex Platinum is offering for new customers. 10x points per $1 spent up to $25k. Even without that bonus, I would rather get 5 amex membership rewards (MR) points then 2-3 delta miles plus getting closer to status. To me value is most important in this whole miles/credit card points game. I would also rather get 3 Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points instead of 2-3 delta miles plus status boost.