Hey Look Pal

I've read so many threads in this forum over the past several years that have helped me, but I'm not quite sure why I never decided to become a member until now. With that being said, I hope this question is not of poor taste or is not in the wrong forum. Here goes.

I travel often for work and rack up credit card, hotel and airline points, but all separately. I am sure there is a better program, maybe one that is consolidated, maybe not, but I do not feel that I am getting my best bang for my bucks. Here is my current situation:

Airline - US Airways Silver Preferred (I live in Philly)
Credit Card - American Express Platinum
Hotel - Mostly use Hotels.com
Rental Car - Various, though I am enrolled in Avis, Enterprise and National

I suppose that the only anchor for me is US Airways since I always fly out of Philly. I could be wrong, but I really don't think the Amex card is worth the $400...maybe it is and I'm not taking advantage of it? I am wondering if anyone can recommend a credit card program or something else that would better suit me.

FYI - I put about $50,000 a year on the Amex, both for work expenses and personal.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

tkarrade

Welcome to flyertalk! As a fellow Pennsylvania resident I will say there's a lot of great information to be had here. Although my best advise is going to be in the form of a question:
"What is your goal?"

Do you want to redeem miles for international travel in upper classes?
If so where? (that can really affect which flyer program to concentrate on)
Do you want to redeem miles for domestic flights?
Do you want to redeem points for free hotel rooms?
Are you after status for lounge stays?

I think regardless of your situation, you will get the most bang for your buck if you had a designated goal and then went for it.

-TK

Hey Look Pal

I guess my goal is to find the best bang for my buck, in simple terms. For example, I was looking at the Expedia Rewards Program and it looks good if you are booking everything through them. I do not travel internationally too often, so that's why I feel like the Amex Platinum might be a waste for me. I do like the lounge access, but I rarely have time to take advantage of those anyway. At this point, I have about 150K US Air miles, 6 free rooms from Hotels.com and about 50K Amex reward points (I recently cashed some in). But if I could combine those, let's say, for a vacation package or something like that, I think it would be better suited for my interests. Ultimately, I would like to save up for a nice long Honeymoon!

tkarrade

Well, your bang for the buck may vary depending on your goal, but at least that's something to work with.

So, if you're US Airways silver preferred I can assume you've flown 25,000 miles in the last year or two. If that's the case you should look into the Aegean Miles and Bonus program. For the same number of miles you could have Star Alliance Gold status, which you could more easily use for lounge access on your domestic flights.

150k US Air miles is a good start towards a nice honeymoon, but I'm an American Airlines / Oneworld guy so I'm sure someone else is more qualified to advise you on how to spend your points. Any idea of what destination you have in mind? Or at least a continent?

Hey Look Pal

Nope, I'm not even engaged yet! I looked at that Aegean website and it's thoroughly confusing, so I may need some help there. I'm up to 41K miles flown this year, but I won't reach 50k, so I won't be going gold on US Air. I could qualify for Gold through Star Alliance and it would give me Gold status for US Air?

Also, I am looking to switch into a credit card that could work as a multiplier, if possible.

tkarrade

Each flyer mile program has its own status levels, but those who are in the big alliances (OneWorld, StarAlliance, SkyTeam) honor the status levels of their partner airlines at certain levels. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Al...ers_by_airline)

So your US Airways silver is equivalent to someone who has All Nippon Airways 'Bronze' or Turkish Airways 'Classic Plus'... etc. All of those programs have different qualifying requirements. What I was suggesting is that another program (Like Aegean Miles and Bonus) would get you the equivalent of Gold status, for the same amount of miles that you already fly.

That gets you lounge access, but of course it doesn't help you at all for earning miles for a honeymoon, since Aegean Miles can't be transferred to US Airways...

That's why I asked about your goals. Good advise for getting status may be bad advise for reaching a different goal (like a honeymoon award flight on US Airways.)

drminn

To start out you should get the USAir credit card just for the sign-up bonus - no spending requirement, an easy 50K miles. For spending, I would look into hotel cards. Depending on which hotels you stay at you could multiply your points/$ by 3 to 12, depending on chain. Check out the Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt threads right here on FT.

Hey Look Pal

Thanks for the info. Is there a credit card that trumps all when it comes to travel and benefits? I'm already shelling out $400, so I don't mind paying an annual fee as long as it is worth the cost. I feel that the $400 is at least as much as it would cost me to get a year of lounge access.

dcpilgrim

Most people here get a bunch of cards for the bonus, rinse/repeat.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...er-thread.html


Your best keeper cards have category multipliers.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...-spending.html

sm82

I have the Plat Amex as well (the fee is $495) and the real benefit for me is the lounge access (AA and US airways), Priority Pass (gets me into lounge when I'm not on AA or internationally) and the $200 airline credit for change fees or food/liquor when I haven't been upgraded because of status.

I know there might be better cards but I don't churn cards for miles so for me the card works well. That said, the guys in these forums can help you do a lot better if you're willing to work for it.

crimson12

Welcome to FlyerTalk, Hey Look Pal!

I think Aegean can be good for some people, but probably not you -- you say you don't have time to use lounges and don't fly internationally much, so it's not going to give you the biggest benefits. I'd leave that aside for now.

You should absolutely get the US Airways credit card. Use it once and never again, and it still pays for itself: you get a lot of bonus miles when you sign up, you get 5000 miles off of award redemptions (so a ticket that would cost 25k will only cost you 20k if you are a cardholder), and you get 10k bonus miles every year you hold the card. There is a $89 fee after the first year, but even if you think about it as buying 10k miles for $89 it's not a bad deal.

So what else should you do?

I would think of it this way. You should (a) build up airline miles (b) build up hotel points (c) maybe some misc stuff (cars, whatever).

You have a good start on (a) through your regular flying. Your 150k currently, plus the sign up bonus, will get you to 200k, which can get you round trip to Europe in business class.

For (b), I would suggest either the Chase Sapphire Preferred or the Starwood Preferred Guest card. Virtually everyone you ask will say these are the #1 and #2 best "day to day" cards (which is #1 and which is #2 might vary based on who you ask). The CSP transfers to a number of hotel programs, so you have flexibility on where to stay. The CSP also transfers to United (Star Alliance, like US), Korean (SkyTeam), and British Airways (oneworld), so you have access to all 3 major alliances.

The SPG card limits you to Starwood, but Starpoints transfer to a huge list of airline programs (including US) at 20k:25k -- meaning, if you transfer 20k SPG points, you get 25k US (or AA, or whatever) miles.

The biggest downside to the SPG card is that the sign up bonus is low -- only 25k right now, and very very rarely, 30k. The CSP will give you 40 or 50k. (Note that both cards have a minimum spending requirement to 'unlock' all the miles, and the SPG card has a higher requirement.)

If you apply for one of these two, plus the US Airways card, you will be well on your way to a very nice vacation/honeymoon somewhere, all without going crazy with credit cards, etc.

...

More likely, you will apply for a couple of cards, get hooked, and be applying for 4-6 cards every 91 days and all of your friends will think you are slightly crazy

But that's a discussion for another day.

To recap:

1) Absolutely apply for the US Airways Mastercard
2) Apply for either the CSP or the SPG cards. If ambitious, apply for both.

Unsolicited advice: keep the Amex Plat. There are ways to effectively reduce the rate to $250/yr (using the incidentals credit), and it has some side perks that can be very useful (including US Airways lounge access).

Good luck!

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"Rental Car - Various, though I am enrolled in Avis, Enterprise and National"

Note that most Hertz and Avis rentals -- even one-day, off-airport rentals -- can earn 1,000 Virgin Atlantic frequent-flyer miles, with no extra charge from the car-rental company. Virgin Atlantic miles can be redeemed for travel on US Airways and other carriers. So if you need free flights more than free car rentals, crediting Hertz/Avis rentals to Virgin Atlantic might make sense.

Segments

If you are PHL based and don't travel international, Aegean *Gold won't benefit you much. For example you wouldn't get comp upgrades that you receive as a US Silver

Segments

Are you signed up for Enterprise 1-2-free promo?

crimson12

Why the two-step? You can earn US miles directly:
http://www.usairways.com/en-US/divid...iles/cars.html