New to FT need some advice
Aug 24, 2003 | 12:03 pm
#16
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: MSY; 2-time FT Fantasy Football Champ, now in recovery.
Programs: AA lifetime GLD; UA Silver; Marriott LTTE; IHG Plat,
Posts: 14,813
To cover a few points...
- Miles earned thru the card do not count for elite status. You need 25000 butt-in-seat miles to earn status annually. AA does currently offer lifetime gold status for 1 million miles earned thru any method; if you ever start charging really high volumes, that's good to remember.
- AA only plans (as of now) to remove the more-room-thru-coach on routes that have high percentages of leisure traffic. Most of the carribean, plus a few other routes. Business routes, as I'd guess most of the LAX flights are, will not be affected.
- Amex often offers 6 months or occasionally a year with no fee on the DL Amex card. If that's the deal you got, you should activate the card and use it once, even if you plan to replace it with the AA card. That way you will get whatever bonus miles your signup offer included (10,000 miles?).
- Miles on both AA and DL will not expire with any activity (not necessarily flying) in a 3 year period. This includes earning miles from your card, or even redemptions.
- I have both the AA card (visa) and DL card (amex). Typically I use the amex for gas and groceries and the visa for everything else. The amex offers double miles usually for one month a year, but it's darn near impossible to tell if those extra miles post or not. Carrying both is expensice, an extra $85/year fee, and I'll probably cancel my amex before the fee comes due again.
- Miles earned thru the card do not count for elite status. You need 25000 butt-in-seat miles to earn status annually. AA does currently offer lifetime gold status for 1 million miles earned thru any method; if you ever start charging really high volumes, that's good to remember.
- AA only plans (as of now) to remove the more-room-thru-coach on routes that have high percentages of leisure traffic. Most of the carribean, plus a few other routes. Business routes, as I'd guess most of the LAX flights are, will not be affected.
- Amex often offers 6 months or occasionally a year with no fee on the DL Amex card. If that's the deal you got, you should activate the card and use it once, even if you plan to replace it with the AA card. That way you will get whatever bonus miles your signup offer included (10,000 miles?).
- Miles on both AA and DL will not expire with any activity (not necessarily flying) in a 3 year period. This includes earning miles from your card, or even redemptions.
- I have both the AA card (visa) and DL card (amex). Typically I use the amex for gas and groceries and the visa for everything else. The amex offers double miles usually for one month a year, but it's darn near impossible to tell if those extra miles post or not. Carrying both is expensice, an extra $85/year fee, and I'll probably cancel my amex before the fee comes due again.
Aug 24, 2003 | 9:21 pm
#17
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: BOS, SEA
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, DL Gold, LP ex-Millionaire!
Posts: 565
I'm a little surprised no one has recommended the Starwood Starpoints Amex. It is usually regarded as the best cc deal going. Positive points:
1. It's an Amex (Debatable point, but ero2 has a preference for it.
2. More flexibility--your points accrue in an account that is independent of any one airline. You can easily transfer them to many airlines (including DL and AA) and they give you a 5k bonus for transferring 20k points. So you are getting 1.25 miles per $ spent.
3. Use of the card extends the expiration date of the points--no need to stay in a Starwood hotel. Also, in these days of airline financial woes, hotel programs are considered to be a safer bet for retaining the value of points--if AA goes under you still have something of value.
4. Low annual fee (especially for Amex)--only $30 (up until a couple of years ago it was free.
5. They always have some signup bonus going (usually 7500 to 10,000).
I use this card as my primary and also have the Citi AA Mastercard as a backup. In the interest of full disclosure I used to be a Delta flyer (this will be my last year with status) and had the Delta Amex also. But since I became disgusted by Delta's ultra-restricitve policies on just about everything I've switched to fly AA almost exclusively--for all of the reasons others have mentioned. No regrets. Also, I found the fee on the Delta Amex to be excessive and the bonus offers to be difficult to take advantage of (spend on the weekend, only certain stores--some but not all grocery stores, etc.). I was never sure if I ever got it right. Kudos to all of you who have!
1. It's an Amex (Debatable point, but ero2 has a preference for it.
2. More flexibility--your points accrue in an account that is independent of any one airline. You can easily transfer them to many airlines (including DL and AA) and they give you a 5k bonus for transferring 20k points. So you are getting 1.25 miles per $ spent.
3. Use of the card extends the expiration date of the points--no need to stay in a Starwood hotel. Also, in these days of airline financial woes, hotel programs are considered to be a safer bet for retaining the value of points--if AA goes under you still have something of value.
4. Low annual fee (especially for Amex)--only $30 (up until a couple of years ago it was free.
5. They always have some signup bonus going (usually 7500 to 10,000).
I use this card as my primary and also have the Citi AA Mastercard as a backup. In the interest of full disclosure I used to be a Delta flyer (this will be my last year with status) and had the Delta Amex also. But since I became disgusted by Delta's ultra-restricitve policies on just about everything I've switched to fly AA almost exclusively--for all of the reasons others have mentioned. No regrets. Also, I found the fee on the Delta Amex to be excessive and the bonus offers to be difficult to take advantage of (spend on the weekend, only certain stores--some but not all grocery stores, etc.). I was never sure if I ever got it right. Kudos to all of you who have!
Aug 24, 2003 | 10:34 pm
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: woodland hills, CA
Posts: 249
well, here is what I decided to do. If I get approved for AA(I applied today and got the we'll get back to you message) I will cancel my amex delta and use my AA card exclusively for EVERYTHING since they have a direct flight to nashville, which is where I will travel the most, whereas delta has a layover on every flight from lax to nashville. If I don't get approved for AA card I will use the delta card for a year, rack up a flight and then apply for the citi AA card again and cancel the delta. Oh, quick question, can I use AA pts to fly to Italy(rome) from LAX and how many points would I need, somewhere around 60,000? Thanks for all the great advice!
Aug 25, 2003 | 4:57 am
#19
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: BOS, SEA
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, DL Gold, LP ex-Millionaire!
Posts: 565
You certainly can fly from LAX to Rome. In coach it is:
40k plan-ahead off peak
60k plan-ahead peak
100k anytime
For all the details look in aa.com in the AAdvantage, Program Details section. (I tried to post a link to it but I'm in an internet cafe in Bangkok and the type is so small on this monitor I can barely read it. I didn't use aa miles to get here but I DID use them to upgrade most of the way!)
By they way, you're pretty ambitious for a newbie!
[This message has been edited by stephlac (edited 08-25-2003).]
40k plan-ahead off peak
60k plan-ahead peak
100k anytime
For all the details look in aa.com in the AAdvantage, Program Details section. (I tried to post a link to it but I'm in an internet cafe in Bangkok and the type is so small on this monitor I can barely read it. I didn't use aa miles to get here but I DID use them to upgrade most of the way!)
By they way, you're pretty ambitious for a newbie!
[This message has been edited by stephlac (edited 08-25-2003).]
Aug 25, 2003 | 5:10 pm
#20
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: woodland hills, CA
Posts: 249
stephlac, if you don't mind me asking I see you have status on both AA and Delta, which do you prefer and why? I have a delta amex on the way, and a citi AAdvantage card I just applied for, I want to use one for the majority of my purchases to get the most comfy flights from LAX to nashville tennessse and also I will need to go to Rome twice next year as my GF is going there on an exchange program through UCLA and I would prefer not to have to pay for the tickets. Thanks in advance!