stimpy

I somehow got added to this thread and I'm working my way through a lot of things I never knew about before. I've had the Chase UA Explorer card for several years and thought it was great. I get the double miles on UA purchases and use those UA miles a lot for friends and family tickets. Generally at over 3 cents per mile as it is often one way long haul business class that I book.

I never knew about the Choice thing? And I still do not understand it. And I never knew you could upgrade an award ticket?

I use mostly AF/KL and UA/LH for flying, although I like DL for domestic US. I use the Chase UA Explorer card for small purchases and lately for hotels and restaurants as there is the bonus for those going on now it seems. Except I have the Bonvoy Amex which I use for all Marriott stays. And an Amex MR card for certain other things.

So does it make sense with the UA changes to switch Visa cards to the Ultimate Reserve thing? I had a Visa Infinite in another country and it did not seem that special other than airport lounge access which i get already pretty much everywhere.

Kacee

Explorer is a terrible card for everyday use, including particularly hotels and restaurants. There are many other cards which provide better return. If you use CSR for hotel and restaurant spend, you will get a higher earn (3x) and it will be in a transferable currency (including transferable to UA), as opposed to being locked into ever devaluing UA miles.

STS-134

Interesting. Unfortunately, (1) there's no way to get the Select card; (2) I'm mostly done buying UA tickets anyway. But if I do want to buy a UA ticket before the end of the year, I guess I'd put it on the MPE card, since I'd get 5 miles/$ that way, which is better than 3 UR points/$ with the CSR. Only question is whether I value 5 UA RDM more than 5 AXP MR points. Hmm...

notquiteaff

I’d probably value 5 AXP MR points more than 5 UA miles due to the flexibility of MR. It’s all academic for me; while I still have the Select card (until next May), I have no plans to buy UA revenue tickets before the end of the year.

What are UA/Chase getting out of the use of Chase Pay to reward the use? Do they save on VISA network fees?

jsloan

The latter.

They don’t, per se. But they know how many miles you’ve ever earned from Chase. They keep that number internally, and whenever you make a Choices redemption, they take the miles out of your account and then they decrement your number of Choices remaining. The number that you see is the lesser of your current UA account balance and your current number of Choices.

So, if you have 100K miles in your account, you’ve never used Choices, and you’ve earned 125K total miles on your Chase card, you’ll have 100K Choices available. If you then earned some more from flying, and now had 150K miles in your account, you’d see 125K Choices available. If you then cashed out 50K Choices, you’d have 100K miles left in your account, and 75K Choices remaining. Hope this clears things up.

uastarflyer

I think what jsloan says is no longer the case. I have 190k balance and same shows as Choices. My balance was down to nearly zero in 2H 18. I earned maybe 75k RDM on CC and the rest from flying.

WineCountryUA

I think you both can be right.

What is your unused lifetime CC miles earning? If you spend down your RDMs for awards, the Choice Points available is the min of your lifetime CC miles and your RDMs. If you replenish your RDMs with airline miles, but your lifetime CC miles is still higher, then your Choice Point availability will increase.

See the first post of MP Visa Choices Primer (now closed in the premerger forum)

RNE

I'm just pointing out that Chase and UA's interests aren't identical. They're not going to see eye-to-eye on everything.

And how! I used mine solely to buy flights on UA.

ryman554

In fact, the 5000 RDM just posted. Was a reminder to cancel the card. =)

However, a $90 annual fee for just the 5k rdm is buying miles at 1.8cpm. Not so great.

I was referring to the 5000 EQM (PQM) for united purchases, and it is of no use for further qualification since EQM/PQM no longer exist.

You were discussing choices elsewhere, I just spent the last of my choices (redeeming UA miles for 1cpm as rebate for UA flights) earlier this year. Since the Chase Sapphire redeems at a better rate (1.5cpm) than UA Chase choices, I would not stay on this card just for the choices. I opened a Chase freedom card to get better spend on everything other than dining/travel, which is where the Sapphire will be used.

uastarflyer

I haven’t used Choices since 2012 per the widget. Probably $250-$300k CC charges since then (and I doubt I flushed whatever I had accumulated previously in 2012).

Thanks for the link to the primer. Although I’ve had good luck redeeming awards having Choices now with all the changes is a potentially useful tool to have.

ryman554

True. As long as you already have them, you will spend more miles (probably) than award travel, but you get valuable PQP for them. You can even use them as GG_BUYUP reimbursements if you are purchasing on your own dime for corporate travel. All assuming you already have them.

If you don't already have them, you are much better off going the CSP route.

uastarflyer

Thanks for confirming. Between this and Choices I will keep mine.

DesertRat

I got my 5000 RDM too. Between that and UA/grocery/home improvement bonuses it is still a card worth keeping IMO but the loss of a full waiver means I probably won't use it for anything else in 2020.

dshafiee

As I am moving all my spend back to AMEX Plat since it pays 5x points per dollar, while my UA Select is 3x. As most F awards are dynamic now, I can easily just use AMEX points to buy a ticket on UA and get PQF/PQP. Save the rest of UA miles for saver awards for the kids.

Correct?

94010flyer

I have had the Select Card for many years, but due to flying United more a few years back, I got a UA club card, basically to get a discounted club access (I fly out of SFO). I kept the Select Card primarily because of the 5000 PQMs it gave after $25,000 spend - since the UA club card didn't offer any PQM benefit - which helped me maintain my 1K status . The difference in mileage accrual for UA spend (2x for Club vs. 3x for Select) was not a big deal to me since I'm drowning in miles on AA, UA and Southwest that I never seem to redeem (especially on UA because was trying to meet PQD requirements always).

For the coming year while I still have 1K, and maybe beyond as I'll likely go free-agent after 2020 and won't make it to 1K (but will be lifetime Gold anyway), Im probably going to keep the Club Card because I'll likely still have to travel a bunch on United.

From what I've read, now the Club Card gives PQP now, just like the Select Card will -- and it seems like the only difference is that the Club Card PQPs you get can't be added to your total if you strive for 1K, where the Select Card PQPs will. Is that correct?

So if Im thinking that 1K is out of the question for me on United in 2021, does it make sense to cancel the Select Card and if I want the club access, keep the Club card? Is there some other benefit of the Select Card over the Club card that Im missing on??