Amex Platinum vs Chase Sapphire

[Anonymous]

I had the CSR for a long time and ditched it when the fee went up to $550. I have the Capital One Venture X now which you might want to look into. It’s $395 and you get it all back in travel credits, although you do have to use their portal. It also has the Priority Pass, TSA/Global Entry credit, etc.

I’d rather pay less for an AF and spend the other $300 how I want rather than use all of the “credits” at various places. But the DoorDash/Uber credits are nice, I suppose, because I order frequently.

[Anonymous]

I just went through all my CCs yesterday to see how much value I got from them in 2022. I only counted credits, not the value of points or intangibles like lounge access. I went into it thinking I might cancel Amex Platinum (I have both Plat and CSR).

I got over $1000 in value in 2022 through the various credits without even trying - $240 in entertainment credits, $200 airline credit (usually use this for United Travel Bank cash), $200 Uber credits, $100 Saks credit, $200 hotel credit, and the Clear credit. Again, that doesn't count lounge access, which we used a couple times or the points. So I'm keeping Platinum.

I only got about $350 in value from CSR ($300 travel credit plus a couple of their merchant offers). Since 90% of my spending is on Amex cards, I think I'm going to drop CSR in favor of the United Quest card now that I'm flying United semi-regularly. I just don't spend enough on the CSR for the points to amount to much, whereas I get a couple hundred thousand Amex points through everyday spending on Amex Everyday Preferred, Gold, and Platinum.

One overlooked card that I get a ton of value from is the Amex Hilton Aspire. It has a $250 airline credit (again used to buy United Travel Bank cash) and that plus the free night award (nearly always used at a property like Conrad) more than covers the annual fee. It also earns Hilton points at a ridiculous rate and I get enough for a free week someplace nice every other year or so (usually upgraded as well since you get Hilton Diamond status).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just went through all my CCs yesterday to see how much value I got from them in 2022. I only counted credits, not the value of points or intangibles like lounge access. I went into it thinking I might cancel Amex Platinum (I have both Plat and CSR).

I got over $1000 in value in 2022 through the various credits without even trying - $240 in entertainment credits, $200 airline credit (usually use this for United Travel Bank cash), $200 Uber credits, $100 Saks credit, $200 hotel credit, and the Clear credit. Again, that doesn't count lounge access, which we used a couple times or the points. So I'm keeping Platinum.

I only got about $350 in value from CSR ($300 travel credit plus a couple of their merchant offers). Since 90% of my spending is on Amex cards, I think I'm going to drop CSR in favor of the United Quest card now that I'm flying United semi-regularly. I just don't spend enough on the CSR for the points to amount to much, whereas I get a couple hundred thousand Amex points through everyday spending on Amex Everyday Preferred, Gold, and Platinum.

One overlooked card that I get a ton of value from is the Amex Hilton Aspire. It has a $250 airline credit (again used to buy United Travel Bank cash) and that plus the free night award (nearly always used at a property like Conrad) more than covers the annual fee. It also earns Hilton points at a ridiculous rate and I get enough for a free week someplace nice every other year or so (usually upgraded as well since you get Hilton Diamond status).

I couldn't agree more about the Hilton Aspire. I also value the $250 resort credit - it can be used for booking a stay at a resort or used for incidentals when you stay at a resort property. We recently stayed at Baker's Cay Resort in Key Largo using the award nights and points, and between the $250 resort credit and daily food and breakfast credit Diamond members get ($36/day at this property), we paid so little out of pocket. Plus resort fees are not charged if you use points which was another bonus. My DH and I each have one, so double the awards/credits.

[Anonymous]

CSR is building out their own network of lounges to compete with AmEx. IAD Terminal is getting one in 2023; LGA, BOS, and PHL are also on deck to get one this year.

https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/chase-sapphire-lounge

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you so much for the input. I am just so torn!

To the poster asking about Amex customer service.
I've had Amex for 30+ years and have always been impressed with their impeccable customer service. Then I got the platinum card. Wow, even more amazing.

But the last few calls I've had have not been impressive at all:

-I enrolled for the Gold Status on Hilton online. Arrived at the hotel and they said I was only Blue. It was too inconvenient for me to call Amex when I was traveling and thought I'd address it when I got home. It took 3 separate calls over a span of a few weeks to get the status to appear, and they couldn't tell me what the issue was- but it was definitely on their end, not mine. When I pointed out that I had missed out on the Hilton bonus points, the Amex I once knew would have just fixed that especially since it was their mistake. They said, "sorry, no can do."

-My Uber credit wasn't going into my account and they couldn't figure out why. This also took a few calls. They told me someone at Uber will reach out. That did not happen. Finally, I got someone on the phone who had a clue- apparently, if you enter your Amex card as a form of payment on someone else's Uber account (such as my kid), the credits will be issued to the last account you added. Would have been helpful to have that written somewhere. They eventually connected me to Uber (which I don't know why they didn't/couldn't do the first 3 times I called. Uber had to disable the 2nd account, then Amex did their fix.

Their reps on these calls were just not trained well. Just didn't have that "I got you" type of customer service.

I do have a Chase Explorer card right now- $75/year which gets me 2 passes to the United Lounge, and also free checked in bags. Would love to have both Sapphire and Amex but I can't justify paying $600 for 2 cards.

Is that all? And that’s why you want to drop Amex? Because after 30 years you experienced 2 instances of subpar customer service?
In both instances, your issues were still resolved. Right?
Let me tell you that the customer service won’t be different with Chase.

I will never go back to Chase. Was with them for 20 years and they put through a $20K charge on account. Yes $20K after we said it was fraudulent during an email alert from them. Then the customer service rep got me on the phone and without asking me put on the jewelry dealer, who had made the charge, and was trying to give my personal info. I flipped out. They tried to give my personal info to a crook. We routinely charged $10-15K on monthly and they couldn't care less about the charge. AmEX is like a dream in comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just went through all my CCs yesterday to see how much value I got from them in 2022. I only counted credits, not the value of points or intangibles like lounge access. I went into it thinking I might cancel Amex Platinum (I have both Plat and CSR).

I got over $1000 in value in 2022 through the various credits without even trying - $240 in entertainment credits, $200 airline credit (usually use this for United Travel Bank cash), $200 Uber credits, $100 Saks credit, $200 hotel credit, and the Clear credit. Again, that doesn't count lounge access, which we used a couple times or the points. So I'm keeping Platinum.

I only got about $350 in value from CSR ($300 travel credit plus a couple of their merchant offers). Since 90% of my spending is on Amex cards, I think I'm going to drop CSR in favor of the United Quest card now that I'm flying United semi-regularly. I just don't spend enough on the CSR for the points to amount to much, whereas I get a couple hundred thousand Amex points through everyday spending on Amex Everyday Preferred, Gold, and Platinum.

One overlooked card that I get a ton of value from is the Amex Hilton Aspire. It has a $250 airline credit (again used to buy United Travel Bank cash) and that plus the free night award (nearly always used at a property like Conrad) more than covers the annual fee. It also earns Hilton points at a ridiculous rate and I get enough for a free week someplace nice every other year or so (usually upgraded as well since you get Hilton Diamond status).

What is the annual fee?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just went through all my CCs yesterday to see how much value I got from them in 2022. I only counted credits, not the value of points or intangibles like lounge access. I went into it thinking I might cancel Amex Platinum (I have both Plat and CSR).

I got over $1000 in value in 2022 through the various credits without even trying - $240 in entertainment credits, $200 airline credit (usually use this for United Travel Bank cash), $200 Uber credits, $100 Saks credit, $200 hotel credit, and the Clear credit. Again, that doesn't count lounge access, which we used a couple times or the points. So I'm keeping Platinum.

I only got about $350 in value from CSR ($300 travel credit plus a couple of their merchant offers). Since 90% of my spending is on Amex cards, I think I'm going to drop CSR in favor of the United Quest card now that I'm flying United semi-regularly. I just don't spend enough on the CSR for the points to amount to much, whereas I get a couple hundred thousand Amex points through everyday spending on Amex Everyday Preferred, Gold, and Platinum.

One overlooked card that I get a ton of value from is the Amex Hilton Aspire. It has a $250 airline credit (again used to buy United Travel Bank cash) and that plus the free night award (nearly always used at a property like Conrad) more than covers the annual fee. It also earns Hilton points at a ridiculous rate and I get enough for a free week someplace nice every other year or so (usually upgraded as well since you get Hilton Diamond status).

What is the annual fee?

Amex Aspire is $450, there's also a lower card, the Surpass with a lower fee that is still a great card.

[Anonymous]

I like the CSR -- $300 travel credit, Global entry, Priority Pass, DoorDash credits, Lyft Pink status, Peloton credits, etc. I also have Marriott Gold status through CSR. Also, Visa is still more widely accepted than AmEx. We spend about $20K/month on the CSR. Tons of points, easy to transfer to airlines.

[Anonymous]

You should open up a Chase Sapphire Reserve, a Chase Freedom Unlimited, and call AmEx and product change from a Platinum to a Hilton Aspire.

CSR has a very easy to use $300 annual travel credit, plus Priority Pass Select, plus 3X ultimate rewards points on travel and dining, among other benefits. The Chase Freedom Unlimited costs nothing to own but earns 1.5% back on all purchases. But, if you have BOTH the CSR and the Freedom Unlimited, you can earn 1.5 ultimate rewards per dollar spent on anything and then transfer to and combine with your CSR points and subsequently transfer to travel partners. The AmEx Hilton Aspire comes with a restrictive $250 annual travel credit (although I just use on United TravelBank), an annual free night certificate, Hilton Diamond status, and a $250 annual Hilton Resort credit. This thing easily pays for itself every year.

The AmEx Platinum has a lower travel credit than the Hilton Aspire, costs more, and has a more restricted PriorityPass membership as compared to CSR.