Which travel points program/credit cards do you use?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After doing a lot of research on the Chase Sapphire, I am still trying to understand if it's more beneficial than just getting a United credit card if that is the airline we use most often. Also we usually stay in Marriott properties and it seems Chase Sapphire is only worth it when booking/transferring points to Hyatt.

It depends on your spending and your travel patterns:

1. If you are flying United most of the time, and check bag(s) often, the United card provides a lot of value because of the checked bag savings. But the points earning is pretty much 1x across the board- 1 point for every dollar spent.

2. If you use the Sapphire Preferred, you get 2x on all travel and dining spending, so if you spend a lot there you can build points faster. It's also a lot more flexible with so many other transfer partners. Let's say you are flying to the Bay Area and United awards are really expensive for whatever reason. Maybe Southwest has a better option out of BWI, and the points cost is much lower. Because the Chase points have more options, they can be more valuable. You can also get a Freedom Unlimited card, which gives 1.5x on everything, and you can pool the points into your Sapphire Preferred account. With that you have the ability to build up points that much faster- Freedom Unlimited for most things, Sapphire Preferred on travel and dining. The Sapphire Preferred also has really good travel delay/insurance protections- although the United card does also. But SP is more extensive.

3. Yes Hyatt is the only really good hotel transfer value. Marriott transfer ratio is much much worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After doing a lot of research on the Chase Sapphire, I am still trying to understand if it's more beneficial than just getting a United credit card if that is the airline we use most often. Also we usually stay in Marriott properties and it seems Chase Sapphire is only worth it when booking/transferring points to Hyatt.

Its not an either/or. Its a "get both and many others."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After doing a lot of research on the Chase Sapphire, I am still trying to understand if it's more beneficial than just getting a United credit card if that is the airline we use most often. Also we usually stay in Marriott properties and it seems Chase Sapphire is only worth it when booking/transferring points to Hyatt.

Its not an either/or. Its a "get both and many others."

PP here with the numbered response. Agreed, but a lot of people don't want to get and manage multiple cards. In my experience most people might be okay with 2 regular use cards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After doing a lot of research on the Chase Sapphire, I am still trying to understand if it's more beneficial than just getting a United credit card if that is the airline we use most often. Also we usually stay in Marriott properties and it seems Chase Sapphire is only worth it when booking/transferring points to Hyatt.

Its not an either/or. Its a "get both and many others."

PP here with the numbered response. Agreed, but a lot of people don't want to get and manage multiple cards. In my experience most people might be okay with 2 regular use cards.

Correct we do not want multiple cards. Everyone says you get points from the sign up bonus. But those points are not enough to cover miles or hotel for a family of four. So I get that you might save some money but I still don’t get how people are going on all these trips for much cheaper. At least with the miles CC, you get perks like early boarding.

[Anonymous]

New poster here with an Amex Platinum… I haven’t spent too much time learning all the many details and welcome any tips on transfer point you all have!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New poster here with an Amex Platinum… I haven’t spent too much time learning all the many details and welcome any tips on transfer point you all have!

https://frequentmiler.com/amex-platinum-complete-guide/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New poster here with an Amex Platinum… I haven’t spent too much time learning all the many details and welcome any tips on transfer point you all have!

https://frequentmiler.com/amex-platinum-complete-guide/

Hadn’t seen this, thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s a good simple option if you don’t want to make it a hobby and don’t travel much (1-2x year)?

If you are a Bank of America customer than their cards may make sense. We get 3.5 points for travel and restaurants and 2.62 points on everything else. Can be converted to cash back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After doing a lot of research on the Chase Sapphire, I am still trying to understand if it's more beneficial than just getting a United credit card if that is the airline we use most often. Also we usually stay in Marriott properties and it seems Chase Sapphire is only worth it when booking/transferring points to Hyatt.

Its not an either/or. Its a "get both and many others."

PP here with the numbered response. Agreed, but a lot of people don't want to get and manage multiple cards. In my experience most people might be okay with 2 regular use cards.

Correct we do not want multiple cards. Everyone says you get points from the sign up bonus. But those points are not enough to cover miles or hotel for a family of four. So I get that you might save some money but I still don’t get how people are going on all these trips for much cheaper. At least with the miles CC, you get perks like early boarding.

There is so much wrong with your post but it sounds like you are not really interested. But in short, sign up bonuses literally are the game. It’s all about the sign up bonuses. I’ll leave it there - there is tons of info online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After doing a lot of research on the Chase Sapphire, I am still trying to understand if it's more beneficial than just getting a United credit card if that is the airline we use most often. Also we usually stay in Marriott properties and it seems Chase Sapphire is only worth it when booking/transferring points to Hyatt.

Its not an either/or. Its a "get both and many others."

PP here with the numbered response. Agreed, but a lot of people don't want to get and manage multiple cards. In my experience most people might be okay with 2 regular use cards.

Correct we do not want multiple cards. Everyone says you get points from the sign up bonus. But those points are not enough to cover miles or hotel for a family of four. So I get that you might save some money but I still don’t get how people are going on all these trips for much cheaper. At least with the miles CC, you get perks like early boarding.

There is so much wrong with your post but it sounds like you are not really interested. But in short, sign up bonuses literally are the game. It’s all about the sign up bonuses. I’ll leave it there - there is tons of info online.

What is wrong with my post? I’m trying to understand the “game.” Even with the sign up bonus-how much of that would cover a trip for a family?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After doing a lot of research on the Chase Sapphire, I am still trying to understand if it's more beneficial than just getting a United credit card if that is the airline we use most often. Also we usually stay in Marriott properties and it seems Chase Sapphire is only worth it when booking/transferring points to Hyatt.

Its not an either/or. Its a "get both and many others."

PP here with the numbered response. Agreed, but a lot of people don't want to get and manage multiple cards. In my experience most people might be okay with 2 regular use cards.

Correct we do not want multiple cards. Everyone says you get points from the sign up bonus. But those points are not enough to cover miles or hotel for a family of four. So I get that you might save some money but I still don’t get how people are going on all these trips for much cheaper. At least with the miles CC, you get perks like early boarding.

There is so much wrong with your post but it sounds like you are not really interested. But in short, sign up bonuses literally are the game. It’s all about the sign up bonuses. I’ll leave it there - there is tons of info online.

What is wrong with my post? I’m trying to understand the “game.” Even with the sign up bonus-how much of that would cover a trip for a family?

Here's how: I signed up for two cards - a Sapphire Preferred for a sign up bonus of 60,000 points and United Explorer for 50,000 points. Last week, I referred DH and signed him up for Sapphire. He got 80,000 points for signing up and I got 15,000 points for referring him. I also signed him up for United Explorer and he got 50,000 points and I got 15,000 for referring him. So, in total we got 270,000 points. We already had 50,000 United points so, with the 320,000 points I booked 4 return flights to Australia which otherwise would have costed about $6,400 or a little more.

Note, we do not use the United Explorer cards except to pay for United flights as they only pay 1x on points. If you charge a $2,000 travel cost to your Explorer card, you only get 2,000 points. If you charge it to Sapphire Preferred, you get 4,000 points and can choose to transfer those to your United rewards account.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After doing a lot of research on the Chase Sapphire, I am still trying to understand if it's more beneficial than just getting a United credit card if that is the airline we use most often. Also we usually stay in Marriott properties and it seems Chase Sapphire is only worth it when booking/transferring points to Hyatt.

Its not an either/or. Its a "get both and many others."

PP here with the numbered response. Agreed, but a lot of people don't want to get and manage multiple cards. In my experience most people might be okay with 2 regular use cards.

Correct we do not want multiple cards. Everyone says you get points from the sign up bonus. But those points are not enough to cover miles or hotel for a family of four. So I get that you might save some money but I still don’t get how people are going on all these trips for much cheaper. At least with the miles CC, you get perks like early boarding.

There is so much wrong with your post but it sounds like you are not really interested. But in short, sign up bonuses literally are the game. It’s all about the sign up bonuses. I’ll leave it there - there is tons of info online.

What is wrong with my post? I’m trying to understand the “game.” Even with the sign up bonus-how much of that would cover a trip for a family?

Further back PP here. Going deep into the points/miles game is not for everyone by any means. It's a steep learning curve, and requires a good amount of organization, record keeping, etc. It's totally fine not to be interested - it definitely takes some work and a lot of time.to learn the ins and outs. That's why most people don't end up getting into it, which is totally understandable. Sounds like it's not your thing- my recommendation would be to get that United card for the baggage allowance and earlier group boarding, and use a cashback card with 2% back on everything like the Citi Double Cash card. Super simple and an easy way to get a nice little cash back every year. It's a good way to go for most.

[Anonymous]

I have the United card and AMEX Hilton Honors.

As stated, United is good for free bags, early boarding and you get a couple United Club passes every year. Also, I think if you spend 12k in a year it gives you 500 PQP points, which gets you to Silver in Mileage Plus. Silver isn’t a huge deal, but you’re that much closer to Gold.

I have had Hilton Honors card forever. I forget the level card I have, but it’s the one that has an annual fee of $95. The card gets you occasional upgrades, free breakfast/food credit, points for your purchases, and a free night every year. We use the free night to stay at a hotel that’s usually out of our budget as an annual date night. I like this card a lot. Reward nights are really easy to redeem and Hilton has a wide range of hotel options- Hampton Inns for road-trips and higher end properties like Conrad, Waldorf Astoria and others in the middle.

[Anonymous]

Pp here. United card gets you 5,000 PQP if you spend 12k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After doing a lot of research on the Chase Sapphire, I am still trying to understand if it's more beneficial than just getting a United credit card if that is the airline we use most often. Also we usually stay in Marriott properties and it seems Chase Sapphire is only worth it when booking/transferring points to Hyatt.

Its not an either/or. Its a "get both and many others."

PP here with the numbered response. Agreed, but a lot of people don't want to get and manage multiple cards. In my experience most people might be okay with 2 regular use cards.

Correct we do not want multiple cards. Everyone says you get points from the sign up bonus. But those points are not enough to cover miles or hotel for a family of four. So I get that you might save some money but I still don’t get how people are going on all these trips for much cheaper. At least with the miles CC, you get perks like early boarding.

There is so much wrong with your post but it sounds like you are not really interested. But in short, sign up bonuses literally are the game. It’s all about the sign up bonuses. I’ll leave it there - there is tons of info online.

What is wrong with my post? I’m trying to understand the “game.” Even with the sign up bonus-how much of that would cover a trip for a family?

Here's how: I signed up for two cards - a Sapphire Preferred for a sign up bonus of 60,000 points and United Explorer for 50,000 points. Last week, I referred DH and signed him up for Sapphire. He got 80,000 points for signing up and I got 15,000 points for referring him. I also signed him up for United Explorer and he got 50,000 points and I got 15,000 for referring him. So, in total we got 270,000 points. We already had 50,000 United points so, with the 320,000 points I booked 4 return flights to Australia which otherwise would have costed about $6,400 or a little more.

Note, we do not use the United Explorer cards except to pay for United flights as they only pay 1x on points. If you charge a $2,000 travel cost to your Explorer card, you only get 2,000 points. If you charge it to Sapphire Preferred, you get 4,000 points and can choose to transfer those to your United rewards account.

Ok thank you, that makes a lot more sense.