Anonymous wrote:I also have both Platinum and Chase Sapphire. Find them both worthwhile. Amex more than offsets the fee entirely with $200 United credit, $200 hotel credit, $240 digital credit, $240 Uber credit, $300 Equinox membership, $100 Saks.

I don’t use the Priority Pass much bc I have United Global Services and normally use their lounges or Star Alliance lounges so that isn’t a big advantage for me, however there have been times United/SA has no lounge and I have used PP lounges in Jamaica and Punta Cana recently.

I barely use the card for purchases except travel to make use of the hotel credit, and have therefore never gotten a retention bonus. I use the Gold for restaurants and groceries for the 4x points. Got it while you still get a SUB for opening a Gold with a Platinum. I understand that changed.

At this point have not used AMEX points yet for redemption and am a little worried as I am used to Sapphire which just transfers all points to United directly. Amex will be a learning curve but at this point only have any of a million so am stockpiling for a family vacation. I recently opened an ANA account and a Flying Blue account preparing to learn how to transfer.

I love the Sapphire reserve for the 3x restaurant points and for its easy transfer to United. With the $300 travel credit, totally worth it to me.

I will keep both cards.

Most valuable redemptions on business class flights, no question. Just used 900,000 points for 4 people r/t in business cl to Zurich. Was a lot of points, much more than would have been 3 years ago, but it’s different times and would have been $40k in cash.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP with related question — what’s the best way to use points up before closing/downgrading card?

Downgrade to an amex everyday no fee. Retains access to your membership rewards points without an annual card fee.

You can't downgrade from a Plat to the Everyday. You have to apply for the Everyday as a new card. The only downgrade options for the Plat are Gold or Green.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am considering one of the new member offers which gives you 150,000 AmEx miles/points after you spend like $9000.

Just curious, does Amex provide any avenues such that these 150,000 points are worth more than $.01/point?

I get that worst case, the 150,000 can be used a $1,500 statement credit (so, you come out ahead $805 for the first year)...but just wondering if that 150,000 points has a higher value, and the way you get that higher value.

It seems like the $1,500, plus the $200 in online subscription credits, plus the $200 in Uber credits, etc. definitely makes it worth it if anything for the first year.

Definitely worth it for the first year bonus. The way to maximize that is through transferring the points to airline partners for booking award tickets. But it is a learning curve to figure out how to maximize that, and you need to think about which partners Amex has. Delta, British Airways and Air France are some.of the big ones.

If you are planning on holding for just one year, make sure it's open at least through the time the second year fee is charged. If you close before that they may rescind the bonus, they are getting stricter about that. You have a 30 day window after that fee posts to close the account and have the fee refunded.

So, let's say I transfer 150,000 points to Delta. Is that worth 6 airplane tickets (25,000 points/miles per RT) basically?

Just trying to understand how to translate the $$$ value by using with airlines.

Just to give you an idea of a simple transfer benefit, I have scheduled four first class flights on Emirates next fall. Total flight time is 43 hours. Full first class fare on those flights would be close to 50,000 dollars. Economy about 8,000 dollars. I got them for a total of 343,000 points and 2200 dollars in fees and taxes.

To make this work, it takes planning and effort. Not a huge amount, but it isn't just plug and play.

Got it. That's pretty cool. The 150,000 points was worth about $21,000 ($48,000 * 150,000/343,000).

Good for PP for getting those flights. But that's unusual to be able to get that much value out of Amex points, and I would argue its really inflated, because in reality PP wouldn't pay that much for those flights if the only option was cash. As a rule of thumb, if you utilize transfer partners well, you can expect to get between 1.5-2 cents of value per point. If you beat that, it's a great redemption. If you go under it, you might want to consider booking using cash and holding on to your points for the next trip. But depends on a lot of specific info. As said, this part has a learning curve.

1.5 to 2 cents is paltry and something to ignore. 1.5 cents is what you would get using Chase points through the portal. 1.35 cents is AMex portal if you have an Amex business platinum. 1.1 is the money value if you have a Schwab platinum. Most data points that I see are people using Amex points in the 3 to 5 cents per point.

There is a learning curve and it might not be for you. Read up on it a bit. Travel on Points, 10X Travel and sites like those. And remember, there are services that will do the grunt work for you. Pay a fee ($250 bucks?) and tell them Ï have X number of Amex/Chase/Cap One points and I want to go to [Insert Destination] during [whatever months] and I need 4 business class/economy/whatever seats". They'll do the work.

It takes planning and flexibility too. A year out and a willingness to go to a positioning airport. For example, there may be nothing available DC to Paris when you want to go. But there may be a lot available Boston to Paris.

Trust me I have been in the award travel and churning game for more than a minute. Have spent many a late night examining many, many flight options. Been on 7 long haul flights in lie flat business class seats. I was quite careful in my estimated values statement of 1.5-2 cents/point being a reasonable expectation range. I don't compare to one way inflated international fares, or to optimal routings that I would never pay for. I compare to what a motivated deal seeker, who wanted to fly business class, would book. You can often get roundtrip business class to say Paris for around $3.5k roundtrip, and I'd say you can reasonably expect to find some award availability on that route for around 150k points roundtrip, plus maybe $200-400 in fees. So that equates back to around 2 cents per mile. I have gotten 3-5 cents per mile value, but usually it's been in emergency situations where I had to get somewhere the next day or two for say a funeral, and cash fares were exceptionally high. That's often the highest pure "value" use of points, and it has saved me a ton of cash over the years.

All this to say that I think when people say they consistently get 3-5 cents/point in value, they are usually inflating expectations of newbies. In either case, it definitely takes a good amount of work and learning to figure out the best ways to maximize points value, and I do agree that it takes a lot of reading and searching to understand it. I find it sort of a game and fun, but many do not, and therefore it's not worth it for them, which I totally get.

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Anonymous wrote:I also find many places not accepting it anymore, so I also have a visa with a low fee.

I still like the plat, because all the perks generally outweigh the annual fee. For example LY I got:
-$200 travel credit
-$200 fine hotel credit
-$200 dining credit

I didn't end up using a few of the others, but just there is $600 in "Free" that offsets the fee by a lot. Also do a lot of travelling and the lounge access is invaluable! Especially long haul international flights, so amazing to be able to grab a shower and some food or have a real place to rest.

Where did you get lounge access with a shower? That's pretty rare for the Priority Pass lounges most Plat holders will use. Usually it's only the premium airline lounges for international business class tickets that have those.

It was Changi. Had an 8h layover and used 2 different lounges, at least one had a shower. I didnt look for the second lounge.

That's fantastic, and yeah definitely on brand for the Singapore airport. I don't think any PP lounge in the US has showers, and most don't have much in the way of good food either if we are being real. Thankfully the Turkish lounge at IAD is one of the exceptions to that.

All the Amex centurion lounges have showers and there are a good number of those in the continental U.S. DCA is getting one fairly soon. That’s a distinct platinum benefit from the PP lounge access.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also find many places not accepting it anymore, so I also have a visa with a low fee.

I still like the plat, because all the perks generally outweigh the annual fee. For example LY I got:
-$200 travel credit
-$200 fine hotel credit
-$200 dining credit

I didn't end up using a few of the others, but just there is $600 in "Free" that offsets the fee by a lot. Also do a lot of travelling and the lounge access is invaluable! Especially long haul international flights, so amazing to be able to grab a shower and some food or have a real place to rest.

Where did you get lounge access with a shower? That's pretty rare for the Priority Pass lounges most Plat holders will use. Usually it's only the premium airline lounges for international business class tickets that have those.

It was Changi. Had an 8h layover and used 2 different lounges, at least one had a shower. I didnt look for the second lounge.

That's fantastic, and yeah definitely on brand for the Singapore airport. I don't think any PP lounge in the US has showers, and most don't have much in the way of good food either if we are being real. Thankfully the Turkish lounge at IAD is one of the exceptions to that.

All the Amex centurion lounges have showers and there are a good number of those in the continental U.S. DCA is getting one fairly soon. That’s a distinct platinum benefit from the PP lounge access.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also find many places not accepting it anymore, so I also have a visa with a low fee.

I still like the plat, because all the perks generally outweigh the annual fee. For example LY I got:
-$200 travel credit
-$200 fine hotel credit
-$200 dining credit

I didn't end up using a few of the others, but just there is $600 in "Free" that offsets the fee by a lot. Also do a lot of travelling and the lounge access is invaluable! Especially long haul international flights, so amazing to be able to grab a shower and some food or have a real place to rest.

Where did you get lounge access with a shower? That's pretty rare for the Priority Pass lounges most Plat holders will use. Usually it's only the premium airline lounges for international business class tickets that have those.

It was Changi. Had an 8h layover and used 2 different lounges, at least one had a shower. I didnt look for the second lounge.

That's fantastic, and yeah definitely on brand for the Singapore airport. I don't think any PP lounge in the US has showers, and most don't have much in the way of good food either if we are being real. Thankfully the Turkish lounge at IAD is one of the exceptions to that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also find many places not accepting it anymore, so I also have a visa with a low fee.

I still like the plat, because all the perks generally outweigh the annual fee. For example LY I got:
-$200 travel credit
-$200 fine hotel credit
-$200 dining credit

I didn't end up using a few of the others, but just there is $600 in "Free" that offsets the fee by a lot. Also do a lot of travelling and the lounge access is invaluable! Especially long haul international flights, so amazing to be able to grab a shower and some food or have a real place to rest.

Where did you get lounge access with a shower? That's pretty rare for the Priority Pass lounges most Plat holders will use. Usually it's only the premium airline lounges for international business class tickets that have those.

It was Changi. Had an 8h layover and used 2 different lounges, at least one had a shower. I didnt look for the second lounge.

That's fantastic, and yeah definitely on brand for the Singapore airport. I don't think any PP lounge in the US has showers, and most don't have much in the way of good food either if we are being real. Thankfully the Turkish lounge at IAD is one of the exceptions to that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also find many places not accepting it anymore, so I also have a visa with a low fee.

I still like the plat, because all the perks generally outweigh the annual fee. For example LY I got:
-$200 travel credit
-$200 fine hotel credit
-$200 dining credit

I didn't end up using a few of the others, but just there is $600 in "Free" that offsets the fee by a lot. Also do a lot of travelling and the lounge access is invaluable! Especially long haul international flights, so amazing to be able to grab a shower and some food or have a real place to rest.

Where did you get lounge access with a shower? That's pretty rare for the Priority Pass lounges most Plat holders will use. Usually it's only the premium airline lounges for international business class tickets that have those.

It was Changi. Had an 8h layover and used 2 different lounges, at least one had a shower. I didnt look for the second lounge.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am considering one of the new member offers which gives you 150,000 AmEx miles/points after you spend like $9000.

Just curious, does Amex provide any avenues such that these 150,000 points are worth more than $.01/point?

I get that worst case, the 150,000 can be used a $1,500 statement credit (so, you come out ahead $805 for the first year)...but just wondering if that 150,000 points has a higher value, and the way you get that higher value.

It seems like the $1,500, plus the $200 in online subscription credits, plus the $200 in Uber credits, etc. definitely makes it worth it if anything for the first year.

Definitely worth it for the first year bonus. The way to maximize that is through transferring the points to airline partners for booking award tickets. But it is a learning curve to figure out how to maximize that, and you need to think about which partners Amex has. Delta, British Airways and Air France are some.of the big ones.

If you are planning on holding for just one year, make sure it's open at least through the time the second year fee is charged. If you close before that they may rescind the bonus, they are getting stricter about that. You have a 30 day window after that fee posts to close the account and have the fee refunded.

So, let's say I transfer 150,000 points to Delta. Is that worth 6 airplane tickets (25,000 points/miles per RT) basically?

Just trying to understand how to translate the $$$ value by using with airlines.

Just to give you an idea of a simple transfer benefit, I have scheduled four first class flights on Emirates next fall. Total flight time is 43 hours. Full first class fare on those flights would be close to 50,000 dollars. Economy about 8,000 dollars. I got them for a total of 343,000 points and 2200 dollars in fees and taxes.

To make this work, it takes planning and effort. Not a huge amount, but it isn't just plug and play.

Got it. That's pretty cool. The 150,000 points was worth about $21,000 ($48,000 * 150,000/343,000).

Good for PP for getting those flights. But that's unusual to be able to get that much value out of Amex points, and I would argue its really inflated, because in reality PP wouldn't pay that much for those flights if the only option was cash. As a rule of thumb, if you utilize transfer partners well, you can expect to get between 1.5-2 cents of value per point. If you beat that, it's a great redemption. If you go under it, you might want to consider booking using cash and holding on to your points for the next trip. But depends on a lot of specific info. As said, this part has a learning curve.

1.5 to 2 cents is paltry and something to ignore. 1.5 cents is what you would get using Chase points through the portal. 1.35 cents is AMex portal if you have an Amex business platinum. 1.1 is the money value if you have a Schwab platinum. Most data points that I see are people using Amex points in the 3 to 5 cents per point.

There is a learning curve and it might not be for you. Read up on it a bit. Travel on Points, 10X Travel and sites like those. And remember, there are services that will do the grunt work for you. Pay a fee ($250 bucks?) and tell them Ï have X number of Amex/Chase/Cap One points and I want to go to [Insert Destination] during [whatever months] and I need 4 business class/economy/whatever seats". They'll do the work.

It takes planning and flexibility too. A year out and a willingness to go to a positioning airport. For example, there may be nothing available DC to Paris when you want to go. But there may be a lot available Boston to Paris.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also find many places not accepting it anymore, so I also have a visa with a low fee.

I still like the plat, because all the perks generally outweigh the annual fee. For example LY I got:
-$200 travel credit
-$200 fine hotel credit
-$200 dining credit

I didn't end up using a few of the others, but just there is $600 in "Free" that offsets the fee by a lot. Also do a lot of travelling and the lounge access is invaluable! Especially long haul international flights, so amazing to be able to grab a shower and some food or have a real place to rest.

Where did you get lounge access with a shower? That's pretty rare for the Priority Pass lounges most Plat holders will use. Usually it's only the premium airline lounges for international business class tickets that have those.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am considering one of the new member offers which gives you 150,000 AmEx miles/points after you spend like $9000.

Just curious, does Amex provide any avenues such that these 150,000 points are worth more than $.01/point?

I get that worst case, the 150,000 can be used a $1,500 statement credit (so, you come out ahead $805 for the first year)...but just wondering if that 150,000 points has a higher value, and the way you get that higher value.

It seems like the $1,500, plus the $200 in online subscription credits, plus the $200 in Uber credits, etc. definitely makes it worth it if anything for the first year.

Definitely worth it for the first year bonus. The way to maximize that is through transferring the points to airline partners for booking award tickets. But it is a learning curve to figure out how to maximize that, and you need to think about which partners Amex has. Delta, British Airways and Air France are some.of the big ones.

If you are planning on holding for just one year, make sure it's open at least through the time the second year fee is charged. If you close before that they may rescind the bonus, they are getting stricter about that. You have a 30 day window after that fee posts to close the account and have the fee refunded.

So, let's say I transfer 150,000 points to Delta. Is that worth 6 airplane tickets (25,000 points/miles per RT) basically?

Just trying to understand how to translate the $$$ value by using with airlines.

Just to give you an idea of a simple transfer benefit, I have scheduled four first class flights on Emirates next fall. Total flight time is 43 hours. Full first class fare on those flights would be close to 50,000 dollars. Economy about 8,000 dollars. I got them for a total of 343,000 points and 2200 dollars in fees and taxes.

To make this work, it takes planning and effort. Not a huge amount, but it isn't just plug and play.

Got it. That's pretty cool. The 150,000 points was worth about $21,000 ($48,000 * 150,000/343,000).

If you want to do it, I would go and look at a site like 10X travel that has a free introcutory course on how to do that.

There are tricks to it and easy mistakes to be made. For example, with Amex, the order in which you obtained various cards didn't matter. Now, if you get platinum first, you won't get a signup bonus (which is where points are made) for a Gold or Green card.

Are they expensive? The cards are, but I get 1100 dollars in easy, no brainer value from my platinum every year. That isn't lounge access or searching for offers or coupons. That's 200 dollars in United flight credits, 200 in Uber credits, 100 Saks credits (gifts I would buy anyway), cell phone benefit, 200 in hotel reimbursements (this is a pain for me), New York Times is free and a couple other things. So when I say 100 dollars that is cash that I do not pay that I otherwise would have paid.

What's the cell phone benefit? I didn't see that anywhere.

It's a cell phone loss/damage reimbursement benefit up to twice a year, if you use your Platinum card to pay your cell bill.

https://thriftytraveler.com/news/credit-card/cell-phone-insurance-protection-experience/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am considering one of the new member offers which gives you 150,000 AmEx miles/points after you spend like $9000.

Just curious, does Amex provide any avenues such that these 150,000 points are worth more than $.01/point?

I get that worst case, the 150,000 can be used a $1,500 statement credit (so, you come out ahead $805 for the first year)...but just wondering if that 150,000 points has a higher value, and the way you get that higher value.

It seems like the $1,500, plus the $200 in online subscription credits, plus the $200 in Uber credits, etc. definitely makes it worth it if anything for the first year.

Definitely worth it for the first year bonus. The way to maximize that is through transferring the points to airline partners for booking award tickets. But it is a learning curve to figure out how to maximize that, and you need to think about which partners Amex has. Delta, British Airways and Air France are some.of the big ones.

If you are planning on holding for just one year, make sure it's open at least through the time the second year fee is charged. If you close before that they may rescind the bonus, they are getting stricter about that. You have a 30 day window after that fee posts to close the account and have the fee refunded.

So, let's say I transfer 150,000 points to Delta. Is that worth 6 airplane tickets (25,000 points/miles per RT) basically?

Just trying to understand how to translate the $$$ value by using with airlines.

Just to give you an idea of a simple transfer benefit, I have scheduled four first class flights on Emirates next fall. Total flight time is 43 hours. Full first class fare on those flights would be close to 50,000 dollars. Economy about 8,000 dollars. I got them for a total of 343,000 points and 2200 dollars in fees and taxes.

To make this work, it takes planning and effort. Not a huge amount, but it isn't just plug and play.

Got it. That's pretty cool. The 150,000 points was worth about $21,000 ($48,000 * 150,000/343,000).

Good for PP for getting those flights. But that's unusual to be able to get that much value out of Amex points, and I would argue its really inflated, because in reality PP wouldn't pay that much for those flights if the only option was cash. As a rule of thumb, if you utilize transfer partners well, you can expect to get between 1.5-2 cents of value per point. If you beat that, it's a great redemption. If you go under it, you might want to consider booking using cash and holding on to your points for the next trip. But depends on a lot of specific info. As said, this part has a learning curve.