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Message
Pairing Amex gold with airline partner
Posted on 1/16/23 at 10:51 am
Posted on 1/16/23 at 10:51 am
I have had the Amex gold for 6 months and absolutely love it. Fits my spending perfectly. I am mid 20’s and want to pick an airline to build with and start racking up points/status/perks with them. With the Amex gold, delta and United are transfer partners, so I have looked into those. Delta would be my first choice. However, I hear delta sky miles are hard to use, and hard to achieve status with delta unless you fly a ton.
Also, I fly out of New Orleans, not a delta hub. In that sense, southwest loyalty may make the most sense based on flights out of Nola. However, their perks are just nowhere near delta, and their performance lately has been garbage. Moreover, I can’t use Amex points for southwest flights.
Basically, I am looking for an airline where I can build status over time to receive an upgraded seat, board early, or lounge access every now and then. I want to do so in a way that is compatible with my Amex gold CC. Thanks in advance
Also, I fly out of New Orleans, not a delta hub. In that sense, southwest loyalty may make the most sense based on flights out of Nola. However, their perks are just nowhere near delta, and their performance lately has been garbage. Moreover, I can’t use Amex points for southwest flights.
Basically, I am looking for an airline where I can build status over time to receive an upgraded seat, board early, or lounge access every now and then. I want to do so in a way that is compatible with my Amex gold CC. Thanks in advance
6
Posted on 1/16/23 at 11:05 am to BrewDrees95
How often do you fly? Personal or business? If business are you able to put the airfare on your card and receive reimbursement?
Points and miles can be quite the rabbit hole but just out the gate I would suggest looking into Virgin transfer partner for booking Delta flights...for non-stop destinations you can get some great points value...if the award space is available.
United's sweet spot for booking domestic travel is via Turkish airlines which I believe only transfers via cap one points however.
If you fly alot of Southwest I'd definitely suggest getting a chase premium card that allows for transfers...this opens up Southwest as the transfer partner. Along with the best transfer partner out there-Hyatt
Points and miles can be quite the rabbit hole but just out the gate I would suggest looking into Virgin transfer partner for booking Delta flights...for non-stop destinations you can get some great points value...if the award space is available.
United's sweet spot for booking domestic travel is via Turkish airlines which I believe only transfers via cap one points however.
If you fly alot of Southwest I'd definitely suggest getting a chase premium card that allows for transfers...this opens up Southwest as the transfer partner. Along with the best transfer partner out there-Hyatt
Posted on 1/16/23 at 11:18 am to BrewDrees95
What's your monthly spend? If it's low you're going to be crawling to those free flights with AMEX.
This post was edited on 1/16/23 at 11:20 am
Posted on 1/16/23 at 11:50 am to WhoGeaux
Fly every 4 months or so but will start flying increasingly more for business
Posted on 1/16/23 at 11:53 am to BrewDrees95
I use my gold for day to day and airlines. 3x points for all flights is a nice return AND gives me flexibility on airlines, which I value a lot.
Just my $0.02.
Just my $0.02.
Posted on 1/16/23 at 12:12 pm to BrewDrees95
Southwest has the most lucrative points program. Get a Southwest visa. All other perks that Delta offers are of dubious value.
IMHO airline credit cards are a scam. The airline can change the value of their points at any time and make they unusable. I have 200K Delta miles and have had them for 20+ years and every single time I wanted to use them the flights I wanted were not available. You can always use SWA points.
The best credit cards day in and day out from a financial perspective are the 2% cash back cards offere by Wells Fargo and Fidelty Investments has one too. No fee--cash back is on all purchases.
No airline is giving you travel worth 2% of purchases.
IMHO airline credit cards are a scam. The airline can change the value of their points at any time and make they unusable. I have 200K Delta miles and have had them for 20+ years and every single time I wanted to use them the flights I wanted were not available. You can always use SWA points.
The best credit cards day in and day out from a financial perspective are the 2% cash back cards offere by Wells Fargo and Fidelty Investments has one too. No fee--cash back is on all purchases.
No airline is giving you travel worth 2% of purchases.
Posted on 1/16/23 at 12:34 pm to I B Freeman
Greenlight does 3% cash back if you spend $4000+ per month.
Posted on 1/16/23 at 12:47 pm to hombreman9
I see a few websites mentioning that but at greenlight.com I can't find the card.
Do you have a link?
I see a link now LINK
Do you have a link?
I see a link now LINK
This post was edited on 1/16/23 at 12:51 pm
Posted on 1/16/23 at 3:04 pm to BrewDrees95
Delta "Sky Pesos" are essentially useless. You can transfer to Virgin Atlantic and use their miles to fly Delta though, usually at a better price. Make a free Virgin account and search for award flights before transferring.
United is not a transfer partner of Amex. Chase is. You can book with Aeroplan, Lifemiles or ANA to actually fly on United, but as you can see, it's complicated.
Southwest is also not a transfer partner of Amex. By far the most flexible airline and the most directs out of MSY, though.
You can book flights using Amex points through the Amex portal which is by far the easiest and often reasonable. It's often not the best way to maximize but the learning curve is steep to do so. That's why I wouldn't recommend Amex to beginners.
I also wouldn't recommend "racking up" with a single airline unless you're flying more than monthly. You're unlikely to get benefits without paying a premium to stick to "your" airline or flying backwards with long connections to sit in a lounge. Be a free agent unless you're flying more or have a specific route that you're flying often to make sense. MSY (and most medium to large airports) have lounges that are accessible with a priority pass membership, accessible through many cards. Capital One Venture X, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Amex Plat. X & CSR likely fit your spending patterns as well as Amex Gold does and have much better travel perks (but have to weigh the fee). Citi Premier is similar to Amex Gold but with lower fee and easier to use points, but with similar (ie basically no) travel benefits.
Use Amex portal, Google flights, awardhacker.com, and googling "Use amex points to fly X airline" for where you want to go. Awardlogic and points.me are paid services that simplify things.
United is not a transfer partner of Amex. Chase is. You can book with Aeroplan, Lifemiles or ANA to actually fly on United, but as you can see, it's complicated.
Southwest is also not a transfer partner of Amex. By far the most flexible airline and the most directs out of MSY, though.
You can book flights using Amex points through the Amex portal which is by far the easiest and often reasonable. It's often not the best way to maximize but the learning curve is steep to do so. That's why I wouldn't recommend Amex to beginners.
I also wouldn't recommend "racking up" with a single airline unless you're flying more than monthly. You're unlikely to get benefits without paying a premium to stick to "your" airline or flying backwards with long connections to sit in a lounge. Be a free agent unless you're flying more or have a specific route that you're flying often to make sense. MSY (and most medium to large airports) have lounges that are accessible with a priority pass membership, accessible through many cards. Capital One Venture X, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Amex Plat. X & CSR likely fit your spending patterns as well as Amex Gold does and have much better travel perks (but have to weigh the fee). Citi Premier is similar to Amex Gold but with lower fee and easier to use points, but with similar (ie basically no) travel benefits.
Use Amex portal, Google flights, awardhacker.com, and googling "Use amex points to fly X airline" for where you want to go. Awardlogic and points.me are paid services that simplify things.
This post was edited on 1/16/23 at 3:05 pm
Posted on 1/16/23 at 7:56 pm to BrewDrees95
I recently began using Trevor at mile method.com and already have 175,000 miles. He charges $2997 for 18 months of consulting but I’ve been very happy with his service. He guarantees 1 million miles by the end of the period. You basically need to spend about $3000 a month on credit cards but I was already doing that easily. He also helps finding the best flights for your miles for up to 3 destinations.
Posted on 1/17/23 at 12:03 pm to I B Freeman
quote:
No airline is giving you travel worth 2% of purchases.
Then you're doing it wrong and you probably shouldn't be offering "definitive" advice.
I just flew with my wife HNL to LHR in UA Polaris with one stop in EWR. 62k miles ea and $5.60 ea. We flew back on Lufthansa business class for 70k miles ea and about $60 ea. How much you think traveling to Europe in biz class costs? I can promise you we got way more than $.02 per point out of that trip.
I'm not against cash back cards and they are a great option for someone who isn't going to spend a lot of time looking for biz class flights and high dollar hotels. There's different cards for different people.
Posted on 1/17/23 at 12:31 pm to Sho Nuff
Day in and day out the points are not worth 2%. You spent $2640 at a mile per point for those tickets and that was a good deal.
You could not have done it on Delta I bet and why did you have to split the airlines up? Was a round trip on UA too much?
Here is a good article on their value IF the airline will honor them when you want to fly. LINK
From Chase
From AMEX
You could not have done it on Delta I bet and why did you have to split the airlines up? Was a round trip on UA too much?
Here is a good article on their value IF the airline will honor them when you want to fly. LINK
From Chase
quote:
Travel Through Chase Ultimate Rewards: When you use points to redeem for cash, each point is worth $.01 (one cent), which means that 100 points equals $1 in redemption value. Each point you redeem for travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards is worth $.0150 (one and a half cents), which means that 100 points equals $1.50 in redemption value, and points are worth 50% more than if redeemed for cash. For example, 60,000 points are worth $900 when redeemed for travel purchases, or $600 when redeemed for cash. The cost of travel is based on the rates and fares available through the Ultimate Rewards website and travel center, and may not reflect all rates and fares that are available through other sales channels.
If you choose to use points and your Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card to pay for your purchase, each point will be worth $.0150, but your credit card will be charged the full remaining dollar amount.
From AMEX
quote:
American Express Membership Rewards Points Value: The Short Answer
The first thing to know is that the value of American Express Membership Rewards points actually varies depending on how and where you choose to redeem them. But the range is clear: You’ll typically get anywhere from a half cent to one cent per point. Points-earning bonuses can increase the number of points you get for the dollars you spend, effectively raising points values further because you had to spend less to get them.
This post was edited on 1/17/23 at 12:41 pm
Posted on 1/17/23 at 4:37 pm to I B Freeman
He transferred to travel partners. I flew ANA around the world itinerary, 9 business class flights the cash price was $15000+ and I spent 125k Amex miles. You can definitely get way more than $.02, but it's almost always in international business class or Hyatt hotels and need to find availability.
Posted on 1/19/23 at 12:44 am to I B Freeman
quote:
You spent $2640 at a mile per point for those tickets and that was a good deal.
Like I said the first time, you don’t know how to play the game, so you should stop speaking definitively. First, I don’t earn 1 point per dollar. And if you know how to play the game you would almost never earn 1 point per dollar. Secondly, your attempt at a gotcha failed. I transferred miles to the airline partner directly, in this case it was all UA miles I booked these flights on. Your copy and paste was of someone who books through the portal. The portal can wrk for economy class tickets fairly well sometimes, and you even earn miles for those flights, but the portal usually isn’t good for biz class tickets and transferring is. Especially when there’s bonus transfers to partner airlines.
This post was edited on 1/19/23 at 12:48 am
Posted on 1/19/23 at 9:30 am to Sho Nuff
My copy and paste was directly from the terms of the credit card.
How many points to fly tomorrow from MSY to DEN???
How many points to fly tomorrow from MSY to DEN???
Posted on 1/19/23 at 11:48 am to I B Freeman
7,500 on United anywhere in the US including Hawaii booking through Turkish. You're talking about booking through the portal, one of the least effective ways to use your points.
This post was edited on 1/19/23 at 11:50 am
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