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5% Points or Cash back on airlines all the time

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KS13
Established Member

Re: 5% Points or Cash back on airlines all the time


@nishant1 wrote:

Chase offers one quarter on airlines. US Cash + has one category.

 

 I have dedicated one 5% category on current US Cash + card all the time for airline.Now that US Cash + attractive categories like bill pay, Home improvement and Airlines are going away, is there any other cards which gives 5% back on airline all the time?

 

I have many cards which give 2% on travel or airline like Chase Sapphire Preferred but nothing to replace US Cash + category.

 

In absence of new card, I plan is to use all my 3 Chase cards- Freedom, Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire No annual fee Mastercard points including leveraged Freedom 5% points. Then transfer all points to Sapphire Preferred and book flight using Ultimate rewards which will give me 6.25% from 5% Freedom transferred and 2.675% from Sapphire Preferred and 1.33% from Sapphire MasterCard.

 

Above calculation includes 7% annual bonus on Both Sapphire cards and 25% bonus from ultimate rewards site bookings.


i don't see what quarter Chase offers 5% on airlines? For this year

Message 11 of 19
nishant1
New Contributor

Re: 5% Points or Cash back on airlines all the time

It was for Q4 2012- Last month. Freedom made changes for this year and deleted it.

 

Amazon 5% which was in Q1 last year is moved Q4 this year.

 

Luckily they continue Gas for two quarters for 5% but Discover now reduced to only one quarter a year for gas.

 

 

Message 12 of 19
bs6054
Valued Contributor

Re: 5% Points or Cash back on airlines all the time

Well, as already posted, PenFed Amex seems to do what you want:

 

https://www.penfed.org/PenFed-Premium-Travel-Rewards-American-Express-Card/

 

  • Earn 5 points on airfare purchases
  • Earn 1 point on all other purchases
  • 20,000 bonus points when you spend $2,500 within the first 3 months of opening the Card account – that’s worth $200 toward your next round-trip airline ticket
  • No annual fee
  • No foreign transaction fees
Message 13 of 19
Link2k
Valued Member

Re: 5% Points or Cash back on airlines all the time


@UFGuy2006 wrote:

@nishant1 wrote:

Chase offers one quarter on airlines. US Cash + has one category.

 

 I have dedicated one 5% category on current US Cash + card all the time for airline.Now that US Cash + attractive categories like bill pay, Home improvement and Airlines are going away, is there any other cards which gives 5% back on airline all the time?

 

I have many cards which give 2% on travel or airline like Chase Sapphire Preferred but nothing to replace US Cash + category.

 

In absence of new card, I plan is to use all my 3 Chase cards- Freedom, Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire No annual fee Mastercard points including leveraged Freedom 5% points. Then transfer all points to Sapphire Preferred and book flight using Ultimate rewards which will give me 6.25% from 5% Freedom transferred and 2.675% from Sapphire Preferred and 1.33% from Sapphire MasterCard.

 

Above calculation includes 7% annual bonus on Both Sapphire cards and 25% bonus from ultimate rewards site bookings.


Penfed Travel Rewards Amex provides 5x points per dollar for Airline purchases.


+1

 

It also has a 20,000 point sign up bonus.

 

Penfed Amex 

Message 14 of 19
distantarray
Established Contributor

Re: 5% Points or Cash back on airlines all the time

US Bank Flexperks is the best for travel imo, and I'm probably the worst frequent flyer addict in this forum lol!

 

Flexperks is interesting. 1 flexpoint is worth upto 2 cents in tiers best for ANY flights. Why? Because it's one of the only cards that allows you to AQUIRE frequent flyer miles  at the sametime.

 

Like I fly from Tampa FL to Vietnam few times a year. If I use my points to buy a $1,400 ticket, I'll still get about 20k miles through United for my flight. after 3 flex point award flights I can use the United miles for a free flight. So your double dipping into Flexperks + United frequent flyer program which is almost never allowed with miles credit cards.

 

The best thing is they have 1x 2x and 3x point categories, but the points are actually worth upto 2x 4x 6x    Not to mention if your military with Platinum checking, or hold $25,000 of funds in their accounts you'll get another 50% bonus on your regular spending.

 

So 3x 4x 6x cents in value.  Also the points to redeem domestic flights is A LOT less.

 

For instance an award saver flight from United  from Tampa to New Jersey is 25,000 miles award saver. Or you could use 20,000 flexpoints.  the flight costs $179 United points don't even come to 0.8 cents per point value in this case. Flexpoints however gets over 1.6% since 20,000 points gets you a $400 flight. Meaning instead of flying coach through United points, you can fly First class for $349, or fly two people for less points.

 

1.5 flex points = 3 cents with platinum checking for base spending so points adds up a lot. It's a little confusing at first but it is HANDS down the best travel card, because it has the ability to aquire miles while you redeem your flexpoint award flights + work towards your airline status.  Also big spenders can get the annual fees waived, and Flexperks is THE best card if you pay a lot in taxes.

 

 

3x flexpoints (6cents value) for Charity donations. meaning if you pay Charities to get tax write offs AND gain 6% back for travel.  So if you gave 50k to charity for write offs with the card, you would aquire 150k points good for $3,000 in travel + your frequent flyer miles.

 

If you fly international like I do, 1.5 flex points = 3 cents for base spending, but in my case the extra ff miles I would get would be worth close to 30% more value. So 3.9 cents value for everyday spending with Platinum checking, and that's just the base points!

 

Although if you like to fly business or first class internationally this wouldn't be the best card, but for economy flights this card is king, or 2x short domestic flights or 1 first class flight domestically.

 

The points are a bit strange, but if you learn how to use it correctly you'll love it.

 

Why I say this isn't the best card is because United miles can be worth close to 9 cents per point when redeemed for first class saver awards (140,000 round trip) when tickets can exceed $12,000. Although you could just buy the United points for under 2 penny a piece and get the first class ticket with miles purchased for the same price as a coach ticket during season.

 

 

Personally my 2 favorite cards. Flexperks (off season + international economy flights, or domestic first class) + United Club for peak season flights and instant gold status and 1.5 miles per dollar spent is the best if your looking for first class or in season flight redemption.


total credit limits $108,400 Credit scores Ex 728 EQ 738 TU 758
Message 15 of 19
Cageym
Established Contributor

Re: 5% Points or Cash back on airlines all the time

I used the Amex travel site (I have a Delta Gold) to check a ticket price to go back to the states this summer, then checked other sites. Amex was about $1000 cheaper for a business class round trip ticket. I don't need %5 back if I can save that much on the ticket.

What's in my wallet: Cap1 Venture NFCU Sig Visa Delta Gold Amex BCE Citi Simplicity IHG World MC Amazon Visa CSP
Starting Score: 5/2010 550-ish
Current Score: 6/20/2013 TU 800 6/20/2013 EQ 770 6/20/2013 EX 775
Goal Score: 800 accross the board
Message 16 of 19
webhopper
Moderator Emeritus

Re: 5% Points or Cash back on airlines all the time

I like the amex travel site. The tickets are reasonably priced... and 4x rewards Smiley Happy

Also the optional to pay with points...
FICO 9:
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.

Goal: Gardening!


Message 17 of 19
nishant1
New Contributor

Re: 5% Points or Cash back on airlines all the time

My experience with Chase Sapphire Preferred is very good.

 

I use Kayak.com to identify which flights are most suitable and best prices and write down flight numbers. Close Kayak and go to Chase ultimate rewards.

 

I then transfer all Freedom points to Sapphire Preferred and then buy identical  kayak flight numbers for identical prices.

 

That way, I get best deals as well as 25% bonus from CSP by which I get $500 worth ticket with worth $400 points.

 

Plus I get 2% on purchase amount for future.

Message 18 of 19
bribro
Valued Contributor

Re: 5% Points or Cash back on airlines all the time


@nishant1 wrote:

My experience with Chase Sapphire Preferred is very good.

 

I use Kayak.com to identify which flights are most suitable and best prices and write down flight numbers. Close Kayak and go to Chase ultimate rewards.

 

I then transfer all Freedom points to Sapphire Preferred and then buy identical  kayak flight numbers for identical prices.

 

That way, I get best deals as well as 25% bonus from CSP by which I get $500 worth ticket with worth $400 points.

 

Plus I get 2% on purchase amount for future.


As an aside, if you're using Southwest or United, it's better to transfer your UR into those frequent flyer programs and then redeem them instead of using the UR travel portal with the 25% bonus. SW RR points are worth around 1.66-1.88 cpm, and as much as double that on United (my last redemption was close to 4 cpm).

TU FICO: 800 (2/1/14) | CK Score: 802 (2/1/14) | CS Score: 805 (2/1/14)

J.P. Morgan Palladium ($250k) | AmEx Platinum (NPSL) | AmEx SPG Personal/Business ($50k/$50k) | Citi Executive AAdvantage WEMC ($50k) | Citi Dividend WEMC ($50k) | Chase Sapphire Preferred VS ($50k) | Chase Ink Bold WEMC ($50k Flex) | Chase Ink Plus WEMC ($25k) | Chase Freedom VS ($25k) | Chase Freedom WMC ($25k) | Chase MileagePlus Explorer ($25k) | Chase Southwest RR Plus Business/Personal ($15k/$15k) | Barclays US Airways ($25k) | Barclays Hawaiian Airlines ($25k) | BofA Alaska Airlines ($10k) | Lexus Financial Services ($30k) | Mercedes-Benz Financial Services ($50k)
Message 19 of 19
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