Amex PRG

[Anonymous]

Is the Amex PRG still recommended? Is the annual fee worth it? I'm looking for travel rewards/points since my girlfriend and I plan on taking some trips in the near future. I would like some input. Please and thank you. 

[driftless]

Welcome! It really depends on your preferred airlines and airports. While I have the PRG, and think it is a great card, I am in Chicago and very much tied to United so Chase's CSR card is a better fit for me for my primary card. Look at PRG's airlines and hotels and see if they match well with you. One thing that I like about PRG is that gas, grocery as well restaurants score at a higher level of points.

Edit:  if you travel regualry AF's generally are offset by the benefits and perks.  I have 2 cards with AF's and think both are well worth it.

[Anonymous]

I typically fly American but I honestly don't have a preference when it comes to airlines. I live in Orlando and I travel frequently to Chicago to visit my girlfriend's family. Do you find the PRG annual fee hard to offset? I like the bonus categories you mentioned like gas and groceries on the PRG which make it easy to rack up MR points.

[austinguy907]

Taking into account the ORD/MDW & MCO airports and the airlines that fly direct between them.....

Orlando International Airport (MCO)

• Southwest Airlines (focus city)

• Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW)
  • Southwest Airlines
• O'Hare International Airport (ORD)
  • Air Choice One
  • American Airlines[7]
  • Frontier Airlines (focus city)
  • Spirit Airlines (base)
  • United Airlines[2]
  • Republic Airlines (base)

I would say looking at this SouthWest by Chase might be a good recomendation based on the two matching up.  Southwest is known to fly the smaller of multiple airports in most locations i.e. Dallas, Houston, Chicago

If you're planning on racking up the points/miles for a trip somewhere else that they don't serve then something more universal for redemptions might be worthwhile.  

ORD major airlines flying to MCO - AA (Citi), Delta(Amex), United(Chase), Spirit(BOA), Frontier(Barclay)

MDW airlines to MCO - SouthWest(Chase)

[Anonymous]

If you want travel rewards its hard to beat Southwest Rewards points.

After reaching 70,000 points in a single year, you are advanced to the highest tier, A-list Preferred, which gives you double points on all tickets.  If you fly Business preferred, you get double points.....so an A-List preferred traveler flying business select fares gets 12 points per dollar spent.  

Southwest also have a rewards credit card from Chase, which gives you double points on flights booked on SW and 1 point per dollar on everything else.

At 110,000 points in a year, you recieve perhaps the best travel rewards option out there:  the Companion Pass.  With this, your designated companion can travel with you, for free, on any booked fare on Southwest (even Wanna Get Away Fares.).

For instance, looking up a cross country fare tonight - BWI to LAX - the wanna get away fare was around 25,000 points.  The same flight, per dollar spent, was $354 dollars.  That works out to about 70 points per $1 spent on airfare.  But with a companion pass, you can get two tickets for that same 25000 points, which means you are spending about 35 points per $1 spent on airfare (monetary equivalent).  The companion pass works with reward flights booked with points.

So if you earn about 12 points per dollar spent (a list preferred and business select) on airfare, and are spending about 35 points per $ when using rewards points and the companion pass for the equivalent - this means you are getting about a 33% return on your points.  No other rewards system comes close to this value.

Currently, Southwest is giving all airfare booked until Nov 15 double points - this means I'm getting 24 points per dollar spent on airfare - in practical terms, a two round trip flight for me from Baltimore to LIttle Rock gives me enough points to fly round trip from Baltimore to LA (with a companion).

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Is the Amex PRG still recommended? Is the annual fee worth it? I'm looking for travel rewards/points since my girlfriend and I plan on taking some trips in the near future. I would like some input. Please and thank you. 

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I do like the PRG a lot. In my opinion its the best overall rewards structued amex charge card has to offer. But like others said, it depends on other factors that can determine if its worth it for you. 

[wasCB14]

It's sort of a "jack of all trades, master of none" card.

[Anonymous]

It's definitely the best charge card that Amex offers.

I was going to do PRG but ultimately ended up with the Chase United card since I fly United a lot.

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I typically fly American but I honestly don't have a preference when it comes to airlines. I live in Orlando and I travel frequently to Chicago to visit my girlfriend's family. Do you find the PRG annual fee hard to offset? I like the bonus categories you mentioned like gas and groceries on the PRG which make it easy to rack up MR points.

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The PRG is nice, you can get $100 for airline incidentals such as bag fees and food on the flight. Pick one airline for the calendar year, so it could be American Airlines.

You might also consider the Citi AAdvantage Mastercard card. That earns points directly to AAdvantage, the first year fee is waived, and you get first checked bag free, and slightly earlier boarding grouping. It earns one point, but with an effectively lower AF (free checked bags and all) those points don't have an AF hole to earn out of. If you go on the Citi prequalification site, and run the prequalification, you might get the offer for 50,000 bonus miles on sign up and spending $3k.

[Anonymous]

I received a pre approved offer in the mail for the CSP but on the Chase website I'm not preapproved. Are the preapprovals from Chase solid? I might bite on that instead of the PRG. I would also like some input.