Best Card Used for Personal Travel

[Anonymous]

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@BronzeTrader wrote:

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@Kevinception wrote:

My girlfriend is considering applying for a travel card. She was immediately considering the Chase Sapphire Preferred, without much of a thought for the others. She has good to great credit scores, but her only card is Chase Freedom. I'm trying to push her towards the Discover It Miles or an AMEX. I told her that Chase is very stingy with their limits, their customer service is not good, and it wouldn't be a good idea to keep 'all of her eggs in one basket' in terms of credit cards.

What are some of the best travel cards you'd recommend? She only travels at the most twice in a year for personal vacation. The AF is not a deal breaker, but it shouldn't be more than $100/yr.

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Read OP's OP. For 1-2 personal trips a year, CSR is over-kill. The only thing valuable is the $300 travel credit. All the other perks do not contribute much. Better to churn on something once or twice a year. 

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That is just your opinion though.

As I said initially, I too only travel 1-3 times per year and after doing the math for my travel the CSR absolutely pays for itself.

[sillykitty1]

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@BronzeTrader wrote:

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@Kevinception wrote:

My girlfriend is considering applying for a travel card. She was immediately considering the Chase Sapphire Preferred, without much of a thought for the others. She has good to great credit scores, but her only card is Chase Freedom. I'm trying to push her towards the Discover It Miles or an AMEX. I told her that Chase is very stingy with their limits, their customer service is not good, and it wouldn't be a good idea to keep 'all of her eggs in one basket' in terms of credit cards.

What are some of the best travel cards you'd recommend? She only travels at the most twice in a year for personal vacation. The AF is not a deal breaker, but it shouldn't be more than $100/yr.

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Read OP's OP. For 1-2 personal trips a year, CSR is over-kill. The only thing valuable is the $300 travel credit. All the other perks do not contribute much. Better to churn on something once or twice a year. 

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It may be overkill, or it may not be.  As pointed out, it depends on the type of personal vacations.  With the sign up bonus, restaurant spend, Uber or public transportation spend, it could be a free annual trip to Europe.  Or it could be several weekend getaways booked through the travel portal.  Overall though, for someone who does at least some travel and spends at restaurants, the net $150 AF is worth it.

[red259]

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@BronzeTrader wrote:

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@Kevinception wrote:

My girlfriend is considering applying for a travel card. She was immediately considering the Chase Sapphire Preferred, without much of a thought for the others. She has good to great credit scores, but her only card is Chase Freedom. I'm trying to push her towards the Discover It Miles or an AMEX. I told her that Chase is very stingy with their limits, their customer service is not good, and it wouldn't be a good idea to keep 'all of her eggs in one basket' in terms of credit cards.

What are some of the best travel cards you'd recommend? She only travels at the most twice in a year for personal vacation. The AF is not a deal breaker, but it shouldn't be more than $100/yr.

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Read OP's OP. For 1-2 personal trips a year, CSR is over-kill. The only thing valuable is the $300 travel credit. All the other perks do not contribute much. Better to churn on something once or twice a year. 

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That may be the case for you, but that is certainly not the case for everybody. There are a lot of factors and like I said for me with 1 to 2 big trips a year I can still get more than enough value out of a card like the CSR to offset the AF. It really is a case by case basis. 

[redpat]

IMO, Amex plat, lounges, FHR, 4th night free options, rental car status, Hilton, SPG and Marriott gold status and then Citi prestige 4th night free.

these two cards offer the best travel perks w/o having to spend or redeem points to get anything.  Just one 4th night free w/ prestige will more than cover the net $200 AF.

Third would be Ritz.  The new $100 off two or more coach fares is a nice perk they added.

[rlx01]

CSR for travel and dining spend. Especially award flights.
SPG for all non-bonus spend.
Plat for FHR and big purchases (computers, etc) I want covered by purchase protection.
Prestige for airfare spend since the insurance is the best.

[BronzeTrader]

It seems I need to get more big name travel CCs, such as AmEx Plat, Ritz, SPG, and more. Be it a 1-2 trips a year, or 10-15 big trips a year all over the world.

[yfan]

For me, the CSR is a $150 AF card with 3x points for dining and travel (I don't have it). Sure there are other benefits, but they are so discretionary that I won't count it unless someone would pay for those benefits out of pocket absent the CSR. Yes, I pay for more than $300 in travel out of pocket, so that's the only thing that counts for me. 

I do travel a couple times a year now, and have never sweated not having TSA-pre or Global entry access. Often times the result of my deal hunting is flying red-eye, or at hours when the line for Pre is either closed or the same length as the regular security check. I have never needed lounge access, and more importantly, it's not something I'd pay for out of pocket. Rental car insurance is a good point, but Amex's one-time $17.95 insurance (for CA residents) covers more vehicles and is more comprehensive. I have actually used Citi's concierge service to get concert tickets, and they are every bit as professional even for my no AF cards.

[kdm31091]

IMO for someone who travels 1-2 times a year, if we're talking about a long term travel card, stick with something basic like an AAA Visa with 3% on travel purchases (or just use a baseline 2% card), something like that. Yes, CSR and the like will get you perks such as lounge access, but if you're only a casual traveler you may not find those type of perks important.  Conversely, if they are important, than such cards can be worth it.

Most of the "true" travel cards are set up to benefit those who travel frequently, internationally, first class, etc. This isn't set in stone, but most of the benefits are going to more useful to that type of person. While a lounge is a nice thing, if you're just flying domestically once or twice a year, you aren't going to be spending much time in the lounge that you're paying an AF for.  For international flights you are typically arriving at the airport earlier so there's more time to kill. On the redemption side, when transfering to travel partners with the CSR, most value will be obtained on international first class flights. You can get a good value on a domestic trip too, but it may not be as earth shattering.

Even factoring the airline credit in you still have to make sure your spend on CSR would justify a $150 annual fee.

At the end of the day, it really is a matter of opinion and evaluating whether the perks justify the fees or not. For me I prefer to stick with cash back type options for maximum flexibility (and because I don't find perks such as lounges to be important to me). YMMV.