Virgin vs Southwest

mattayy · ‎02-12-2014

I won't get approved for either one at this time in my life haha but eventually I would like an airline card. I fly a lot from SF to LA and Seattle but usually go for virgin because their prices are reasonable and their planes are up to date and comfortable. If the southwest card is more beneficial because their miles/point system or whatever is better than virgin then I would probably go with them.

Any thoughts? Is one of these cards harder to get than the other?

EQ: 584 TU: 615 EX: 612

Cap 1 Williams Sonoma Visa $3.5k limit, Walmart MC $2k limit, American Express Platinum $2K limit, Venmo Visa $900 limit, Credit One Amex $700 limit, Credit One Visa $400 limit, Kohls $300 limit, Target RedCard $300 limit, Living Spaces $1k limit, Amazon $400 limit, Jcrew $450 limit, US Bank $300 limit

Cdnewmanpac · ‎02-12-2014

What about the chase sapphire preferred? The qualification standard isn't that different from SW or Virgin, you will earn points faster (2x dining and all travel, not just specific airline spend) and UR points can be converted 1:1 to either southwest or virgin. Plus, it would allow you to convert to BA avios, which can be really useful for short haul flight redemptions on AA.

You won't qualify for it right now, but same is likely true for SW or Virgin. If you really only want one of those two, I think the SW bonus is better and their redemptions (even after their upcoming devaluation) are pretty good for domestic flights. Maybe get the SW card (when they have a 50k sign up bonus), keep it for a year and build with Chase. Then get the CSP, close SW, get CSP bonus and try it for a year. If you fly regularly, I think you will end up keeping the CSP.

In wallet: Ink Plus 10k, AMEX TE 25k. In bag: CSP 16k, USAA WMC 15k, Hyatt 13k, United MPE 12k, AMEX HHonors 3k. In SD: Cap 1 QS 5k, Discover IT 7k. FICO 08 says my EQ is now 844, was 510 in 2010.

Omnipotent · ‎02-12-2014

The 100k British Airways offer would be best. It would only cost you 4,500 points + fees one way. Unfortunately it is Chase. Just depends on what they pull. You may be able to go though underwriting.

enharu · ‎02-12-2014

If Virgin offers you much better prices, go with that. Credit card rewards generally make up for a 1-4% "discount" at best, so if you are getting more savings flying with Virgin, then it makes much more sense to stick with that.

On the other hand, if you are traveling with a companion a lot, the SW companion pass can help you save quite a bit of money as well.

JPMorgan Palladium (100k), AmEx Platinum (NPSL), AmEx SPG (46k), AmEx BCP (42k), Chase Sapphire Preferred (47k), Citi Prestige (31k), Citi Thank You Preferred (27k), Citi Executive AAdvantage (25k), JPMorgan Ritz-Carlton (21k), Merrill+ (15k), US Bank Cash+ (22.5k), Wells Fargo (12k), Bloomingdale’s (12.4k), Chase Freedom (5k), Discover IT (5k).

sailor_mercury · ‎02-12-2014

Chase SWA charged me a $99 AF that I didn't see in the T&Cs. I usually go over those things with a fine tooth comb. Once I'm back home after being out of town for work this week I'm going to go back and re-read their offer.

NFCU nCashRewards VISA - $20,000 | NFCU nRewards $10,000
AMEX Costco TrueEarnings $5,000 | AMEX Delta Gold $1,500
Chase SWA VISA $5,000 | Chase Slate $3,500 | Chase Amazon Rewards VISA $3,000
HSN Mastecard $3,500

Omnipotent · ‎02-12-2014

Sounds accurate for their current offer unless you did't qualify for whatever promo you applied for and they resubmitted your application for a tier lower.

Creditaddict · ‎02-12-2014

you actually might get approved for Virgin if you don't have a ton of INQ's on EQ.