topic Re: Looking for Airlines Card in Credit Cards

Looking for Airlines Card

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 05:20:44 GMT

Hello all,

First post here! I am searching for an airlines card that has a great signup bonus and gets the most miles/dollar spent. Travel is mainly domestic but do go to Canada on occassion. I have been browsing and am interested in the Citi Prestige card and have seen a lot of people that like CSP. I have a freedom card now 18k and best buy MC 6k and that is it Scores overall right at 770. I have had amex delta gold previously, CSP, and citi HHonors which were all closed over a year ago in good standing.

Any suggestions?

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 05:23:33 GMT

Citi AA, Barclay Arrival+, Citi Prestige... To name a few

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

medo — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 05:32:21 GMT

What made you close the CSP? That is probably the number one travel rewards card as it is fairly diverse.

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 05:37:13 GMT

Felt like i had too many cards. Freedom has no annual fee so I took the CSP and closed it and combined the CL. I am afraid now that chase would make me split the limit on a new CSP since I already have freedom.

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 05:39:00 GMT

You have Freedom and got rid of CSP? That was a strange move, as those two are probably the single greatest way to earn free flights.

I personally like the United MileagePlus Explorer. The current offer is 30,000 bonus miles, but you can call and get Chase to give you 50,000 with $2000 spent in 3 months.

I also much so prefer dealing with Chase than I do with Barclays or Citi.

As a rule though, airline specific cards aren't the best idea unless you fly exclusively with one or two airlines.

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 05:47:22 GMT

I should have kept the CSP but for whatever reason I decided to keep the freedom.

I wouldnt mind going back to the CSP. Current offer 40k points after 4k spent, although United MileagePlus offer 30k points after 1k spent is easier to obtain lol. CSP would offer more flexibility though to book through any airline wouldnt it?

Edit: forgot you mentioned the 50k points after 2k spent.

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 06:29:01 GMT

After some more research, I think I have narrowed it down to either the CSP or Citi Prestige.

With CSP, I should be able to transfer UR points and use points from freedom to CSP to book flights. Prestige has the advantage of redeeming 50k TY points for $800 flight on AA/US Air or $665 flight on any other airline.

Seems like my best options I believe. Now I am just nervous of making the wrong choice and then the dreaded "what will the CL be" thoughts.

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 10:39:15 GMT

You need to look at the annual fee of the prestige. Can you spend enough to offset the hefty yearly fee for the card?

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

takeshi74 — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 13:45:07 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
First post here! I am searching for an airlines card that has a great signup bonus and gets the most miles/dollar spent.

On what category and volume of spend? Is that all that matters to you? Do flight beneftis not matter at all?

@Anonymous wrote:
wouldnt mind going back to the CSP. Current offer 40k points after 4k spent, although United MileagePlus offer 30k points after 1k spent is easier to obtain lol. CSP would offer more flexibility though to book through any airline wouldnt it?

If that's a priority for you. However, generally the better UR point value is attained by transferring to the UR travel partners versus purchasing travel through the UR portal. Still, I'd advise always comparing the two whenever shopping for flights.

I personally find both the CSP and UMPE to be useful but I'm in a United hub city so 99% of my flights are United. All UR points accrued by my 4 UR cards get funneled into my MP account so I was able to use the sign on bonuses for both as well as the sign on bonuses for my 2 other UR cards.

If you can leverage UR transfer partners you might want to consider going with UR. You already have a Freedom. You just need a card that allows for transfers such as the CSP.

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 16:03:57 GMT

Flight belenfits do matter, yes. I would say I get 2k spent a month on average.

I am close to OMA so definitely not a major hub. I am not opposed to UR points by any means, just want to get the best rewards that I can. Sounds like freedom/CSP may be the way to go?

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 16:06:23 GMT

That annual fee is pretty hefty, yes. I would do one of two things. Cancel the card before the AF hits or keep it and pay the outrageous amount. The list of benefits that the prestige offers may outweight the AF dont you think?

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

B335is — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 16:32:18 GMT

Freedom/CSP is not a bad way to go especially in a city like Omaha. Unless you're very loyal to one particular airline, airline specific cards probably aren't as good as UR.

And I know you aren't really looking at it but cards like Centure and Arrival + are really just cash back cards marketed as travel rewards cards.

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

longtime_lurker — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 18:36:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
That annual fee is pretty hefty, yes. I would do one of two things. Cancel the card before the AF hits or keep it and pay the outrageous amount. The list of benefits that the prestige offers may outweight the AF dont you think?

I think PRG and EDP would be better than Prestige in this case...you'd get 72k MR alone a year from PRG 3x on airfare

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

mongstradamus — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 18:44:49 GMT

i am presetnly using EDP CSP combo for almost all my purchases. Freedom is getting some major play this year so far for their 5x catergories. If you can hit the 30 swipe spend bonus on EDP i think it can cover almost anything. It covers the big categories of groceries, dining, travel and gas.

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 23:53:02 GMT

I am not partial to any specific airline. Flying delta the most recently mainly because I used skymiles to book.

I had not looked at the AMEX EDP. i still keep coming back to CSP since UR points will be most compatible with one another.

The AF on prestige could be offset with the golf perks that it has. 😄

I need to look at the EDP some more. I never did get the chance to maximize on MR when I had PRG previously.

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

WillTeasle — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 00:14:06 GMT

I really like my Freedom/CSP combo. Since you've already got the Freedom it would be a good choice (especially if you have any UR points already banked on the freedom). So put me down as another vote for that option.

Having said that, I just added the Prestige to my wallet, so clearly I think it's a worthwhile card as well. Not sure how long I'll hold on to it though, but the CSP will stay in my wallet for a long time.

Since you don't favor a particular airline, a transferrable points program is definitely the best way to go. It will protect you somewhat from the inevitable devaluations. Personally, I like the Chase transfer options more than Amex. Citi TYP transfer options I like even less, but I'm hoping they'll add AA at some point in the future.

With any of these options you'll likely be happy. But having the Freedom offers you the opportunity to power-earn when coupled with CSP. Good luck with your decision.

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 08:19:58 GMT

I only have about 8400 UR points as of now.

Does the AF get charged for the Prestige right away? Sorry if that is an odd question, haven't had a card with an AF for quite a while.

Based on your last comment of hoping AA adds transfer options to Citi TYP points, I may be leaning still more towards the CSP. Thanks for your input!!

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

TrueGeminiNC — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 09:26:17 GMT

I personally prefer the AMEX PRG. Until recently, I never favored an airline specific card because of the limited flexibility. I would say that I was more price sensitive with no degree of loyalty to any particular airline. I lived in a United hub city (Chicago) - and even with the ongoing Chase bonus promotions, I would never sign up. On a personal note, I have never been a fan of United - planes are always late, service is terrible and in my opinion their product is inferior. And too as a relatively tall guy, I was always stuck on a United Express flight.

Now that I live in a Delta city, I did breakdown and get the AMEX DL SkyMiles Gold card. The card more than pays for itself with the money that I save on bag fees as well as access to priority boarding and discounted Wi-Fi and onboard purchases.

I also have the Citi Prestige. Like many, I have the card because it is a nice looking card. LOL. But seriously, I take full advantage of the $250 annual airfare credit coupled with Global Entry so it makes the annual fee reasonable.

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

WillTeasle — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 13:45:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

I only have about 8400 UR points as of now.

Which without the CSP are only worth $84. With CSP, you can transfer to obtain better value. For one example (since you said you fly mostly domestic and are near OMA), one great transfer partner is British Airways Avios. They have a distance-based award chart and the sweet spot is short-haul flights (<1,152 miles). For flights within 650 miles of your origin, it will only require 4,500 Avios for peak periods (or 4,000 Avios off-peak) one-way. Assuming you are booking during peak times, you are 600 UR points short of a round-trip ticket to anywhere in the following circle (not bad, IMO):

@Anonymous wrote:

Does the AF get charged for the Prestige right away? Sorry if that is an odd question, haven't had a card with an AF for quite a while.

I was approved for the Prestige just yesterday, so I am not sure exactly when the AF posts. It is not waived the first year, so it will post sometime on or before the first statement cut date.

@Anonymous wrote:

Based on your last comment of hoping AA adds transfer options to Citi TYP points, I may be leaning still more towards the CSP. Thanks for your input!!

Even without AA as a transfer partner, the TYP can still be used to purchase AA tickets at a valuation of 1.6cpp. Those tickets are considered revenue tickets, so will be able to earn mileage in the AAdvantage program. While not bad value, it doesn't make redeeming tickets at the front of the plane overly lucrative. For domestic economy tickets it might be a good deal, but it's unlikely to be a good idea for international premium tickets (unless there is a mistake fare or a great limited time offer).

Re: Looking for Airlines Card

FrancoB — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 20:34:48 GMT

Get that CSP going, that's a great combo and you'll get 45K UR to start (Bonus+Authorized user) then yoiu can transfer to United and even better to British Airways where you can book US AA flights with Avios using their distance based chart.

The Citi Prestige card has nice benefits too, I'd get both the prestige and the csp. The fee isn't that much don't forget that you get $250 credit for airline spending including airfare. so that takes it down to $200. Plus the first year you can use the credit 2 times making the card $50 in your favor with that benefit alone. You also get priority pass select worth $399. And right now Citi is offering a 50k Sing up bonus on the prestige. http://thepointsguy.com/2015/04/50000-points-citi-prestige-limited-time-offer/

This card will get you acces to AA Admirals club and United Club (Priority pass select) and many more when you fly.

The not so great part of the Thank You program is that the transfer partners are not that great, still offers a lot of value and thwey will likely add more.

Both the Prestige and CSP are nice looking metalic cards!

I personally don't have the Citi prestige just yet as I'm hiting the spending for the Citi AA bonus nthis month and I will take advantage of that 50k bonus on prestige next month!

The AA barclay card is good too since it gets you 3 miles per dollar on AA flights, but you are too late for that one.