topic Re: Best Credit Card airline industry in Credit Cards

Best Credit Card airline industry

Gmoney144 — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 19:14:47 GMT

For those who are work for the airline industry primarily flight attendants and pilots, what is the advantage of having a travel rewards CC. Since most flights are free or greatly reduced, is it beneficial to get a travel CC with an annual fee?

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 21:10:46 GMT

It all depends on y our travel habbits? mine sharing?

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

Gmoney144 — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 21:23:03 GMT

We travel three times a year. One of those internationally. Since flights are practically free, I’m deciding which travel card would be best for us.

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 21:45:48 GMT

It's really like any new credit card decision: what are your biggest spending areas and which card(s) address that best (either with cost reduction or benefits from the spend). If travel costs are very low because of the discounts, then it may not be a good choice. But if you still have to pay for hotels, or want upgrades etc, there may be a point.

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 21:55:06 GMT

Well, it all depends what airlines you have available in your hometown where do you travel to most etc. There are plenty of options, with annual fees and no annual fees, dedicated to one airline and some that are good with various.

The most common are the Capital One Venture, Chase Sapphire, Barclay Arrival +.

You need to read on how you can use the points, ear, them, transfer to partners etc. Anymore details you can provide?

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 22:02:36 GMT

Venture - This card is good for the first year. 50,000 points = $500. You can book with any airline.

https://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/venture/

Arrival + This card is just as above, but you get 5% of the miles back.

http://www.findmybarclaycard.com/barclaycard-credit-cards/arrival-plus

Chase Sapphire - This card has great partners and uses a UR system NOT MR system like AMEX does.

https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/sapphire/compare?CELL=6RRW

If you're into lounges and other benefits, the Platinum from AMEX and CSR from Chase are great choices but with high annual fees.

Again, is hard to decide with not much info. It would help to decide if you can tell us where do you spend your m onty the most (groceries, gas, restaurants etc).

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

Gmoney144 — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 22:03:15 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
It's really like any new credit card decision: what are your biggest spending areas and which card(s) address that best (either with cost reduction or benefits from the spend). If travel costs are very low because of the discounts, then it may not be a good choice. But if you still have to pay for hotels, or want upgrades etc, there may be a point.

We are considering the Hyatt CC. For the upgrades of course. We get substantial discounts on hotel rooms but I’m not sure we can upgrade with this discounts. American Airlines is her employer, but she can partner with other Airline companies to receive free or reduced price tickets.

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

Gmoney144 — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 22:05:08 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
Venture - This card is good for the first year. 50,000 points = $500. You can book with any airline.
https://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/venture/

Arrival + This card is just as above, but you get 5% of the miles back.
http://www.findmybarclaycard.com/barclaycard-credit-cards/arrival-plus

Chase Sapphire - This card has great partners and uses a UR system NOT MR system like AMEX does.
https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/sapphire/compare?CELL=6RRW

If you're into lounges and other benefits, the Platinum from AMEX and CSR from Chase are great choices but with high annual fees.

Again, is hard to decide with not much info. It would help to decide if you can tell us where do you spend your m onty the most (groceries, gas, restaurants etc).

Thanks!!! I will consider these.

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

UpperNwGuy — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 22:39:28 GMT

The three big components of travel are airfare, hotels, and dining. You say that your airfare is either free or reduced, so you probably want to focus on the other two. The Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred give you good rewards on hotels (you can book directly with the hotel) and dining. None of the other cards mentioned give you as good a deal as the two Sapphire cards.

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

Gmoney144 — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 22:44:38 GMT

@UpperNwGuywrote:
The three big components of travel are airfare, hotels, and dining. You say that your airfare is either free or reduced, so you probably want to focus on the other two. The Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred give you good rewards on hotels (you can book directly with the hotel) and dining. None of the other cards mentioned give you as good a deal as the two Sapphire cards.

Csp i might consider. I’m adverse to a huge AF.

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

red259 — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 23:15:26 GMT

@Gmoney144wrote:
For those who are work for the airline industry primarily flight attendants and pilots, what is the advantage of having a travel rewards CC. Since most flights are free or greatly reduced, is it beneficial to get a travel CC with an annual fee?

This raises more questions. The flights are free or almost free for that specific airline or does that apply for partners with that alliance as well? If it doesn't apply to partners an airline signup bonus may be useful for partner redemptions. I have multiple AA cards although I usually use the miles to fly international airlines. If that isn't needed then the question becomes do the perks do anything? Do the employees get free baggage? Priority boarding? If so, I don't see any value for the airline card. I would focus instead on a general travel card or hotel card that could provide benefits to the other parts of the trip.

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 23:23:46 GMT

Weird as it might sound, the Uber card might be worth looking into: 4% on Dining & 3% on hotel cash back (and 3% airfare, but obviously the other 2 are the big perks given your description)

If you’re ore interested in the lounge access, Amex Plat & CSR are really the obvious options, depending on what your local airport is (I don’t know enough to intelligently comment on the benefits of those 2 tbh)

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

Gmoney144 — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 23:28:53 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
Weird as it might sound, the Uber card might be worth looking into: 4% on Dining & 3% on hotel cash back (and 3% airfare, but obviously the other 2 are the big perks given your description)

If you’re ore interested in the lounge access, Amex Plat & CSR are really the obvious options, depending on what your local airport is (I don’t know enough to intelligently comment on the benefits of those 2 tbh)

Never considered Uber. No need for lounge access. That might be a card we would go for.

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 23:39:00 GMT

@Gmoney144wrote:
@Anonymouswrote:
Venture - This card is good for the first year. 50,000 points = $500. You can book with any airline.
https://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/venture/

Arrival + This card is just as above, but you get 5% of the miles back.
http://www.findmybarclaycard.com/barclaycard-credit-cards/arrival-plus

Chase Sapphire - This card has great partners and uses a UR system NOT MR system like AMEX does.
https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/sapphire/compare?CELL=6RRW

If you're into lounges and other benefits, the Platinum from AMEX and CSR from Chase are great choices but with high annual fees.

Again, is hard to decide with not much info. It would help to decide if you can tell us where do you spend your m onty the most (groceries, gas, restaurants etc).

Thanks!!! I will consider these.

FWIW, the Venture and Arrival+ are not really travel cards, just cashback cards. The Venture is only worthwhile for the first year for the bonus and no AF (or if you have a LOT of foreign purchases). After that, there is no point, as it's a restricted 2% card with an annual fee, when there are a lot of free 2% cards.

Arrival + has a niche because of the 5% back on redemptions, making it a 2.1% card, but you need to spend about $90K a year on it to justify the annual fee over a free 2% card.

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 23:39:21 GMT

Happy to be of service! These forums have taught me a lot so I’m glad I can give a little back.

I have some follow up info for you on the Uber card: it’s issued by Barclaycard & if you search around here a bit, you’ll see they have a habit of dropping people’s credit limits to $500 if their credit situation deteriorates (I don’t have much specific knowledge about this, but it’s worth Search these forums to learn more about that if it’s the way you’re headed). Obviously, no one plans to tank their credit, but that behavior is the one negative to that card (and it can be quite a strong negative, if it happens to you without much warning). Outside of that, people seem generally happy with Barclaycard.

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

LionLaw — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 14:47:43 GMT

@Gmoney144wrote:
For those who are work for the airline industry primarily flight attendants and pilots, what is the advantage of having a travel rewards CC. Since most flights are free or greatly reduced, is it beneficial to get a travel CC with an annual fee?

If you don't need miles and don't need lounge access, you can still get value from a travel rewards CC for hotels.

Of the premium cards, the Citi Prestige would probably be best for you, since you get a 4th night free on hotel stays. The downside is that it doesn't give you automatic status at any hotel chains. The Amex Platinum gives you automatic gold/preferred status at Hilton, Starwood, and Marriott hotels, which can translate into free upgrades. The Chase Sapphire Reserve doesn't give you free nights OR automatic status, so it's probably the least desirable of the three for you.

Outside of the premium cards, your best bets are probably hotel co-branded cards. The Amex SPG earns Starpoints, which can be very valuable. Although it doesn't give you automatic gold status with Starwood (like the Platinum does), it reduces the requirements to earn gold status by 20%. The Amex Hilton cards earn a decent number of HHonors points, and will give you increasing status depending on the annual fee of the card you select (Silver for the $0 card, gold for the $95 card, and diamond for the $450 card).

Chase has a bunch of co-branded hotel cards (Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, IHG, and Hyatt). The Marriott card doesn't give you automatic status, but I think the rest of them do.

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

UpperNwGuy — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 15:00:12 GMT

@LionLawwrote:
Of the premium cards, the Citi Prestige would probably be best for you, since you get a 4th night free on hotel stays. The downside is that it doesn't give you automatic status at any hotel chains. The Amex Platinum gives you automatic gold/preferred status at Hilton, Starwood, and Marriott hotels, which can translate into free upgrades. The Chase Sapphire Reserve doesn't give you free nights OR automatic status, so it's probably the least desirable of the three for you.

Ahhh... but you need to point out that both the Amex Plat and the Citi Prestige require you to book your hotels through the Amex and Citi travel portals to get the benefits. Chase, on the other hand, lets you book directly with the hotel, and for that reason, I consider it the best of the three cards.

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

LionLaw — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 16:12:01 GMT

@UpperNwGuywrote:
@LionLawwrote:
Of the premium cards, the Citi Prestige would probably be best for you, since you get a 4th night free on hotel stays. The downside is that it doesn't give you automatic status at any hotel chains. The Amex Platinum gives you automatic gold/preferred status at Hilton, Starwood, and Marriott hotels, which can translate into free upgrades. The Chase Sapphire Reserve doesn't give you free nights OR automatic status, so it's probably the least desirable of the three for you.
Ahhh... but you need to point out that both the Amex Plat and the Citi Prestige require you to book your hotels through the Amex and Citi travel portals to get the benefits. Chase, on the other hand, lets you book directly with the hotel, and for that reason, I consider it the best of the three cards.

You only need to book through amextravel to get the 5X bonus points; you don't need to do so to get the hotel status perks. And in my experience, the price on amex travel has never been more than the price of going through the hotel directly. I have never used Citi's travel portal, so I can't comment there, but that 4th night free benefit will be valuable for the right kind of traveler regardless.

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

Gmoney144 — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 17:39:23 GMT

We have decided to go with spg card. Small annual fee and some perks. Oh. And the Uber card. Lol. Thanks everyone.

Re: Best Credit Card airline industry

LionLaw — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 18:01:44 GMT

@Gmoney144wrote:
We have decided to go with spg card. Small annual fee and some perks. Oh. And the Uber card. Lol. Thanks everyone.

Good choices!