Amex Gold or Citi AAdvantage

Anonymous · ‎12-20-2016

Hey everyone,

For this example let's assume chances of approval is not a factor. I live in Dallas and we are an American Airlines hub. I want to get a card to use every day. Gas. Groceries. Dining. You name it. In order to get more points to go towards American flights, is there an advantage to one of these cards over another for every day use? Thank you!

Anonymous · ‎12-20-2016

Citi AA (and most airline cards for that matter) are not great for everyday use, generally giving 1 mile per $ for expenses outside the airline. Better to use flexible transfer programs with cards with bonus categories. In the case of MR, that doesn't transfer directly to AA, so you would have to go through a partner

Anonymous · ‎12-20-2016

I'm in the same boat. Love my United card but at 1 mile per dollar it just doesn't add up quick enough. I've also been contemplating the PRG.

Would love to hear more opinions from others here..

redpat · ‎12-20-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm in the same boat. Love my United card but at 1 mile per dollar it just doesn't add up quick enough. I've also been contemplating the PRG.

Would love to hear more opinions from others here..

If united is your airline then app for CSR, Freedom and Freedom FU combo.

3x restaurant and travel CSR plus 100k sign-up

1.5x on FU for reg spend $150 sign-up or 15k ur

5% or 5x on Freedom categories for 30k a year $150 or 15k ur sign-up

That's 130k in ur points.

plus you get 1.50x redemption w/ CSR on their travel portal that can give you a better redemption rate than miles.

Skip the PRG get CSR.

Personal Cards: Amex Delta Res | CSR | Citi AA Exec | Citi Strata Premier Business Cards: Ink+ | Amex BBP

Anonymous · ‎12-20-2016

@redpat wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I'm in the same boat. Love my United card but at 1 mile per dollar it just doesn't add up quick enough. I've also been contemplating the PRG.

Would love to hear more opinions from others here..
If united is your airline then app for CSR, Freedom and Freedom FU combo.

3x restaurant and travel CSR plus 100k sign-up
1.5x on FU for reg spend $150 sign-up or 15k ur
5% or 5x on Freedom categories for 30k a year $150 or 15k ur sign-up

That's 130k in ur points.

plus you get 1.50x redemption w/ CSR on their travel portal that can give you a better redemption rate than miles.

Skip the PRG get CSR.

United is generally the airliner I'm using (their hub is here in SFO).

redpat · ‎12-20-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Hey everyone,

For this example let's assume chances of approval is not a factor. I live in Dallas and we are an American Airlines hub. I want to get a card to use every day. Gas. Groceries. Dining. You name it. In order to get more points to go towards American flights, is there an advantage to one of these cards over another for every day use? Thank you!

I'm in the same boat and fly AA so I use my amex plat for 5x for booking my AA flights and I'm going to app for the amex bus plat that gives you 50% rebate for MR redemption for reward fights which equals 2 cents per point redemtion rate. This also gives me AA miles for my MR reward flights which is a big plus.

I made this change recently since the nerfing of the Citi Prestige card.

So by using my EDP and PRG I can accumulate MR points rather quickly.

Personal Cards: Amex Delta Res | CSR | Citi AA Exec | Citi Strata Premier Business Cards: Ink+ | Amex BBP

Anonymous · ‎12-20-2016

I would go with the Citi AA card if I were in your shoes, especially if you already have a sizable balance of miles already built up with American.

Amex Membership Rewards points do not transfer directly to American Airlines, although you can redeem them for AA flights by transferring them to British Airways Avios (sometimes the redemptions for American Airlines flights are less expensive using Avios than AAdvantage miles!)

havoc · ‎12-20-2016

SPG. It still only earns 1 point per dollar like AA card. But when transferred at around 20k I believe, you get an extra 5k bonus. Which negate an extra $5000 spend on AA card to receive a 25K saver award. Now having said that, I have AA Exec for perks on American, but put bulk of spend split between SPG and BIZ Platinum. Just a thought....

NRB525 · ‎12-20-2016

If you fly AA a lot, and you go with the AAdvantage card at $95 annual fee, you get the fee back easily with the free first checked bag.

You also earn back 10% of the miles you redeem, both flown and paid on the card, so that is a miles boost. You can find reduced miles awards you only get with the card, reduced by 7,500 miles round trip. Not always the places you want to go, and when, but it can work out to a nice reduction. The miles earned on the card also add nicely to the miles earned in the seat on flights.

If you go with the AMEX Gold, you might earn more MR points, but you have the balance of the AF, $95, that you pay each year. So some of your AMEX spend goes toward "earning out" of that AF amount. At a value of 1.5c per MR point, thats a good $3k to $6k of spend (if you get 2MR) to earn back the AF.

Even with the SPG there is a "no benefit" AF to contend with. The miles transfer partners are indeed better, and the 5,000 added to 20,000 miles redemptions are nice, but SPG is best with SPG hotel stays after the initial bonus is earned.