Amex revolvers

[blackhawk2]

I'd like to know people's opinion of the Gold Delta Skymiles and the SPG. I was approved for the BCE this month and am very interested in getting a card with travel rewards. I have the Chase Marriott Premier, but I'm still considering the SPG because my understanding is that its points have a great redemption value and can be transferred for miles if needed. I'd love to get the companion pass but am not sure about the AF on the Platinum Delta (it may make more sense to get the Gold with AF waived and PC to Platinum after a year?). I would not apply for both of these cards because I don't want too many AFs.

Since I was approved 10/2013 for the BCE, my understanding is that I could apply for one of these cards in January and have them "backdated" to 01/2013? Am I interpretting this correctly?

[youngandcreditwrthy]

It will
Be backdated to the month you open it of the previous year.
So I guess so?
Idk, backdating confuses me. People on here say it's best app in Jan for "maximum backdating" but I still don't get that.. Maybe someone else can chime in.
My advice: be careful opening too many Amex accounts at once. I'd stick with two to avoid any Financial Review potential.

[too-much-time]

The companion ticket for the Gold Delta is gone. Get the Platinum, whose free companion ticket can easily offset the annual fee.

Yes, wait until January for maximum backdating (month of the current year, year of when the membership took off).

[takeshi74]

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@youngandcreditwrthy wrote:

Idk, backdating confuses me. People on here say it's best app in Jan for "maximum backdating" but I still don't get that.. Maybe someone else can chime in.

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It's actually very straightforward.  January is earlier than any other month in the year.  Therefore, applying in January means that the card is backdated to January of your member since date, which factors in the maximum number of months into your AAoA.  If you applied in December then 11 less months would factor into your AAoA.

[jenn_bar]

Are you only interested in AMEX travel rewards revolvers?

In that regard, I would stick to the PRG (although a charge card) or SPG. Although, if you go with the SPG, you may consider waiting until July/August to get the 30k bonus, which seems to come around every year. One nice benefit of the SPG is that every 20k miles you transfer to a travel partner, you receive an additional 5k miles. This is very beneficial with transfers to American.

I just had my parents cancel their Delta SM card and I'll tell you why! The points have devalued so much in the past year that unless your elite status with them, it makes more sense to find a more lucrative program. They now do this with CSP + Freedom + UA Explorer.

If you are however stuck on Delta, the PRG also transfers to Delta at a 1:1 ratio, but gives you a variety of other options as well. The PRG has a hefty annual fee; however, you may be able to make it up with the better point bonuses with the PRG v. Delta and SPG. 3x on travel, 2x gas/grocery stores.

Otherwise, I would take a look at the CSP + Freedom combo. The travel partners not only allow the cards to work side-by-side with your Marriott card, but you can transfer to United/Hyatt/SW 1:1. It's also nice to have all of your points in one program, instead of throughout may programs, which is time consuming and often confusing to get where you want to go.

[too-much-time]

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@jenn_bar wrote:

I just had my parents cancel their Delta SM card and I'll tell you why! The points have devalued so much in the past year that unless your elite status with them, it makes more sense to find a more lucrative program. They now do this with CSP + Freedom + UA Explorer.

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Any chance you could get more specific on how Delta points are worth less than United points? Appreciated.

[jenn_bar]

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@too-much-time wrote:

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@jenn_bar wrote:

I just had my parents cancel their Delta SM card and I'll tell you why! The points have devalued so much in the past year that unless your elite status with them, it makes more sense to find a more lucrative program. They now do this with CSP + Freedom + UA Explorer.

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Any chance you could get more specific on how Delta points are worth less than United points? Appreciated.

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Sure! When I look at mileage programs, I look first at price per ticket (usually 1-ways, because I will most likely do multiple stops throughout my trip, as well as it can be cheaper this way and sometimes other airlines have better options), the alliance that the airline is in, and how I can receive points for that program apart from flying with them.

In my experience, Delta has always been more expensive to fly via award travels. I quickly plugged in a sample of IND-FCO (Rome) in May 2014, and I can still get a variety of options for saver awards (30k/way) on United, while Delta produces the flights from 77.5k RT. One thing that is nice about both Delta and UA is that they both allow you to purchase award tickets one-way, whereas others like US Air does not. However, I've noticed that Delta may charge a premium amount of miles on some trips if you chose to do one-way. It's almost always better to book RT on Delta. United, it does not matter.

Second, UA has a much wider range of alliance partners. Like most of this, it depends on where you live, but Star Alliance provides access to over 35 airlines worldwide. Delta, Skyteam Alliance, provides access to 19 airlines worldwide. Star Alliance also provides 300 more destinations than Skyteam. This will allow your miles to go further.

Finally, also important, is how I can get miles to use the program. Particularly, Delta is rough IMO at this stage because UA has Chase behind it. The transferability between the Freedom-CSP-UA Explorer (I don't have this card, and it's not necessary) to the program 1:1 is great. From Delta, your option is really through the AMEX PRG (mentioned above) which has a hefty $175 AF, compared to CSP's $95. Also, AMEX does not often offer retention for their CC, so once the first year is free, your odds of bringing that AF down even slightly are slim to none. Chase often provides retention fees for their cards which range from a clump of points or credit towards the AF. The difference between the CSP and PRG is also great, in the sense that you may have a $0 AF card (Freedom) support that program and help with points tremendously. 5x category bonuses will always beat the AMEX BLUE 1x on every dollar spent.

PRG bonuses: 3x travel, 2x gas/groceries (Charge card, $175 AF)

AMEX Blue bonuses (comparable to Freedom because $0 AF and gives membership rewards): 1x purchases, 2x on travel when going through membership rewards

CSP bonuses: 2x dining/travel, 7% dividend, no foreign transaction fee (Revolver, $95 AF)

Freedom bonuses: 5x quarterly categories, 1x purchases

I also readily use CC malls and Chase and UA have great malls for additional points. Again, IMO, the Chase mall is better than the AMEX mall for my type of spending, but YMMV.

As the day goes on, I may add to this, and again, I should have phrased this in the first post that it really depends on location. However, traveling beginning from the west coast (San Diego) and now from Chicago, Delta has totally lost out in my book.

This is all my humble opinion, but I answered what you asked! Everyone probably has their own personal choice in airline partner and I'm just explaining why I have mine. (I love SW too except they will soon devalue next year as well!)

[ryanbush]

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@too-much-time wrote:

The companion ticket for the Gold Delta is gone. Get the Platinum, whose free companion ticket can easily offset the annual fee.

Yes, wait until January for maximum backdating (month of the current year, year of when the membership took off).

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Pro Tip: You don't get the companion pass until you have had the card open for a year, get the Gold for the no AF for the first year and then upgrade to the Platinum when the AF comes due and you will get the companion pass instantly.

[09Lexie]

@ryanbush

Thanks for the tip! I was contemplating upgrading to the Plat.

[fittiger]

My opinion is the same as jenn_barr's.

It really depends on what you want to use these cards for and how much you would be flying delta.  If you fly Delta once a year with a companion I say go for the Delta Gold and PC to Platinum after a year as RyanBush suggested.  If you fly Delta often and book through delta.com, then it might be worth it regardless.

Otherwise, the SPG has the same reward bonus of 1x on all regular purchases, and can transfer to multiple airline programs with a 5,000 point bonus when you transfer 20,000 points; which ups the bonus to 1.25x.  If you are interested in the SPG for award stays at SPG hotels, take a moment to look into hotels you might want to book and see what's available for reward stays.  I've been a little disappointed with the option to pay with "Cash & Points" or even find award room availability.  It seems you have to book these far in advance (i'm talking a year sometimes) to find this availability.

I've too found that I prefer the CSP/Freedom combo for earning reward travel/stays (United, British Airways, Southwest, Marriott, Hyatt, Ritz, HolidayInn/Intercontinental).  You can use Chase UR points to bolster any of these award programs.  I've been impressed with the availability of transfer partners and their point values for travel, especially United, BA and Southwest.  I've earned tons of extra bonus points throught he Chase UR Mall as well.  For example, using my CSP to book travel through the UR Mall, I get 2x points from CSP on travel (Hotels/Airline), another 5x points booking hotels.com through the UR Mall and 2x points booking flights on travelocity through the UR Mall.  That gives me 4.28x on flights and 7.49x on hotels (including the 7% annual dividend).

I still use my SPG for non-bonus spending to bolster my spg points, but once I use a majority of them for hotels or travel, I may or may not cancel it.  Currently I have my Dad on my account as an Authorized User (or whatever AMEX calls them) and he spends about $1,500 a month and pays it off.  Over a year, thats 18,000 spg points, which is almost enough to transfer for the 5,000 point bonus.  His spending alone on my account covers the $65 AF.

My advice is to look into what transfer partners are available, what other cards might accentuate the card you want, and how the cards benefits plays into your spending and travel habits.  Weigh this out and you'll come to the right decision on your own.