Are Airline Transfer Partners Worth It?

[Citylights18]

Its been said forever that being able to transfer chase and AMEX points to airline points is the ultimate form of value.

Flash sales on international flights however tend to be the best value but only a few domestic airlines typically have them and they are almost always from the east/west coast airports.

Instead of using your $550 AF CSR and buying all flights through that at 1.5 ccp what about using the Altitude Reserve at $400 AF to buy/reedeem cheap domestic flights to get you to those coastal airports then put those international flight deals on a American or Delta card to lock in your free bags.

Alternatively, you could do it with a $95 CSP, transfer points to Southwest and then put the flight deals on United and American with occassional redemptions using United/American miles.

The ultimate would be if you had double ecosystems.

Altitude Reserve 5x flight purchases, 3x mobile wallet

Altitude Go 4x dining

Sapphire Preferred 2x travel, trip protection

Freedom Unlimited 1.5 everything

Freedom 5x categories, 5x lyft

Total Annual Fee $495 ($170 after AR travel credits)

What you could do then is shuffle your Chase points to Southwest or reedem 1.5 for Frontier/Spirit on AR depending on where the better deal is. If you start to build up an excess amount of Altitude points you can reedem them for getaway weekend nights.

You can buy American gift cards on raise with 5% discount on using AR 3x mobile wallet then put the taxes and remainder on a American credit card. Same with Delta as they have as much as a 8% discount on raise.

[CaptJOB]

I think international flights on those carriers give you one free checked bag?

[wasCB14]

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@CaptJOB wrote:

I think international flights on those carriers give you one free checked bag?

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And last I heard, Delta and American were different from United, in that they didn't require the card to be used for the free bag to apply.

Though come to think of it, I carried on for my Delta flight about a week ago, haven't checked a bag with Delta since early January, and haven't flown AA since June. So no recent data points here.

[wasCB14]

Addressing OP's main topic, though...I find Amex transfer bonuses very nice. Getting another 30% or 40% worth of miles is a huge factor to me.

I already had a bunch of Hyatt points and United miles, and every other transfer partner I use also has a transfer relatonship with Amex, so dropping URs in favor of MRs and BofA made sense.

I also fly fairly often between LAX (home), SFO, and JFK...so the coastal departures for international flights are not a problem for me.

[CaptJOB]

I think the transfer bonuses are definitely a nice option. Also if you're looking for the niche high value redemptions(Virgin Atlantic for ANA as an example) the only easy way to get that access for the average consumer is having one(or more) of the transferable currencies.

[Citylights18]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

Addressing OP's main topic, though...I find Amex transfer bonuses very nice. Getting another 30% or 40% worth of miles is a huge factor to me.

I already had a bunch of Hyatt points and United miles, and every other transfer partner I use also has a transfer relatonship with Amex, so dropping URs in favor of MRs and BofA made sense.

I also fly fairly often between LAX (home), SFO, and JFK...so the coastal departures for international flights are not a problem for me.

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Don't you think those transfer bonuses that AMEX offers of 30 or 40 percent are designed to balance out the 1.5 ccp redemptions of other programs? They aren't that flexible in that you have to pick your airline.

The waived bag fees for international flights I see apply in the case of American for Transpacific flights. Some of the other international locations have that offer but it doesn't apply to economy seating.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/baggage/checked-baggage-policy.jsp

[Citylights18]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@CaptJOB wrote:

I think international flights on those carriers give you one free checked bag?

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And last I heard, Delta and American were different from United, in that they didn't require the card to be used for the free bag to apply.

Though come to think of it, I carried on for my Delta flight about a week ago, haven't checked a bag with Delta since early January, and haven't flown AA since June. So no recent data points here.

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United from what I have read has bag fees which apply to all flights and booking with the card is th only way around it.

https://www.uponarriving.com/united-airlines-baggage-policy-explained/

American has no bag fees on some flights to the Middle East and Pacific. However the American card will only waive bags w/ CC on domestic.

https://www.uponarriving.com/american-airlines-baggage-fees/

Delta looks like it will give you free 1 bag if you have the card domestic/international. A few international routes do not require the card.

https://www.uponarriving.com/delta-baggage-fees/

[CaptJOB]

I just checked here and it I believe most international iteneraries on United booked into economy(NOT basic economy) will receive at least one checked bag. SFO-TYO got two and EWR-LHR got one when I populated the form. I didn't check the other two but I doubt United would be leading the pack here.  Even if a domestic airline did charge for a bag it would be a great way to use the airline incidental credit on the AmEx cards.

All that being said your original strategy seems like one good way to go about covering airfare.