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@FutureBillionaire wrote:It seems to me that you are paying for the credits or perks up front with the annual fee. I'm not sure that the Platinum gives 450 bucks worth of extra benefits. The 200 dollar credit that you get for incidental fees is included in the annual fee. That leaves $250 bucks that I have paid. How do you itemize the other $250?
I have an Amex PRG that is probably going to get closed. I have used amex points towards ticket purchases for events. But, I don't really use that card to book travel. Maybe that's where I am missing the boat.
I need someone to explain to me in dollars how these annual fees allow you to come out on top. I see that $250 is unaccounted for.
Just a Delta skyclub membership (which i use) is 450/year... so I'm already 200 ahead if I use that feature
Same here, it's my go to card. Although I have been charging my fast food to my Discover IT to track how much I actually spend each month.... and of course get 5% back
@chnceit wrote:
I love my CSP and its my daily use card right now it trumps all of my other cards especially it comes with unexpected compliments LOL
Lol. You know when i'm in the mood the compliments are nice but when i'm not, it makes me want to throw the card away.
@FutureBillionaire wrote:It seems to me that you are paying for the credits or perks up front with the annual fee. I'm not sure that the Platinum gives 450 bucks worth of extra benefits. The 200 dollar credit that you get for incidental fees is included in the annual fee. That leaves $250 bucks that I have paid. How do you itemize the other $250?
I have an Amex PRG that is probably going to get closed. I have used amex points towards ticket purchases for events. But, I don't really use that card to book travel. Maybe that's where I am missing the boat.
I need someone to explain to me in dollars how these annual fees allow you to come out on top. I see that $250 is unaccounted for.
First, you can't "come out on top" with a platinum, because what it gives you are convenience features (lounge access, global entry, etc.), not essentials (food, gas, utility bills). But if you are already using some of the convenience features, it can pay for itself pretty easily.
Assume lounge access costs $50/visit. If you fly delta and have the platinum, you get delta lounge access. If you do that 5 times, the extra $250 is accounted for.
If you stay at starwood properties, the gold benefits have some financial value.
You get global entry fee reimbursed once, so that knocks off another $100 once (and to the person who is waiting for international travel before getting global entry, you should do it now. The ability to use TSA precheck is independently valuable).
So if you travel enough to benefit from lounge access, priority boarding/check-in/etc., reimbursed bag fees, SPG gold status, etc. but not enough to earn these privileges the old fashioned way, the platinum may be a cheaper way to get these benefits than the alternatives.
Finally, not to disagree too strongly with CreditScholar, but the really heavy traveler typically gets these benefits already, right? So in your first year of high volume travel of if you do it enough to benefit, but not enough to get status, that is the real group that benefits.
@ryanbush wrote:
@FutureBillionaire wrote:It seems to me that you are paying for the credits or perks up front with the annual fee. I'm not sure that the Platinum gives 450 bucks worth of extra benefits. The 200 dollar credit that you get for incidental fees is included in the annual fee. That leaves $250 bucks that I have paid. How do you itemize the other $250?
I have an Amex PRG that is probably going to get closed. I have used amex points towards ticket purchases for events. But, I don't really use that card to book travel. Maybe that's where I am missing the boat.
I need someone to explain to me in dollars how these annual fees allow you to come out on top. I see that $250 is unaccounted for.
Just a Delta skyclub membership (which i use) is 450/year... so I'm already 200 ahead if I use that feature
This was going to be a simple reply, but it turned into a really lengthy discussion of how I would assign value to a club membership (and why I decided it wasn't worth bothering with).
Well that really depends on how much you value lounge access. It's $50/person walk-in, so you really need to make at least 5 visits with a Platinum card, or 9 visits with a club membership, just to reach "cash equivalency". If you think lounge access is worth more like $25, then you need to make 10 visits with the Platinum card, 18 visits with the club membership, or just get a Delta Gold card and make 4 visits. Also, if you're not picky about what club you have to stay at (and are willing in many cases to forgo additional service such as IRROP rebooking), the Priority Pass Standard Plus membership runs $249 and gets you 10 "free" club passes, with many United and US Airways clubs available, plus quite a bit of stuff overseas, such as the Banjul First Class lounge in Gambia. If you value clubs at $25 a pop and plan to make less than 10 visits (and don't care that DL and AA don't participate/fly US or UA), you can get good value out of a CSP + PP Standard Plus membership.
However, a more reasonable "value" I've seen tossed around is $10/visit (which happens to be, more or less, what you can get United Club passes off ebay for). At that rate, you need to make 45 visits with Skyclub membership or 25 visits with a Platinum. If you fly often (I'm not saying you don't - I'm just breaking down costs for interested readers), it's probably definitely worth it to have the Platinum. As I understand it, the clubs can be a welcome place to wait if your flight is delayed and many (most? all?) airlines provide a slightly higher level of service for rebooking IRROPs and such through their club CSRs.
But for an average person, you have to decide whether or not it's worth $10 to $25 per trip (maybe $20 to $50 for round-trip non-hub flyers) for slightly higher convenience. If you connection is less than 45 minutes, especially in a big hub like ATL or ORD, you probably won't have any time to go to the hub anyway. So now you may be deliberately scheduling extra travel time into your schedule so you can take advantage of a perk that you wouldn't normally have had time to use.
Finally, if you're getting club access for food/drink, you could just find a decent restaurant/bar in the airport and go there. $25 to $50 would take you very far (and probably be a much more memorable experience at a place like One Flew South, rather than Delta Skyclub #8, for example).
@kekrre wrote:
@ryanbush wrote:
@FutureBillionaire wrote:It seems to me that you are paying for the credits or perks up front with the annual fee. I'm not sure that the Platinum gives 450 bucks worth of extra benefits. The 200 dollar credit that you get for incidental fees is included in the annual fee. That leaves $250 bucks that I have paid. How do you itemize the other $250?
I have an Amex PRG that is probably going to get closed. I have used amex points towards ticket purchases for events. But, I don't really use that card to book travel. Maybe that's where I am missing the boat.
I need someone to explain to me in dollars how these annual fees allow you to come out on top. I see that $250 is unaccounted for.
Just a Delta skyclub membership (which i use) is 450/year... so I'm already 200 ahead if I use that feature
This was going to be a simple reply, but it turned into a really lengthy discussion of how I would assign value to a club membership (and why I decided it wasn't worth bothering with).
Well that really depends on how much you value lounge access. It's $50/person walk-in, so you really need to make at least 5 visits with a Platinum card, or 9 visits with a club membership, just to reach "cash equivalency". If you think lounge access is worth more like $25, then you need to make 10 visits with the Platinum card, 18 visits with the club membership, or just get a Delta Gold card and make 4 visits. Also, if you're not picky about what club you have to stay at (and are willing in many cases to forgo additional service such as IRROP rebooking), the Priority Pass Standard Plus membership runs $249 and gets you 10 "free" club passes, with many United and US Airways clubs available, plus quite a bit of stuff overseas, such as the Banjul First Class lounge in Gambia. If you value clubs at $25 a pop and plan to make less than 10 visits (and don't care that DL and AA don't participate/fly US or UA), you can get good value out of a CSP + PP Standard Plus membership.
However, a more reasonable "value" I've seen tossed around is $10/visit (which happens to be, more or less, what you can get United Club passes off ebay for). At that rate, you need to make 45 visits with Skyclub membership or 25 visits with a Platinum. If you fly often (I'm not saying you don't - I'm just breaking down costs for interested readers), it's probably definitely worth it to have the Platinum. As I understand it, the clubs can be a welcome place to wait if your flight is delayed and many (most? all?) airlines provide a slightly higher level of service for rebooking IRROPs and such through their club CSRs.
But for an average person, you have to decide whether or not it's worth $10 to $25 per trip (maybe $20 to $50 for round-trip non-hub flyers) for slightly higher convenience. If you connection is less than 45 minutes, especially in a big hub like ATL or ORD, you probably won't have any time to go to the hub anyway. So now you may be deliberately scheduling extra travel time into your schedule so you can take advantage of a perk that you wouldn't normally have had time to use.
Finally, if you're getting club access for food/drink, you could just find a decent restaurant/bar in the airport and go there. $25 to $50 would take you very far (and probably be a much more memorable experience at a place like One Flew South, rather than Delta Skyclub #8, for example).
This makes sense. I'm closing the PRG and won't upgrade or downgrade. It just needs to go.
@kekrre wrote:
@ryanbush wrote:
@FutureBillionaire wrote:It seems to me that you are paying for the credits or perks up front with the annual fee. I'm not sure that the Platinum gives 450 bucks worth of extra benefits. The 200 dollar credit that you get for incidental fees is included in the annual fee. That leaves $250 bucks that I have paid. How do you itemize the other $250?
I have an Amex PRG that is probably going to get closed. I have used amex points towards ticket purchases for events. But, I don't really use that card to book travel. Maybe that's where I am missing the boat.
I need someone to explain to me in dollars how these annual fees allow you to come out on top. I see that $250 is unaccounted for.
Just a Delta skyclub membership (which i use) is 450/year... so I'm already 200 ahead if I use that feature
This was going to be a simple reply, but it turned into a really lengthy discussion of how I would assign value to a club membership (and why I decided it wasn't worth bothering with).
Well that really depends on how much you value lounge access. It's $50/person walk-in, so you really need to make at least 5 visits with a Platinum card, or 9 visits with a club membership, just to reach "cash equivalency". If you think lounge access is worth more like $25, then you need to make 10 visits with the Platinum card, 18 visits with the club membership, or just get a Delta Gold card and make 4 visits. Also, if you're not picky about what club you have to stay at (and are willing in many cases to forgo additional service such as IRROP rebooking), the Priority Pass Standard Plus membership runs $249 and gets you 10 "free" club passes, with many United and US Airways clubs available, plus quite a bit of stuff overseas, such as the Banjul First Class lounge in Gambia. If you value clubs at $25 a pop and plan to make less than 10 visits (and don't care that DL and AA don't participate/fly US or UA), you can get good value out of a CSP + PP Standard Plus membership.
However, a more reasonable "value" I've seen tossed around is $10/visit (which happens to be, more or less, what you can get United Club passes off ebay for). At that rate, you need to make 45 visits with Skyclub membership or 25 visits with a Platinum. If you fly often (I'm not saying you don't - I'm just breaking down costs for interested readers), it's probably definitely worth it to have the Platinum. As I understand it, the clubs can be a welcome place to wait if your flight is delayed and many (most? all?) airlines provide a slightly higher level of service for rebooking IRROPs and such through their club CSRs.
But for an average person, you have to decide whether or not it's worth $10 to $25 per trip (maybe $20 to $50 for round-trip non-hub flyers) for slightly higher convenience. If you connection is less than 45 minutes, especially in a big hub like ATL or ORD, you probably won't have any time to go to the hub anyway. So now you may be deliberately scheduling extra travel time into your schedule so you can take advantage of a perk that you wouldn't normally have had time to use.
Finally, if you're getting club access for food/drink, you could just find a decent restaurant/bar in the airport and go there. $25 to $50 would take you very far (and probably be a much more memorable experience at a place like One Flew South, rather than Delta Skyclub #8, for example).
Stop it. Don't spoil my favorite place. Next thing you know I will never get a seat at the bar for the pork belly and a Pimm's Cup.
@kekrre wrote:
@ryanbush wrote:
@FutureBillionaire wrote:It seems to me that you are paying for the credits or perks up front with the annual fee. I'm not sure that the Platinum gives 450 bucks worth of extra benefits. The 200 dollar credit that you get for incidental fees is included in the annual fee. That leaves $250 bucks that I have paid. How do you itemize the other $250?
I have an Amex PRG that is probably going to get closed. I have used amex points towards ticket purchases for events. But, I don't really use that card to book travel. Maybe that's where I am missing the boat.
I need someone to explain to me in dollars how these annual fees allow you to come out on top. I see that $250 is unaccounted for.
Just a Delta skyclub membership (which i use) is 450/year... so I'm already 200 ahead if I use that feature
This was going to be a simple reply, but it turned into a really lengthy discussion of how I would assign value to a club membership (and why I decided it wasn't worth bothering with).
Well that really depends on how much you value lounge access. It's $50/person walk-in, so you really need to make at least 5 visits with a Platinum card, or 9 visits with a club membership, just to reach "cash equivalency". If you think lounge access is worth more like $25, then you need to make 10 visits with the Platinum card, 18 visits with the club membership, or just get a Delta Gold card and make 4 visits. Also, if you're not picky about what club you have to stay at (and are willing in many cases to forgo additional service such as IRROP rebooking), the Priority Pass Standard Plus membership runs $249 and gets you 10 "free" club passes, with many United and US Airways clubs available, plus quite a bit of stuff overseas, such as the Banjul First Class lounge in Gambia. If you value clubs at $25 a pop and plan to make less than 10 visits (and don't care that DL and AA don't participate/fly US or UA), you can get good value out of a CSP + PP Standard Plus membership.
However, a more reasonable "value" I've seen tossed around is $10/visit (which happens to be, more or less, what you can get United Club passes off ebay for). At that rate, you need to make 45 visits with Skyclub membership or 25 visits with a Platinum. If you fly often (I'm not saying you don't - I'm just breaking down costs for interested readers), it's probably definitely worth it to have the Platinum. As I understand it, the clubs can be a welcome place to wait if your flight is delayed and many (most? all?) airlines provide a slightly higher level of service for rebooking IRROPs and such through their club CSRs.
But for an average person, you have to decide whether or not it's worth $10 to $25 per trip (maybe $20 to $50 for round-trip non-hub flyers) for slightly higher convenience. If you connection is less than 45 minutes, especially in a big hub like ATL or ORD, you probably won't have any time to go to the hub anyway. So now you may be deliberately scheduling extra travel time into your schedule so you can take advantage of a perk that you wouldn't normally have had time to use.
Finally, if you're getting club access for food/drink, you could just find a decent restaurant/bar in the airport and go there. $25 to $50 would take you very far (and probably be a much more memorable experience at a place like One Flew South, rather than Delta Skyclub #8, for example).
What about when I travel with my Fiance and brother, that's 150 right there... traveled with my fiance and companion twice last year, that would have been 150 at each lay over.... so 2 layovers per trip = 6 visits per trip and I had two trips last year they came on.... so that was 12 visits right there or 600$... platinum came out ahead on those calculations.
BTW one flew south in atlanta is pretty awesome and that is my normal connecting hub, The club access is just a nice luxury even if just stopping by for 30 mins to get a nice drink and surf on the laptop instead of standing at a gate waiting