@Priory_Man wrote:
@drave199 wrote:I just did the upgrade to the blue cash preferred. I still have a week or so to mull over the Gold (if i want the rose gold card) so we'll see. I think overall the 6% at supermarkets and 3% at gas stations will net me more useful rewards. I believe I could spend enough on the Gold card to out weigh the AF but my problem would most likely be ways to redeem the points to be useful. Yes I dont travel much or have an airlines credit card to transfer the points but maybe I could start to travel more, right? and the 50k start bonus is pretty good. But alos trying to balance what I spend on what card. I think Id find myself spending more on the Gold even though the BCP has a better return but I know I need to spend on it so I can justify the AF. Most likely Ill wait and see what offers are out there this time next year.
Thanks for the help. Ill keep you updated
Smart choice, I think.
If you thought you had a need you would have got it already and moved on.
Only you know your spending habits and whether this card would fall into those habits, so you can maximize the rewards it has.
It's all well and good that it is metal and shiny and the "precious" and all (joke),but that's not what is important. It's about it fitting your lifestyle.
Best of luck.
So just to help my understand, whether its for a card I have now or in the future. Not having any experience with the reward points can you or anyone give me some options on how to redeem these points? I see a lot of people say to use the airline credit to get a delta gift card? Also people say you get the best value is by transferring your points to an airline miles account, I assume this is a credit card for that particular airline? If thats the case then when that time came to potenially get this card then i guess it would bet benifical to have an airline credit card? I read that someone used their bonus and got a $500 gift card somwhere and another person said that was a waist of the points and should have transferred them. So for an example, say you have 50k points and you transfer them to a Delta account. Whats the value difference versus using them on something else or on travel through the amex portal? If I end up getting this or another points card in the future I want to make sure Im prepared to redeem them for the best value.
Side note, I read someone said to hurry and sign up before years end to try and double dip on the airline credit? I assume they mean for 2018 then 2019, is that even possible?
Im just trying to better understand the points and how they worked. I appreciate your guys help and information.
@drave199 wrote:
@Priory_Man wrote:
@drave199 wrote:I just did the upgrade to the blue cash preferred. I still have a week or so to mull over the Gold (if i want the rose gold card) so we'll see. I think overall the 6% at supermarkets and 3% at gas stations will net me more useful rewards. I believe I could spend enough on the Gold card to out weigh the AF but my problem would most likely be ways to redeem the points to be useful. Yes I dont travel much or have an airlines credit card to transfer the points but maybe I could start to travel more, right? and the 50k start bonus is pretty good. But alos trying to balance what I spend on what card. I think Id find myself spending more on the Gold even though the BCP has a better return but I know I need to spend on it so I can justify the AF. Most likely Ill wait and see what offers are out there this time next year.
Thanks for the help. Ill keep you updated
Smart choice, I think.
If you thought you had a need you would have got it already and moved on.
Only you know your spending habits and whether this card would fall into those habits, so you can maximize the rewards it has.
It's all well and good that it is metal and shiny and the "precious" and all (joke),but that's not what is important. It's about it fitting your lifestyle.
Best of luck.
So just to help my understand, whether its for a card I have now or in the future. Not having any experience with the reward points can you or anyone give me some options on how to redeem these points? I see a lot of people say to use the airline credit to get a delta gift card? Also people say you get the best value is by transferring your points to an airline miles account, I assume this is a credit card for that particular airline? If thats the case then when that time came to potenially get this card then i guess it would bet benifical to have an airline credit card? I read that someone used their bonus and got a $500 gift card somwhere and another person said that was a waist of the points and should have transferred them. So for an example, say you have 50k points and you transfer them to a Delta account. Whats the value difference versus using them on something else or on travel through the amex portal? If I end up getting this or another points card in the future I want to make sure Im prepared to redeem them for the best value.
Side note, I read someone said to hurry and sign up before years end to try and double dip on the airline credit? I assume they mean for 2018 then 2019, is that even possible?
Im just trying to better understand the points and how they worked. I appreciate your guys help and information.
You already have an AF amex card. You don't really travel on airlines. You do not really understand how the amex gold card works. You do not seem to have any general idea of how you would redeem these points or IF there are any suitable redemptions for you. All of this tells me you should not be applying for this card, because it does not appear like you have enough information yet to make an informed decision. There is a whole bunch of factors that determine how much value a credit card can hold for a person from where they are flying from/what airlines they have access to, their estimated category spend, the classes of service they are looking for, the destinations they are looking for, how much flexibility they have in scheduling etc etc etc. Don't rush out and get a card because someone said its a good deal. Just because its a good deal for them does not mean its a good deal for you. You have to do a whole lot more research otherwise you may be spending more money than you will get back.
;
@red259 wrote:
@drave199 wrote:
@Priory_Man wrote:
@drave199 wrote:I just did the upgrade to the blue cash preferred. I still have a week or so to mull over the Gold (if i want the rose gold card) so we'll see. I think overall the 6% at supermarkets and 3% at gas stations will net me more useful rewards. I believe I could spend enough on the Gold card to out weigh the AF but my problem would most likely be ways to redeem the points to be useful. Yes I dont travel much or have an airlines credit card to transfer the points but maybe I could start to travel more, right? and the 50k start bonus is pretty good. But alos trying to balance what I spend on what card. I think Id find myself spending more on the Gold even though the BCP has a better return but I know I need to spend on it so I can justify the AF. Most likely Ill wait and see what offers are out there this time next year.
Thanks for the help. Ill keep you updated
Smart choice, I think.
If you thought you had a need you would have got it already and moved on.
Only you know your spending habits and whether this card would fall into those habits, so you can maximize the rewards it has.
It's all well and good that it is metal and shiny and the "precious" and all (joke),but that's not what is important. It's about it fitting your lifestyle.
Best of luck.
So just to help my understand, whether its for a card I have now or in the future. Not having any experience with the reward points can you or anyone give me some options on how to redeem these points? I see a lot of people say to use the airline credit to get a delta gift card? Also people say you get the best value is by transferring your points to an airline miles account, I assume this is a credit card for that particular airline? If thats the case then when that time came to potenially get this card then i guess it would bet benifical to have an airline credit card? I read that someone used their bonus and got a $500 gift card somwhere and another person said that was a waist of the points and should have transferred them. So for an example, say you have 50k points and you transfer them to a Delta account. Whats the value difference versus using them on something else or on travel through the amex portal? If I end up getting this or another points card in the future I want to make sure Im prepared to redeem them for the best value.
Side note, I read someone said to hurry and sign up before years end to try and double dip on the airline credit? I assume they mean for 2018 then 2019, is that even possible?
Im just trying to better understand the points and how they worked. I appreciate your guys help and information.
You already have an AF amex card. You don't really travel on airlines. You do not really understand how the amex gold card works. You do not seem to have any general idea of how you would redeem these points or IF there are any suitable redemptions for you. All of this tells me you should not be applying for this card, because it does not appear like you have enough information yet to make an informed decision. There is a whole bunch of factors that determine how much value a credit card can hold for a person from where they are flying from/what airlines they have access to, their estimated category spend, the classes of service they are looking for, the destinations they are looking for, how much flexibility they have in scheduling etc etc etc. Don't rush out and get a card because someone said its a good deal. Just because its a good deal for them does not mean its a good deal for you. You have to do a whole lot more research otherwise you may be spending more money than you will get back.
Thanks dad for the talk. Maybe I should get the card just to spite you! (joke!) But in all seriousness I Have made the decision I am going to wait on it until sometime later next year. I will do more research. Amex actuall has a pretty good section that goes over how the reward points work which I did not see before
@drave199 wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@drave199 wrote:
@Priory_Man wrote:
@drave199 wrote:I just did the upgrade to the blue cash preferred. I still have a week or so to mull over the Gold (if i want the rose gold card) so we'll see. I think overall the 6% at supermarkets and 3% at gas stations will net me more useful rewards. I believe I could spend enough on the Gold card to out weigh the AF but my problem would most likely be ways to redeem the points to be useful. Yes I dont travel much or have an airlines credit card to transfer the points but maybe I could start to travel more, right? and the 50k start bonus is pretty good. But alos trying to balance what I spend on what card. I think Id find myself spending more on the Gold even though the BCP has a better return but I know I need to spend on it so I can justify the AF. Most likely Ill wait and see what offers are out there this time next year.
Thanks for the help. Ill keep you updated
Smart choice, I think.
If you thought you had a need you would have got it already and moved on.
Only you know your spending habits and whether this card would fall into those habits, so you can maximize the rewards it has.
It's all well and good that it is metal and shiny and the "precious" and all (joke),but that's not what is important. It's about it fitting your lifestyle.
Best of luck.
So just to help my understand, whether its for a card I have now or in the future. Not having any experience with the reward points can you or anyone give me some options on how to redeem these points? I see a lot of people say to use the airline credit to get a delta gift card? Also people say you get the best value is by transferring your points to an airline miles account, I assume this is a credit card for that particular airline? If thats the case then when that time came to potenially get this card then i guess it would bet benifical to have an airline credit card? I read that someone used their bonus and got a $500 gift card somwhere and another person said that was a waist of the points and should have transferred them. So for an example, say you have 50k points and you transfer them to a Delta account. Whats the value difference versus using them on something else or on travel through the amex portal? If I end up getting this or another points card in the future I want to make sure Im prepared to redeem them for the best value.
Side note, I read someone said to hurry and sign up before years end to try and double dip on the airline credit? I assume they mean for 2018 then 2019, is that even possible?
Im just trying to better understand the points and how they worked. I appreciate your guys help and information.
You already have an AF amex card. You don't really travel on airlines. You do not really understand how the amex gold card works. You do not seem to have any general idea of how you would redeem these points or IF there are any suitable redemptions for you. All of this tells me you should not be applying for this card, because it does not appear like you have enough information yet to make an informed decision. There is a whole bunch of factors that determine how much value a credit card can hold for a person from where they are flying from/what airlines they have access to, their estimated category spend, the classes of service they are looking for, the destinations they are looking for, how much flexibility they have in scheduling etc etc etc. Don't rush out and get a card because someone said its a good deal. Just because its a good deal for them does not mean its a good deal for you. You have to do a whole lot more research otherwise you may be spending more money than you will get back.
Thanks dad for the talk. Maybe I should get the card just to spite you! (joke!) But in all seriousness I Have made the decision I am going to wait on it until sometime later next year. My question was just to get some insight on how the system works so im not sure why your response had none of those answers and seemed to have a bit of malice to it? Everyone at some point had little to no knowledge of something right? And they asked for help. Anyways I realized the amex website actually has a pretty good tool to see how the rewards work. Wish i knew about this before. So this thread might as well be over as far as im concerned. Thanks everyone who contributed with help for me!
No malice. Do what you want. I listed out a whole bunch of different factors that influence the value of the card. In terms of how Amex membership reward points works and all the travel partners try googling it and doing research on the internet. There are a number of guides online about it (make sure you read up to date ones since things from 2017 or even early 2018 may be out of date info by now) but such a question would take too long to answer here because different programs have different award charts, alliances, redemption transfer rates, possible bonus transfers, fuel surcharges, routing restrictions etc etc. You have to do your own research and then come back if you have specific questions. Its going to be a fair bit of reading and will probably need to be read over a few times at least to sink in, because its not really easy to understand when first starting out. Also if you go to flyertalk.com you can ask more airline specific questions there although they can be a bit surly.
@red259 wrote:
@drave199 wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@drave199 wrote:
@Priory_Man wrote:
@drave199 wrote:I just did the upgrade to the blue cash preferred. I still have a week or so to mull over the Gold (if i want the rose gold card) so we'll see. I think overall the 6% at supermarkets and 3% at gas stations will net me more useful rewards. I believe I could spend enough on the Gold card to out weigh the AF but my problem would most likely be ways to redeem the points to be useful. Yes I dont travel much or have an airlines credit card to transfer the points but maybe I could start to travel more, right? and the 50k start bonus is pretty good. But alos trying to balance what I spend on what card. I think Id find myself spending more on the Gold even though the BCP has a better return but I know I need to spend on it so I can justify the AF. Most likely Ill wait and see what offers are out there this time next year.
Thanks for the help. Ill keep you updated
Smart choice, I think.
If you thought you had a need you would have got it already and moved on.
Only you know your spending habits and whether this card would fall into those habits, so you can maximize the rewards it has.
It's all well and good that it is metal and shiny and the "precious" and all (joke),but that's not what is important. It's about it fitting your lifestyle.
Best of luck.
So just to help my understand, whether its for a card I have now or in the future. Not having any experience with the reward points can you or anyone give me some options on how to redeem these points? I see a lot of people say to use the airline credit to get a delta gift card? Also people say you get the best value is by transferring your points to an airline miles account, I assume this is a credit card for that particular airline? If thats the case then when that time came to potenially get this card then i guess it would bet benifical to have an airline credit card? I read that someone used their bonus and got a $500 gift card somwhere and another person said that was a waist of the points and should have transferred them. So for an example, say you have 50k points and you transfer them to a Delta account. Whats the value difference versus using them on something else or on travel through the amex portal? If I end up getting this or another points card in the future I want to make sure Im prepared to redeem them for the best value.
Side note, I read someone said to hurry and sign up before years end to try and double dip on the airline credit? I assume they mean for 2018 then 2019, is that even possible?
Im just trying to better understand the points and how they worked. I appreciate your guys help and information.
You already have an AF amex card. You don't really travel on airlines. You do not really understand how the amex gold card works. You do not seem to have any general idea of how you would redeem these points or IF there are any suitable redemptions for you. All of this tells me you should not be applying for this card, because it does not appear like you have enough information yet to make an informed decision. There is a whole bunch of factors that determine how much value a credit card can hold for a person from where they are flying from/what airlines they have access to, their estimated category spend, the classes of service they are looking for, the destinations they are looking for, how much flexibility they have in scheduling etc etc etc. Don't rush out and get a card because someone said its a good deal. Just because its a good deal for them does not mean its a good deal for you. You have to do a whole lot more research otherwise you may be spending more money than you will get back.
Thanks dad for the talk. Maybe I should get the card just to spite you! (joke!) But in all seriousness I Have made the decision I am going to wait on it until sometime later next year. My question was just to get some insight on how the system works so im not sure why your response had none of those answers and seemed to have a bit of malice to it? Everyone at some point had little to no knowledge of something right? And they asked for help. Anyways I realized the amex website actually has a pretty good tool to see how the rewards work. Wish i knew about this before. So this thread might as well be over as far as im concerned. Thanks everyone who contributed with help for me!
No malice. Do what you want. I listed out a whole bunch of different factors that influence the value of the card. In terms of how Amex membership reward points works and all the travel partners try googling it and doing research on the internet. There are a number of guides online about it (make sure you read up to date ones since things from 2017 or even early 2018 may be out of date info by now) but such a question would take too long to answer here because different programs have different award charts, alliances, redemption transfer rates, possible bonus transfers, fuel surcharges, routing restrictions etc etc. You have to do your own research and then come back if you have specific questions. Its going to be a fair bit of reading and will probably need to be read over a few times at least to sink in, because its not really easy to understand when first starting out. Also if you go to flyertalk.com you can ask more airline specific questions there although they can be a bit surly.
Thank you
@Anonymous wrote:
@drave199 wrote:
So just to help my understand, whether its for a card I have now or in the future. Not having any experience with the reward points can you or anyone give me some options on how to redeem these points? I see a lot of people say to use the airline credit to get a delta gift card? Also people say you get the best value is by transferring your points to an airline miles account, I assume this is a credit card for that particular airline? I
Just to answer this bit: No! The airlines each have their own frequent flier program with names like AAdvantage (American) MileagePlus (United), Avios (British Airways). These are free to join. An airline credit card will earn miles/points for that program but isn't needed. MR points from Amex can be transferred into miles for that program. Once miles are in the program, you can redeem them for award travel on that airline (or others in the alliance). These miles add to whatever you earn in other ways, such as flying on the airline or earning with partners, which can include hotels, credit cards, flying on the alliance partners etc.
Ok So I dont necessarily need to have that hotel or airline credit card, just be apart of their rewards is my understanding. For instance I have an IHG account with a measly 30k points that I built up the last couple years, so I could transfer it to that? Obviously if it came time that I was going to really push a use some points for travel then it could be benifical to open an airlineor hotel card for the bonus you get.
Thank you
@drave199 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@drave199 wrote:
So just to help my understand, whether its for a card I have now or in the future. Not having any experience with the reward points can you or anyone give me some options on how to redeem these points? I see a lot of people say to use the airline credit to get a delta gift card? Also people say you get the best value is by transferring your points to an airline miles account, I assume this is a credit card for that particular airline? I
Just to answer this bit: No! The airlines each have their own frequent flier program with names like AAdvantage (American) MileagePlus (United), Avios (British Airways). These are free to join. An airline credit card will earn miles/points for that program but isn't needed. MR points from Amex can be transferred into miles for that program. Once miles are in the program, you can redeem them for award travel on that airline (or others in the alliance). These miles add to whatever you earn in other ways, such as flying on the airline or earning with partners, which can include hotels, credit cards, flying on the alliance partners etc.
Ok So I dont necessarily need to have that hotel or airline credit card, just be apart of their rewards is my understanding. For instance I have an IHG account with a measly 30k points that I built up the last couple years, so I could transfer it to that? Obviously if it came time that I was going to really push a use some points for travel then it could be benifical to open an airlineor hotel card for the bonus you get.
Thank you
Yes and no. The basic idea is right. You don't need a credit card with a specific airline or hotel to transfer points into that airline or hotel program you just need to go to the airline or hotel website and setup a loyalty account if you don't have one already. No, in the sense that IHG is not a transfer partner for Amex MRs. You can only transfer amex points to their travel partners which are listed on the Amex website as Travel Transfer Partners. Some point programs are worth considerably less than others. Hotels are usually not the best use of Amex points unless you are very close to a redemption on your own and just need to top off your account. You can google point valuations for December 2018 to get a basic idea of what points in each program are worth. These are just estimations though and the actual end value of your points will depend on the actual redemption you make, but the info will help you guage if a redemption is a reasonable value or not.