Help pick a Travel Card

[Anonymous]

Alright i've gotten daily use cards and now i'm on to travel. I think i've narrowed it down to a few choices and hoped some people could help me pick which would be the best for my situation. 

I think i've narrowed it down to the Altitude Reserve, CSR, NFCU Flagship and Platinum. Looking for a card to use for non hilton resort spend and flights, amex seems to be the lowest on the list as you can only book hotels through them for maximum rewards and lounge access is not high on my must have list. I have no centurion lounge at my airport only 3 priority pass resturants. 

I have 3-4 trips planned to LA, and one trip to jamaica in the next year that i plan to use card spend to help fund a rewards trip to the maldives. ($4,400 in airfare & $3,000 in jamaica resort between (2) people) i fly economy unless i catch an upgrade with my alaska mvp.

I have 2 chase cards currently with 1k and 1.5k limits, no U.S bank relationship currently 3/12, 4/24.

Preferred airlines are Delta or Alaska but the maldives will most likely be on singapore airlines

AR - 4.5 on any travel is great but I don't use mobile payment often as i almost never purchase anything in store however 4.5 could push me to do that more often, worried rumored rewards changes could be coming which would bring it down to only 3%. Also saw on multiple threads that they want 0/12 or 1/12.

CSR - Like the easy redemption, 4.5 for travel is great and no requirement to book through them, i also would like a visa for international travel if amex isn't accepted at resturants. Like that it includes priority resturants, unsure i'd get approved with all my new accounts. 

NFCU FS- Good 3% on travel and 2% card on everything for cash back, usually nice SUB which i'd wait for, low AF and simple. I think i'll go for the 3x on aspire over 2% CB but it would be nice to have a visa and usable at some tourist attractions for 3%. 

Platinum - I already have a gold which would help boost my rewards and not split it up. No resturant PP which is a big bummer for me and the amex travel restriction for hotels also hampers choices. 

Aspire - Hilton spend

Gold - Restaurant & Grocery

NFCU MR - Gas & Transit

Any suggestions on where i should travel spend

[K-in-Boston]

Hovering over your cards and looking at your existing bank card limits, and taking into consideration your existing Chase credit lines, I'm not sure I'd suggest the CSR unless you had a green checkmark offer in your Chase account with a firm offer of a credit line.  CSR will require at least a $10,000 starting line, and it does not appear that Chase feels comfortable with that based on the $1000 and $1500 limits.  It would of course pair well with your Freedom Unlimited.  Are there issues on your credit reports that are holding you back?

If your preferred airlines are Delta and Alaska, Platinum may be a good fit.  I know you said lounge access was low on your list, but there are SkyClubs all over the place and Alaska flights often have layovers at airports with (or will soon have) Centurion Club lounges.  I've personally never used PP at a restaurant location, and only for lounges in a few international airports where there were no SkyClub or Centurion lounge.  Amex Travel rates are basically the same as you'd find on other OTAs; Platinum also opens up availability and perks/credits for Fine Hotels & Resorts.

Flagship is a fine card, but offers no real perks or outsized earning/redemption.

AR has pretty strict underwriting and requires an existing relationship.

Since you already have Double Cash and those points can now be moved to ThankYou accounts, I would say that Premier or Prestige may actually be a better fit for you, but I'm not sure that you would be approved for either since the Double Cash is only $600.

Based on your existing profile, I think you're really looking at either Platinum or Flagship.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! I looked at the citi but the transfer partners weren't very attractive, i'll need to look again. As far as chase those two are some of my oldest cards at 3 years 5 months and 3 years 2 months, i havn't apped anything chase since then and wasn't willing to do a HP CLI I have no negatives on my report. The double cash is just about 4 years old and i was denied for a CLI because i put 0 spend through it.  

[K-in-Boston]

No problem!  I have all of the cards you mentioned, so if you have any specific questions on any of them feel free to ask.  The clarification on those being early accounts makes sense now.  You do now have a few over that $10k hurdle, so really the worst you would have to lose over the CSR app is a HP or two.

If you do have recent new cards, I would probably advise against going for the AR at this time since you would need to establish a relationship first, unless time is not a big factor here.

As for Citi, both Flying Blue (Air France/KLM) and Virgin Atlantic transfers can offer decent awards on Delta flights.

[wasCB14]

@K-in-Boston 

Are there any Delta codeshare partners that you especially like to use for business award seats on DL flights with layovers? That seems to be one weakness of booking awards with Virgin Atlantic.

[notmyrealname23]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Looking for a card to use for non hilton resort spend and flights, amex seems to be the lowest on the list as you can only book hotels through them for maximum rewards and lounge access is not high on my must have list

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AMEX Green is 3x on all travel (hotels, car rentals, ride shares) just like the CSR. My spend patterns are such that 3x all travel beats 5x airfare for earn so I actually prefer Green/Gold as a long term set of keepers to Gold/Platinum (plus I save $400 on the AF- I also don't find most lounge access very useful). My plan is probably to keep Green/Gold (once I get the Gold) plus some combinations of AMEX Hilton cards as I churn through upgrade/signup bonuses, plus lightly surf Platinum + the Schwab/Morgan Stanley variants for SUBs over a few years.

I also liked getting CLEAR for super cheap through Green ($20/yr if you have a Delta or United FF account), but that might not be useful if your airport doesn't support it.

[K-in-Boston]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

@K-in-Boston 

Are there any Delta codeshare partners that you especially like to use for business award seats on DL flights with layovers? That seems to be one weakness of booking awards with Virgin Atlantic.

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Flying Blue works better for that, so I would check Air France/KLM rates.  Fortunately both programs work well with Amex, Citi, and Chase.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Aspire - Hilton spend

Gold - Restaurant & Grocery

NFCU MR - Gas & Transit

Any suggestions on where i should travel spend

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Be aware that Aspire offers 4.2% back in Hilton points for airline spend AND offers Platimum-level travel insurance.  Also 4.2% on car rentals.

Gold offers 5% to 6% back in MR points for airline spend AND offers lesser travel insurance.  

Both are good options for flights.

Citi Expedia Voyager is a good general hotel card.  $95 but a $100 airline incidental credit.  You earn 8.4% back with on their VIP hotels with the card and the status it provides.  Chase World of Hyatt is the best of the other majors.  Lots of great spending categories and 17.9% back on Hyatt spend from points and status.

Finally, BOA Cash Rewards set to travel earns 3% to 5.25% back on other travel (broadly defined) depending on how much money you have with BOA and Merrill.

[Anonymous]

@K-in-Boston Thanks again for your help! I didn't realize when i looked through amex travel that they also had the Hotel Collection that showed more than just the fine booking ones and the pricing was identical to anywhere else that really affects my thought process.

How useful do you find the 4th night free on the citi card, would you rather utilize that or the platinum in most cases. I know after looking at the pointguy breakdown it seems back and forth on if it actually comes out ahead. 

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous 

Thanks for your comment, i think i value MR over hilton because it can be a bit more flexible and the possibility of a transfer bonus to bump, i've also never heard of that card so i'll check it out.