People with CSR. Will you be keeping the card ?

[darkfrosty]

My annual fee just hit and im not sure if I am keeping the card. What about you guys ?

[Anonymous]

if you travel enough to get the benefits, seems like a keeper.  Otherwise, its wasted money.  I keep my amex platinum simply bc i travel a decent amount.  I believe with that card you get $300 in airline/hotel credits and 3x pts on travel/dining.  Then you get some lounge access (I think), as well as some hotel and rental car priveleges.  So yeah, for a frequent traveler, I'd say its worth it.  But if you're only taking 1-2 trips a year, meh.  In that case you did well to get the 100 K pts, now time to cut it imo.

[cjesser15]

I am making a decision on this as well and I'm leaning towards not keeping it. However, I think it's because of travel habits that are specific to me. I tend to travel domestically and have yet to be in a terminal with a Priority Pass lounge. When I travel off of work time I tend to travel with groups and/or for specific events and rarely end up having much say in what hotel we stay at or what flights we take. I have a big international trip coming up in January but we hired a travel agent to handle all the organization and get group rates, etc. So I didn't get to use my URs for anything. And I think I'll be traveling less next year. So in my specific case, I think I'll he PCing it and probably moving back to more of a cash back strategy.

[UpperNwGuy]

Yes, I will be keeping the Chase Sapphire Reserve because this card will continue to be good for me in the second year.  I spend about $10,000 a year in the Travel and Dining categories that get the 3 points per dollar, and 3 points equates to a 4.5% rate of return.  Rather than using the Chase travel portal, I transfer the Ultimate Reward points to United's frequent flyer program, increasing their value by about the same 1.5x that they would increase by using the travel portal.

For me, the CSR is much better than Amex Platinum because most of my airfare is paid with frequent flyer miles earned in previous years, so I would rarely benefit from Platinum's 5 points per dollar on airfare.  I realize that CSR gives 3 points per dollar for hotels rather than the 5 points given by Platinum, but I prefer to deal directly with the hotels rather than through a travel portal as required by Platinum. I also prefer the way CSR handles travel credits (flights and hotels count towards the credit, unlike Platinum's incidental expenses).

[Anonymous]

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

For me, the CSR is much better than Amex Platinum because most of my airfare is paid with frequent flyer miles earned in previous years, so I would rarely benefit from Platinum's 5 points per dollar on airfare.  I realize that CSR gives 3 points per dollar for hotels rather than the 5 points given by Platinum, but I prefer to deal directly with the hotels rather than through a travel portal as required by Platinum. I also prefer the way CSR handles travel credits (flights and hotels count towards the credit, unlike Platinum's incidental expenses).

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100% agreed.  In fact, the only reason I keep my platinum vs getting a CSR is for the superior lounge network.  One correction, you can use the platinum credit for flights, but you have to designate the airline.

[UpperNwGuy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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100% agreed.  In fact, the only reason I keep my platinum vs getting a CSR is for the superior lounge network.  One correction, you can use the platinum credit for flights, but you have to designate the airline.

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Whether or not you can use the Platinum travel credit for flights has been the subject of some recent discussion here on myFico.  The Platinum card's terms and conditions say you cannot, but a few members have said that they got the credit for an airfare purchase.  The Points Guy wrote a whole blog entry on this two months ago, and he thinks the credit does not include flights.  And knowing him, he talked to Amex back-channel before publishing his blog entry.

[Anonymous]

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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100% agreed.  In fact, the only reason I keep my platinum vs getting a CSR is for the superior lounge network.  One correction, you can use the platinum credit for flights, but you have to designate the airline.

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Whether or not you can use the Platinum travel credit for flights has been the subject of some recent discussion here on myFico.  The Platinum card's terms and conditions say you cannot, but a few members have said that they got the credit for an airfare purchase.  The Points Guy wrote a whole blog entry on this two months ago, and he thinks the credit does not include flights.  And knowing him, he talked to Amex back-channel before publishing his blog entry.

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I can confirm it does, as I use it as credit each year for flights.

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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100% agreed.  In fact, the only reason I keep my platinum vs getting a CSR is for the superior lounge network.  One correction, you can use the platinum credit for flights, but you have to designate the airline.

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Whether or not you can use the Platinum travel credit for flights has been the subject of some recent discussion here on myFico.  The Platinum card's terms and conditions say you cannot, but a few members have said that they got the credit for an airfare purchase.  The Points Guy wrote a whole blog entry on this two months ago, and he thinks the credit does not include flights.  And knowing him, he talked to Amex back-channel before publishing his blog entry.

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I can confirm it does, as I use it as credit each year for flights.

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"Airline tickets, upgrades, mileage points purchases, mileage points transfer fees, gift cards, duty free purchases, and award tickets are not deemed to be incidental fees."

You pick the airline on which fees will be reimbursed. Airfare reimbursements sometimes happen but are officially excluded. I've had airfare be reimbursed, and I've also had airfare NOT be reimbursed.

[Anonymous]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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100% agreed.  In fact, the only reason I keep my platinum vs getting a CSR is for the superior lounge network.  One correction, you can use the platinum credit for flights, but you have to designate the airline.

---

Whether or not you can use the Platinum travel credit for flights has been the subject of some recent discussion here on myFico.  The Platinum card's terms and conditions say you cannot, but a few members have said that they got the credit for an airfare purchase.  The Points Guy wrote a whole blog entry on this two months ago, and he thinks the credit does not include flights.  And knowing him, he talked to Amex back-channel before publishing his blog entry.

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I can confirm it does, as I use it as credit each year for flights.

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"Airline tickets, upgrades, mileage points purchases, mileage points transfer fees, gift cards, duty free purchases, and award tickets are not deemed to be incidental fees."

You pick the airline on which fees will be reimbursed. Airfare reimbursements sometimes happen but are officially excluded. I've had airfare be reimbursed, and I've also had airfare NOT be reimbursed.

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Oh wow, I've never had the issue over many years of use.  I was just checking Flyer Talk regarding this, and they mentioned just getting gift cards for that specific airline works.  If I have ever have issue with this I'll be cancelling the card.

[BronzeTrader]

For CSR, you get 3% on all travel and 1.5x on UR points to redeem on travel.  So it is essentially a 4.5% travel reward card.  Since I have a total of 5 Chase Freedom, FU and Sapphire cards, I'm keeping the CSR, no brainer.

Not sure if I'll keep AmEx Plat though.  The rewards are too narrow compared with CSR.