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Ok so my dilemma is pretty much the now hard to use airline credit. Originally, I would just use them for gift cards and call it a day but that loophole has been filled. My primary airlines is American, in which I don't have to pay baggage fees, due to me having the Citi AA card. That alone eliminates that option for the airline credit. Delta would be my 2nd choice since I don't have an airline card for it. So I suppose I could maybe use most of their credit there. I maybe fly Delta once a year primarily because American is normally cheaper. Even then, I still don't know if that is a legit reason to keep the card
As far as the bonus categories go, I could use my gandfathered Savor to replace it for food (and groceries when Apple Pay isn't accepted). As far as flights and groceries go, my Altitude Reserve can replace it for that.
Anyone else thinking on parting ways with the Gold?
^^echo the above but I am always one to call for retention offers before closing. I don't think there are currently any good product change offers available either.
When does your next AF post?
IDK about you OP, but since Rakuten added MR points and now joined the dining progam getting 9x on dining in addition to MR for on-line and in-store shopping can beat all others if you have many dining options in your area. Also, I have been getting 18x - 22x on some hotel stays using Rocketmiles which you can get MR points, cost is about $5 more but I'll pay that vig.
So w/ all the changes that Amex has made w/ their charge cards and joining Rakuten and stacking their offers it has been real easy to accumulate a ton of MR points. In addition, they run more transfer bonuses that any one else.
I have used Avios to fly AA domestically for award flights and getting 40% on a transfer bonus works out very well.
I used mine for the 50K MR's and then closed it when it hit a year after not finding much value to the points for a direct cash out. I had to jump through hoops to get the most value out of them outside of travel expenses.
It would seem you're in a predicament of duplicity. I would just cash out the points or open another MR card like ED to transfer them to and save yourself $250/yr.
I am going to keep mine. Although my situation is reverse of yours, as I fly delta more than american.
Here are a few things to consider, see if you can get value from these.
1. split delta trip into two one way trips and book as two trips, for each trip, use 50-100 GC and pay the remainder (<100) with gold, should trigger credit.
2. check your AA trips, see if booking AA flight via BA avios can get you 2cpp (with Amex BA transfer bonus of 40%), if you can, that means you get 2cpp out of MR, that means 8% on food, grocery, and airline/amazon through giftcard at grocery stores.
3. check to see how much Amex offers nets you. I understand you have other Amex cards, but at least part of the offers will be gold only.
Closing is always an option, although it seems you may be able to use it better if your flying and grocery/dining spending habit meet certain criteria.
@randomguy1 wrote:^^echo the above but I am always one to call for retention offers before closing. I don't think there are currently any good product change offers available either.
When does your next AF post?
It will post next month around the 4th.
@Anonymous wrote:I used mine for the 50K MR's and then closed it when it hit a year after not finding much value to the points for a direct cash out. I had to jump through hoops to get the most value out of them outside of travel expenses.
It would seem you're in a predicament of duplicity. I would just cash out the points or open another MR card like ED to transfer them to and save yourself $250/yr.
Yea I'm finding it hard to use my points as well. I have around 60k and whenever I do use them it is primarily to top off a booking for Hilton and occasionally Marriott.
I already have the BBP so I can just transfer them over there. I did have the ED as well but I closed it as it was redundant. I think I am just going to close it like I originally planned to when it post next month.
This is what happens when we're too good at getting cards after a build. You're left scratching your head sometimes when it comes to where to find the best value for spend. Banking points isn't a bad thing but, I tend to open new cards around big spends and they usually involve TAXES whether property or IRS... it's an easy way to knock out a SUB and evaluate a card for usefulness.
ED doesn't have much appeal to me either with MR's and the gimmicky 20% for 20 swipes BS. 20% on 1% doesn't add up to enough to deal with the conversion issues. The only real appealing thing with it is the into $0/0% offer they've been doing.
Here's my take on this subject.
Amex MR is hands down the best point currency for long haul F/J redemptions. If this isnt your ideal redemption, consider the various Y redemptions that amex can get you. They aren't as worthwhile as F/J but they still have the potential. If Y is your thing, I know many people that do much better with Chase.
With that said, the idea of a travel card is the rewards program. I know many people aren't travel hackers, but there's many blogs/websites out there with step by step instructions to get some good awards. You may not find out all the various tricks about certain programs from blogs, but you can put together a good trip if you put a little effort in. You need to decide if the rewards program works for you. The $100 airline credit means nothing to me, but I also understand $100 is $100. If you are looking to justify an AF with the various credits, the card likely isn't a good fit for you. I exceed that $250 a year with booking just one award ticket. I view it as the cost of flying F/J for cheap. If I pay 100K in miles + $250 a year for the card and $500 in taxes. That's a business class ticket for $750. That's a great deal. If you don't spend enough to earn a J ticket in a year, adjust the numbers and see if its still a good deal. That's what matters, you are doing this for cheaper travel. It's never really free unless you MS the hell out of cards and even then it's still not completely free.
As mentioned above, Rakuten launched a dining program. Great way to earn some MR. I earn a ton of points using Rakuten for purchases online. Not everyone does the volume I do, but say you earn 25K points a year. Thats pretty realistic if you remember to use Rakuten. 25K points is enough for cheap RT Y award and one way a long haul Y trip. Plus you earn all the points from the CC side. It's probabaly the most valuable partnership any bank could have gotten IMO. It was huge for Amex and its a serious advantage over the other banks.
Any card that you can't easily use in an organic manner is a card you shouldn't keep. Especially if an annual fee comes attached to it. Just my humble opinion.