• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Best Airline Rewards Credit Cards

Man, maybe I am a N00b, but would someone please explain to me in like a EIL5 the pros and cons of transferring/walk through a hypothetical situation where one would transfer?
 
Last edited:
lbE08 said:
I know, that's what I'm saying though. $250 for a one-way ticket (so, $500 round trip) is way more expensive than even just buying a flight. I dunno, I guess I'm surprised by how many people transfer the points out of the UR portal rather than just using it. Obvious exception being the 20k points for a $650 hotel stay.
Click to expand...

So I just did a test case. Chicago to Mexico City in May. Chase is telling me the lowest point option is for 32,784 points on American. Going to the American website, there are 12,500 point options. In both instances, I'm leaving one day and arriving the next, not that attractive. So I look at same day flights. My cheapest on Chase is 32,904 on American and it's 10+ hours routing me through Charlotte. On the American website, I have a plethora of 27,500 options, most around six hours and routing me through Dallas.
 
JuiceCrewAllStar said:
So I just did a test case. Chicago to Mexico City in May. Chase is telling me the lowest point option is for 32,784 points on American. Going to the American website, there are 12,500 point options. In both instances, I'm leaving one day and arriving the next, not that attractive. So I look at same day flights. My cheapest on Chase is 32,904 on American and it's 10+ hours routing me through Charlotte. On the American website, I have a plethora of 27,500 options, most around six hours and routing me through Dallas.
Click to expand...

Some Questions:

Are there any penalties for transferring and booking outside of Chase in this instance?
Did you need to become a member of American's Rewards Club, or something of that nature, in order to facilitate the transfer and booking through American?
 
So I kinda fucked up on that scenario because American is not a Chase partner. I got that mixed up. There are three flights for 10,000 points through Southwest to Mexico City on that same date, but on United the cheapest is 37,5000, both of whom are partners.

To answer Some Questions:

No penalties for transferring
Yes, you need an account
 
lbE08 said:
Yeah, true - but what I was seeing on the Saver award is that they only originate from particular airports, unless I read that wrong.
Click to expand...

Saver awards are limited, especially with those who don't have status. You'll have to be flexible in order to find them. But they are hypothetically available for every route.
 
And these are all point-to-point transfers with Chase, yes? So it's a question of spending (in Juice's case) 12,500 or 33,000 points, depending on where you buy?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
United Mileage plus x app has allowed me to rake up lots of extra miles when I use my Chase united card. Some stores are 5 miles for every dollar spent. Its not very user friendly for day to day but for big purchases is worth buying the redeemable electronic gift card .
 
SmooveDeac said:
And these are all point-to-point transfers with Chase, yes? So it's a question of spending (in Juice's case) 12,500 or 33,000 points, depending on where you buy?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

This is what I am trying to figure out
 
Got the SW Chase card about two months ago...how long does it normally take to get my $50K miles? I hit the minimum required to earn it during the first month.
 
SmooveDeac said:
And these are all point-to-point transfers with Chase, yes? So it's a question of spending (in Juice's case) 12,500 or 33,000 points, depending on where you buy?
Click to expand...

Yes, depending on which site you book through, the point cost is different. The best deals will be the Saver Award (United) or whatever the airline-specific equivalent is, but those flights usually are less attractive times. Those will almost always beat the best deal on Chase's portal. However, if you don't have much flexibility, the Chase system may offer the better deal than the airline partner. It really depends. Best to just compare on a per-trip basis.

Also, Southwest is an airline partner that Sapphire points can be transferred to, but not available to be booked through the Chase portal. Not sure if there are other partners that are likewise unavailable through Chase.
 
Pleasantly surprised to find that with our 50k mile bonus from the Citi card as well, one of our flights to SA in May will almost be free. The unfortunate thing is that our miles won't post until the cycle ends in late March. What are my chances of that flight still being available 6 weeks out?

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
 
JuiceCrewAllStar said:
So I kinda fucked up on that scenario because American is not a Chase partner. I got that mixed up. There are three flights for 10,000 points through Southwest to Mexico City on that same date, but on United the cheapest is 37,5000, both of whom are partners.

To answer Some Questions:

No penalties for transferring
Yes, you need an account
Click to expand...
But couldn't you potentially book that American flight through British Airways at the same rate? I've definitely done that before. (I don't have an AA card yet, but consistently booking American flights through British would at least give me the opportunity to use my AA card to pay for luggage, upgrades, etc. if the opportunity arose. However I'm pretty sure if you were AA gold, for instance, you couldn't use your status to your advantage on a rewards flight booked through BA). Does all that make sense?
 
JuiceCrewAllStar said:
Yes, depending on which site you book through, the point cost is different. The best deals will be the Saver Award (United) or whatever the airline-specific equivalent is, but those flights usually are less attractive times. Those will almost always beat the best deal on Chase's portal. However, if you don't have much flexibility, the Chase system may offer the better deal than the airline partner. It really depends. Best to just compare on a per-trip basis.

Also, Southwest is an airline partner that Sapphire points can be transferred to, but not available to be booked through the Chase portal. Not sure if there are other partners that are likewise unavailable through Chase.
Click to expand...

Is there a penalty for transferring to Southwest? Do I need the card, or would having a reward's account suffice? For example, we have a credit through Southwest, so it would be nice to be able to book (without points penalty) through them. However, I (maybe incorrectly) gleaned they were not part of the group with which I can book through Chase.
 
wakephan09 said:
But couldn't you potentially book that American flight through British Airways at the same rate? I've definitely done that before. (I don't have an AA card yet, but consistently booking American flights through British would at least give me the opportunity to use my AA card to pay for luggage, upgrades, etc. if the opportunity arose. However I'm pretty sure if you were AA gold, for instance, you couldn't use your status to your advantage on a rewards flight booked through BA). Does all that make sense?
Click to expand...

good call, never tried the British Airlines work-around since I always had standing AA points
 
I setup the flights yesterday through Southwest. The actual transfer process was literally instantaneous and painless. I have never booked a flight with points before, so it was a bummer to realize that we will not accrue any points for the flights as a result of using points. The only hassle with this flight setup was trying to use a previous flight credit on my wife's name and points to complete the reservation for both of us. I ended up having to create two separate itineraries.
 
I've been an Amex guy most of my life, but I am beginning to wonder if I should move to Chase. I've accumulated 325,000 amex points, but apparently they're worth less than Chase and much harder to find good deals with. I got the Chase Reserve to begin building my points with them.

Does anyone have a lot of use with both and can compare the two? I also like that with Chase, you can redeem cash if you want, and with Amex it's a terrible value.
 
If it matters, Chase's customer service is roughly 3000 times better than Amex's
 
WFU Lurker said:
If it matters, Chase's customer service is roughly 3000 times better than Amex's
Click to expand...

That is shocking to me, because AmEx has never been anything but wonderful to me. Card hacked/stolen, got text, call and email immediately and had a new card overnighted to me by 10am the next day. That's been my experience any time I have had any issue with AmEx.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top