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Best Airline Rewards Credit Cards

Folks who have the Chase Sapphire Reserve - how's that working out for you?
The 100,000 points bonus offer ends on the 11th, and I'm debating going for it. Having a hard time seeing the downfall, especially when I figure it's really only $50 more than I pay now for the CS(P) in annual fee, once you take the travel credit into account...

So great. The bonus is awesome, but the fringe benefits are pretty sweet too - Priority Pass, Global Entey credit, trip insurance, etc.


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I've already gotten the $300 travel credit twice. Love this card.

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I think I'll apply. What do you guys do with your old rewards credit cards? Currently, every single purchase goes on my Sapphire Preferred, but if I get accepted for the Reserve, I just wouldn't use it anymore I'm imagining.
 
I've heard different things about cancelling vs. not cancelling. Does it hurt your credit to cancel other than "# of lines of credit drops by one"?
 
I've heard different things about cancelling vs. not cancelling. Does it hurt your credit to cancel other than "# of lines of credit drops by one"?

I think it also matters if your overall $ credit goes down
 
Say I were to cancel the Chase Reserve before I use any rewards points. Can i still access them?

That I'm not sure about. I think you might lose them. You could wait for the new Chase card, transfer the points, then cancel. I have a Chase Freedom with no fees where I can accumulate and gold points, but transfer to the more valuable Sapphire rewards system to redeem.
 
I think I'll apply. What do you guys do with your old rewards credit cards? Currently, every single purchase goes on my Sapphire Preferred, but if I get accepted for the Reserve, I just wouldn't use it anymore I'm imagining.

Typically the best thing to do is downgrade the sapphire preferred to the unlimited or the freedom, which have no annual fee. If you already have both of those, you should be able to downgrade to the chase sapphire, which you won't ever use but at least won't charge you an annual fee.
 
Typically the best thing to do is downgrade the sapphire preferred to the unlimited or the freedom, which have no annual fee. If you already have both of those, you should be able to downgrade to the chase sapphire, which you won't ever use but at least won't charge you an annual fee.

Thanks! This is what I was thinking.
 
i've heard if you call and say you want to cancel because the fee is too high a lot of times they'll just waive it.

applied for the reserve last night and i think approved. gotta get my spend on advance of our travels in may for dem rewards.
 
Thanks! This is what I was thinking.

No prob. I have all 3 and it ends up being silly. Use the freedom for 5% on whatever their rotating categories are. Reserve for travel/restaurants at 2%. And unlimited for everything else at 1.5%. Then you transfer all the points from all 3 cards to the reserve account, which can be redeemed 1.5/1 for travel. Insane value even without the sign up bonus.
 
Do you guys make travel reservations through the Chase system? I always transfer to the airline partner and use points that way. Seems to be much better value unless I'm missing something.
 
Do you guys make travel reservations through the Chase system? I always transfer to the airline partner and use points that way. Seems to be much better value unless I'm missing something.

The Churners said this is usually the best value, but it looks like the Reserve redemption rate is more competitive.
 
Typically the best thing to do is downgrade the sapphire preferred to the unlimited or the freedom, which have no annual fee. If you already have both of those, you should be able to downgrade to the chase sapphire, which you won't ever use but at least won't charge you an annual fee.

Good to know... I was wondering what to do with my Preferred card. Got approved for the Reserve, so I plan to pretty much exclusively use it from here out (once it comes).

Do you guys make travel reservations through the Chase system? I always transfer to the airline partner and use points that way. Seems to be much better value unless I'm missing something.

I do all of my reservations through the Chase system and really appreciate the ease of use there... but I've never actually transferred to an airline partner to know the difference. I'm probably the one missing out.


I'm currently trying to figure out how to transfer my Preferred points to the Reserve account. I feel like this should be easier.
 
Do you guys make travel reservations through the Chase system? I always transfer to the airline partner and use points that way. Seems to be much better value unless I'm missing something.

In the optimal situation, best value is transferring them for sure(if one of the chase partners obviously). But if your dates aren't flexible and can't get a saver award seat or whatever, it could be better to use the chase system in certain circumstances I think. Simpler for most people too.
 
Thanks for the heads up leebs, and for the advice on switching cards tilt. I had been thinking the Sapphire Reserve would be good, but had just paid the annual fee on the Preferred when the Reserve came out so I was going to wait a while before signing up. Guess I should jump on it now! I was thinking about cancelling the Preferred (after transferring points) since I don't want to pay the annual fee if I have the Sapphire Reserve also... I'll just downgrade to the Unlimited w/no fee. Here goes!
 
Thanks for the heads up leebs, and for the advice on switching cards tilt. I had been thinking the Sapphire Reserve would be good, but had just paid the annual fee on the Preferred when the Reserve came out so I was going to wait a while before signing up. Guess I should jump on it now! I was thinking about cancelling the Preferred (after transferring points) since I don't want to pay the annual fee if I have the Sapphire Reserve also... I'll just downgrade to the Unlimited w/no fee. Here goes!

:thumbsup:

Yeah, I'm glad I happened to see that the 100k was going away. $1500 in travel is pretty much a no-brainer.
I guess enough people carry balances that these things end up working out for CC companies, but I'm having a really difficult time figuring out how Chase is making money on this one (or why they thought it's a good idea). I know someone posted they've lost money over it, and yeah... not surprised.
 
Yeah, similar boat here....thought about switching in the past but haven't, other card I have w/ fee has a February anniversary so I just applied real fast.
 
+1

thanks for posting leebs. we've been debating it but hadnt pulled the trigger. we did last night and are now waiting for the card.
 
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