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Best Airline Rewards Credit Cards

Louis Gossett Jr said:
I think it’s saying that the 1:1 value is whatever the cost of the ticket it’s 1 cent per mile, so a 500 dollar ticket is 50,000 miles, but if you transfer to say skymiles, that same 500 dollar ticket depending on when you book and a bunch of other things could be 30,000 skymiles, so a much better value
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what I'm struggling with is that I can't transfer capitol one miles direct to Delta SkyMiles, but I can transfer to KLM/AirFrance which is part of the SkyTeam alliance with Delta. And I can't figure out how to book a domestic delta flight using those KLM/AirFrance miles.
 
With prices overall being fairly high, sometimes it’s hard to actually use the miles. From some quick research it does seem possible to book delta flights with Air France, they might just be out of reward space for the flights you’re looking for. Can you determine if you just don’t know where to go on the website to use them vs whether there’s just not award flights available for what you’re searching for?

I generally have found that I can usually use my capital one points by transferring to British airways and using avios to fly American. But I am finding them less available than before, and not available on what are $500 domestic flights.

Once or twice a year you’ll also get bonus offers to transfer points to avios with like a 40% bonus. So 10,000 points becomes 14,000 avios. Then the avios themselves are generally worth a bit over a cent per point. So the capital one points end up close to 2 cents
 
signed up for the marriott card under both me and my wife last year and need to use the nights before they expire, looks like we can use them in lieu of paying $6,600 for 8 nights in Hawaii.

Also if you fly any bit regularly, this point.me thing I referenced on the chat thread really is proving fairly valuable. Basically $120/yr to search (each search takes 3-5 minutes) all airlines to find the lowest redemption option via points. Especially useful if you're able to get a bit of cap one/amex/chase points.
 
Companion pass through 2/28/24 and 30k points for new SWA card members (or those that haven't gotten an award in the last 24 months)

Rapid Rewards Credit Cards | Southwest Airlines

Learn how you can earn Rapid Rewards® points with the SOUTHWEST RAPID REWARDS™ Credit Card when traveling, shopping, and dining. Apply today!
www.southwest.com www.southwest.com
 
Sitting on roughly 500k points on my Amex Gold. Worth trying to hit a 125k Amex Plat offer for a year?
 
I'd signup for the Plat if I had a 125k offer. In fact waiting on a big offer in order to sign up for it.
 
just picked up the citi AA exec card - pretty much the same as the Barclays card that I have had forever, but comes with Admirals Club membership and some advance ticket access.

looking forward to the work switch to Amex from DINERS CLUB in a couple of months. Diners just sucks.
 
Just got the Venture X; I’ve never chased rewards before but we want to go to France next year so we’re going to try to leverage the card into KLM/Air France miles.
 
Any of you folks have big status with American, if so, how often do you get free first class and shit?

Currently on my way of cheesing status by signing up for Blue Apron and wine clubs and shit on the shopping portal. Between that, an AA credit card for misc purchases & the dining program I should be able to get to Platinum Pro without actually flying all that much.
 
dartsndeacs said:
Any of you folks have big status with American, if so, how often do you get free first class and shit?

Currently on my way of cheesing status by signing up for Blue Apron and wine clubs and shit on the shopping portal. Between that, an AA credit card for misc purchases & the dining program I should be able to get to Platinum Pro without actually flying all that much.
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I don't have status with American, but have a p big status with United so can speak a little to it.

Your home airport is LAX right? Getting free upgrades out of a hub can still be tough because you're competing with the business travelers. If you're trying to take a Monday morning or Thurs/Fri evening flight in or out of airports like ORD, LGA, JFK, DCA, etc. your chances of getting upgraded are going to be slim to none. There will be a bunch of people with executive status or whatever ahead of you who aren't going to get upgraded on those flights.

It's still very worth it to have the status though. If you're not planning to fly during peak business traveler times and you're not going hub to hub your chances of getting upgraded aren't non-existent. Maybe 50/50, but it's not super predictable. Getting upgraded at least to the premium economy seats is still pretty common though.

The best perks of having a high status, imo, are free flight changes and the lounge access. When you're stuck at an airport and your travel plans go tits up because of weather or other flight issues you're way more insulated from having to deal with the same bullshit as everyone else. They'll do things like hold seats for you on multiple connecting flights and stuff that they won't do for the general public either.
 
Frosty said:
I don't have status with American, but have a p big status with United so can speak a little to it.

Your home airport is LAX right? Getting free upgrades out of a hub can still be tough because you're competing with the business travelers. If you're trying to take a Monday morning or Thurs/Fri evening flight in or out of airports like ORD, LGA, JFK, DCA, etc. your chances of getting upgraded are going to be slim to none. There will be a bunch of people with executive status or whatever ahead of you who aren't going to get upgraded on those flights.

It's still very worth it to have the status though. If you're not planning to fly during peak business traveler times and you're not going hub to hub your chances of getting upgraded aren't non-existent. Maybe 50/50, but it's not super predictable. Getting upgraded at least to the premium economy seats is still pretty common though.

The best perks of having a high status, imo, are free flight changes and the lounge access. When you're stuck at an airport and your travel plans go tits up because of weather or other flight issues you're way more insulated from having to deal with the same bullshit as everyone else. They'll do things like hold seats for you on multiple connecting flights and stuff that they won't do for the general public either.
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Yah I was reading on a forum yesterday a guy who had really high status, and would pick the cheapest flight out of a city on a given day, and then day of make a free switch to the time he really wanted to go and would save money that way. And yeah with American it seems like once you get even one of the lower statuses , you get the free premium economy with the extra legroom & free drinks.
 
dartsndeacs said:
Yah I was reading on a forum yesterday a guy who had really high status, and would pick the cheapest flight out of a city on a given day, and then day of make a free switch to the time he really wanted to go and would save money that way. And yeah with American it seems like once you get even one of the lower statuses , you get the free premium economy with the extra legroom & free drinks.
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I do this often and I've never had an issue unless it's like a holiday weekend or something. It really comes in handy if you're doing a trip with a ton of flights on that route. I'll sometimes just book the first flight out on each leg and then just change to whichever times are most convenient for me.
 
dartsndeacs said:
Any of you folks have big status with American, if so, how often do you get free first class and shit?

Currently on my way of cheesing status by signing up for Blue Apron and wine clubs and shit on the shopping portal. Between that, an AA credit card for misc purchases & the dining program I should be able to get to Platinum Pro without actually flying all that much.
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My best friend does and it was super convenient for our travel this summer to Mexico. He has Plat Pro with American. Everyone on the itinerary got 3 free checked bags which was good as gold traveling with kids. On the flight back, him and his wife got upgraded to FC, but we had to stay behind in economy. He did get us all extra legroom which was nice with the toddler traveling for the first time.

Hilarious timing, I logged into my American account this morning to see what I would have to do to get Plat Pro status. Please share you tips for accelerating the process without flying.
 
I've probably already bragged about the experience... but, I was flying out of Seattle for a red-eye & realized that I had access to Alaska's lounges for 24 hours preceding my flight.

So, I showed up ~8 hours early.

I guess it all depends on carriers and locations, but jfc.... that experience was better than any cruise/vacation I've been on lately.

... I just rode the trams around the airport & got absolutely obliterated while crushing the buffets.

I keep an eye on 2k+ mi. flights with cheap F.C. upgrades now. I'm going to take my wife on a vacation to nowhere one of these days.
 
Screamindemon3 said:
My best friend does and it was super convenient for our travel this summer to Mexico. He has Plat Pro with American. Everyone on the itinerary got 3 free checked bags which was good as gold traveling with kids. On the flight back, him and his wife got upgraded to FC, but we had to stay behind in economy. He did get us all extra legroom which was nice with the toddler traveling for the first time.

Hilarious timing, I logged into my American account this morning to see what I would have to do to get Plat Pro status. Please share you tips for accelerating the process without flying.
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So I got the Citi AA card. Big annual fee, but it comes with lounge access and a couple of credits.

The other thing it comes with is after 50,000 loyalty points, you get another 10,000. Then at 90,000 you get another 10,000.

What jumped my status was I had a sizable business expense I could get reimbursed, so I put that on the Citi AA card that was like 30,000 points. So then on the shopping portal, I just signed up for Blue Apron, and got 5,000 more points. I've probably spent less than $100 on Blue Apron, got 4 good meals, and the regular miles are probably worth what I spent for the Blue Apron. Yesterday signed up for the Motley Fool Subscription. Something like $80 and you get 6,200 miles. Then bought like 15 wines for $100 and got another 2,500 miles. So I basically just hit the 50,000 loyalty points and get the free 10,000. The AA card gets you 1 point per dollar for misc spending, so just putting any non dining/travel/grocery spending on that card to get some more. And through the Dining Portal you can get like 5 loyalty points per dollar spent on those restaurants, and we eat out a ton and there are some okayish sushi options near me, so I can rack up 1,000-1,500/points every night we go out for sushi. Lastly you can get 10x points for booking hotels through the AA portal. Hell I bought a gold coin through walmart last night and it's gonna result in 2k loyalty points that I can sell for close enough to what I paid for it.
 
I just hit Gold on Delta. I have their Reserve card which has a big fee but comes with losing access and companion tickets that offset the cost.
 
So with AA the CC points count toward your status?

I believe for United you only get like 1,000 Tier Qualifying points per year on most of their cards from what i could tell

I'm trying to decide which will be my go to airline for 2024. United probably has the best routes for work... Other than Southwest..which i just don't want to do anymore
 
WindyCityDeac said:
So with AA the CC points count toward your status?

I believe for United you only get like 1,000 Tier Qualifying points per year on most of their cards from what i could tell

I'm trying to decide which will be my go to airline for 2024. United probably has the best routes for work... Other than Southwest..which i just don't want to do anymore
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Yes, AA the CC points count towards your status. And when the shopping portal has like 8x points, then those 8x points count towards status as well.
 
DeaconCav06 said:
I just hit Gold on Delta. I have their Reserve card which has a big fee but comes with losing access and companion tickets that offset the cost.
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I can’t decide if I’m going to downgrade my Reserve card after next year - for the annual fee, 15 lounge visits doesn’t cut it and I’m probably only going to be Silver regardless of whether I keep it or downgrade to the Platinum card. With it I may hit Gold, but it would be by the skin of my teeth and definitely only sporadically from year to year.
 
Wakelaw2006 said:
I can’t decide if I’m going to downgrade my Reserve card after next year - for the annual fee, 15 lounge visits doesn’t cut it and I’m probably only going to be Silver regardless of whether I keep it or downgrade to the Platinum card. With it I may hit Gold, but it would be by the skin of my teeth and definitely only sporadically from year to year.
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The biggest benefit is the companion ticket which pays for the cost. I just upgraded to the Reserve this year.
 
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