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CSR is amazing and their points categories are pretty broad. If you pair it with the chase ffreedom you can maximize your points.
Depends on where you spend your money. If you travel and eat out a lot, the CSR is a no brainer- the $450 fee is covered almost entirely by the $300 travel credit and the $100 global entry fee, and then everything else is upside. I also have the Amazon card, as 5% back on purchases is pretty awesome.
100% on that one. International travel is where the value really shines, and you get to do it in comfort and on the cheap!
I think that's one of the best perks of travelling for work... You get to splurge big on vacation for cheap.
Wait hold on, Manager 1, “wah lah”?! We’re letting that slide? “Violà!"
^ touché
One thing to note on any chase card is they have a rule called 5/24. This means you cannot have 5 or more new cards in the past 24 months to get approved. You will get a hard pull on your credit and declined if you are 5 or over
^ very true, great point. (Marriott, Hyatt, SW, SW, CSR 👍)
@manager 1, I’d rather earn my 3 points with chase on travel which I then can transfer to an airline at 1:1 so getting 50% more than the AA cards earn. Not sure where you are seeing business class cheap as a benefit unless you are talking about reward tickets which we do with chase ultimate points as well just earn faster than you do
100k chase points = ~$1500, 126k AA points can be up to $10000 benefit. And you only have to spend ~7k to earn it... so that’s >100% "cash back” on award redemption.
Since the sign up bonus is only 50k for Chase now, I’d go my route for international travel. Domestic travel I would use CSR to boost my SW mileage account to continue flying for $12 with a companion.
Lol travel benefits are only as good if you actually have the ability to take PTO and travel. Cash back rewards are gold. Most underrated card is the new uber visa. 4% on dining, 3% on travel, 2% online purchases including online shopping, Netflix and uber, 1% on every thing else. Basically the same as CSR without fees but also without significant sign on bonus. Pair with another card obviously
You also get 10% of redeemed miles back on AA up to 10k per card per year, so I always redeem the flights in separate legs with 1 per card, which saves me 14k miles reducing cost to 126k for a business ticket to Maldives. So it’s actually possible to do it with just the first two cards above and total spend of $10k ($29k for South Pacific)
@SA1 - I prefer churning sign up bonuses to earning rates. So the 3x on all travel purchases means a lot less to me. I’ll churn my cards every two years and earn the bonuses for an international trip and use SW to fly everywhere domestically on my off year. I use my annual spend to earn hotel status on various cards (Marriott and Hyatt) for upgraded rooms, lounge access, etc. Note: I don’t travel for work, so that’s why this is my preferred method.
@Manager1, 3x is travel and food which is pretty broad, but since you noted you prefer to churn explains why you don’t like chase. You probably can’t get chase cards because you are likely over 5/24. I still think and I’m sure a good portion of the internet agrees that chase ultimate rewards is superior in terms of rewards. The points guy values ultimate rewards at 2 cents a piece, while AA miles are 1.5 cents a piece. I tend to preferred ink business cash and ink business preferred as I can stack a 5% card with the 3% card and transfer to travel partners effectively making them a 10% and 6% card respectively
@M1 that sounds like a full time job to track all your sign up bonuses and what not.
Manager 1 doesn’t travel so he much have lots of free time
Most people in tax don’t travel often, so we don’t earn hotel status like other frequent travelers on Assurance, etc. 🙄. Even when we do travel for training, it’s usually on group rates and doesn’t count towards status.
@A1, it’s not rocket science.
@SA1 - I’m never at 5/24 so yes, I could get CSR at any point. I do 2 southwest cards (personal and business since they changed the rules) every 2 years and my Marriott card every 2 years. I haven’t churned my Hyatt yet, but plan to in January.
On points valuation, it’s a benchmark, and with both programs, you’re easily exceeding that benchmark when you redeem for international business/first class travel.
Again, my method earns me the flights I want as well as hotel status which I value more than a 50% better earn rate. If you’re not a frequent business traveler and value hotel status, this way is better than Chase.
So let’s compare - what would it take for you to get to the Maldives from NY in business class doing it your way?
@Manager 1, ~150k in business but I’d rather do ~160k in first on emirates. If you don’t travel much why is having status important? Seems pointless if you don’t travel for work to work so hard in keeping and maintaining status.
I travel often for leisure, just not for work. When I do travel, I always have points and only pay for hotels if the rate is cheaper than the point value. Reward nights don’t count towards status (except for Hyatt, but I prefer Marriott), so I value the spending benefits of both cards so that I can get free room/suite upgrades, free in room internet, lounge access (although this disappears under marriott’s new program for gold members), free buffet breakfast at hotel restaurants, match my status to MLife, guaranteed late checkout, etc. I wouldn’t have the status otherwise.
At 150k points, you’d likely need 3 cards as well, or 2 + $20k spend (50k + 80k sign up bonuses), so I’d say AA is the cheaper way to go to the Maldives but again —- it all depends on your destination. I’ve flown Emirates and Etihad products, and I’d personally take Etihad over Emirates every time, including the Etihad Apartments.
@manager1, with the history on your credit report you would probably risk a shutdown if you tried chase. Still seems like a lot of work for little benefit. I’m in audit and have ~125k to 150k of work reimbursed spend on personal cards that I get to keep cash back on, so no issues getting points to use. My blender earning rate is 3.25 ultimate rewards points per dollar. This doesn’t even Include personal spend which is pretty significant since most bills are paid with credit cards as well.
I feel going forward you risk shutdowns and clawbacks, check the new lingo in your card agreements, they specifically say you are prohibited from opening cards just to earn signup rewards. I know a few are thinking of adopting once per lifetime like Amex as well, which would kill your strategy and then you would have to find a more sustainable approach, which I feel you would then praise chase as the best. Even though travel partners are limited to 4 hotel and 9 Airlines, that gives access to most airlines through codeshare and alliances. Iberia or British I can fly AA, United gives access to star alliance which is the largest alliance in the world. Air France gives access to Delta, and then we have southwest as well. Lots more flexibility than just having AA and is much more sustainable than “churning” signup bonuses which I see going extinct in 5 years