PSA -Sapphire Reserve with 100K points bonus, LAST CHANCE is Saturday 3/11 at branch...

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Charmonium

Diamond Member
May 15, 2015
8,787
2,297
136
So the basic message here is that I can't ignore necro threads. I only came here to see what kind of bot necro'ed something that was only 2 years old and on such a specific topic. I should have realized that threads around here tend to mutate.
 

Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
20,348
3,426
126
When my wife travels for government she gets to spend the travel charges on any card of her choosing... Which I'm totally jealous of. For me in the corporate world it's always has to be on the designated corporate card.

I've been fortunate enough to always be able to use my own cards at various different employers. I have the option to use a corporate card at my current employer and was surprised at the number of people surprised I am ok using my own card. "Wait...you're ok putting that 3k purchase on your personal card?"

Uh...heck yeah. I plan new cards around a couple of software renewals and my trips

No matter how hard I tried with AMEX points for example, their stupid travel portal sucks and I could never find an effective means of using them.

Transfer points to partners. If you happen to be at or near the ANA US gateway cities (Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. ) they have some pretty nice award options. BA miles work well if you are near an AA or Alaska Airlines hub

I just got a new Southwest card today with the 50k bonus. I did however have to sign up for it while at the FLL airport because it's only one of the few that does it. I have a companion pass the rest of this year with my wife's account, however we're low on points and I haven't had the card in 3 years so I got a new one. I'm hoping to find another one that I can get 50k points on with the premiere card (since I got the Plus) but if not, I may just sign up for the 40k one and I'm sure I'll spend 20k total this year if I use it for everything.

Business card for 60k?

The new offers are $30k points + Companion Pass for 2019 after $4k in spending. Seems a bit crazy to me. We're going for the CP the 'old way' through to have till the end of 2020 and I would have wagered that was the last time that was an option given the popularity, international routes and impending Hawaii flights. But maybe I'm wrong.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,834
5,713
126
Business card for 60k?
I actually applied for this earlier today after googling. I did not get immediately approved for it but it's okay since I need to hit $2k on this card first anyways. I do mobile app dev on the side so I used that and we'll see if it goes through. I got the Ink business card doing that so I'm guessing this will eventually go through. The one I did at the airport was not auto either and then like 2 weeks later I got a thing in the mail and had to call just to verify it was me, then today the card finally arrived.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,834
5,713
126
The business card came in the mail today so now I'll get the companion pass after spending like $5k among these 2 cards. If you were asking about the offer, it's this one:

https://creditcards.chase.com/small-business-credit-cards/southwest-premier-business

I just put I'm an indie mobile app developer and they didn't question anything. Credit limit was really low on it though compared to my other Chase cards, but I don't care at all.

I already have the companion pass with my wife for the rest of this year, but now she will be mine till the end of 2020. We're running low on points and I'm about to transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards to her SW account to cover part of hers and my sons flight to Grand Cayman in March, and I'll fly for free.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,834
5,713
126
Damn I put a suite for a concert after pooling the money together from all the people going for $3k on the business card last week, and on the 13th I got 63k points put into my account. That seems super fast to get the bonus lol. It was very easy too, literally 1 purchase on that card lol.
 

Jeeebus

Diamond Member
Aug 29, 2006
9,178
894
126
got a fairly good redemption for a quick spring break trip in March. we've been eyeing the new Grand Hyatt in St. Kitts but the flights/hotel were too pricey.

Then I remembered that I could use BA Avios to book on American (only airline to fly direct daily from Miami) and that Chase is also a Hyatt transfer partner.

Flights for the 4 of us were $850 each so $3,400.
Hyatt was $615/night so 4 nights would be $2,460.

Flights were only 20,000 points each (total of $200 in taxes) and hotel was 30,000/night. All in 200,000 points + $200.00 for the 4 of us to go 4 nights in St Kitts. Not bad compared to $5860 cash price.

And that still leaves me with 600,000 chase points to play with.
 
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purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,834
5,713
126
got a fairly good redemption for a quick spring break trip in March. we've been eyeing the new Grand Hyatt in St. Kitts but the flights/hotel were too pricey.

Then I remembered that I could use BA Avios to book on American (only airline to fly direct daily from Miami) and that Chase is also a Hyatt transfer partner.

Flights for the 4 of us were $850 each so $3,400.
Hyatt was $615/night so 4 nights would be $2,460.

Flights were only 20,000 points each (total of $200 in taxes) and hotel was 30,000/night. All in 200,000 points + $200.00 for the 4 of us to go 4 nights in St Kitts. Not bad compared to $5860 cash price.

And that still leaves me with 600,000 chase points to play with.
What is this about the Avios stuff to book American flights?

We primarily fly to the Caribbean on Southwest right now but it's somewhat limited, but they go to the 2 favorite places of ours so that is good. We're going to Grand Cayman at the end of March and paid just under $300 in taxes instead of over $1800. And on top of that I'm going with a group trip for SCUBA to stay at this place directly across from the Westin for $1500 for 5 nights. I looked on the website, and it would have been $3500 to stay there if we didn't get the group rate. And the Westin if we decided to stay there, was $900+ a night so screw that. And the place we're staying at, you can use all of the Westin amenities too
 

Jeeebus

Diamond Member
Aug 29, 2006
9,178
894
126
What is this about the Avios stuff to book American flights?

Chase Ultimate Reward points transfer instantly to Avios. You can book AA award travel using Avios. It's mileage based so it's a great deal for relatively short journeys. It was cheaper for me to use Avios (20,000) to book a flight on AA than it would have been for me to book an award flight on AA directly (25,000 or 30,000 - i forget).
 
Nov 8, 2012
20,828
4,777
146
Damn I put a suite for a concert after pooling the money together from all the people going for $3k on the business card last week, and on the 13th I got 63k points put into my account. That seems super fast to get the bonus lol. It was very easy too, literally 1 purchase on that card lol.

Nice.

I finally was able to put some points to use myself. Over the years I was RACKING UP AMEX MR points - finally cashed out all of them... 350k points... All straight to cash with the Schwab Platinum that allows you to deposit them for 1.25cents apiece. Nicely done overall - and didn't have to play the game of transferring points to miles or hoping that I got a good deal on a hotel/airline reservation with them.

I've been pretty light on the Credit card game lately, I'm REALLY hoping that they bring back the Sapphire reserve with 100k points.
 

Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
20,348
3,426
126
Chase Ultimate Reward points transfer instantly to Avios. You can book AA award travel using Avios. It's mileage based so it's a great deal for relatively short journeys.

I just wish AA was better about releasing award space. We've been sitting on 190k Avios for 3 years without being able to find a good use for them for the airports we want to fly from/to. (YMMV) Finally got to use 40k in South American on LATAM.
 
Nov 8, 2012
20,828
4,777
146
I just wish AA was better about releasing award space. We've been sitting on 190k Avios for 3 years without being able to find a good use for them for the airports we want to fly from/to. (YMMV) Finally got to use 40k in South American on LATAM.

I honestly just got so fucking sick of that mileage / points game... waiting on "award bonus" point fares... waiting on special opportunities at the right time, etc... Cash prices fluctuate all the time - points dont. So I do whatever I can these days to convert my points int ocash.
 

Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
20,348
3,426
126
I honestly just got so fucking sick of that mileage / points game... waiting on "award bonus" point fares... waiting on special opportunities at the right time, etc... Cash prices fluctuate all the time - points dont. So I do whatever I can these days to convert my points int ocash.

For me there is still a ton of value through United and Southwest as both those companies make it pretty easy. Star Alliance (United) is pretty good at releasing award space so most of our business class trips have been through them. Occasionally we have to make the 'sacrifice' to go to Africa instead of Chile but that's about it. And Southwest B1G1 is well worth the additional connection we often need to make
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
I honestly just got so fucking sick of that mileage / points game... waiting on "award bonus" point fares... waiting on special opportunities at the right time, etc... Cash prices fluctuate all the time - points dont. So I do whatever I can these days to convert my points int ocash.
I really think the straight cash back is best for most people. If given the choice, I'll take 2% cb over anything. But I like CSR perks and Chase Ultimate Rewards ecosystem. I don't need to maximize every point. Now that Chase travel portal is powered by Expedia, it's easier to find flights I want since if it's available on Google Flights, then it's available to purchase on Chase portal. I'm perfectly fine with flying economy. I care more about the destination than being pampered on some airplane flight. And I like that all taxes and junk fees are included so I pay $0 when booking flights through the Chase portal. I'm in Bogota at the moment and paid $0 for the flight for my family. We're going to Turks and Caicos next month and I paid $0 for that as well. For me, the primary rental car coverage and Priority Pass lounge access are worth having the card. I used to spend about $50 per airport stop for dining. Now most of the time we eat and drink at the lounges so I probably save couple hundred dollars a year just on food.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,834
5,713
126
I really think the straight cash back is best for most people. If given the choice, I'll take 2% cb over anything. But I like CSR perks and Chase Ultimate Rewards ecosystem. I don't need to maximize every point. Now that Chase travel portal is powered by Expedia, it's easier to find flights I want since if it's available on Google Flights, then it's available to purchase on Chase portal. I'm perfectly fine with flying economy. I care more about the destination than being pampered on some airplane flight. And I like that all taxes and junk fees are included so I pay $0 when booking flights through the Chase portal. I'm in Bogota at the moment and paid $0 for the flight for my family. We're going to Turks and Caicos next month and I paid $0 for that as well. For me, the primary rental car coverage and Priority Pass lounge access are worth having the card. I used to spend about $50 per airport stop for dining. Now most of the time we eat and drink at the lounges so I probably save couple hundred dollars a year just on food.
It depends how much you travel and how you use the perks. I mean I saved probably $7k - $8k in flights last year due to perks. If that was 2% cashback and I got that much back, that means I'd have to spend $350k - $400k on credit cards to get that in cash back. And yeah, that's not even in the ballpark or close to the stadium, or state that the stadium is in.
 

brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,203
5,608
136
man, i still have my 100k points plus 60k of my own saved up.

but i haven't been able to bring myself to spend them on any flights or hotels. i better do it soon before they choose to devalue them like they do every few years.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
It depends how much you travel and how you use the perks. I mean I saved probably $7k - $8k in flights last year due to perks. If that was 2% cashback and I got that much back, that means I'd have to spend $350k - $400k on credit cards to get that in cash back. And yeah, that's not even in the ballpark or close to the stadium, or state that the stadium is in.
That's only if you value full price business/first class flights. The price I pay for economy seat is only 50% cheaper using points.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
This is on SouthWest only, so there is no first/business class.
Then I find $7-8k flight savings hard to believe. Companion pass is separate from UR points. And Companion pass is only for 1 ticket. You would have to have flown crazy number of times on SW to save $7-8k vs just paying for the cheapest ticket on any airline.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,834
5,713
126
Then I find $7-8k flight savings hard to believe. Companion pass is separate from UR points. And Companion pass is only for 1 ticket. You would have to have flown crazy number of times on SW to save $7-8k vs just paying for the cheapest ticket on any airline.

I didn't say I used points for everything, I said perks, so the companion pass was part of it.

3 of us flew to Bahamas, Fort Lauderdale, Grand Cayman, then Grand Cayman again on Southwest.

Without points, Bahamas would have been about $1500, FLL would have been about $1500, Grand Cayman first time would have been about $1800, and this past time to GC would have been about $2000. Then my wife and I flew to Savanah for a wedding and used points straight up with Chase for $1k in flights.

We paid like $250 in taxes to go to Bahamas, $30 to go to FLL, and $285 each time to go to Grand Cayman.

Doing the math, that puts the amount saved JUST under $7k. But again, this is just ball parking everything other than the taxes because I remember how much those cost for some reason lol.

EDIT:

In 2017, we flew to Aruba, Fort Lauderdale, Grand Cayman, then I went to Fort Lauderdale myself, then we went back to Aruba. My wife also flew to San Diego herself in March.

And that was all on points, some with companion pass.

All the flights to FLL too are trips to the Keys where we fly to FLL and drive down.
 

Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
20,348
3,426
126
man, i still have my 100k points plus 60k of my own saved up.

but i haven't been able to bring myself to spend them on any flights or hotels. i better do it soon before they choose to devalue them like they do every few years.

What's holding you back?

I really think the straight cash back is best for most people. If given the choice, I'll take 2% cb over anything. But I like CSR perks and Chase Ultimate Rewards ecosystem. I don't need to maximize every point. Now that Chase travel portal is powered by Expedia, it's easier to find flights I want since if it's available on Google Flights, then it's available to purchase on Chase portal. I'm perfectly fine with flying economy. I care more about the destination than being pampered on some airplane flight. And I like that all taxes and junk fees are included so I pay $0 when booking flights through the Chase portal. I'm in Bogota at the moment and paid $0 for the flight for my family. We're going to Turks and Caicos next month and I paid $0 for that as well. For me, the primary rental car coverage and Priority Pass lounge access are worth having the card. I used to spend about $50 per airport stop for dining. Now most of the time we eat and drink at the lounges so I probably save couple hundred dollars a year just on food.

It's not necessarily about maximizing each point but some of the programs have some rules that gets you a ton of extra flexibility/value compared to the portal. For example for our last trip we got an extra country out the routing rules, something that would have doubled the price of an economy ticket
 
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brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,203
5,608
136
What's holding you back?

IDK, i've had lots of flights planned but am always worried that i'm not using the points in the best way, so i don't go through with it.

my boss also hates it if people go on vacations for more than a week, so i've been trying to stick to shorter US trips. so maybe i should just use the points for a few US and canada flights this year.
 

Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
20,348
3,426
126
IDK, i've had lots of flights planned but am always worried that i'm not using the points in the best way, so i don't go through with it.

my boss also hates it if people go on vacations for more than a week, so i've been trying to stick to shorter US trips. so maybe i should just use the points for a few US and canada flights this year.

Assuming you don't work weekends you've got 7-8 full days in Europe to work with. You can still see a lot of Europe in a week.
 

rcpratt

Lifer
Jul 2, 2009
10,433
110
116
Sapphire Reserve is by far my favorite card, ever. 3% on travel and restaurants, 1.5x Chase point redemption value for travel, and Priority Pass are all huge. Having the 1.5x point redemption is really nice if/when you don't want to hassle with transferring and booking with airline points -- you can book almost any flight/hotel through Chase, and 1.5x is good enough value that it's worth it. My home airport (DTW) doesn't even have any Priority Pass lounges, but I've still gotten at least $300 in free food at the airports I've visited in the past 6 months. Not bad for a $150 fee ($450 minus the $300 travel credit).

My wife and are I going through all the Chase Ink (business) cards for their signup bonuses now. You can transfer all the points to the Sapphire and get 1.5x value. In total, that will net us 380,000 points, or at least $5,700 in travel. Sadly, we can usually hit the signup bonus amounts in a month or two each.

Wife - Ink Preferred - 80,000
Wife - Ink Cash - 50,000
Wife - Ink Unlimited - 50,000
Me - Ink Preferred - 80,000 + 20,000 from wife's "referral"
Me - Ink Cash - 50,000
Me - Ink Unlimited - 50,000
 

TXHokie

Platinum Member
Nov 16, 1999
2,557
173
106
Burned up my points last year taking family of 5 to Europe (London/Paris). Covered air ticket and the lounge came in really handy to take the whole family in when we have to wait 2 hrs at the international airport (Orlando and Gatwick). Even my TSA Precheck covered the whole family to fast track thru the security line. Definitely worthwhile as I've hit up all the airport lounges for business travel. This year I've got a bunch of points to burn on hotels for kids travel sports.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
Burned up my points last year taking family of 5 to Europe (London/Paris). Covered air ticket and the lounge came in really handy to take the whole family in when we have to wait 2 hrs at the international airport (Orlando and Gatwick). Even my TSA Precheck covered the whole family to fast track thru the security line. Definitely worthwhile as I've hit up all the airport lounges for business travel. This year I've got a bunch of points to burn on hotels for kids travel sports.
There's now limit of 2 additional guests at airport lounges with Priority Pass. So with family of 5, only 3 will get in free and 2 will be charged $27 each. Normally this is not a problem but I'm taking a group of four on a trip next month and won't be able to use the lounges because of this new rule.