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

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RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
78,794
266
116
lol how silly "Let's be just like our competitors and not stand out!"

I was honestly waiting for bonus to go back up to 100k and I was going to keep the card long term since so many people have voiced liking it - but with rumors like this sounds like its going to go down the crapper quickly.

I think their primary competitor (Amex Plat) has emboldened them. If the CSR increases AF from $450 to $550 I'll probably keep it, however I will seriously consider cancelling one of my other airline/hotel/premium cards.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126

RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
78,794
266
116
If Chase does this, I’m probably out and will cancel or downgrade the Reserve card to no fee card. Delivery credit like GrubHub adds zero value to me. $550 annual fee is too big to swallow. I’ll leave Chase Ultimate Rewards ecosystem and switch to no fee 2% cash back card before I pay $550. I love the Reserve card but not that $550 much.

If I cancel I may switch to the Chase Ritz-Carlton which is no longer available but there is a work around (product change).
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
Seoul Incheon International is the best airport I visited and the new Terminal 2 which Korean Air operates out of is absolutely gorgeous. It has pretty much everything you would want in the airport including transit hotel, free massage areas, sleep areas, kid areas, great shopping and dining options. This is my first experience with Incheon Terminal 2 since it's pretty new and I always traveled out of Terminal 1 since I usually flew other airlines rather than Korean Air. I used CSR Priority Pass to access Marina and SPC lounge located in Terminal 2. Those two lounges in Incheon Terminal 2 had the best food of any lounges I've been to. It was seriously on another level when it came to food selection. The quantity and quality of the buffet was more premium hotel quality rather than typical crap airport lounge food. My wife and I were seriously impressed. The Koreans are doing it right and the rest of the world need to step up.

I also visited Plaza Premium lounges in Taipei Taoyuan International using CSR Priority Pass and while it was better than US lounges, the food there was letdown after experiencing Seoul Incheon Terminal 2 lounges.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
It's too bad Chase points no longer transfer to Korean Air. It's been awhile since I flew Korean Air but flying it made me realize again how much the US and other airlines economy class suck compared to Korean Air. Seriously, if you have a choice between any US airlines like Delta and Korean Air, choose Korean Air. The economy seats in Korean Air have 34 inch legroom vs 31 inch for Delta, United, American, and most other airlines. That 3 extra inches make all the difference during 12-14 hour flight. The person sitting front of you can lean back on their seats and you should still have decent legroom. And they have bed slippers, pillow, blanket, headphones, and bottle water laying on your seat before you even sit in economy. And since most people flying on Korean Air are Koreans and other skinny Asians, you usually have ample room in the shoulder and armrest unless you get unlucky and get stuck sitting next to fat American. The food quality in economy seats is also better than US airlines. Food is actually edible and decent quality with nice snacks mixed in. And they give you real metal silverware instead of the plastic crap. And all the female flight attendants are young, tall and slim, attractive, and offer great service while doing it with a smile. It really is different standard of flying even for economy vs US and European airlines.
 

Jeeebus

Diamond Member
Aug 29, 2006
9,178
894
126
Even the nicest US international options (like United's Polaris class) pale in comparison to most European/Asian options. There are of course exceptions, but for the most part you'll get a much better experience flying on a foreign carrier.
 

rcpratt

Lifer
Jul 2, 2009
10,433
110
116
Delta has some really great SkyMiles deals to East Asia in Feb-Apr 2020. I always have such a hard time finding good value for SkyMiles tickets being at a Delta hub...I'm really considering making a trip if I can justify so much traveling in the 11-day window that we could swing over spring break.

All flights nonstop, and it looks like there's also great value if you need to connect in the US or elsewhere in East Asia (Bangkok/Hanoi/Taipei/Manila/Jakarta/Denpasar).

One-way prices in main cabin to ICN/PVG/PKX/HND/NGO:

20,000 Skymiles -- SEA/SLC
30,000 Skymiles -- DTW/ATL
 

rcpratt

Lifer
Jul 2, 2009
10,433
110
116
Well, we booked! 54,000 Skymikes + $55 apiece nonstop into Beijing, back through Tokyo for 11 nights. Couldn’t resist. We’re thinking of adding Vietnam, and might get some friends to join us.

Thanks to the signup bonuses from our Delta Platinum cards earlier this year :cool:
 

GoodRevrnd

Diamond Member
Dec 27, 2001
6,803
581
126
https://thepointsguy.com/news/significant-changes-confirmed-for-chases-sapphire-reserve-card/

Boo! CSR annual fee going up $100 to $550. Chase is going to give you Lyft Pink subscription and $60 DoorDash credit. Damn this sucks. Chase is just following Amex price hike. FU Amex.
Blah. I don't use Lyft enough to get real value out of that, I'll use the DD credit but overall this is pretty garbage. They sound temporary anyway. Can probably ride this out the next year and break even but *might* switch to Amex afterward. My travelling cut way back with a kid now though so not sure I can come out ahead losing 3x on dining.
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,414
8,356
126
"Meanwhile, existing cardmembers will be able to renew at the current $450 fee, as long as their renewal fee hits prior to April 1, 2020. "

well at least i get another year.
 

rcpratt

Lifer
Jul 2, 2009
10,433
110
116
Very disappointing. The features they added don't nearly make up for the $100 increase. I have little-to-no interest in Doordash, although I guess I can order $60 worth to get my credit.

I'll probably ask Chase to downgrade me to a CSP before my renewal comes up in September. If I'm going to pay $550 for a card, I'm at least going to open up an AmEx Platinum and get a 100,000 point bonus and get 5x points on flights. The only thing I'll really miss is the restaurant inclusion for Priority Pass, but at least I'll get Delta lounges with AmEx.
 

deadlyapp

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2004
6,582
698
126
My renewal is up in September and I'll have to do some serious math to decide on downgrading or not. I have a huge stash of miles right now so I'd try to redeem all of them before downgrading so I can keep the 50% bonus but otherwise my travel spend isn't enough to justify the 2x vs 3x point redemption. The priority pass would be a hard one for me to lose with all the work travel I do and the restaurant perks I get from it, but it doesn't always pan out.

I need to look into the lyft pink - might be useful if I don't have to use the CSR card but I rarely use lyft personally, mostly only for work again. And definitely don't do any delivery for food so the door dash is worthless.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
As much as I love CSR card, I'm thinking of getting rid of it and Freedom Unlimited and switching to 2% CB card. All my travel is leisure and this price hike just pisses me off. Between free 2% CB card and free Citi Costco Visa card, I can probably get better return vs paying CSR annual fee.
 

DrunkenSano

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2008
3,892
490
126
fuuuuuuu.jpg


My CSR subscription renews April 1.
 
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purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,834
5,713
126
Southwest cards have a 75k bonus going on right now for non business. I was going to sign my wife up yesterday but found an email that says the last SW card she got was January 27th 2018 so I'm going to wait a week to apply.

I applied to a business card for her last night though instead which is under review so hopefully it goes through, then in like 2 weeks I can get one of the 75k bonus cards. The one I applied to has a 60k bonus. The companion pass is now 125k so these 2 cards will easily put me over the top.

I still have her as my companion until the end of this year but only have like 40k RR points left so these 2 cards should help build the inventory back up.
 

deadlyapp

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2004
6,582
698
126
Welp. I activated my lyft & doordash stuff over the weekend and got a doordash delivery to at least chip away at the $60 credit they gave. I'll still have to do some more math to see if keeping the card will make sense long term as the $60 is not guaranteed past 2021 and the lyft pink membership is only a year and can't be tied to using lyft business profiles.

If I lived in a more urban area and used lyft more, I think it'd be a no brainer to keep the card, but right now I use lyft at most once every couple of months.
 

Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
20,348
3,426
126
Southwest cards have a 75k bonus going on right now for non business. I was going to sign my wife up yesterday but found an email that says the last SW card she got was January 27th 2018 so I'm going to wait a week to apply.

People have reported that some cards clear that flag the month after the expiration date. I don't recall if thats the case for Chase but you might want to wait till at least Feb 1st if the offer is still good until then
 
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rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,853
1,048
126
Seems like everyone and their mother does rewards for airline miles. Are you tied to any particular airline? We do want to travel but it's costly for 4. How much do you have to use your card to get a completely free trip to somewhere like Aruba? Our monthly credit card bill is like $4-5k.

I've only ever played it safe and done the 2% citi card, and 5% amazon card. So in a year we'll get back maybe $1300, cash in hand rather than banked airline miles we're not sure will add up to anything worthwhile... need enlightenment from your experiences.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,834
5,713
126
Seems like everyone and their mother does rewards for airline miles. Are you tied to any particular airline? We do want to travel but it's costly for 4. How much do you have to use your card to get a completely free trip to somewhere like Aruba? Our monthly credit card bill is like $4-5k.

I've only ever played it safe and done the 2% citi card, and 5% amazon card. Cash in hand rather than banked airline miles we're not sure will add up to anything worthwhile... need enlightenment from your experiences.
I fly a ton of Southwest because they have a hub at BWI (and fly out of IAD and DCA if need be) and they go to many of the places in the Caribbean that I like.

I've had the companion pass for about 5-6 years now. One year I will get 110k points and my wife is my companion, then the next year she gets the 110k points and i'm the companion, and rinse and repeat every 2 years.

We fly SW to Aruba and Grand Cayman with our son. So instead of paying for 3 flights out of pocket, I get 2 flights with points and 1 with the companion pass. I end up paying around $285 for all 3 of us to fly in taxes. That is instead of paying $1600 - $1800. The prices are similar when we go to Grand Cayman. We go on 2-3 of these trips per year, and usually go to the Keys like 1-2 times a year. Round trips to the Keys cost us $33 in taxes. Otherwise it would be like $600 - $900.

So as you can see, that is a shitload of money per year that we get for free. We plan on going to Hawaii in the next year or two once they start flying from the east coast to Hawaii. I know I can get there on SW by booking 2 separate flights, but I'd rather just book 1 with them handling the connecting stuff, and I'm not in a rush to go there right now.

I've started looking at Exumas for March and we can get there for like $225 in taxes. But then we have to get a flight from Nassau to Exumas which is like $190/person. Still saves a boatload of money due to points though.
 
Nov 8, 2012
20,828
4,777
146
Seems like everyone and their mother does rewards for airline miles. Are you tied to any particular airline? We do want to travel but it's costly for 4. How much do you have to use your card to get a completely free trip to somewhere like Aruba? Our monthly credit card bill is like $4-5k.

I've only ever played it safe and done the 2% citi card, and 5% amazon card. So in a year we'll get back maybe $1300, cash in hand rather than banked airline miles we're not sure will add up to anything worthwhile... need enlightenment from your experiences.

Nah, it's all about sign-up bonus' as far as credit card game.

Now - one caveat to that - isn't so much the miles earned from card purchases but rather the benefits. If you're stuck with only flying for a shit airline (AA, United, Delta, etc.) then you have shit like bag fees to deal with (unless you have status from frequent travel). So if you have to fly a crap airline like those, then the card makes sense otherwise you will pay hand over fist anytime you fly with your family.


I do recommend trying to stick with 1 airline as much as possible though. I stick with Southwest for most of my domestic, they don't have as much BS as other airlines IMO. Obviously if we travel international though we have to choose a different airline.... So in cases like that, it's always good to strategize ahead of time and do something like signup for a card pre-travel so you can get free bags, status upgrades, extra miles, etc.

But as far as day-to-day purchases the last thing I want is miles.
 

deadlyapp

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2004
6,582
698
126
Seems like everyone and their mother does rewards for airline miles. Are you tied to any particular airline? We do want to travel but it's costly for 4. How much do you have to use your card to get a completely free trip to somewhere like Aruba? Our monthly credit card bill is like $4-5k.

I've only ever played it safe and done the 2% citi card, and 5% amazon card. So in a year we'll get back maybe $1300, cash in hand rather than banked airline miles we're not sure will add up to anything worthwhile... need enlightenment from your experiences.
This is one of the reasons I've stayed with the Chase Sapphire line (either preferred or reserve) is because the Ultimate Rewards can be banked in just about any way you want. Chase has such a large ecosystem that I can game the multiple cards I have and always take advantage of the points - and if I don't have travel planned (best redemption) I can always simply cash out the points, however the redemption is really weak doing it that way (I think .1 cent per dollar spent).