Question
Hi, I'm rather a newie and I really need an advice. I've looked through this forum as well as Amex forum plus Fatwallet.com but it's getting very confusing to me to decide which FF CC I should apply.
Here's some facts:
1. I have one FF CC, which is JAL Premio (Mastercard) as I go to Japan once a year using JAL. I use this card for most of the major purchases but not grocery shopping. It's an okay card but I have to pay the annual fee on it and get no other perks. I have $3K balance which I'm going to transfer to a new CC.
2. In addition to JAL, I use WN on (pretty much exclusively) business and UA if I fly to east coast. I have an UA account but I really don't have many mileage on it.
3. I'm a diamond member for HH but I might switch to another hotel chains as I don't get double/triple points! :mad: So I don't feel like applying for HH CC. Oh I do make an overnight business trip throughout a year. For my vacation, I tend to use Priceline.
4. We are going to do home improvement soon and will spend about $40K, which I want to pay with my new CC. Of course the credit limit will be less than $40K but I won't charge it in lump sum so it should be okay. And I have an excellent credit score.
So, I researched a little and I have a feeling maybe PremierPass is a good CC for me but should I pay $75 and go for the Elite card? Apparently I missed the recent promotion that waives the fee. :(
I'm not clear on a companion ticket though. When you buy a air tix, you can get a free tix for the exact same flight (like CP for Southwest?), or can you use the ticket later on? If you are flying solo, you really don't need it, do you? Also, it says I can redeem at ANY airline, that includes JAL? :confused:
Thank you for reading this long post. I appreciate your feedback.
Answer
lets see....
1) Companion tickets are for domestic use only...not intl tickets nor WN....not a great benefit...sometime you can get lucky...you might get UA....and it is thru their vendor not yours...
2) PP Elite is good if you are planning to charge a lot and fly a lot...if neither then it is a waste of yearly fee...suggest you go with the reg card which is free since you might not have the charges to offset the flight points..
3) Good thing about the Thank You program is that you can get tickets when you want to fly....does not matter about availability.
hope that helps...
Answer
if you give more details on what your BIS miles/yr are and approx spending/yr then I could give you better advice. With the info you provided i would go with SPG AMEX ($35fee) bcs it gives you the ability to transfer miles into your JAL account. For your $40k in expenditures they would give you 50,000 Jal miles. Something to consider.
However if you spend 100grand/yr or more and fly say 100k/ yr (keep in mind it doesnt have to be you but rather tickets you purchase irregardless of traveler) then Citi PP imho is the winner. GL
Answer
Thank you for your feedback. I forgot to mention some important details.
Although I have been a loyal customer to JAL, I'm not married to them as I only fly on it once a year. The main reason I kept Premio CC is for an upgrade using the mileage. But lately more and more their requirement for upgrading to business class is difficult (have to buy more expensive tix etc), so I'm thinking to switching to other airlines (AA, UA, NW) b/c their fare is cheaper.
Also my business trips are paid through the accounting dept so I don't charge the airfare on the CC (boy wouldn't that be great, I'll be accumulating tons of points).
So in that case, SPG AMEX is better for me? What about the grunt I've hearing from current SPG AMEX holders? Is the card still a good deal in my case? Thanks again.
Answer
So in that case, SPG AMEX is better for me? What about the grunt I've hearing from current SPG AMEX holders? Is the card still a good deal in my case? Thanks again.
What grunt? If your referring to the SPG HOTEL redemption devaluation it wont affect you at all.
Answer
Also my business trips are paid through the accounting dept so I don't charge the airfare on the CC (boy wouldn't that be great, I'll be accumulating tons of points).
This probably limits the value of the PP elite card for you, since you won't have enough flight points to match your purchases unless you are charging a lot of personal flights to the card.