TheRobSJ
Großer Mechaniker
Yes I know, there have been a few over the years here in the sink. This one about airline miles was pretty good.
But, CC perks, points, miles, and bonus programs change pretty regularly it seems. Earlier this year Citi practically gutted most of the benefits from their cards. Because of that and along with the release of the Apple Card, I’ve done a lot of looking into credit card programs in the past couple months to see what I should keep in the wallet and what should just go in a drawer. I’m sure many of you are frequent fliers so airline cards are probably your go tos. Some of you like “points” and some just like straight up cash back. So I’m curious to what’s in your wallets.
What I have:
Citi/AA Advantage. Was my first airline card. Had a whole bunch of miles as a sign up bonus which was essentially worth $7-800 or so. And have added a bunch more over the years. Can pretty much fly my wife and I to London and back for free at this point. But the aforementioned cutting of benefits by Citi and the $149 (I think) annual fee might have me cancel this one soon.
Chase/Southwest. This one made more sense for me. The majority of my flights have been on Southwest. So of course I book all Southwest flights now with this card. Also had a great sign up bonus to get a head start on the mileage bank. They always have various bonuses (10% off Petsmart, 5% off Starbucks, etc) you can load on there every month. And the annual fee is pretty cheap.
Apple Card. Because it’s titanium. Well yeah that’s cool, but that’s not the only reason I got it. If there’s no merchant specific bonus I get from another card available, and they take Apple Pay, the 2% immediately back is fairly straightforward. And buying stuff from Apple directly like renting a movie on iTunes or the very phone I’m typing this on, 3% back is pretty solid.
Amex Gold & Everyday cards. So the gold Amex is my newest one. The $250 annual is a bit ridiculous to me. But this will be my new food card. 4x points at all US supermarkets and global restaurants was the draw here. Plus 50k points sign up bonus. Decent benefits. The Everyday card is no annual fee and sometimes they have member offers that are really legit. Recently I got $100 back for $500 spent at MGM resorts. Points are nothing special though you can get 1.5x in a month if you use the card 30 times....meh not worth it. But no annual fee and some member benefits are available to that one that aren’t on the gold, so it’s worth keeping in the wallet.
But that’s all I use. What about everyone else? I know the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Amex Platinum are great if you fly a lot and on different airlines. The Costco one is great if you go there a lot. And the Amazon Prime one seems like a no brainer getting 5% back if you’re a Prime member.
But, CC perks, points, miles, and bonus programs change pretty regularly it seems. Earlier this year Citi practically gutted most of the benefits from their cards. Because of that and along with the release of the Apple Card, I’ve done a lot of looking into credit card programs in the past couple months to see what I should keep in the wallet and what should just go in a drawer. I’m sure many of you are frequent fliers so airline cards are probably your go tos. Some of you like “points” and some just like straight up cash back. So I’m curious to what’s in your wallets.
What I have:
Citi/AA Advantage. Was my first airline card. Had a whole bunch of miles as a sign up bonus which was essentially worth $7-800 or so. And have added a bunch more over the years. Can pretty much fly my wife and I to London and back for free at this point. But the aforementioned cutting of benefits by Citi and the $149 (I think) annual fee might have me cancel this one soon.
Chase/Southwest. This one made more sense for me. The majority of my flights have been on Southwest. So of course I book all Southwest flights now with this card. Also had a great sign up bonus to get a head start on the mileage bank. They always have various bonuses (10% off Petsmart, 5% off Starbucks, etc) you can load on there every month. And the annual fee is pretty cheap.
Apple Card. Because it’s titanium. Well yeah that’s cool, but that’s not the only reason I got it. If there’s no merchant specific bonus I get from another card available, and they take Apple Pay, the 2% immediately back is fairly straightforward. And buying stuff from Apple directly like renting a movie on iTunes or the very phone I’m typing this on, 3% back is pretty solid.
Amex Gold & Everyday cards. So the gold Amex is my newest one. The $250 annual is a bit ridiculous to me. But this will be my new food card. 4x points at all US supermarkets and global restaurants was the draw here. Plus 50k points sign up bonus. Decent benefits. The Everyday card is no annual fee and sometimes they have member offers that are really legit. Recently I got $100 back for $500 spent at MGM resorts. Points are nothing special though you can get 1.5x in a month if you use the card 30 times....meh not worth it. But no annual fee and some member benefits are available to that one that aren’t on the gold, so it’s worth keeping in the wallet.
But that’s all I use. What about everyone else? I know the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Amex Platinum are great if you fly a lot and on different airlines. The Costco one is great if you go there a lot. And the Amazon Prime one seems like a no brainer getting 5% back if you’re a Prime member.
