0:55 Ranking Bank Points for Domestic Airfare
- We’re talking about deeply discounted airfare, not FREE airfare.
- Every one of these programs has a cash out path–that’s great
1:45 Overview: Highs and Lows of each Program
1:59 Chase UR
- Talked about the most online, but not as valuable as Amex to us
- Much more straightforward than Amex
- 1 Cent per Ultimate Reward point earned (easy cash out on all card)
- 5x earning on Office Supply has been around for a long time.
- Earning at high rates, transferring to a CSR/CSP
3:00 Earning Chase UR
- Easy to use Domestic Partners in United and Southwest
- Travel Portal booking is not ideal but does have uplift
- Earning with high multipliers and sign up bonuses works well
- 5/24 limits the number of cards you can get
- Can co-mingle points
6:30 Southwest (W/ Chase UR)
- Points have become less useful as Ticketless Travel Funds (TTF) have become permanent
- Less transfers from UR->Southwest because TTF are so plentiful
- If transferring , the best way to earn is still NOT on the Southwest credit cards.
7:43 Booking with the Chase Travel Portal:
- Price inflation is real (American, others) Be sure to check google flights
- Can see inflated prices on flights, issues when canceling
- 1.25 cents per point / 1.5 cents per point (20% - 33% discount on travel)
- Sometimes just taking cash back at 1 cent per point is the way to pay for travel
- These points are not ‘free’
10:53 Amex MR Overview
- Amex is so generous that they have changed subscribers’ lives
- THE most generous bank with respect to SUB, earning bonuses and referrals
- The default cash back amount for a MR is 0.6 Cents ($.006) per MR with a few exceptions
- Difficult to get rid of these points.
12:41 Booking Travel with Amex MR
- With such easy earning there isn’t a fast enough release valve sometimes
- Their travel portal is horrible, but is mandatory for the 35% rebate
- Insider fares are lower fares than anywhere else.
- Extremely high annual fee cards needed to release points at high value
- To get good redemption rates with points you have to graduate to high annual fee cards
- Either churn the card or pay the high annual fee (carrying costs) to get good value
- Delta transfers are a great option – 1.1 cents in value per point, transfer 1:1
- Holding a Delta card gives a 15% discount as well, works out to around 1.25 cents per point.
16:26 Earning Membership Rewards
- “They’ve gone crazy with the Sign up Bonuses”
- Easier to earn at a moderate level than Chase (or any other bank)
- Many high annual Fee cards, which come with many coupons/credits
- Nonstarter for someone just starting out.
18:55 Difficulties transacting with AMEX
- Need High annual Fee Business Platinum for 35% rebate (approx 1.5 cents per point)
- Need High Annaul Fee Morgan stanley (1cpp) or Schwab (1.1 cpp) to cash out MR.
- Cannot co-mingle points across spouses, which means you need 2 of each of these cards!
- 35% rebate only on airline of choice or business/fir
