x43b said:FFGuru said:havaloc said:The Blue Sky is a great choice. No annual fee, plus all the usual AMEX perks such as the warranty extension.

My strategy: Chase 5% card for the 3 categories, Blue Sky for everything else.

As for the con, nearly everyone needs a hotel room or a rental car once in a while.

So how do you redeem your points with Blue Sky? From the sounds of the website, you just apply points towards the purchase of travel items. So you can buy your tickets/rooms from any vendor? Any website? Please share more. It sounds interesting.

No offense, but just curious question here. If you are just getting reimbursed dollar for dollar for a 1.33% rebate, why not use a 1.5% or 2.0% Cash Back card then apply that cash towards your travel bill or whatever you want?

That's what I generally never understood about FF CCs. Generally you spend $25,000 and get 25,000 miles and convert that to 1 domestic ticket, right? Well I can get $500 cash for that $25,000 and 95%+ of the domestic tickets I buy are $200~$300. Then the annual fee usually associated with these types of cards only worsen the deal.

Can anyone translate these cards to an effective Cash Back greater than 2%? Does it have to be first class tickets and expensive hotels that I wouldn't use to beat 2%?

The Citi AAdvantage card offers discounted mileage offers as a benefit, in addition to the 1 mile/$. How well does this pay off? Well, my tickets to Barbados next week cost me 23,500 miles each... less than a domestic ticket would normally cost. I have not been able to find these tickets for these dates for any less than $700 anywhere else. So I bought 3 tickets, for me and 2 friends for 67,500 miles, and the value of those tickets is $2100, which means I've gotten a 3.1% rate! Even if you subtract the $85 annual fee that I paid for AAdvantage, this still looks like one of the best rates out there - especially since I'm using my Citi Dividend for everyday purchases and still earning 5% cash on those as well.

As another example, a couple of years ago, I needed tickets to Australia over the Christmas/New Years holidays (peak season). My dates were not flexible at all, as I was still a college student and had to go during my winter break. Tickets were going for $1900+ at the time, and all of the cheapest tickets included a layover in Asia, which made the already 14-hour flight into a 24 hour one. Direct flights were in the $2300 range. Of course, the regular 65,000 mile award tickets were no longer available. I used 150,000 miles for the AAnytime award and was booked on a direct flight with no problems. I ended up with a 1.5% return - not the best possible perhaps, but if I hadn't had those miles I wouldn't have been able to afford the trip at all, and I don't know how to place a value on that. If I had planned farther ahead (we bought the tickets less than a month before the trip) I might have been able to get the same ticket for 65,000 miles, which would have made my return greater than 3% (of course, you can also argue that the cash prices would have been cheaper if we'd planned farther ahead as well).

Billiken said:

From the t&c

" Points can only be redeemed for discounts in the form of a statement credit on eligible travel purchases (which are purchases at airlines, hotels, car rental companies, cruise lines, travel agencies, tour operators, and online travel sites billed to your account and properly submitted as such by the seller). Redemption requests must be made within 60 days from the date the travel purchase appears on your billing statement. Points may only be redeemed in 7,500 increments and each 75,000 Points shall be equal to a credit of up to $100, up to the amount of the eligible travel purchase. Additional terms and conditions apply."


So that makes it sound like you can credit your payment toward any travel services purchase.... at least to me. Can anyone explain the process a bit more who has the card or knows about it? How do you let AMEX know that you'd like to redeem the points? They are a bit vague.

Does anyone have experience with the Hawaiian Airlines card form BofA?

I'm curious bc I received an offer in the mail for the Plat card and it has a few features that look interesting:
10000 bonus for 1st purchase 5000 each anniversary (not spending based) and the miles can be used
on Alaskan, Northwest and Virgin. It's 1 point for every dollar (max 100,000 per year) and they send a 50% companion certificate for travel on HA.

I'm currently putting everything I can on my Starwood AMEX but when someone doesn't accept AMEX I use my Citi AA card.
It's a pain bc they won't even report highest balance like other non-reporting cards and I have to be super diligent to pay everything off prior to the closing date. (It's about the only thing Citi has ever done to annoy me-- I otherwise like their products a lot)

The APRs a joke, btw 1.9% until Nov and then 15.49%, but it's irrelevant since I would pay in full each month (just not necessarily before the closing date)

Alcibiades said:x43b said:Can anyone translate these cards to an effective Cash Back greater than 2% ? Does it have to be first class tickets and expensive hotels that I wouldn't use to beat 2% ?Some Starwood Category 1 hotels charge up to $149 per night; lets agree that's overpriced. But lets say someone always pays ~$60 a nite, (Best Western, Marriot, Motel 6 etc) no matter what. The Starwood Category 1 award to above hotel could then reasonably be said to be worth at least $60 to that person (its definitely a large step up from Motel 6).

If someone knows in the future that they will use a hotel or motel anyway, 3000 Starwood points can be used at a Category 1 hotel for a nights stay. Given the above rationale, thats at least a 2% return. Just 2000 points for a Fri or Sat night is at least a 3% return.

But if you dont use hotels or motels, dont bother with Starwood. Just get a good CashBack CC.

Thanks for the data point. I'll stick with Cash Back for now but that does sound semi-decent. Not to sure about the AA card the poster listed above. The best they could come up with was a niche foreign flight @ 3.1% and another flight that only made 1.5%.

I still don't get the 1.3% guaranteed return title of this thread through since it doesn't actually get you deals but just reimburses you after the fact. You could just reimburse yourself with a Fidelity 1.5% card or AMEX Blue Cash card.

Not trying to be difficult, I'm hoping someone will point out an awesome card that lets me justify traveling more.


Edit: I looked up the Category 1 Hotels...only 10 on the entire continent! None in California, Nevada, Chicago, NYC, etc. Half of them were Texas and Pennsylvania. I guess if you knew exactly where you wanted to stay and it happened to be on the list it would be a hot deal but I wouldn't change my travel plans to stay at any of those cities.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that is is A LOT less flexible than cash even if you travel a lot, can't hardly find a major city that doesn't have a Motel 6.

Alcibiades said:x43b said:Edit: I looked up the Category 1 Hotels...only 10 on the entire continent! None in California, Nevada, Chicago, NYC, etc.Four Points LAX Los Angeles is Category 1. Before I posted, I went to book it with points.

I know where Newark is, I have been there, it isn't NYC. Can you give me a link for the Cat 1 list that contains LAX? Niagra is nowhere near NYC, I don't know why you reposted that.

I went through the FWF link and found this here. I clicked on Cat 1 and found ...

Four Points by Sheraton Monclova
Mexico
Coahuila
Monclova
Four Points by Sheraton Galerias Monterrey
Mexico
Nuevo Leon
Monterrey
Four Points by Sheraton Newark Airport
United States
New Jersey
Elizabeth
Four Points by Sheraton Niagara Falls
United States
New York
Niagara Falls
Four Points by Sheraton Oklahoma City Airport
United States
Oklahoma
Oklahoma City
Four Points by Sheraton Chambersburg
United States
Pennsylvania
Chambersburg
Four Points by Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport
United States
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Sheraton Houston Brookhollow Hotel
United States
Texas
Houston
Sheraton North Houston at George Bush Intercontinental
United States
Texas
Houston
Four Points by Sheraton McAllen
United States
Texas
McAllen

Do you have a comprehensive list that LAX came from or do you just randomly search out hotels?

Alcibiades said:x43b said:I guess what I'm trying to say is that is is A LOT less flexible than cash even if you travel a lot, can't hardly find a major city that doesn't have a Motel 6.New York City doesnt have Motel 6 either :
Doesn't matter, since I don't have Starwood I can go to any motel I want. Super 8 is comparable in price and they have several. According to you Niagra is close anyway.

x43b said:Doesn't matter, since I don't have Starwood I can go to any motel I want. Super 8 is comparable in price and they have several.Super 8 has one NYC property, and its $140 a night.

x43b said:And Starwood has none, so for practical purposes it could be infinite. I don't get your point. Long Island is as much NYC as Newark and a LOT closer than Niagra.You might learn want to learn how to spell before you start criticizing other people about petty things.

x43b said:Edit: For that $140 I could either be in downtown Manhattan or I could lose $10 in opportunity cost and stay in Newark. You aren't helping your case.Before now, you thought the only benefit to any travel credit card was either First Class flights or expensive hotels. Thats not the case. I am not trying to make a case that it would benefit you; could care less.