Airline/Hotel Loyalty Programs

[Joe Public]

You said in your prior post that you got the AMEX Delta SkyMiles Platinum card and the AMEX SkyMiles Business Platinum card, both of which do carry an annual fee of $250.

The annual fee for the AMEX Business Platinum card (not co-branded with Delta SkyMiles) is $695. As old_gregg says, it comes with a bunch of benefits.

It earns Membership Rewards points rather than SkyMiles. MR can be converted to SkyMiles but - AFAIK - SM cannot be converted to MR.. In addition, MR can be transferred to a bunch of other airline and hotel transfer partners - not just to Delta. MR can also be used to purchase travel through the AMEX travel portal. If you pay with points through the AMEX portal, your can also get 35% of the points back if it's in first or business class or booked on your selected airline.

The card includes complimentary access to AMEX Centurion Lounges.

It also comes with statement credits of up to the following amounts for certain vendors:

• $400 on Dell purchases
• $360 for Indeed purchases
• $150 for Adobe purchases
• $120 on wireless phone services
• $200 for incidental fees charged by your selected qualified airline
• $189 for CLEAR membership

The card earns 5x MR points for flights and prepaid hotels purchased through the AMEX travel portal and 1.5x MR points for purchases in excess of $5,000.

The AMEX Platinum Card - personal edition - carries the same $695 annual fee and has some of the same benefits - including the Centurion Lounge access - but also some unique things:

• From above - CLEAR, airline incidental fees, and maybe something else I'm not seeing right now.
• $200 on hotels booked through AMEX travel portal
• $240 on digital entertainment (Audible, Disney+, Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, Peacock, New York Times, SiriusXM)
• $155 on Walmart+ membership
• $200 Uber Cash
• $300 on Equinox membership
• $100 at Saks Fifth Avenue

The personal card earns 5x points on airfare purchased directly from an airline or through the AMEX portal as well as prepaid hotels purchased through the portal.

So if you are already paying for most/all the items on the list for either card, then it makes a ton of sense to get the card. If I were to get either card, then I would splurge to take advantage of those items as much as possible. But my current spending on those items is well below the $650 I'd have to shell out for either card.

The ESPN+ reimbursement may become more valuable to BYU fans depending on how sports coverage in the Big 12 shakes out.

[beefytee]

I've been a freeloader on Amex long enough I'm going to have to carry some of these cards after I retire or I'll feel guilty.

I wouldn't feel too bad for Amex. They make money on every transaction, so you've been paying for it indirectly with your purchases.

I have a few cards that offer rewards, but I never pay any fees.

Thanks to discussions here, I have the Synchrony Amazon Store card and the Chase Prime card. Both give you 5% on purchases at Amazon. The Synchrony card only works at Amazon. The Chase card is pretty nice otherwise too.

We have a GM Mastercard that gives up 5% on purchases towards a new vehicle. There is a limit to the amount we can apply though, so we only use this in the months leading up to a purchase. The nice thing about this is that often they mail us offers that go above and beyond the cap and give bonus cash on this as well. We got a really good deal on one of the cars we bought thanks to this. This card is pretty limited though. You have to be willing to by cars from GM which I'm sure lots of you are unwilling to do.

We have the old Costco Amex with similar rewards to what it was with Costco. I believe it is called the Amex Blue now. It was the Amex Clear when we got it after their divorce from Costco.

This also resulted in us getting the Costco Citi Visa. The crazy thing with Costco is that after the Amex divorce, Costco went with Mastercard in Canada but Visa in the US, so we can't even use our Costco card to pay for things when we go to Canada.

The one card I haven't explored and don't have is Discover. We have gotten by without one up until now but I'm wondering if it is worth considering.

[Bo Diddley]

I've been a freeloader on Amex long enough I'm going to have to carry some of these cards after I retire or I'll feel guilty.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Aha… Gotcha. Thanks guys.

[Pelado]

I just got the platinum business card and they told me the annual fee is $250.

You said in your prior post that you got the AMEX Delta SkyMiles Platinum card and the AMEX SkyMiles Business Platinum card, both of which do carry an annual fee of $250.

The annual fee for the AMEX Business Platinum card (not co-branded with Delta SkyMiles) is $695. As old_gregg says, it comes with a bunch of benefits.

It earns Membership Rewards points rather than SkyMiles. MR can be converted to SkyMiles but - AFAIK - SM cannot be converted to MR.. In addition, MR can be transferred to a bunch of other airline and hotel transfer partners - not just to Delta. MR can also be used to purchase travel through the AMEX travel portal. If you pay with points through the AMEX portal, your can also get 35% of the points back if it's in first or business class or booked on your selected airline.

The card includes complimentary access to AMEX Centurion Lounges.

It also comes with statement credits of up to the following amounts for certain vendors:

• $400 on Dell purchases
• $360 for Indeed purchases
• $150 for Adobe purchases
• $120 on wireless phone services
• $200 for incidental fees charged by your selected qualified airline
• $189 for CLEAR membership

The card earns 5x MR points for flights and prepaid hotels purchased through the AMEX travel portal and 1.5x MR points for purchases in excess of $5,000.

The AMEX Platinum Card - personal edition - carries the same $695 annual fee and has some of the same benefits - including the Centurion Lounge access - but also some unique things:

• From above - CLEAR, airline incidental fees, and maybe something else I'm not seeing right now.
• $200 on hotels booked through AMEX travel portal
• $240 on digital entertainment (Audible, Disney+, Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, Peacock, New York Times, SiriusXM)
• $155 on Walmart+ membership
• $200 Uber Cash
• $300 on Equinox membership
• $100 at Saks Fifth Avenue

The personal card earns 5x points on airfare purchased directly from an airline or through the AMEX portal as well as prepaid hotels purchased through the portal.

So if you are already paying for most/all the items on the list for either card, then it makes a ton of sense to get the card. If I were to get either card, then I would splurge to take advantage of those items as much as possible. But my current spending on those items is well below the $650 I'd have to shell out for either card.

[old_gregg]

I just got the platinum business card and they told me the annual fee is $250.

amex plat business is $695. totally worth it (dell small business, airline credit, lounge access, etc.)

[Jeff Lebowski]

Bo - does AMEX waive the annual fee for all of your cards? I'd like to get the AMEX Platinum or Platinum Business card, but I'm not sure I'd get enough benefit to justify the $695 fee for either. I might have to look at that Hilton card.

I just got the platinum business card and they told me the annual fee is $250.

[Bo Diddley]

Looks like your link on the Delta Reserve card actually goes to the AMEX Gold card.

Fixed. They were all going to the AMEX Gold when I was getting the links from my account. And there's no referral to the Platinum right now.

[Pelado]

Looks like your link on the Delta Reserve card actually goes to the AMEX Gold card.

[Pelado]

Yes they do. The bonus points should help offset the fee that first year. Then if you decide it doesn't make sense, just cancel at the anniversary. You can also downgrade to a cheaper card within the category (Platinum to Gold, Hilton Aspire to one of the cheaper ones, etc.) But, that won't make sense unless you've already scored the bonus points from the card you want to downgrade to. Some of these cards I'll cancel, but I really like the Platinum and the HIlton Aspire cards. And I'll probably keep at least one Delta card.

Yeah, that Hilton card carries a $450 annual fee, so no wonder the benefits are generous.

[Bo Diddley]

Bo - does AMEX waive the annual fee for all of your cards? I'd like to get the AMEX Platinum or Platinum Business card, but I'm not sure I'd get enough benefit to justify the $695 fee for either. I might have to look at that Hilton card.

Yes they do. The bonus points should help offset the fee that first year. Then if you decide it doesn't make sense, just cancel at the anniversary. You can also downgrade to a cheaper card within the category (Platinum to Gold, Hilton Aspire to one of the cheaper ones, etc.) But, that won't make sense unless you've already scored the bonus points from the card you want to downgrade to. Some of these cards I'll cancel, but I really like the Platinum and the HIlton Aspire cards. And I'll probably keep at least one Delta card.

[Pelado]

Bo - does AMEX waive the annual fee for all of your cards? I'd like to get the AMEX Platinum or Platinum Business card, but I'm not sure I'd get enough benefit to justify the $695 fee for either. I might have to look at that Hilton card.

[Bo Diddley]

Holy crap. That’s a lot of cards!

Well I didn't list them all. Pelado already talked about some of them.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Holy crap. That’s a lot of cards!

[Bo Diddley]

Following Pelado's lead, here are the AMEX cards I use:

AMEX Platinum - $200 airline credit, $100 Saks credit ($50 every six months), $20/month Digital Entertainment credit (Audible, Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu, Peacock, SiriusXM, NYT), AMEX global lounges, Walmart+, $15/month Uber credit, Centurian Lounge, $189 CLEAR Credit, Global Entry/TSA Precheck credit, cell phone insurance. I also use the rental car insurance ($25 fee) occasionally--mostly for overseas travel.

80,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $6,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

AMEX Gold - You get $10 towards Uber each month. I got this for the bonus points. I'll probably close it after a year.

60,000 Membership Rewards® points after they use their new Card to make $4,000 in purchases within their first 6 months of Card Membership. Plus, if they apply for this Card by 06/07/2023, they can receive up to $200 back as statement credits on purchases during the first 3 months of Card Membership.

AMEX Hilton Aspire - I love this card. It comes with Diamond status which has been good to me with upgrades and food credits. You're given a free night certificate after opening, and another one each anniversary year, good at almost all Hiltons world-wide. Last fall the missus and I stayed at Hotel Coronado for four nights with the free nights between the two of us. You also get a $250 Resort credit each year. Again, between the two of us, we used our resort credits and food credits for a total of $620 credits between the two of us. You also get a $250 airline credit.

150,000 Hilton Honors Bonus points after they use their new Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card to make $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership.

There are also other Hilton branded AMEX cards at lower levels. I've used all of them for the bonus points. When redeeming points, your fifth night is free.

AMEX Delta Reserve - Delta companion certificate each year up to domestic first class, upgrade priority, first checked bag free, Skyclub access + two certificates for companions each year, cell phone insurance, Global Entry/TSA Precheck credit. I got it for the bonus points. Not sure the annual fee is worth the benefits. But since AMEX waives my fees, who am I to argue?

50,000 Bonus Miles & 10,000 Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) after they use their new Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card to make $5,000 in purchases within the first 6 months of Card Membership.

AMEX Delta Platinum - Most of the same benefits as the Reserve card. The yearly companion certificate is good for Main Cabin tickets.

50,000 Bonus Miles after they use their new Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card to make $3,000 in purchases within the first 6 months of Card Membership.

There's also a Delta Gold card.

AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant - $25/month dining credit, Platinum status, free night award each year, Priority Pass membership, Global Entry/TSA Precheck credit, cell phone insurance.

95,000 Bonus Marriott Bonvoy points after they use their new Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card to make $5,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership.

I also use Chase IHG Premiere. Global Entry/TSA Precheck, annual free night, 4th night is free when redeeming points, platinum status--as we speak, we're sitting in a suite at Hotel Monaco, upgraded from whatever king room comes with a points redemption.