2020: Your airlines / rewards programs / cards of choice?
Hello all travelers (business and personal alike) and personal finance savants. With the new year, many of our rewards programs reset. What is your go-to airline/rewards program/cards and why? Are you dumping any of your cards or your memberships this year?
My airlines for 2020:
-
Southwest - A list preferred + companion pass, I basically gain a free flight anywhere I want every other week since I fly almost every week, rarely going any further east than Dallas, and their routes are improving (eg direct to Hawaii from midwest hubs like chicago).
-
JSX (formerly known as JetsuiteX) - West Coast-only airline that uses chartered jets and private hangers (20 minute security+boarding process) with free food and alcohol generally $139. Minor point rewards under JetBlue's points system (does anyone on WSO use JetBlue, would love to see if its worth the effort)
Rewards programs I'm considering dumping:
- Marriott Bonvoy: They are "redesigning" all of their hotels in order to bump up points needed per stay. The customer service is going down hill and I might jump ship. Does anyone on WSO have experience on Hilton or Hyatt?
Personal/Business Credit Cards:
Looking for WSO recommendations. Given my Southwest Status, I will cancel my Southwest credit card soon. I currently have a few $0 fee cards that I keep in the closet for emergencies. Possibly looking at Fidelity card (2% cash back on everything deposited straight to my Fidelity account, no annual fee.)
I will probably continue to stay away from AMEX this year except for business use. Are there any other cards I should look into?
For flights, I am loyal to Delta. I live in a hub and they are the best US legacy carrier by far, in my opinion. Southwest was fine when I was in college, but they've cancelled flights of mine last minute one too many times and at some point, I'm happy to pay extra money to not be in a cattle call and know I have a good seat. Plus I booked a round trip to Barcelona in Delta One seats on a very small amount of points so I'm pretty happy.
There are better international carriers, but for US flights, Delta is where it's at.
Card-wise, I have:
AmEx Platinum
AmEx Gold
AmEx Delta Reserve
AmEx Delta Platinum
AmEx Blue Business Plus
Chase Sapphire Reserve
Chase Amazon.com
Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless
Chase IHG Premier
Credit Union Card with 2.9% APR
I'm thoroughly over Marriott and IHG points after some shit experiences with blackout dates this year (for IHG, I was Spire Elite with 250,000 points and they wouldn't let me book one fucking night at the Intercontinental and then another time the only room they'd let me book was the shittiest one in the building) so those cards will be culled this year. The Delta Platinum was just for point churning purposes to that'll be killed after 12 months pass.
Perhaps controversially, I'm probably going to kill the AmEx Platinum too. I don't get the value on it compared to the Delta Reserve and CSR and at some point I don't need to pay that much in annual fees.
Yeah I would think CSR / AMEX platinum would be a bit redundant. Have you considered the Schwab version of the platinum? Have been going back and forth on pulling the trigger for that card. CS version seems like a solid method of recovering some of the annual fee in real $ (vs Saks credit, etc)
I'm assuming you are then dumping the Bonvoy Boundless card? That has also been on my radar but due to expensing reasons I can't use that card on the 120+ nights I will likely stay this year. For the annual fee and the declining service at Marriott properties I don't really have a solid reason to pull the trigger on it.
American - I live in a hub and if you go business class LAX-JFK or SFO-JFK, you get upgraded to the Flagship lounge (heads and shoulders above the Admirals club).
Bank of America Premium Rewards credit card - coupled with Platinum Honors status, it's the best card on the market (2.625% cash back on every purchase and 3.5% on travel and dining) and it's only $95 a year. You get $100 airline incidental credit per year, Global Entry covered every 4 years, trip insurance, purchase protection etc. Did I mention 2.625% cash back on every purchase?
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