Will be interesting if we can learn the attrition rate on these two cards over course of year. Lot of people haven't downgraded yet simply because they aren't due for a reup.

Once we get through year one of the new fees I wonder if they reconsider fee price at all based on how many people downgrade. Of course, they can simply increase the fees on the lower tier cards to offset. Maybe they already have. I dont know.

Most card fees are there to cover the initial and yearly costs of specific extra perks and partnership offering costs. They make their money primarily on interchange rates and those customers that don't pay off their cards in full and pay high interest rates. As those new extra perks and lounges get added, the annual fees will most likely continue to rise.

Exactly. I'll take the two percent cash back on my Citi card which I redeem once a year.
I don't have the time or patience to track the other perks and I don't want to be in an airport lounge. Direct flight or not going.

Proposition Joe said:

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If we're just talking point value and travel, right now Chase is far and away the best. There has been devalue, but the prices to book offered in their portal far exceed that of AMEX.

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Plus Amex only gives you 70 cents on the dollar when you to try book a hotel through their portal. But most enthusiasts skip the portal and transfer to points programs. I used the Chase portal a LOT before their devaluation, but that's now one of the reasons I'm turning away from them.

Leander - Ag said:

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Home airport is Austin so lounges sux (they even closed the super small chase area).

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i think the delta lounge is nice there

I went through this analysis a couple of years ago and ended up with the Venture X. CSR didn't appear to be that great beyond the signup bonuses, and the authorized user fee on the Amex Platinum eroded a lot of the value there.

ETA: If I flew through LGA or PHX often enough, I'd go seriously consider the CSR for the lounge access alone. The LGA lounge is very nice.

jh0400 said:

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I went through this analysis a couple of years ago and ended up with the Venture X. CSR didn't appear to be that great beyond the signup bonuses, and the authorized user fee on the Amex Platinum eroded a lot of the value there.

ETA: If I flew through LGA or PHX often enough, I'd go seriously consider the CSR for the lounge access alone. The LGA lounge is very nice.

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Venture X sort of bridges the gap between a cash back card and a points card. Minimal coupon book, easy-to-offset annual fee, flat earning rates. I know a lot of people with that one.

I'm constantly out of luck with LGA. Flight availability always has me flying into LGA and out of JFK. I visited the JFK Chase lounge and it's nice, but it's in the international terminal and it's a pain to visit if you're flying domestic.

Jeeper79 said:

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Proposition Joe said:

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If we're just talking point value and travel, right now Chase is far and away the best. There has been devalue, but the prices to book offered in their portal far exceed that of AMEX.

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Plus Amex only gives you 70 cents on the dollar when you to try book a hotel through their portal. But most enthusiasts skip the portal and transfer to points programs. I used the Chase portal a LOT before their devaluation, but that's now one of the reasons I'm turning away from them.

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It's 1:1 for FHR, correct? It's been awhile since I have burned points on an FHR booking but that is the transfer rate I remember (which I admit still isn't great but still an option if you have a lot of points).

I have a Platinum paired with a Gold; save the everyday purchases for a good cash/airline card but otherwise between the two you can get 5x on airlines and hotels and 4x on restaurants and groceries. Still, in order to justify the new Platinum fees you probably need to find a way to consistently use the hotel credits and/or live somewhere you can use the Resy credits (plenty of good options here in DFW).

Ag CPA said:

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Jeeper79 said:

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Proposition Joe said:

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If we're just talking point value and travel, right now Chase is far and away the best. There has been devalue, but the prices to book offered in their portal far exceed that of AMEX.

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Plus Amex only gives you 70 cents on the dollar when you to try book a hotel through their portal. But most enthusiasts skip the portal and transfer to points programs. I used the Chase portal a LOT before their devaluation, but that's now one of the reasons I'm turning away from them.

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It's 1:1 for FHR, correct? It's been awhile since I have burned points on an FHR booking but that is the transfer rate I remember (which I admit still isn't great but still an option if you have a lot of points).

I have a Platinum paired with a Gold; save the everyday purchases for a good cash/airline card but otherwise between the two you can get 5x on airlines and hotels and 4x on restaurants and groceries. Still, in order to justify the new Platinum fees you probably need to find a way to consistently use the hotel credits and/or live somewhere you can use the Resy credits (plenty of good options here in DFW).

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Not sure about FHR since I've never booked one, but I seem to recall the Hotel Collection wasn't full 1:1 when I booked recently.

I travel a ton for work and a little for pleasure - home bases are IAH + SLC. I picked up the United Club card 3 years ago, the Schwab Amex Plat 2 years ago and really have enjoyed them both. I tracked the Plat benefits and got over $4700 in benefits in year 1, on track for about the same in year two. Also, the new Centurion lounge in SLC is pretty amazing. IAH? Not so much but I usually do UA Clubs there. So, for me, it is a no-brainer.

The United Card is a little harder for me to quantify the benefits, but I'm in UA Clubs ~25 times a year and generally use miles to apply to personal airfare at $0.01/mile (not great, I know). The mileage conversion benefit + other misc things like InstaCart+ translate to about $3k/year for me, so I guess that's a good return on the $695/yr fee.

Prior to all this, I just used my Costco Visa cash back card, but decided 3 years ago I wanted to enjoy my business travel time a bit more and step up my personal travel (e.g. Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts) a bit. The opening of the SLC Centurion lounge was a catalyst.

Never considered CSR since my travel is almost 100% concentrated on UAL, IAH and SLC. Another deterrent as I understand it for me would be the reward travel bookings through 3rd parties. That said, the LGA and BOS lounges are very, very nice.

Full disclosure: We did just sign up for a new CSR, but that's strictly for the one-time sign up bonus. The value proposition for year 2 is not there for us so we'll cancel after a year.

If you like to travel, I don't find it that hard to get value out of the CSR and Amex Plat.

Just during Spring Break, I got close to $1K in value on the combo of cards for a New Orleans trip.

It takes a bit more effort than it used to, but better upside as well. Just have to stay on top of the perks and promos.

My primary card was CSR until mid-'22 when I switched to Amex Plat. The points and rewards were far better with CSR, but the customer service is much better with Amex. I book all of my travel through Amex travel because it's really easy to cancel and modify plans through them by talking to a plain, English speaking human. I use the Delta and Centurion lounges a few times per year, but the best "perk" in my opinion is the excellent customer service. The Centurion lounges typically have a waitlist, but the Delta lounges are usually better anyway.

My wife and I spend enough that we more than offset the annual fee, but I'm sure the rewards would be far more valuable with a 1.5-2% cash back card.

If you fly mostly Delta, I think k that usually tips the scales towards Amex Platinum. I fly AA and OneWord alliance so neither CSR nor Platinum has a leg up for me. I've never had trouble earning points within the MR ecosystem, either. I just find that I'm not able to use them very well once I have them. I used to dump them into Hawaiian Airlines, but that partnership is dead.

Booking through a portal is and always has been a pretty crummy use of points. It takes a little more digging and understanding of different programs, but transferring points to partners is where the real value is in these points.