The Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card is a superb airlines credit card. You can earn a lot of valuable miles with this card and utilize perks like free checked baggage and a discounted companion fare. The welcome bonus isn’t too shabby, either!
In this article, I’ll break down everything you need to know about the Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card.
Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!
Welcome bonus
The bonus for the Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card will change over time but you might encounter one of the standard offers like 40,000 bonus miles after you spend $2,000 or more in the first 90 days after opening up your account.
Alaska has one of the best frequent flyer programs because you can use their miles on some pretty fantastic partners including:
American Airlines
British Airways
Cathay Pacific
Emirates
Japan Airlines
Singapore Airlines
Korean Air
If you fly economy, 40,000 miles is enough to get you all the way over to Asia! But if you are staying put in the US, you could use 40,000 Alaska miles to book a few domestic flights and get you around the US.
Tip: Sometimes you can find offers that come with an additional $50 to $100 statement credit. These offers can sometimes be found by clicking through banners on the Alaska Airlines website.
If you find an offer with an additional statement credit, such as a $100 credit, you will usually receive your credit after you meet the minimum spend requirement.
For example, if the minimum spend requirement is $2,000, after you reach that you will qualify for the mileage bonus and the $100 statement credit. (It may take up to 8 to 12 weeks to receive the credit.)
An example of an offer with a $100 statement credit.
Applicants with a BOA deposit account will not be approved if they have opened seven or more credit cards in the past 12 months.
Applicants without a BOA deposit account will not be approved if they have opened three or more credit cards in the past 12 months
In addition, you have specific rules related to the Alaska Airlines credit card, which state:
This card may not be available to you if you currently have or have had the card in the preceding 24 month period.
The last thing that I will mention is that Bank of America likes to approve customers who hold a bank account with them. So if you don’t have a relationship with them, consider opening up a checking or savings account to improve your approval odds.
So there are a lot of rules to keep in mind when going for this card. I just suggest for you to use the free app WalletFlo so that you can automate your eligibility for credit cards and boost your approval odds!
Bonus categories
3X on Alaska Airlines purchases
1X on all other purchases
3X on Alaska Airlines purchases
You can earn 3X miles on virtually any Alaska Airlines related purchases including:
Alaska Airlines tickets
In-flight food and beverage purchases
Lounge memberships
In-lounge food and beverage purchases
Cargo purchases
Vacation packages billed by Alaska Airlines as the merchant of record and booked directly through Alaska Airlines.
Eligible Alaska Airlines Vacation Packages must be booked via the Alaska Airlines website or by calling the Alaska Airlines Vacation Packages toll free number.
Earning 3X on Alaska Airlines purchases is pretty solid. Many other co-branded airline cards will limit you to only 2X on the airlines so this has other cards beat from that perspective.
I’ve never been big on earning 1X on all purchases considering that cards like the Chase Freedom Unlimited offer 1.5X on all purchases.
Still, if it is Alaska miles that you are after, at least you can continue to build that balance up with 1X earnings.
Alaska Airlines travel benefits
Free checked bag
With this card, you can get a free checked bag on Alaska flights for you and up to six other guests on the same reservation. (Just make sure everybody is on the same itinerary to get this benefit.)
You will also need to be on a qualifying flight which means that you will need to fly on flights marketed by Alaska Airlines and operated by Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air, SkyWest or PenAir (codeshare flights operated by other carriers are not eligible).
Some co-branded airline cards limit the free checked bag to only one companion so getting up to six guests is a nice perk.
A checked bag on Alaska will normally cost you $30 so if you were to use this for six people, you could be saving up to $180 on a one-way flight.
So for many people, this perk alone could justify the annual fee which is already on the lower side at $75.
When you use your Alaska Airlines credit card, you can get discounts on certain purchases. You can use the in-flight purchase discount on things like beverages, food, and internet.
Getting 20% back on in-flight purchases is pretty solid although it is not as good as the JetBlue Plus Card which offers 50% back.
Getting 50% off day passes at Alaska Lounges is really nice because a day pass will normally cost you $50 which means that you’ll be saving about $25 per visit. Not bad.
Tip: If you are really interested in airport lounge access, you might want to consider a card like the Platinum Card that has one of the best lounge access benefits you’ll come across!
Annual companion fare
Each year, you will be issued Alaska’s “Famous” companion fare. This is a one time companion pass that allows a companion to fly with you for only $99 plus fees.
The fees are usually about $22 so the total price for this companion ticket comes out to about $121 each year.
You can use this perk for valid round-trip or one-way coach Companion Fares when traveling on a paid published coach airfare on the same itinerary, booked at the same time on alaskaair.com.
So this is a nice benefit but to get the most out of it you need to find a decently expensive coach fare. Otherwise, your savings could be minimal.
By the way, if you were looking to save on airfare with Alaska Airlines and you reside in the state of Alaska, you might look into Club 49.
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Dining
Your card will be automatically enrolled in Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Dining, a dining rewards program where you can earn 1 mile for every $2 spent at participating restaurants.
Additional benefits
“Museums on Us” Program
The Bank of America “Museums on Us Program” is a special program that allows Bank of America customers to visit museums all around the US free of charge on a select weekend each month. Find out more about it here.
Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection
The Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection consists of over 900 hotels around the world and offers you special privileges when you use the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection portal to book your hotel stay. Here are some of the perks you can get:
Best available rate guarantee
Automatic room upgrade when available
Complementary in room Wi-Fi when available
Complementary breakfast for two
$25 food and beverage credit
VIP guest status
Late checkout upon request when available
As long as you get approved for the Visa Signature version, you will have this benefit.
Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card FAQ
Does the Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card come with MVP elite status?
No, the Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card does not come with MVP elite status.
Does the Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card come with free checked luggage?
Yes, you can get one free checked bag for you and up to six companions.
Do I have to pay with my Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card to get the free checked bag?
No, you do not have to use your Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card to receive the free checked baggage benefit.
Does the Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card offer lounge access?
No, the Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card does not provide you with free lounge access but it does offer a 50% discount on day passes to Alaska lounges.
Does the Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card have foreign transaction fees?
No, it does not have any foreign transaction fees.
Who issues the Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card?
Bank of America is the issuer of the Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card.
What is the difference between the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature and Platinum Plus?
In the past, Bank of America would approve customers for the Platinum Plus version of this card if they had a lower credit score. That card came with a lower bonus and less benefits so the Visa Signature is the version that you most likely want to pursue.
Can I get the personal and the business version of this card?
Yes, you can get approved for the personal and the business version of the Alaska Airlines credit card.
Final word
Overall, I am a big fan of this credit card because you can use your miles on some fantastic partners. I also think that it has great earning potential on Alaska Airlines purchases along with solid free checked baggage benefits.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and creator of the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned full-time travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in major publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes, CNBC, US News, and Business Insider. Find his full bio here.
Amex Platinum Card Review [2020]
Offers contained within this article maybe expired.
The Amex Platinum Card is one of the most prestigious credit cards out there. And for good reason. It’s absolutely loaded with valuable perks and has a lot to offer travelers.
But do you know everything that has to offer?
In this detailed article, I’ll break down everything you need to know about the Platinum Card.
While it comes with a high annual fee, all of the credits and perks make it easy to justify paying for that fee and so this card appeals to a wide audience.
Eligibility
Because the Amex Platinum Card is a charge card and not a credit card, it is not subject to all of the American Express application rules like the 1/5 rule, the 2/90 rule, and the four or five card limit.
However, this card is still subject to the Amex once per lifetime rule which states that if you have ever had this card before you cannot receive the welcome bonus again.
Tip: If you want to automate the calculations for all of these credit card rules, you should check out the free credit card app WalletFlo.
Welcome bonus
60,000 points after spending $5,000 in the first three months after account opening
Getting 60,000 Membership Rewards is a terrific bonus. At a valuation of 1.75 cents per point, 60,000 points comes out to $1,050. That’s an amazing offer!
But you can do much better than that if you transfer your points out to travel partners.
American Express has some amazing travel partners, especially for airlines. In some cases, you can get over ten cents in value per point which would mean that your welcome bonus of 60,000 points is worth over $6,000!
So you definitely want to get familiar with some of these partners.
Airline Program
Ratio (MR to airline)
Transfer wait time
Aer Lingus
1:1
Instant
AeroMexico
1:1.6
24 Hours
Air Canada
1:1
Instant
Alitalia
1:1
Instant
ANA
1:1
48 Hours
Avianca
1:1
Instant
British Airways
1:1
Instant
Cathay Pacific
1:1
48 Hours
Delta
1:1
Instant
El Al
1000:20
Instant
Emirates
1:1
Instant
Etihad
1:1
Instant
Flying Blue
1:1
Instant
Hawaiian Airlines
1:1
Instant
Iberia
1:1
24 to 72 hours
JetBlue
250:200
Instant
Qantas
1:1
Instant
Singapore Airlines
1:1
24 to 72 hours
Virgin Atlantic
1:1
Instant
Here is a look at the hotel partners:
Hotel Program
Ratio (MR to partner)
Transfer wait time
Choice
1:1
Instant
Hilton
1:2
Instant
Marriott
1:1
Instant
It is possible to find a targeted offer even higher than 60,000 points. For example, there have been offers for 75,000 or even 100,000 points.
In many cases though you just have to get lucky and get hit with the targeted offer which is not the case for everybody.
Bonus categories
5X points on Airfare
5X points on hotels booked through Amex Travel
5X points on Airfare
The Platinum Card will earn 5X Membership Rewards on all airfare purchases made directly with the airlines.
This is a pretty phenomenal earning rate. If you value Membership Rewards at 1.75 cents per point then it’s like earning 8.75% back on airline purchases.
That is way better than most airlines credit cards.
In the past, I wasn’t huge on using the Platinum Card for airline purchases but after new travel protections were added to the card it made more sense.
Just remember that this 5X is only for purchases made directly with the airlines and not with online travel agencies, such as Expedia.
5X points on hotels booked through Amex Travel
You can also earn 5X on your hotel purchases but only whenever you make them through Amex Travel.
The issue with using Amex Travel is that you won’t earn elite credits and many times you won’t even receive elite benefits.
So in some cases your elite status perks will not get you free breakfast, upgrades, etc. For that reason, I’m not huge on using the Platinum Card for hotel bookings.
Travel credits
The Platinum Card is big on offering credits to help offset its high annual fee. There are three main credits that you will likely be using:
$200 Airline credit
$200 Uber credit
$100 Saks credit
$200 airline credit
The $200 airline credit can be used to offset incidental expenses for domestic airlines.
Each year, you will need to select a specific domestic airline to use this credit on and every time you make a purchase the credit will be automatically applied.
The credit can be used on the various expenses including:
This will be issued in two separate ways. First, you’ll get $50 to use between January and the end of June and then an additional $50 to use between July and December.
You can actually find some decent items at sex online for under $50. For example, I buy premium skin products and random accessories every year and get them for free. There are also a lot of great items that can be used for gifts so this credit is actually pretty useful.
Tip: If you want to easily track and manage credits and annual fees check out the free credit card app, WalletFlo.
Travel benefits
The Platinum Card is all about the benefits and there are tons of them.
I’ve written up a detailed article on these benefits which I would suggest to check out here but I will give an overview of some of the most valuable perks this card has to offer.
Lounge access
The biggest benefit that the Platinum Card offers is probably lounge access and it comes in many different forms including:
Centurion Lounge access for up two guests
Priority Pass airport lounge access for up to two guests (worth $400 per year)
Delta Sky Club lounge access (when you fly with them)
These are some of the better airport lounges you will find in the US and there are more and more of these popping up everywhere these days.
Compared to domestic airline lounges, you’ll find better food and drinks, improved service, and sometimes they will be more equipped with things like nap rooms, spas, etc.
You’ll be able to bring in two guests for free each time you visit.
Priority Pass Select
The next type of lounge access is Priority Pass access which is a network of over 1,200 airport lounge is located around the globe.
The quality of these lounges can vary and they typically are not as nice as Centurion Lounges, but I have visited some that are high-quality.
You’ll be able to bring in two guests with you for free assuming guests are allowed at that particular lounge. The drawback is that you won’t get access to the restaurant credits.
Delta Sky Club
Next there is Delta Sky Club access. Anytime you’re flying Delta, you can get into these lounges for free. You cannot bring in guests for free but they are allowed in at a discounted rate of $29 per guest.
There are also additional airport lounges you can get access to so be sure to read up on the full overview here.
Amex Centurion Lounge Hong Kong (HKG).
Hotel elite status
The Amex Platinum Card will grant you Hilton Honors Gold and Marriott Bonvoy Gold elite status.
Hilton Gold has the most value because you can get the complimentary breakfast for two people on your stays and sometimes you even get upgraded and get lounge access.
It’s worth noting that you could get Hilton Gold status with a cheaper cobranded Hilton credit card known as the Hilton Surpass. It’s a great hotel credit card that earns 12X on Hilton purchases and offers a free night if you spend $15,000 on it per year.
Get upgrades and other perks with elite status from the Platinum Card.
Fine Hotels and Resorts
Fine Hotels and Resorts (FHR) is a network of high-end luxury properties located around the globe that offer elite-like benefits which include perks like:
Noon check-in, when available
Guaranteed 4pm late check-out
Room upgrade upon arrival, when available
Daily breakfast for two people
Complimentary Wi-Fi
Special amenity unique to each property
Properties that belong to this network are popular brands like the Ritz Carlton, Park Hyatt, Conrad, etc.
If you add up the savings with the free breakfast, late check out, potential upgrades, and the amenity credits which are usually $100, you could easily receive a few hundred dollars in value from this perk by using it on a single stay.
Sometimes you can even get the fourth night free which could save you several hundred dollars by itself!
Between the elite status perks you get with Marriott and Hilton and access to this program, it’s easy to make a case that the Platinum Card is one of the best hotel credit cards available.
International Airline Program
The Amex International Airline Program is a program that offers discounts on up to eight first class, business class, and premium economy fares when booking through Amex.
This is a program that if properly utilized could save you thousands of dollars on a single booking which is pretty incredible.
Compared to all of the other great travel perks offered by the Platinum Card, this one definitely has the best potential for super out-sized value.
In reality, the status with National is the only true elite status since the others can be obtained by just signing up.
Still, signing up for these can help you expedite your car rental process and in some cases get you discounts, upgrades, or even free rentals.
$100 statement credit for Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check
Amex Platinum Card members will get to choose from a$100 statement credit for Global Entry or $85 credit for TSA Pre-Check.
Global Entry will help you get expedited entry back into the US through immigration and customs. Meanwhile, TSA Pre-Check will let you bypass the main airport screening line while not having to take out items like:
If you are approved for Global Entry you will automatically get TSA Pre-Check, so I highly recommend most people to go with Global Entry assuming that they could pass the background check.
Tip: You might also be interested in the program CLEAR which allows you to jump to the front of the security lines.
Private Jet Program
If you’re someone interested in flying private, you can let the American Express concierge assist you with booking helicopters for airport transfers or chartering planes.
Cruise Privileges Program
Are you a cruiser?
With the Platinum Card you can get up to $300 in credits on certain cruises. On other occasions, you might also get things like a complimentary bottle of premium champagne and a box chocolates.
Departures is a quarterly travel magazine that is automatically issued to you.
Many people think this is a waste of paper but there have been a couple of issues where I’ve learned about some cool travel spots so you may want to think twice about discarding it.
Concierge
The Amex Platinum card also offers you access to the concierge service. The concierge can assist you with a Prairie of needs but some of the common things people ask for our:
Dinner reservations
Tickets to events
Last minute gifts and deliveries
If you live in a city that offers a Global Dining Collection site, the concierge could be of great use!
Auto purchasing program
You can use your Amex Platinum Card to purchase automobiles and in the process earn a ton of points. Not only that, but you can actually find discounts on vehicles by using the program.
I would suggest to look at my full review of this program to see if you think it will be worth it but it’s a great option to have and can make purchasing a vehicle much more efficient.
Amex offers
Amex Offers are special promotions that go out each month offering you special savings and ways to earn more points. These offer special deals in various types of industries, from hotel purchases to Amazon, Best Buy, etc.
Sometimes you can even save on your phone bill or cable bill!
If you do any kind of online shopping or travel, chances are you could probably save a couple of hundred bucks a year by closely monitoring these deals and utilizing them.
Shoprunner
The ShopRunner program offers the following benefits from select retailers:
Free two-day shipping
Free return shipping
Specials deals and discounts
Amex Platinum Travel protections
The Amex Platinum Card now comes with better travel protections than it ever did in the past.
Trip Delay
If your trip is delayed more than six hours, you can get trip delay coverage for up to $500 per trip.
Trip cancellation/interruption
If your trip is interrupted for a covered for reason (you’re sick, a bad hurricane is headed your way, etc.), you get protection up to $10,000 per trip ($20,000 per year).
This was a huge addition to the Platinum Card because it allowed users to finally take advantage of 5X on airfare without sacrificing trip cancellation benefits.
Lost luggage
You’ll also get special protections for your luggage which differs based on whether your luggage is a carry-on or checked bag.
Will pay a benefit for the Replacement Cost, up to $3,000, for each Covered Person on a Covered Trip for Loss of carry-on Baggage.
Will pay a benefit for the Replacement Cost, up to $2,000, for each Covered Person on a Covered Trip for Loss of checked Baggage
Secondary car rental coverage is better than nothing but it is not quite as good as the primary rental car coverage offered by the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Amex Platinum Purchase protections
Purchase protections
The Platinum will cover your new purchases for 90 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per Card Member account per calendar year.
The $10,000 limit per claim is extremely competitive. The only slight drawback is that it only applies to a 90 day period versus other premium cards that apply it to 120 day period.
Extended Warranty Protection
The Platinum provides one additional year if the original manufacturer’s warranty is between one year and five years limited up to a maximum $10,000 per occurrence.
The extended warranty used to add two additional years but after recent changes it was cut down to one year.
Still, it is one of the better extended warranties you will find because it applies to original warranties that are up to five years versus three years (which is what other cards often limit the benefit to).
Return Protection
You can be reimbursed for eligible items that the store won’t take back within 90 days of purchase, up to $300 per item, $1,000 per year.
Military benefits
The Platinum Card offers members of the military certain benefits that make this card extra lucrative.
Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, (SCRA), Amex offers several military member benefits like waiving the annual fee (even the $695 fee for the Platinum Card!).
They also waive other fees like late payment fees. You can request your SCRA benefits with this link.
Special Events
Membership Experiences (take advantage of presale tickets and special events)
By Invitation Only (invites to high profile events like Cannes, celebrity chef events, etc.)
American Express Preferred Seating (get better seats at games, concerts, shows, and other big events).
You can add up to three authorized users for only $175. After that, each authorized user will cost $175 each. Considering that authorized users get most of the benefits mentioned above, paying for authorized users can be a huge bargain with the Platinum Card.
Amex Platinum FAQ
What credit score is needed for the Platinum Card?
Generally, you want a good to excellent credit score of somewhere around 720 to get approved. You can find out more about approval requirements here.
What income is needed for the Platinum Card?
There is also no strict income or salary requirement for the Platinum Card but Platinum members, on average, do have very high incomes.
Still, there are reports of people getting approved with incomes in the $50,000 range. You can find out more about approval requirements here.
What lounge access do you get with the Platinum Card?
The Platinum Card will get you access to:
Centurion Lounges Priority Pass airport lounges Delta Sky Clubs Airspace Lounges Escape Lounges Plaza Premium Lounges Lufthansa Lounges Additional lounges in the network
What hotel elite status do you get with the Platinum Card?
You will get automatic Hilton Honors Gold and Marriott Bonvoy Gold status.
You can call up the concierge to help you find dinner reservations, tickets to concerts, and last minute gift deliveries among other needs. They can also help you book your travels.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and creator of the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned full-time travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in major publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes, CNBC, US News, and Business Insider. Find his full bio here.
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card Review [2020]
The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card is a great card for earning cash back on dining and entertainment purchases. But what exactly counts as dining and entertainment and how does it stack up to other similar cards? In this article, I will tell you everything you need to know about this card and also show you how it stacks up to some of the other top cards out there.
Capital One Savor Intro
The Capitol One Savor is a good card for someone looking to maximize cash back on dining and entertainment purchases. The value of the early spend bonus varies but at times it can be one of the most valuable cash back offers.
The Capitol One Savor has some decent travel protections but there are certainly better options and I’ll discuss them below. I would generally choose a different card if you are interested in earning travel rewards.
Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!
Early spend bonus
The Capitol One Savor comes with an early spend bonus of $300 cash back after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of opening up your card.
This is a fairly decent early spend bonus. One thing to note is that in the past we have seen this bonus as high as $500. It is not clear if and when that larger bonus will return but I have a feeling that we will end up seeing it again at some point.
Capital One has its own eligibility rules. The first is the 1/6 rule which means that you can only apply for one credit card every six months.
There is also a max two card rule that applies to Capital One branded cards. Basically you would typically be limited to only two cards at a time out of the following:
Journey Student Credit Card
Platinum
Quicksilver
Savor Rewards
SavorOne Rewards
Venture Rewards
VentureOne Rewards
If you find it confusing and time-consuming to keep up with all of these credit card application roast don’t worry there is a product on the way to automate all of these calculations for you. It’s called WalletFlo and it is getting very close to being launched.
WalletFlo will automatically calculate all of the terms and conditions and show you which rules may apply to you based on your specific credit card portfolio. It is going to be a huge timesaver and also have a lot of features that help you maximize your cards, deal with annual fees, etc.
Bonus categories
4% back on dining
4% back on entertainment
2% back at grocery stores
4% back on dining
Getting 4% back on dining purchases is extremely competitive. It compares nicely with premium cards like the American Express Gold Card that earns 4X on dining. The difference is that the Gold Card earns Membership Rewards which can be transferred out to various travel partners for much more value than 4% cash back. For that reason, the Savor card is not the best dining card for travel rewards.
What counts as dining?
Here is what Capital One states counts for dining:
Purchases at restaurants, cafes, bars, lounges, fast-food chains and bakeries.
As you can tell, the dining category is fairly broad and it compares nicely to other dining cards.
4% back on entertainment
Getting 4% back on entertainment is also very competitive.
I don’t know of any other cards offering 4% back on entertainment purchases in the form of straight cash back so this is a fantastic bonus category. The Marvel credit card could be a logical competitor for entertainment purchases but that card only earns 3% cash back.
What counts as entertainment?
Here is what Capital One states counts for entertainment:
Ticket purchases made at movie theaters, sports promoters (professional and semi-professional live events), theatrical promoters, amusement parks, tourist attractions, aquariums, zoos, dance halls, record stores, pool halls or bowling alleys. This excludes golf courses, collegiate sporting events and non-industry entertainment merchant codes like cable, digital streaming and membership services.
It is a little odd to me that collegiate sporting events are excluded but this is still a pretty broad category that should allow you to earn bonus points on most of your entertainment purchases. It’s also nice to have theme parks like Disney World covered since some folks drop a lot of cash there.
2% back at grocery stores
The 2% back on grocery stores is okay but you can do much better than that. Personally, I use my American Express Gold Card to earn 4X on my grocery spend and that amount to much more than 2% back.
What counts as a grocery store?
Here is what Capital One states counts for grocery stores:
A supermarket, meat locker, freezer, dairy product store and specialty market. Excludes superstores like Walmart® and Target®.
It is pretty standard for cards that are in bonus points on the grocery stores to exclude super stores like Walmart so this is pretty standard.
The Capitol One Savor really shines when it comes to its bonus categories. It is one of the best cash back cards for dining and entertainment earning a whopping 4% back. There are not many cards that can compete with 4% back on these two categories so the Savor really has a distinguishing feature.
Overall, I think this is a great card for someone who wants to capitalize on bonus category earning for dining and entertainment and is interested in cash back rewards.
Even cafes offer 4X earnings.
Vivid Seats 8% back
Up until May 2020 you can earn an additional 8% cash back on your tickets when you use your saver card at Vivid seats. Vivid Seats is an online ticket marketplace where fans can buy and sell tickets to sports, concerts, and theater events.
Getting 8% back on your tickets (in addition to the 4% back you already are getting) is pretty fantastic and this is a very nice promotion. I’m not sure about how big their inventory is or how their prices compare to other places like StubHub or Ticketmaster so it would definitely be in your best interest to always compare prices.
No foreign transaction fees
Like all Capital One cards this card does not have any foreign transaction fees.
Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!
Protections
The Capital One Savor Card will offer you MasterCard World Elite protections if you are approved for the World Elite version. Below is a list of some of the key benefits and then I’ll share some of the details below and give you a comparison to a similar card.
Extended warranty
Personal Identity Theft Resolution Services
Capital One Concierge Service
Secondary rental car coverage
Travel accident insurance
Baggage delay
Trip cancellation
Price protection
Extended warranty
The extended warranty doubles the original manufacturer warranty up to 24 months. If the original manufacturer’s warranty or the service contract covers more than 24 months, this benefit will not apply. The maximum benefit cannot exceed the amount charged on your covered card or $10,000, whichever is less.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred extends the time period of the U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year on eligible warranties of three years or less, so it’s possible to get two times the coverage with the Sapphire Preferred.
Baggage delay
You can get reimbursed for up to $100 per day for three days if your bags don’t show up on time. The Chase Sapphire Preferred offers a similar protection but it will cover you for up to five days.
Trip cancellation
The policy will pay up to a maximum benefit of $1,500 per trip. Compare that amount to the Chase Sapphire Preferred which reimburses up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses. That’s a huge difference.
Rental car insurance
The Capital One Savor will offer you secondary rental car insurance. Meanwhile, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Offers primary rental car coverage which means that you won’t have to file a claim with your car rental insurance company. It also means that you can turn down the collision damage waiver when renting a car and save money.
Price protection
Coverage is limited to the difference between the actual cost of the item (excluding taxes, storage, shipping, and handling costs) and the advertised lower price, up to $250 per claim. There is a maximum of four claims per 12 months.
OpenTable
Capital One cards will come with a new benefit which is access to premium reservations with OpenTable (the restaurant reservations app).
All you need to do is download the OpenTable app and then verify that you have the Capital One Savor Card by visiting this website right here (on mobile). Once you have the app downloaded you will see a purple button at the bottom that says “Verify Capital One card.”
Annual Fee
The annual fee is $0 the first year and then $95 after that. If you spend $2,375 on dining and entertainment, then you can offset the annual fee based on your bonus spend alone.
However, there is also a no annual fee version of this card known as the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. That card earns only 3% back on dining and entertainment though which is not quite as impressive.
Final word
The Capital One Savor Card is perfect for people who spend a lot on dining and/or entertainment and want to earn cash back rewards. But, if you are interested in travel rewards, I would really look into a card like the American Express Gold Card which earns 4X on dining and groceries.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and creator of the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned full-time travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in major publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes, CNBC, US News, and Business Insider. Find his full bio here.
Amex Gold Card Review (50,000 Point Offers?) [2020]
Offers contained within this article maybe expired.
The American Express Gold Card is definitely one of the most valuable travel credit cards out there. It shines with its lucrative bonus categories and mid-range annual fee (not to mention the metal). However, the card does have some faults that you want to be aware of. In this comprehensive review article, I will tell you everything you need to know about the American Express Gold Card.
The Amex Gold Card intro
The American Express Gold Card is one of the most valuable travel rewards credit cards available because of the potential to earn so many points on dining and groceries. While this is an amazing card, I would first get a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred since that card is subject to the Chase 5/24 rule (and also has better travel protections).
The 5/24 rule means that you cannot get approved for a Chase card if you have opened up five or more accounts in the past two years. So it is almost always better to prioritize Chase cards before jumping on American Express cards if you want to have the best available options.
Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!
Eligibility
Because the Gold Card is a charge card and not a credit card, it is not subject to all of the American Express application rules like the 1/5 rule, the 2/90 rule, and the four or five card limit.
However, this card is still subject to the Amex once per lifetime rule which states that if you have ever had this card before you cannot receive the welcome bonus again.
It is also worth noting that if you had the Premier Rewards Gold Card in the past, the welcome bonus for this card will not be available to you.
By the way, if you want to automate the calculations for all of these credit card rules, you should check out WalletFlo which will help you optimize your cards and automate all of these things.
Welcome bonus
35,000 points to 60,000 points
The bonus on this card can range from 35,000 points to 60,000 points, depending on the offer.
The standard offer available to the public is for 60,000 Membership Rewards after you spend $4,000 in the first 6 months.
But you can get a lot more value with your points if you transfer them out to partners like the ones listed below and use your points for premium cabins, such as business class and first class.
Below you can see the list of airline partners and a valuation for each. (The valuation is lower because those valuations are not focused on premium redemptions which can often be close to $.10 per point!)
Airline Program
Ratio (MR to airline)
Transfer wait time
Aer Lingus
1:1
Instant
AeroMexico
1:1.6
24 Hours
Air Canada
1:1
Instant
Alitalia
1:1
Instant
ANA
1:1
48 Hours
Avianca
1:1
Instant
British Airways
1:1
Instant
Cathay Pacific
1:1
48 Hours
Delta
1:1
Instant
El Al
1000:20
Instant
Emirates
1:1
Instant
Etihad
1:1
Instant
Flying Blue
1:1
Instant
Hawaiian Airlines
1:1
Instant
Iberia
1:1
24 to 72 hours
JetBlue
250:200
Instant
Qantas
1:1
Instant
Singapore Airlines
1:1
24 to 72 hours
Virgin Atlantic
1:1
Instant
Here is a look at the hotel partners:
Hotel Program
Ratio (MR to partner)
Transfer wait time
Choice
1:1
Instant
Hilton
1:2
Instant
Marriott
1:1
Instant
Emirates A380 First Class.
Bonus categories
4X points at Restaurants
4X points at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 in spend per calendar year)
3X on airfare
4X points at Restaurants
4X at restaurants is one of the features that makes this card so special. When compared to other cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve which only earn 3X on dining, this 4X at restaurants worldwide really stands out.
The important distinction here is that the Savor Card earns only cash back while the Gold Card earns points that can be transferred out to travel partners allowing you to earn wayyy more than 4% back. I’ll talk a little bit more about the valuations below.
4X points at U.S. supermarkets
I also really love the 4X at US supermarkets. There is the limitation of up to $25,000 in spend per calendar year but that is a lot of spend each year. I feel like I spend a lot in grocery stores each month and still have plenty of room for these 4X earnings.
3X on airfare
Earning 3X on airfare is not too bad. You can earn this on airfare purchases made directly with the airline or through Amex Travel. It is worth pointing out that the Platinum Card earns 5X on airfare though and that the travel protections are not that great for the Gold Card (more on that below).
If you value American Express points at 1.75 cents per point, earning 4X is like getting 7% back on your purchases. That is a ton of value going back into your wallet and it is the reason why I use this card for almost all of my dining and grocery expenses.
It does not take much spend to offset the annual fee for this card entirely. If you spent $3,571 on US supermarkets and restaurants that would earn you approximately $250 worth of Membership Rewards at 1.75 cents per point.
Now imagine if you utilized the dining credit and airline credit that I discuss below which would knock the effective annual fee down to a mere $30. In that case, if you spent just $428 in one year on dining and supermarkets, you would earn enough points to offset that effective annual fee.
This is why the $250 annual fee does not bother me at all. I know without question that I am coming out on top with the Gold Card and it is not even close.
Earn 4X at US supermarkets.
$120 dining credit
The Amex Gold Card provides you with $10 monthly dining credits. These credits work on a monthly calendar basis. This means that they will reset at the end of each month, regardless of when you originally opened your credit card.
These credits can also only be used at select establishments, such as:
Boxed
Grubhub
Seamless
The Cheesecake Factory
Ruth’s Chris Steak House
Shake Shack
Grubhub
Grubhub is a service you can use like Uber Eats where you can have food delivered to you from a variety of restaurants (take out is a possibility, too). Thus, this $10 credit can actually be used at a lot of different dining establishments. You can enter in your location here to see which places can deliver to you.
You’ll need to factor in potential delivery fees/tips into your orders though which can reduce the value of your credit and that’s one reason I recommend take-out as an option.
Seamless
Seamless is another food delivery service that you can look into and they are part of the same company as Grubhub. You can search for what delivers near you here.
In the past, the terms and conditions stated that the prices for Grubhub and Seamless would remain the same as in-restaurant menu prices but they removed that language and now it’s possible that prices could be higher when ordering through Grubhub or Seamless so this is just something to keep an eye out for.
The Cheesecake Factory
The Cheesecake Factory operates over 210 full-service restaurants. Here’s a sample menu. A classic burger will set you back about $13 and many dishes will remain under $20. You can search for locations here.
Ruth’s Chris Steak House
Ruth’s Chris Steak House is an upscale chain of over 100 steakhouses across the United States, Canada and Mexico. For many steak dishes, you’re going to be shelling out $40 to $60+. You can search for locations here.
Note that this excludes Shake Shack locations in ballparks, stadiums, airports and racetracks.
$100 airline credit
The Amex Gold Card allows you to receive a $100 airline credit every year. This is a credit that can be used on things like incidentals. This credit must be activated each year and you must choose a qualifying airline to use your credit on.
Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!
What airlines work for the Amex airline credit?
Qualifying airlines include:
Alaska Airlines
American Airlines
Delta Airlines
Frontier Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines
JetBlue Airways
Spirit Airlines
Southwest Airlines
United Airlines
Only the Basic Card Member or Authorized Account Manager(s) on the Card Account can select the qualifying airline.
It’s a good idea to review what types of purchases actually qualify for the airline credit because some of the exclusions might surprise you.
American Express officially states that the following qualify for the airline credit:
In-flight entertainment fees (excluding wireless internet because it’s not charged by the airline)
Airport lounge day passes & annual memberships
Baggage fees are typically $30 for your first checked bag for a one-way flight with most domestic carriers like United. So with this credit you could cover one and a half round trips and not have to worry about paying for checked baggage.
The reimbursement for change fees is also very handy since that could slice those expensive $200 change fees in half. And you should also be able to cover unaccompanied minor fees which can be over $100.
The other nice way to use this fee is for an airport day pass. I actually used my credit once for admission into the Admirals Club lounge which was nice because I got to enter the lounge in Houston and also in Dallas for my connection.
The following items are explicitly excluded:
Airline tickets
Mileage points purchases or mileage points transfer fees
Gift cards
Upgrades
Duty–free purchases
Award tickets
The three biggest exclusions are upgrades, gift cards, and award tickets since those are commonly sought after purchases. There are often exceptions to these exclusions and sometimes these purchases can still trigger the credits but it often depends on the airline and the exact amount of the purchase.
Gold Card protections
The Gold Card has some solid purchase protections that make it a great card to use when shopping. However, many of the travel protections are on the weaker side. I will go through some of the top protections below to let you see how they compare.
Purchase protection
The Gold Card will protect your purchases for up to 90 days from the date of purchase if the item is stolen, accidentally damaged or lost. The coverage is limited up to $10,000 per occurrence, up to $50,000 per Card Member account per calendar year.
This time period was recently dropped from 120 days down to 90 days. The drop is significant because the Chase Sapphire Reserve still offers protection for up to 120 days so now that benefit will cover you longer.
I usually forgo extra rewards when dealing with large purchases just so that I can ensure the best purchase protection. For example, I have cards that could earn me something like 1.5X on all purchases but I would rather have better purchase protection on a higher limit up to $10,000 then earn some extra points on a purchase.
Extended warranty
For warranties of five years or less, the manufacturer’s warranty can be extended up to one additional year. In the past, this warranty would be extended for up to two additional years but now it is only extended one additional year.
However, the fact that it covers warrantees up to five years is still very significant because many other cards only cover warrantees for up to three years or less. So I would still rank the Gold Card as one of the best cards to use for the extended warranty benefit.
Trip delay
If your trip is delayed 12 hours or more, you can get coverage for up to $300 for the delay. You can use these funds for necessities like lodging, meals, and toiletries.
This coverage amount is not on par with the best premium cards that offer $500 but the biggest letdown is that it only kicks in after 12 hours versus six hours that other cards offer. Therefore, I would not rely heavily on this card for trip delay protection.
Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance
The Gold Card does not have trip cancellation and interruption insurance.
Unlike other premium American Express cards like the Platinum Card or Hilton Aspire, the Gold Card does not come with any trip cancellation coverage.
Once again, this is a big shortcoming when it comes to travel perks on this card. And it’s one reason why I look to other cards when it comes to things like booking a hotel.
Baggage delay protection?
Another protection missing here is baggage delay which would allow you to go and purchase toiletries and clothing items if your baggage was delayed. You can get this if you purchase the travel insurance through American Express but this benefit is not built into the Gold Card unlike other travel cards such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Preferred Seating— access to premium seats for select cultural and sporting events.
Amex Gold Card FAQ
What are the Gold Card bonus categories?
4X points at Restaurants 4X points at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 in spend per calendar year) 3X on airfare
When does the Gold Card lose the airline credit?
Beginning in January 2022, the airline credit will no longer be available.
How can I track my credits?
Use WalletFlo to help you track how much of your credits you’ve used.
Does the Amex Gold Card have foreign transaction fees?
No, the Amex Gold Card does not have foreign transaction fees.
What is the Amex Gold Card annual fee?
The annual fee is $250.
Is the Amex Gold Card annual fee waived the first year?
No, the annual fee is not waived the first year.
What places can I use the Amex Gold Card dining credit on?
Boxed Grubhub Seamless The Cheesecake Factory Ruth’s Chris Steak House Shake Shack
What airlines can I use the Amex airline credit on?
Alaska Airlines American Airlines Delta Airlines Frontier Airlines Hawaiian Airlines JetBlue Airways Spirit Airlines Southwest Airlines United Airlines
Does the Gold Card have purchase protection?
Yes, you can get purchase protection for up to 90 days from the date of purchase and the coverage limit is $10,000.
Final word
I am absolutely in love with the American Express Gold Card when it comes to earning rewards with my every day spend in dining and groceries. That 4X really adds up in a hurry and I have netted a ton of value from this card and offset the annual fee really quickly.
The problem is that it does not have the best travel protections and so I don’t usually use this card for any travel purchases because I get so much better protections with other cards.
If you can catch the high 50,000 point offers for this card it is an absolute bargain but even if you have to settle for the 35,000 point offers, this can still be one of the most valuable travel cards that you will come across.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and creator of the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned full-time travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in major publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes, CNBC, US News, and Business Insider. Find his full bio here.
Amex Delta SkyMiles Reserve Review [2021]
Offers contained within this article maybe expired.
The Amex Delta SkyMiles Reserve is one of the most popular premium airline credit cards on the market.
It comes with a host of valuable travel benefits and for many people these perks can easily offset the higher annual fee.
In this article, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about this card.
Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!
Welcome bonus
The welcome bonus for the Delta SkyMiles Reserve changes all the time.
We’ve seen this bonus all the way down to around 10,000 miles and other times up to 100,000 miles though the standard offer appears to be between 40,000 and 75,000 miles now.
Typically, the spend requirement will be between $3,000 to $5,000 within the first three months of opening up your card.
Because this card is so loaded down with benefits, for a lot of people the welcome bonus becomes less important and getting the card is more about taking advantage of the perks.
For that reason, it’s often still worth it to get this card even with a lower bonus of around 40,000 miles.
With that said, I would still try to wait around for a 70,000 mile offer to come around.
It’s worth noting that you can also usually earn MQM’s with the welcome bonus, typically in the amount of 10,000.
These are not miles that you can use for award flights but they can help you achieve elite status (more on that below).
Tip: If you are wondering what type of redemptions you can get with your Delta Sky Miles, I recommend that you read up on our best uses of Delta Sky Miles.
Bonus categories
3X on Delta
1X on all other purchases
If you are looking for a card that will earn a lot of points on various spending categories such as dining or groceries, this is not the card for you.
Instead, this card only earns bonus categories on Delta purchases. You’ll earn a competitive 3X on Delta flights which is pretty good compared to other airline credit cards.
But if you want to maximize your spend on other categories I would look at a card like the American Express Gold Card.
With that card, you could potentially earn 4X on dining and US supermarkets (up to $25,000 per year on spend).
Because Delta Airlines is a transfer partner of American Express, you can then transfer your points to Delta at a 1:1 ratio.
To find out how much these miles are worth, click here.
Delta exit row 16 in economy.
Delta SkyMiles Reserve Perks
Delta Sky Club access
You will get complimentary Delta Sky Club access for yourself with this card.
If you are traveling on a partner airline, you can access the club at an exclusive per-visit rate of $39 per person, per location.
You can also bring up to two guests or immediate family (spouse or domestic partner and children under 21 years of age) at the exclusive per-visit rate of $39 per person, per location.
Note: Guests must be flying on a same-day Delta or Delta partner airline flight.
You will also receive two one time guest passes each year so that you can enter the lounge with family or friends traveling with you.
Centurion lounge access
When you book your Delta flight with the Reserve card, you can get complimentary access to Amex Centurion lounges.
You can also bring up to two guests at a per-visit rate of $50 per person.
These are some of the nicest airport lounges located in the US and you can find them at select airports.
The Delta companion certificate is a certificate that can be used to buy two roundtrip tickets for the price of one plus taxes and fees of the companion ticket.
That means you essentially get an extra ticket for free when you buy one ticket, which can save you hundreds of dollars.
There are quite a few restrictions for this perk but we have a detailed write up on it you can check out here.
Status boost
Delta is one of the few airlines that allow you to earn elite status credits through your spend.
With the Delta SkyMiles Reserve, you can earn 15,000 MQMs after $30,000 in eligible purchases, up to 4X per calendar year.
This means that you can earn a total of 60,000 MQMs after $120,000 in spend.
Here are the requirements for all tiers of status for Delta:
Medallion Tier
MQMs or MQSs requirement
MQDs requirement (only for US residents)
Silver
25,000 MQMs or 30 MQSs
$3,000 MQDs
Gold
50,000 MQMs or 60 MQSs
$6,000 MQDs
Platinum
75,000 MQMs or 100 MQSs
$9,000 MQDs
Diamond
125,000 MQMs or 140 MQSs
$15,000 MQDs
Delta Medallion qualification requirements
It’s pretty awesome that you can earn enough MQM’s for Gold status just via credit card spend.
Tip: If you spend at least $25,000 on your card you can also get the MQD waiver towards Platinum, Gold, or Silver Medallion Status.
Global Entry or TSA Pre-Check credit
You will be eligible to receive a $100 statement credit for Global Entry or a statement credit for up to $85 for TSA Pre-Check.
This credit will be given in a four year period for Global Entry or a 4.5 year period for TSA Pre-Check.
Upgrade priority
As a Reserve card member, you will receive upgrade priority over other members with the same level of Medallion status and fare class grouping.
In addition, if you do not hold a Medallion status you will be automatically added to the complimentary upgrade list following Medallion members.
These upgrades will be for upgrades to Delta One, first class, and Delta Comfort Plus. (Basic economy fares or not eligible for the upgrades.)
First checked bag free
You will be able to check your first bag for free on Delta flights booked with your card.
Delta Baggage fees usually run $30 per person so this is a great way to save $60 on a round-trip flight per individual.
And your savings could be even bigger because there is an allowance of nine waivers per reservation allowed.
Priority boarding
You will be eligible to receive main cabin one priority boarding on Delta flights which will help you secure overhead storage bin space and get to your seat sooner.
Just like the free checked bag, this benefit allows up to nine passengers on the reservation to receive the perk.
This benefit is limited to the primary cardmember and not authorized users.
To find out more about the boarding process, click here.
20% discount on in-flight purchases
You’ll get 20% savings in the form of a statement credit for eligible in-flight purchases which include things like food, beverages, and audio headsets.
This discount does not apply to in-flight wireless internet purchases.
Travel protections
Trip delay protection
If your trip is delayed for more than six hours, you can get reimbursed for certain essential expenses totaling up to $500 per trip.
This is a pretty solid protection considering that other cards require a 12 hour waiting period.
Trip cancellation
If your trip is paid entirely with your card and your trip is canceled or interrupted for a covered reason, you can get reimbursed for nonrefundable travel expenses up to $10,000 per trip.
$10,000 in coverage for trip cancellation is a pretty competitive amount.
Car rental coverage
This card will provide you with car rental coverage that will be secondary.
Shopping protections
Return protection
You’ll be covered for returns on items within 90 days from the date of purchase if the merchant will not take them back.
You may get refunded for the full purchase price up to $300 per item and up to a maximum of $1,000 per calendar year.
Extended warranty
You can get one extra year added to the original manufacturers warranty on warranties of five years or less.
Final word
This is one of the best premium airline cards in my opinion. It’s great when it comes with a solid welcome bonus but the real perks here are related to flying with Delta.
You can climb up the elite status levels just by your spend and even get MQD waivers.
In addition to that you get a variety of lounge access perks and other valuable perks like free luggage and priority boarding making this a great fit for somebody who frequently flies with Delta.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and creator of the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned full-time travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in major publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes, CNBC, US News, and Business Insider. Find his full bio here.
Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Card Review [2020]
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Card is a mid-tier premium business card that offers one of the best sign-up bonuses that we’ve ever seen. But it also comes with some pretty solid additional features that offer a lot of value — keep reading to find out more about the card.
Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Card
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Card comes with following features:
3 points per $1 spent on Southwest Airlines purchases.
2 points per $1 spent on social media and search engine advertising, Internet, cable and phone services and 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!
Sign-up bonus
The bonus for this card has come in different forms.
The highest offer we have seen is for 80,000 Rapid Rewards after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
After that, we saw an offer for 70,000 Rapid Rewards after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months with the opportunity to earn an additional 30,000 points after you spend $25,000 on purchases in the first 6 months.
Both offers are very good offers because 70,000 points and above is extremely competitive. They can both get you pretty close to earning the coveted Southwest Companion Pass that would allow a companion to fly for free with you for up to two calendar years.
That’s about as easy as it gets and you could just jump on one of the personal Southwest cards like the Southwest Premier to quickly finish up that requirement.
One issue is that this card might not be the best option if you’re under 5/24. Unless you highly value Southwest points/the Companion Pass, a card like the Chase Ink Preferred or Chase Ink Cash might be much more valuable since they offer great bonuses and earn points you can transfer out to different transfer partners like United, Southwest, and several others.
Bonus earning
3 points per $1 spent on Southwest Airlines purchases
2 points per $1 spent on social media and search engine advertising, Internet, cable and phone services
1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
Most other Southwest credit cards only offer 2X on Southwest spending. But now you can earn 3X on all Southwest purchases. This is significant but remember that the Chase Ink Preferred earns 3X on ALL travel purchases (up to $150K) as does the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Also, with the Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Card you can earn 2X on social media and search engine advertising, Internet, cable and phone services, which is nice. However, you can earn 5X on internet, cable, and phone services with the Chase Ink Cash.
So overall, the bonus categories are strong but I’d rather use my Chase Ink Preferred and Chase Ink Cash combo to rack up more points that are also more valuable since they are Ultimate Rewards.
Tip: Check out the free app WalletFlo so that you can optimize your credit card spend by seeing the best card to use! You can also track credits, annual fees, and get notifications when you’re eligible for the best cards!
Anniversary bonus
9,000 bonus points after your Cardmember anniversary.
If you value Southwest points at 1.5 cents per point, then 9,000 points gives you $135 worth of Rapid Rewards each year.
This can knock the annual fee down to only an effective $64 each year which is pretty fantastic, especially considering the potential value of the upgrades I’ll talk about below.
Upgraded boarding
4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available
The Performance Card will offer you four upgraded boarding positions which are upgrades to Business Select boarding (A1-A15). These will be issued every anniversary year.
If you’re not aware, Southwest doesn’t offer a traditional business class or first class experience. They offer something called Business Select, which allows you to receive priority boarding.
This means you can grab the seats at the front of the airplane or within the emergency exit rows where the seats have a little more leg room or where you can grab a row with only two seats.
The amount of seats with more legroom/privacy depends on whether you’re flying on a 737-700 or 737-800. You can find out more information about the different types of seats in my Tips for Flying Southwest.
The amount of money it costs to upgrade depends on the length of the journey but you usually pay $30 to $50. So getting four upgraded boardings per year when available could be worth anywhere from $120 to $200. That’s quite a bit of value.
I know a lot of people don’t care for Southwest since there’s no true business class but I’ve always enjoyed upgrading and then grabbing one of the couple seats in the emergency exit row so Brad and I have our own row.
So I wouldn’t sleep on this benefit if you fly Southwest, but if you don’t usually fly with them, this isn’t exactly a very enticing upgrade benefit.
Note: It’s worth noting that when you upgrade you’re usually not given the other Business Select perks like a free drink.
Inflight WiFi Credits
You will receive Inflight WiFi Credits in the form of credit card statement credits for purchases of WiFi access made with your Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Card. Inflight WiFi Credits are limited to a total of 365 $8 credits per year for all WiFi transactions on the overall business card account.
Getting $8 credits every day of the year is a sweet deal if you do a lot of flying on Southwest, though you would eventually get free wifi with A-List as shown below.
A-List credits
You’ll earn 1,500 tier qualifying points (TQPs) for each $10,000 in purchases up to $100,000 in purchases annually which equal 15,000 TQP. TQPs can be used to count toward qualification for Rapid Rewards A-List or A-List Preferred status.
You need 35,000 tier qualifying points or 25 qualifying one-way flights per calendar year to qualify for A-List Status. A-List Members enjoy:
Priority boarding
Priority check-in and security lane access
25% more Rapid Rewards points earned on each flight (A-List Preferred receives a 100% bonus)
Free same-day standby
Dedicated A-List Member phone line
Global Entry or TSA Pre-Check Fee Credit
Up to a $100 Global Entry or TSA Pre-Check Fee Credit (good every four years).
Authorized users
Employee cards added at no additional cost, earn points on employee spending.
Annual fee
$199 Annual Fee
This is the highest annual fee we’ve seen for a Southwest business card but you’ve already seen the value of the perks and how they can easily offset the $199 annual fee, even with minimal use.
Foreign transaction fees
No foreign transaction fees
Eligibility
You might be wondering if you’re eligible for this card if you had or have the Southwest Premier business card. It appears that you might still be eligible based on the language found on the landing page which states:
This new Cardmember bonus offer is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of this business credit card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of this business credit card who received a new Cardmember bonus for this business credit card within the last 24 months.
Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!
Final word
Overall, the Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Card is a strong contender with the following highlights:
Super strong sign-up bonus
Good bonus earning
Valuable benefits the offset the annual fee
The biggest issue with jumping on the card now is that you might be losing out on time to enjoy the Companion Pass. Also, many people will get more value from other Chase cards that are also subject to the Chase 5/24 rule like the Chase Ink Preferred or Chase Ink Cash.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and creator of the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned full-time travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in major publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes, CNBC, US News, and Business Insider. Find his full bio here.
What Is A Black Card? (Visa, Amex, Mastercard Requirements) [2020]
Black cards have a prestigious reputation but a lot of people don’t actually know what they are. And to add to the confusion, there are several different versions of “black cards” on the market.
I’ll show you each of the different black cards from Visa, Amex, and Mastercard. I’ll then get into the different benefits and requirements for each of these cards.
You’ll see which black card is best and the different types of black card alternatives that actually offer better value.
A “black card” usually refers to a premium credit card, such as the American Express Centurion Card or the Mastercard Black Card issued by Barclays.
While similar in name, these cards are very different from each other as I will explain below.
Note: There is no Chase Black Card although they do offer the J.P. Morgan Reserve Card (previously known as the J.P. Morgan Palladium Card).
Tip: Use the free app WalletFlo to help you travel the world for free by finding the best travel credit cards and promotions!
Visa Black Card
Visa Black Card.
The Visa Black Card was issued by Barclays until they re-branded the Visa Black Card as the Mastercard Black Card and made it a part of the “Luxury Card” brand in 2016. Because the Visa Black Card has been re-branded as the Mastercard Black Card, I’ll focus on the Mastercard Black Card for this article.
But in case you were curious, here were some of the benefits of the Visa Black Card.
25,000 points after you spend $1,500 in the first 90 days
0% introductory for balance transfers for the first fifteen months
The Amex Black Card, officially known as the “American Express Centurion Card,” is the most prestigious black card on the market.
There are actually two versions of it: the personal Centurion Card and the business Centurion Card.
Amex Centurion Card income requirements
To get invited to apply for the Amex Black Card it’s all about your annual spend.
How much spend do you need?
There is no official spend requirement for the Centurion Card.
For the business version of the Centurion Card, once you spend around $500,000 (or possibly $450,000) in a calendar year you might receive an invitation.
If you’re going for the personal Centurion Card you’ll have to spend around $250,000 (although some say $350,000).
The total amount of spend is calculated based on the spend across all of your American Express cards attached to your name.
But note that these are not concrete spending requirements. Just because you spend $350,000+ in a year, that does not mean that you’ll be invited to apply for the Centurion Card.
There are some mysterious factors that go into the selection process that we just don’t know so it’s hard to ever guarantee that you’ll get a shot at the Centurion Card.
However, if your spend is in the range of $300,000+ annually and you don’t receive an invite, you can inquire with American Express and just let them know you’re interested in the card.
Amex Centurion Card credit score requirements
It’s not clear what the credit score requirements are for the Centurion Card but as you’d expect, you’ll need to have an excellent credit score (some say it should be established for several years as well).
I would try to keep your credit score at at least 740+ to give yourself a good shot (but obviously the spend requirement is more important).
Amex Centurion Card Benefits
The Amex Black Card is full of benefits.
Many of these benefits are similar to what is offered by the Platinum Card but not all of them are.
I’ll first point out some major differences between the two Amex cards and then get into the details of the Centurion Card’s benefits.
Welcome offer
The Centurion Card does not offer a welcome offer, unlike the Amex Platinum Card which offers 60,000 points after you spend $5,000 in the first three months.
Almost every other major premium card offers a welcome bonus in some form so it’s a bit of a letdown that the Centurion Card does not have a welcome offer.
But with that said, this card is such an elite product that the target market is not exactly chasing after this card for a welcome bonus so it actually makes sense that they don’t offer one.
Bonus categories
This is the big bummer of the Centurion Card — there aren’t any (common) bonus categories, so you just earn one Membership Reward per dollar spent.
The Platinum Card earns 5X on airfare and on pre-paid hotels booked through Amex Travel and other premium cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve have even broader bonus categories like 3X on dining and travel.
So when it comes to putting your spend on the Centurion Card, you are likely losing out on a lot of value.
The one bonus spending perk for the business Centurion Card is that you can get 1.5x points on all purchases over $5,000 up to 1 million extra points per year — the same perk offered by the American Express Business Platinum Card.
Transfer partners
You can transfer your points earned on the Amex Centurion Card to the following partners.
Airlines
Delta Skymiles
Club Premier AeroMexico (1,000 = 1,600 premier points)
Although it’s great to have such wonderful transfer partners, you can always transfer Membership Rewards earned from other Amex cards (most of which will offer you better bonus earning potential).
Other cards that earn Amex Membership Rewards include:
EveryDay Card
EveryDay Preferred Card
Green Card
Premier Rewards Gold Card
Platinum Card from American Express
Business Platinum Card from American Express
Business Rewards Gold Card
Emirates First Class.
Elite status benefits
With the Centurion Card you can get status with the following programs:
SPG Gold
Hilton Diamond
IHG Priority Club Rewards Platinum Elite
Delta SkyMiles Platinum Medallion
Hilton Diamond is a solid benefit that will get you elite perks like upgrades, breakfast, late check out, and even lounge access. SPG Gold and IHG Platinum aren’t as valuable but it’s better to have something than nothing.
It’s worth pointing out that you can get SPG Gold with the Platinum Card and earn Hilton Diamond with the American Express Hilton Aspire card. Also, IHG Priority Club Rewards Platinum Elite can be earned with the IHG card.
This can get you “Choice Benefits” where you can choose perks like upgrades but note that Centurion Card Members who are awarded complimentary Platinum Medallion Status must fly a minimum of eight Medallion Qualification Segments (MQSs) after status is awarded to be eligible for Choice Benefits.
Travel benefits
The travel benefits for the Centurion Card are very nice.
Relais & Châteaux
Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts
Centurion Hotel Program
Centurion International Arrival Services
While the offer the same access to programs that the Platinum card gets like Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts and Relais & Châteaux, both of which allow you to receive special perks at luxury hotels located around the world.
The Centurion Card also provides you with the Centurion Hotel Program, which is a collection of eight luxury hotel brands including the: Aman, Belmond, Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula Hotels, Rosewood, Waldorf Astoria, Oetker Collection and St. Regis.
At the properties cardholders can receive benefits like:
Noon check-in
Upgrades
Daily breakfast for two people
In-room Wi-Fi
Guaranteed late checkout (4pm)
Special amenity
Stay credit of $100 or $200 on stays of two nights or more
When you fly business class or first class with American Express Travel, the Centurion International Arrival Services provides special services to meet you when you arrive at over 30 major international airports and help expedite you through customs and immigrations and arrange ground transportation.
Additional perks
Boingo
50% Airline Bonus — Receive 50% of your Membership Rewards back as a statement credit when you redeem points for all or a portion of any flight (available for the business version)
Car Rental Benefits (primary rental car insurance, Hertz Platinum, and Avis President’s Club)
Cruise privileges
Centurion Shopping Program
Concierge services
Special events
By Invitation Only — Get VIP access to sports, music, fashion, fine dining, and other special events. You can also get special access to major events like the Kentucky Derby and Coachella with the Centurion.
Centurion Dining Program — Special table are held for Centurion cardholders at over 1,000 of the world’s top restaurants (reservations needed)
Centurion Wine — Get access to special private tours and even wine tastings and access to special monthly wine buying (online).
Metal
The Centurion card is one of the heavier metal credit cards and is made from anodized titanium with laser etched numbers and letters.
Annual Fee
The Centurion Card isn’t cheap to open up or to keep open each year.
The initiation fee is $7,500 and the annual fee is $2,500.
It will also cost you $2,500 to add an authorized user (and you can only add two).
MasterCard Black Card
No sign-up bonus
High credit limit
Earn one point for every dollar spent
2% back when used for airfare
1.5% back on all purchases
$100 airline credit
$100 Global Entry credit
Priority Pass Select
24/7 access to Luxury Card Concierge
Luxury Card Travel
“Priceless” access
0% introductory APR for the first fifteen billing cycles following a balance transfer
No foreign transaction fees
$495 annual fee
“Terms and conditions apply”
Tip: Use the free app WalletFlo to help you travel the world for free by finding the best travel credit cards and promotions!
Mastercard Black Card income requirements
The Mastercard Black Card doesn’t have a major spend requirement like the Centurion Card and thus doesn’t require you to have as large of an income.
You’ll still likely need to have a decent income. I’d probably only apply if my income were at least $70,000 to $80,000 or more a year, although you might have success with even lower incomes if you have great credit history.
But it’s worth noting that there’s a huge difference in income requirements between the Centurion Card and the Mastercard Black Card.
Mastercard Black Card credit score requirements
You’ll need a great credit score to get approved.
I’d try to keep my score at 740+ for the best approval odds, though you don’t have to have a perfect credit score.
Sign-up bonus
The Black Card does not come with a sign-up bonus.
Bonus categories
The Mastercard Black Card offers 2% back when your points are used for airfare and 1.5% back on all purchases.
This is better than the Amex Black Card but it’s not too impressive when you consider the value you can get with other cards, often with much lower annual fees. For example, the Chase Freedom Unlimited offers 1.5% back on all purchases and it comes with no annual fee.
The advantage with the Black Card is that you don’t have to open up an additional credit card to earn decent cashback on your everyday spend.
Transfer partners
One of the big drawbacks to the Mastercard Black Card is that you don’t earn transferrable points.
This removes any possibility of getting outsized value for your rewards, making the Mastercard Black Card much less attractive. However, if you had no intention on transferring your points out to transfer partners then this is not a negative.
Travel credits
The Black Card will provide you with a $100 airline credit and a $100 Global Entry credit.
Compared to other premium cards, a $100 airline credit is not very impressive and the Centurion cards easily wins here.
Lounge access
The Mastercard Black Card offers Priority Pass Select airport lounge access which the Centurion card also provides. The Black Card offers access for unlimited guest and also get you Priority Pass restaurant perks at airports.
But the Centurion card also gives you Centurion access and entry into other lounges like the Delta Sky Clubs and Lufthansa lounges. For those reasons, the Centurion card is the clear winner.
Balance transfer
The Masercard version of the Black Card offers a 0% introductory APR for the first fifteen billing cycles following a balance transfer, which is nice. Though, if you’re aiming for the Centurion Card, I wonder how useful this perk would be for you.
Metal
The Mastercard Black Cards are metal and are engineered with a unique stainless steel front and carbon back “for durability and distinction.”
Annual fee
Once again here is another major difference between the cards. The annual fee for the Mastercard Black Card is only $495, which is on par with most premium cards.
Centurion Card vs Mastercard Black Card
The American Express Centurion Card is really just on a completely different level from the Mastercard Black Card in multiple ways.
Exclusivity
One major reason these two black cards differ so much is due to the exclusivity factor.
The American Express Black card is just way harder to get and requires a ridiculous amount of spending compared to the MasterCard Black Card.
The annual fees also differ dramatically ($495 versus $2,500) so these two are really very different luxury products.
Benefits rich
The other major difference is that the Centurion just has a lot more benefits.
The Mastercard Black Card can’t compete with things like elite status at three different hotel chains not to mention elite status with Delta. And the depth of the travel benefits just go way deeper with American Express with all of the different hotel and travel programs.
Earnings and redemptions
While the Mastercard Black Card does offer better bonus earning (2% back when points are redeemed on airfare and 1.5% back on all purchases) those possibilities are not that impressive especially compared to other premium cards.
Also, the Centurion Card can transfer points out to Membership Rewards partners, so that’s a huge win for the Centurion Card.
The verdict
Honestly, the MasterCard Black Card to me is a product for people who want the prestige of a black card but don’t currently meet the much more strenuous requirements for the American Express Centurion Card.
That’s not to say there is anything wrong with that — some people really enjoy the “thrill” of whipping out a black card at a restaurant even if they’d be much better off using a card with better rewards.
For me, I would just rather go with one of the other premium cards that earns a lot of points and comes with a great sign-up bonus because you would be getting way more value out of a card like that.
The Amex Centurion Lounge.
The Gold Card
There is actually another member of the Luxury Card collection that is a slightly upgraded version of the Mastercard Black Card.
This is known as the Mastercard Gold Card and it is literally a gold plated credit card, so it ups the gaudy factor from the Black Card.
However the annual fee is $995.
The big difference between the Gold Card and the Black Card is that the Gold card earns 2% back on all purchases (it also has $100 more for its airline credit of $200). So it’s basically a 2% cash back card that will cost you $1,000.
Keep in mind that there are much better cash back options that can get you 2% like the Citi Double Cash which comes with no annual fee.
So if you are okay with spending about a grand to have something flashy to show off with, then the Gold Card is not a bad option for you. However if you are truly interested in obtaining a lot of value in your credit card rewards, then you would be much better off with one of the cards below.
Black card alternatives
There are a number of premium credit cards that will offer you much more rewards potential than either of the black cards above.
Amex Platinum Card
60,000 miles after spending $5,000 within the first 3 months (75K offer in Google Incognito and there are even methods to get 100K offers)
5X on airfare and 5X on hotels booked through the Amex Travel portal
TSA Pre-Check/Global Entry $100 credit
Annual fee: $550 (not waived first year)
For the vast majority of people on their way to the Centurion Card, they’ll probably end up picking up an American Express Platinum Card.
That’s because it offers many of the rich benefits of the Centurion Card but it’s much more realistic for a lot of people. In terms of rewards for a welcome offer and bonus earning, the Platinum Card certainly has more to offer most people than the Centurion Card with 5X on airfare and a 60K welcome offer.
Chase Sapphire Reserve
50,000 Ultimate Rewards after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months
$300 travel credit
3X on dining and travel
Priority Pass with unlimited guests
Redeem points at 1.5 cents per point through Chase Travel Portal
TSA Pre-Check/Global Entry $100 credit
Primary rental car insurance
Annual fee: $550 (not waived first year)
The Chase Sapphire Reserve is one of the top premium credit cards with all of its strong benefits.
The $300 travel credit along with 3X on dining and travel make it hard to pass up. And Chase has some excellent transfer partners so there are a lot of ways to maximize your rewards with the Sapphire Reserve.
When it comes to bonus spending, I’d take the Chase Sapphire Reserve over the Centurion or Mastercard Black Card any day.
Hilton Aspire
100,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months
14X Hilton Honors Bonus Points at hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio worldwide
7X Hilton Honors Bonus Points on flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com, car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies and at U.S. restaurants
3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points on other purchases
Complimentary Hilton Honors Diamond status
One weekend night at any hotel or resort in the Hilton portfolio (upon opening account and on account anniversary)
Weekend night after spending $60,000 on the card within a calendar year
Unlimited Priority Pass membership
$250 airline incidental fee statement credit
$250 Hilton resort statement credit
$100 on property credit at Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts and Conrad Hotels & Resorts when booking the exclusive Aspire Card package
$450 Annual Fee
The Hilton Aspire is one of the top hotel luxury credit cards. It’s a great card because it offers top tier Hilton status (Diamond) like the Centurion Card. It also comes with up to $600 in annual credits for airlines, Hilton resorts and properties so it’s very easy to justify the $450 annual fee.
Final Word
There are two main black cards on the market but there are huge differences between these two cards.
One is a very average premium credit card that is marketed as a prestigious product but is open to many people with solid incomes and credit scores (the Mastercard Black Card).
The other black card is an ultra-exclusive luxury product that is only available to select people who spend a substantial amount of money on Amex credit cards each year and comes with a long-list of valuable travel perks and benefits (the Centurion Card).
But both black cards don’t have a lot to offer in the value department when compared to other premium products, so for most people seeking out rewards, they’d be better off pursuing other options.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and creator of the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned full-time travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in major publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes, CNBC, US News, and Business Insider. Find his full bio here.
Emirates Skywards Rewards World Elite Mastercard Review [2020]
Have you ever wanted to fly on Emirates, one of the top airlines in the world?
If you have, you might want to consider the new Emirates Skywards Rewards World Elite Mastercard. It is issued by Barclays and it is one of the most interesting airline credit cards out there in my opinion.
In this article, I’ll break down everything you need to know about the card including things like the bonuses and perks.
Emirates Skywards Rewards Overview
3X on Emirates flights
2X on airfare
2X on hotels
2X on car rentals
1X everywhere else
Elite status
Lounge access
Priority perks
$99 annual fee
No foreign transaction fees
Welcome bonus
The first bonus that we saw offered with this card was for 30,000 bonus Skywards Miles after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 90 days.
30,000 miles (by itself) may not be very useful for someone located in the US looking to fly abroad on Emirates. However, as you can see below there are some redemptions that you can get close to.
Below, I researched a handful of different routes and pricing for economy, business class, and first class to give you an idea of what prices would look like. (Emirates does not publish an award chart and the prices for awards vary.)
Notice how low many of the fees are now as well.
Economy
New York (JFK) – Milan (MXP): 38,750 + 21 USD
Dubia (DXB) – Chicago (ORD): 62,500 + 109.25 USD
Dubia (DXB) – Los Angeles (LAX): 71,250 + 109.25 USD
Dubia (DXB) – Hong Kong (HKG): 45,000 + 61.63 USD
Business
New York (JFK) – Milan (MXP): 62,500 + 41 USD
Dubia (DXB) – Chicago (ORD): 100,000 + 212.90 USD
Dubia (DXB) – Los Angeles (LAX): 113,750 + 212.90 USD
Dubia (DXB) – Hong Kong (HKG): 72,500 + 112.05 USD
First Class
New York (JFK) – Milan (MXP): 85,000 + 41 USD
Dubia (DXB) – Chicago (ORD): 136,250 + 212.90 USD
Dubia (DXB) – Los Angeles (LAX): 155,000 + 212.90 USD
Dubia (DXB) – Hong Kong (HKG): 98, 750 + 112.05 USD
As you can see the cheapest flight that I found was from New York to Italy and went for 38,750 miles.
So if you want to fly on most of these routes you are going to need many more miles. But given the quality of the product, especially the first class experience, you’ll often find it worth it to save up some miles on Emirates!
Just remember that Emirates is a transfer partner of major programs like a Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards. This means that you can transfer your points out to Emirates and build up your balance rather quickly.
Emirates A380 First Class.
Eligibility
Barclays imposes something known as “6/24.” This is a soft rule that means that if you’ve opened six or more cards in the past 24 months, you might not get approved for their cards. This is not always enforced so you don’t always have to worry about it.
And there are other eligibility rules at play with this card as well. Personally, I would just recommend that you check out the free app WalletFlo so that you can automate your eligibility for all of these terms and conditions.
Bonus categories
3X on Skywards Miles for every USD 1 spent on emirates.com or at the Emirates Sales office
2X on airfare
2X on hotels
2X on car rentals
1X everywhere else
3X on Skywards Miles
You’ll earn 3X on Skywards Miles for every USD 1 spent on emirates.com or at the Emirates Sales office, which is pretty impressive. Most co-branded airline credit cards only offer 2X on their respective airline.
However, Emirates miles are not worth that much and the value may only be around 1.2 cents per mile. But given the high multiplier of 3X, that still comes out to a pretty respectable earning rate of about 3.6 cents per dollar spent.
For that reason I think this is a pretty solid airline credit card.
Tip: Keep in mind that you can earn 5X on airfare with the American Express Platinum Card and then transfer those points over to Emirates so it is possible to earn more miles on your Emirates flights.
2X on airfare, hotels, car rentals
Earning 2X on airfare, hotels, and car rentals is not terribly attractive to me. You’re looking at around 2.5% back on those categories which just is not very competitive considering how easy it is to get at least 3X on travel.
For example, you could use a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve and earn 3X on travel. And as mentioned when it comes to airfare there are different ways to earn much more points like the American Express Platinum Card which offers 5X on airfare.
1X on all purchases
1X on all purchases is the standard default earning rate for co-branded airline cards. I would rather use a card like the Chase Freedom Unlimited and earn 1.5X and then transfer points out to Emirates.
So the strong point for the bonus categories is definitely for spend on Emirates. However, it’s worth considering that you can earn higher earning rates with other cards that still allow you to transfer your points over to Emirates.
Tip: Check out the free app WalletFlo so that you can optimize your credit card spend by seeing the best card to use! You can also track credits, annual fees, and get notifications when you’re eligible for the best cards!
Earn double the points on hotel stays.
Perks
25% savings
As a cardmember you can get a 25% savings when you buy or gift miles.
Emirates Skywards Silver
During your first year you can enjoy complimentary Emirates Skywards Silver.
It’s not very common for an airline credit card to give you airline status so this is a pretty interesting and innovative perk.
You can maintain this elite status by spending $20,000 on your card each year. $20,000 in a given year is not a terribly difficult challenge so this will be an attractive option for many frequent fliers/high spenders.
The main benefits of silver status are explained below.
Lounge access
One elite status perk is complimentary lounge access to Emirates Business Class lounges.
You will only get access to lounges in Dubai and it will only be for the cardmember. Emirates has some really nice lounges and you will not find better quality larges from many other airlines.
The only drawback to this benefit is that you don’t get access to the lounges located outside of Dubai and some of those could be great. For example we visited the business first lounge in Milan, Italy and it was a pretty solid experience.
Seat election
You will be able to select your economy class seat free of charge. The amount you will have to pay to select your economy class seat will depend on the duration of your flight.
You could be looking at paying anywhere from $15-$40 so this could be a nice little savings on economy fights.
Priority check-in, boarding, and baggage delivery
You’ll get priority check-in and priority boarding although you will not get priority baggage delivery.
Priority check-in will allow you to get access to exclusive check-in counters at business class or first class check-in areas when flying economy class.
25% bonus
You will receive a 25% bonus on your Skyward miles when flying on Emirates.
Final word
The Emirates card is a very interesting airline credit card my opinion.
I really like that it offers you elite status for one year and gives you the opportunity to retain that status with a pretty reasonable annual spend requirement.
The bonus categories are not the best I’ve seen but that is mostly just because there are other cards out there that can earn miles with Emirates at more competitive earning rates.
If you have any interest in flying Emirates, I would seriously consider this card.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and creator of the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned full-time travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in major publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes, CNBC, US News, and Business Insider. Find his full bio here.
Citi Rewards+ Card Review [2020]
If you are interested in a no annual fee credit card, you might want to give the Citi Rewards+ Card a good look. It doesn’t offer the strongest welcome bonus or even the best bonus categories but it does have a couple of unique perks that make it an interesting value proposition, especially for people who make a lot of small purchases.
Citi Rewards+ Card overview
Welcome bonus
1x on other purchases
2X at Supermarkets and 2X Gas Stations for the first $6,000 per year
10% Points Back for the first 100,000 ThankYou Points you redeem per year
Automatically round up to the nearest 10 points on every purchase
Foreign transaction fees
No annual fee
Welcome bonus
The Citi Rewards+ Card is not known for having a very high welcome bonus but it does offer you a little something. Typically, you will run into an offer for something like 15,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 in purchases with your card within the first 3 months.
15,000 points comes out to $150 worth of value for certain types of redemptions, such as gift cards. Just note that other redemptions will get you less value. For example, if you use your points at Amazon.com, they’re worth 0.8 cent each.
If you redeem your points for cash back you’ll only get half a cent per point so that is generally not recommended.
If you have a premium card such as the Citi Premier Card or the Citi Prestige, you can transfer your points out to various travel partners. This is definitely the best way to get optimal value for your points and below you can find a full breakdown of all of the transfer partners.
Travel partner
Ratio
Transfer Time
AeroMexico ClubPremier
1:1
Instant
Air France KLM Flying Blue
1:1
Instant
Avianca LifeMiles
1:1
Instant
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
1:1
Instant
Emirates Skywards
1:1
Instant
Etihad Guest
1:1
~7 Days
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
1:1
~2 Days
Jet Airways JetPrivilege
1:1
Instant
JetBlue
1:1
Instant
Malaysia Enrich
1:1
~2 Days
Qantas Frequent Flyer
1:1
~2 Days
Qatar Privilege Club
1:1
~2 Days
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
1:1
~2 Days
Thai Airways International Royal Orchid Plus
1:1
~7 Days
Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
1:1
~2 Days
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
1:1
Instant
Citi ThankYou Transfer Partners
Eligibility
In order to receive the bonus, make sure that you are abiding by the eligibility rules which state:
Bonus ThankYou® Points are not available if you received a new cardmember bonus for Citi Rewards+SM, Citi ThankYou® Preferred, Citi ThankYou® Premier/Citi PremierSM or Citi Prestige®, or if you have closed any of these accounts, in the past 24 months.
In addition to those, Citi has some other complicated application rules. If you want to automate your eligibility for credit cards like this then I would consider opening up a free account on WalletFlo. You’ll also be able to do things like manage your credit cards, keep track of credits and annual fees, etc.
Bonus earning
2X at Supermarkets and 2X Gas Stations for the first $6,000 per year
Rounding up to 10 points
1X on all purchases
2X at supermarkets
When trying to earn points on supermarkets, be on the lookout for certain exclusions. For example, the following will not earn 2X:
And when trying to earn 2X on fuel purchases, some additional exclusions to consider are:
warehouse clubs, wholesale clubs, superstores, discount stores, department stores, and convenience stores.
Earning two extra points on supermarkets and gas stations for the first $6,000 per year is an okay earning rate. I’m not a huge fan of bonus categories that have spending limits of around $1,500 per quarter so I’m not in love with these bonus categories.
Also, I would much rather prefer to earn something like 4X on supermarkets with a card like the American Express Gold Card. But considering there is no annual fee for this card these bonus categories are okay.
Rounding up to 10 points
Something unique about this card is that for every point that you earn, Citibank will automatically round up to the nearest 10 points on every purchase.
So let’s say that you spend three dollars on a small purchase that does not earn special bonus points. That purchase will earn you three points based on the 1X earning rate. However, Citi will round those three points up to 10 points.
This means that this is a great card to use for a lot of your small purchases since it can turn the card into essentially a 5X earning machine for cheap purchases.
The rounding up for bonus points also applies to bonus categories and that can make the earnings interesting.
Let’s say that you fill up your gas tank and spend $41. Because that is a 2X category, you will earn 82 points on that purchase. Then those points will be rounded up to 90 points.
Tip: Check out the free app WalletFlo so that you can optimize your credit card spend by seeing the best card to use! You can also track credits, annual fees, and get notifications when you’re eligible for the best cards!
Earn double points on gas purchases.
10% rebate
With this card you’ll get 10% points back for the first 100,000 ThankYou Points you redeem per year. That means if you redeem 15,000 points, you get 1,500 back. This is a great way to stretch the earnings of your spend.
If you are regularly making $3 purchases, then you would effectively be earning 3.3X on all those purchases when you factor in the rounding up the points. If you factor in a 10% bonus then those earnings jump up to about 3.7X. So you could be walking around earning around 3.7% on small purchases with these perks which is actually very good.
It can get even better for cheap purchases that fall within bonus categories.
For example, let’s say you buy an $11 grocery store item. That will then earn 22 points based on the 2X multiplier. It will then be rounded up to 30 points. And if you factor in a 10% rebate, that’s 33 points for an $11 purchase so you are effectively earning 3X with a no annual fee card. Not bad.
0% introductory APR
0% introductory APR for 15 months from date of account opening
0% introductory APR for 15 months from date of first transfer
If you are in need of a 0% APR intro period for purchases or for balance transfers, this can be a good option. Just note that you have to deal with either $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater, for each transfer.
Final word
The Citi Rewards+ Card is an interesting card for somebody who does not want to pay an annual fee but still wants to earn some okay rewards on their spend. In particular, if you have a high volume of cheap purchases that you make on a regular basis the rounding up on your rewards combined with the 10% rebate can actually offer you some pretty competitive rewards.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and creator of the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned full-time travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in major publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes, CNBC, US News, and Business Insider. Find his full bio here.
Amex Delta SkyMiles Platinum Review [2020]
Offers contained within this article maybe expired.
There are a lot of good co-branded airline credit cards out there and American Express issues several different types of Delta credit cards. The Delta SkyMiles Platinum is a mid-tier credit card that comes with a lot of perks and benefits just perfect for someone who is a fan of Delta.
In this review article, I’ll break down all of the perks and benefits you need to know about the Delta SkyMiles Platinum.
The welcome bonus for the Delta SkyMiles Platinum changes all the time.
We’ve seen the bonus range from around 35,000 miles all the way up to 100,000 miles. The 100K offer is very rare and offered 80,000 bonus miles after you spent $3,000 in your first 3 months plus 20,000 bonus miles after your first anniversary.
So this is the type of travel rewards credit card that you want to try to time your application with so that you can jump on one of the most lucrative offers. Personally, I would wait for an offer of at least around 70,000 miles.
In addition to bonus miles, you can also earn Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs). Typically the offer would be something like 5,000 MQMs after spending $2,000 in the first three months. These MQMs are bonus miles that you don’t use to redeem on flights but instead they help you earn elite status quicker (more on that below).
Another interesting thing about the welcome bonus is that it sometimes come with an additional statement credit, such as $100. The statement credit is usually triggered very easily by doing something like making one simple purchase.
Tip: If you are wondering what type of redemptions you can get with your Delta Sky Miles, I recommend that you read up on our best uses of Delta Sky Miles.
Bonus categories
3X on Delta
3X on Hotels
2X on restaurants
2X on US supermarkets
3X on Delta
3X on Delta flights is pretty great compared to many cards that only offer 2X. Of course, you have to consider that you could use the American Express Platinum Card to earn a whopping 5X Membership Rewards on your flight. Since Delta is a transfer partner of American Express, that could be a much more efficient route to rack up Delta miles.
(There is a tiny surcharge when transferring points to Delta.)
3X on Hotels
Earning 3X on hotels is not bad at all. I would just consider that there are cards that offer 3X on all travel purchases such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve. With that card you also get much better travel protections so I would much rather use a card like that to book hotels and other travel bookings.
2X on restaurants
2X on restaurants is okay but you can do much better. Personally, I prefer to use the American Express Gold Card which earns 4X on restaurants worldwide. Once again, you can transfer your American Express Membership Rewards to Delta so it could make a lot more sense to use a card like the Gold Card.
2X on US supermarkets
2X on US supermarkets is another so-so category. The Gold Card will earn 4X on US supermarkets on up to $25,000 of spend each year so once again that is my preferred way to go. It’s worth noting that superstores and warehouse clubs are not considered supermarkets.
So overall the bonus categories are pretty decent on the Delta SkyMiles Platinum card but it’s hard to not go with alternatives since American Express has much better earning rates with other cards that allow you to transfer your points to Delta.
Tip: Check out the free app WalletFlo so that you can optimize your credit card spend by seeing the best card to use! You can also track credits, annual fees, and get notifications when you’re eligible for the best cards!
Delta SkyMiles Platinum Perks
First Checked Bag Free
With the Delta SkyMiles Platinum card you will get your first checked bag for free for yourself and also for passengers traveling on the same reservation. There is a maximum of nine waivers per reservation.
Baggage fees for Delta will usually cost $30 for your first checked bag so this can amount to pretty substantial savings if you fly a lot, especially if you’re flying with several other individuals on your same reservation.
You will receive Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding on Delta flights. This benefit is limited to the basic cardmember and not authorized users. However, you can get this benefit for other travelers on the same reservation (up to nine passengers per reservation).
Here’s a look at all of the Delta boarding groups in the order in which they board:
The Delta companion certificate is a certificate that can be used to buy two roundtrip tickets for the price of one plus taxes and fees of the companion ticket.
That means you essentially get an extra ticket for free when you buy one ticket, which can save you hundreds of dollars. There are quite a few restrictions for this perk but we have a detailed write up on it you can check out here.
Lounge access
You don’t get free access to the Delta Sky Club but Delta SkyMiles Platinum members (and authorized users) get access to the Delta Sky Club at an exclusive per-visit rate of $39 per person when traveling on a same-day Delta or Delta partner airline flight.
JFK Sky Club Sky Deck
20% Back on In-Flight Purchases
As a cardholder, you will get 20% back on in-flight purchases. This discount will trigger on eligible purchases for things like pre-purchased meals, and in-flight purchases of food, alcoholic beverages, and audio headsets. It does not apply to any other in-flight purchases like wifi.
Status boost
Delta is one of the few airlines that allow you to earn elite status credits through your spend.
With the Delta SkyMiles Platinum, you can earn 10,000 MQMs after $25,000 in eligible purchases, up to 2x per calendar year. This means that you can earn a total of 20,000 MQMs after $50,000 in spend.
That is enough to get you pretty close to Delta Silver although you will still need to earn an additional 5,000 MQM and also achieve the $3,000 in Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD).
If the MQD thresholds are not met, you can still qualify for Platinum, Gold and Silver Medallion Status if you have earned the required Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) or Medallion Qualification Segments (MQSs) and make at least $25,000 in eligible purchases.
You can also qualify for Diamond status even if you don’t meet the MQD threshold. As long as you have earned the required MQMs or MQSs and make at least $250,000 in eligible purchases within that “Qualification Year” on your card you’ll achieve diamond status.
A Qualification Year is from January 1 to December 31 of a given year.
The end of the qualification year will always be December 31 regardless of when you opened up your card. This means that in some instances you may only have a few months or weeks to meet this requirement the first year.
All purchases made by additional card members (authorized users) will count towards the eligible purchase threshold.
The only cards eligible for the MQD waiver are the following: Delta SkyMiles Platinum Card, Delta SkyMiles Reserve Card, Delta SkyMiles Platinum Business Card, and Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business Card.
However, if linked to the same SkyMiles number, you can get credit towards the MQD waiver with cards like the Delta SkyMiles Blue Card, Delta SkyMiles Gold Card, Delta SkyMiles Business Card, or Delta SkyMiles Gold Business Card.
Here is a look at the Delta Medallion qualification requirements.
Medallion Tier
MQMs or MQSs requirement
MQSs requirement (only for US residents)
Silver
25,000 MQMs or 30 MQSs
$3,000 MQDs
Gold
50,000 MQMs or 60 MQSs
$6,000 MQDs
Platinum
75,000 MQMs or 100 MQSs
$9,000 MQDs
Diamond
125,000 MQMs or 140 MQSs
$15,000 MQDs
Delta Medallion qualification requirements
Global Entry or TSA Pre-Check credit
You can receive one Global Entry $100 statement credit every 4 years or one TSA Pre-Check $85 statement credit every 4.5 years. Global Entry will get you expedited entry back into the US so that you can avoid those long lines at immigration and customs.
TSA Pre-Check allows you to bypass the main security line at airports and also allows you to enjoy the following benefits:
You will get coverage for delays 12 hours or longer and the coverage will cover you for up to $300 per trip. This is not the best type of trip delay insurance because other cards will cover you for delays after six hours and provide coverage up to $500 per trip.
Baggage Insurance Plan
Most states will provide you with coverage depending on the type of baggage that you have. For carry-ons you can get up to $1,250 worth of coverage and for checked bags you can get coverage up to $500 subject to terms and conditions.
Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance
Rental car coverage will be secondary with this card. Secondary coverage is pretty standard for a co-branded airline credit card but there are some cards issued by Chase that offer primary coverage.
Extended Warranty
American Express will extend your warranty one additional year on warranties up to five years.
Purchase Protection
You’ll get purchase protection on purchases up to $1,000. This is not very competitive purchase protection as other cars will cover you up to $10,000 per purchase.
As you can tell, this card has a lot of benefits. If you are somebody who regularly flies Delta you can easily offset the annual fee by taking advantage of the perks like free checked baggage, the companion certificate, elite status perks, and others. For that reason, I think this can be a great card to hold onto in the long-run.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and creator of the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned full-time travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in major publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes, CNBC, US News, and Business Insider. Find his full bio here.
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