My Travel Perk Credit Card Experiment...

[DeputyDan]

I have never been happy with any of the card offers with the exception of the Hilton HHonors program.

They gladly accept your points and give you certificates for your lodging stays. The hotels, treat the certificate just like you were paying cash and if you stay enough to get a Hiltion Gold Card (Not a credit card - just a VIP card) they treat you like you were the owner of the resort.

I have been very happy with that program.

Sorry its not American Exp. but it is a card program that has a happy user.

 

[Damselfish]

I'm curious about the Amex Platinum too. I thought about trying it for the free biz/first companion tickets next time we were doing a really long trip on one of the airlines in the program. But I read some stuff that gave me the impression getting some of the perks was harder or not as good a deal as appeared on the surface. I know the airport lounges available are for airlines/airports combos we never use.

Just looked it up and it says the free ticket thing, which they've had for years, ends 12/31/06.

 

[HowardE]

I've had a platinum card for about 8 years now.

I've never heard about a service that sent your baggage ahead (unless you want to pay a lot for it)

I've easily converted my reward points (free membership rewards w/ Platinum Card) to Delta Miles, and had no problems booking flights. We used Amex points to fly first class to Puerto Vallarta two years ago.

The hertz gold membership is also free, as Red mentioned, and there's some cool perks with that. (I think that costs about $60 / year)

I also have a United Mileage Plus Visa, Delta Skymiles Amex, and Starwood Preferred Guest Amex card. Personally I like the United and the Starwood better than the Platinum as far as rewards go. If you fly united a lot, the mileage plus card is the way to go. I have a ton of united miles (starwood points, delta miles, etc) this way, as I purchase for my businesses with the cards, and reap the rewards personally

If you're just getting a rewards card for the rewards, the mileage cards are good.

- FYI the airport lounge thing is as far as I understand it... Free admittance to (whatever "red carpet club" VIP lounge,etc) club when you're flying that particular airline on that day. You can't just go in the Delta club if you're flying United.

- Also, the rental car insurance is only valid within the United States, if you use the card to pay for the rental car.

 

[HowardE]

I'm curious about the Amex Platinum too. I thought about trying it for the free biz/first companion tickets next time we were doing a really long trip on one of the airlines in the program. But I read some stuff that gave me the impression getting some of the perks was harder or not as good a deal as appeared on the surface. I know the airport lounges available are for airlines/airports combos we never use.

Just looked it up and it says the free ticket thing, which they've had for years, ends 12/31/06.

From the Amex Website under travel services : I've highlighted the key words there.

As a Business Platinum Card® member, when you set out for almost any international destination, you can receive a complimentary ticket to share the experience with a companion.24
Just purchase a full-fare First-Class or Business-Class ticket through Business Platinum Travel and you'll receive one complimentary ticket with the same itinerary as your own

 

[Damselfish]

yeah, always have to figure out if it's really a cheaper way to do it. Another catch.

 

[HowardE]

yeah, always have to figure out if it's really a cheaper way to do it. Another catch.

Full Fare first class tix are like $3000 usually. First Class with restrictions is like $1000 - or generally 10,000 - 15,000 miles (or reward points) to upgrade to first class from a coach ticket.

- The plat card does make itself worth it though, if you use the travel services, and take advantage of the consierge service (if you have those kinds of needs)

Like Membership in premium car rental programs
Complimentary memberships are from car rental programs from not just hertz but avis and national too.

Also - the automatic extended warranty on purchases made with the card, and some other buyer's assurance things.

 

[fdog]

Oddly, although our business had the Platinum Amex for a couple of years, we didn't use the lounge access part of it, since we're WC members and they have lots of codeshares. I do recall a travel companion that used it to get into the KLM lounge with us in AMS; they made her present her ticket. We eventually dropped the Platinum card because we didn't get the annual fee out of the extra perks.

Beware of the Economy Plus on UA! All they are is regular economy seats with a 36" (or so) seat pitch. This is great for typical domestic segments of a couple hours, but there's nothing else beyond the seat pitch. I've limited experience with this (I'm usually on NW), but got to watch this happen on one flight:

>seats are a premium, so usually each row is pretty vacant.
>This is great for the business travelers w/ elite status in these seats, though, because you can spread out your papers, laptop, etc.
>Shortly after takeoff, a pax from the rear got up, walked up to open Economy+ seat, moved the papers (from a lady pax in center seat) and sat down.
>Lady legitimately in the seat complained to FA.
>FA said "so what?" and refused to return the "squatter" to their seat.

From freinds that fly UA all the time, they have a strategy of placing stuff on the seat as fast as they can to prevent this. The extra seat pitch is nice, but there's nothing else you'd expect from Business class.

All the best, James

 

[Damselfish]

Full Fare first class tix are like $3000 usually. First Class with restrictions is like $1000 - or generally 10,000 - 15,000 miles (or reward points) to upgrade to first class from a coach ticket.

domestic maybe, their companion deal is for international. Just looked up the route I'm thinking. 11-13k pp unrestricted for biz, can't find a restricted biz fare. But this is for next year so if the program turns into a pumpkin end 2006 no use for that anyway.

I've gotta go back to figuring out how to transfer amex or diners club miles in there...

 

[Web Monkey]

Not sure if they're still giving them out, but MBNA has a "Cruise Rewards Platinum Plus" credit card that pays $2/$100 spent towards any cruise (I think any travel, although I could be wrong).

No annual fee, but make sure you never carry a balance.

Terry

I just bit the bullet for the Platinum Am X for the travel perks this morning. I needed the ability to get past security without a boarding pass and even though you can get a day pass membership for around 50 dollars, this way I can take guests (family members etc) to the gates when I want....Might be a waste of money, we will see.

 

[Jeff Toorish]

I have the same card. I've had it for years. I do use the points every year for a couple of dive trips but I found the other perks were not nearly as useful as they appear at first blush. There always seems to be some reason why you can't use that particular perk that particular day.

Catherine, I hope you find the secret to making it work better.

I agree about Hilton Honors, that is a good programfor the most part, although at one point they lost all my points, something around a hundred thousand. They were incredibly rude about it, too. But they did eventually reinstate them and sort of apologized.

Jeff