Amex or Chase for travel rewards

Question

I am starting to travel a lot more these days. My fiance hasn't travelled abroad as much as I have so I am trying to take her to as many of the places on our mini bucket list as possible before we settle down and focus on a mortgage etc. My Mom lives in England and I would like to visit her at least once a year also.  My question is, I am already very familiar with the CSP/Freedom combo.But I am wondering if Amex has a similar combo that works just as well? Can you transfer points between cards like the PRG and ED points cards? Is it even worth it anyway? Would the PRG be the only card I would need for reward points? I will be applying for the Amex PRG (replacing my Amex Green) in the next few months and then deciding next year after the intro 12 months which card I want to keep out of the CSP/PRG.Something that really stands out to me is the 3x points on flights with the PRG but I don't really know how 'valuable' these points would be compared to getting 2x points in UR from my CSP. Also the new featured bonus categories like gas, groceries and dining are very attractive to me. I would also be utilizing at least 50% of the $100 travel credit each year too so the higher AF for the PRG card does not bother me; I just don't want to be paying both AF's as then I would be diluting any rewards too much. On the other hand I love Chases website/point redemption system and their 'Shop Through Chase' portal. I can tell this is going to be a hard decision for me so would appreciate some input from people who have experience with these cards etc. Thank you in advance

Answer 1

TYREX wrote:
But I am wondering if Amex has a similar combo that works just as well?Depends on how well you can leverage the travel partners associated with each rewards program as that has an impact on rewards values. In my particular situaiton all of my travel is on United and I never travel on any of MR's travel partners because I live in a United fortress hub city.  United monopolizes 3 of the 5 terminals at our large airport and has gates in a 4th terminal as well.   That makes UR a clear choice for me.  YMMV. TYREX wrote:
Can you transfer points between cards like the PRG and ED points cards?MR is not like UR.  You have one MR account.  All your MR cards feed into that account.  There is no need for transfer. TYREX wrote:
Is it even worth it anyway? Would the PRG be the only card I would need for reward points?Your call.  Worth is highly subjective.  You need to look at your spend and determine what best fits you.  For some it's the PRG.  For some it's one of the Everday cards.  for some it's a combo, possibly including other MR cards. TYREX wrote:
Something that really stands out to me is the 3x points on flights with the PRG but I don't really know how 'valuable' these points would be compared to getting 2x points in UR from my CSP.
Research redemptions with both programs.  You're going to have to look into redemptions with the travel partners and what the cash equivalents are for those rewards.  Run the numbers for your spend to compare.  Don't just rely on the earn rates or assumptions on a value per point.  I, for example, cannot redeem for the higher value for MR points so an MR point is not worth much to me.  If you can leverage the transfer partners properly you may be able to get more value per point. TYREX wrote:
I would also be utilizing at least 50% of the $100 travel credit each year too so the higher AF for the PRG card does not bother me
You might be able to easily use 100%.  I'd suggest looking at FlyerTalk but you need to select an airline for the travel credit.  FT has a threads for the different airlines.  Definitely check the thread for the airline you would select. While I said that MR points aren't worth as much to me we have been trying out the platinum and easily used 100% of the $200 credit with United. TYREX wrote:
I can tell this is going to be a hard decision for me so would appreciate some input from people who have experience with these cards etc.It's not really experience that matters.  It's running the numbers and ensuring that you can make enough value per point to make it worthwhile for yourself.  One person could experience getting great value from one program and your experience could be entirely different if your needs/wants/situation/etc are sufficiently different.