On top of everything the BA Visa earns you Avios and, as
reward currencies go, it really isn't one of the better ones.
Citi ThankYou Rewards points are getting more and more valuable as Citi keeps adding to its list of transfer partners (Turkish Airlines and Jet Airways are recent additions) and, as
rewards currencies go, you could do a lot worse.
Not exact matches
If you post a video or an article and it has a huge amount of hits, you're actually
going to be
rewarded in the token or
currency of that system.
I didn't think the «normal» sapphire was still being offered, but anyways I would not recommend it as the Sapphire preferred is so much superior and well worth the $ 95 / annual fee, which you can get back with the ability to make freedom points (either unlimited at 1.5 X's or regular) into Ultimate
rewards points, the no foreign transaction fees (remember not to
go for the trick: would you like this in
currency x or in dollars - it's tempting to
go for a dollar dominated transaction, but in essence, the way I understand it, you get charged a «transaction fee» to
go from the home foreign
currency into dollars, whereas the CSP card already pays for this transaction fee, so it's really a tricky semi-scam in my opinion.
These category bonuses and flexible redemptions really make Chase Ultimate
Rewards the
go - to points
currency when you need to book with Southwest.
EARN Two (2)
Go Meet Wyndham
Rewards points per $ 1 US (or equivalent
currency conversion) spent!
The drawback to the Ritz card is that you won't be earning a
rewards currency that transfer out to as many partners (at good ratios) so you lose that but if your priority is getting lounge access to a handful of authorized users, you could easily save a couple of hundred bucks by
going with the Ritz - Carlton card.
The programme, which launches in September, works in a way that will see customers earn
rewards currency, Bonus +, that will
go directly into their account.
I'm not loving the fact that the main airline
rewards currency I'll be collecting is Avios but, as I've explained in a separate post, the minimum spend criteria that American Airlines now imposes on elite qualification makes reaching BA Gold considerably cheaper — so I'm just
going to have to learn to live with Avios and make sure I collect more useful
currencies through credit card spend.
For cards that earn other
currencies, you should consider whether the purchase you are
going to make falls into a bonus category to maximize your
rewards.
One common strategy is to have one
go - to card that offers
rewards in a
currency you like, such as a particular airline's miles, cash back or bank -
reward points.
However, these points can
go pretty far, or at least further than other award
currencies, such as Membership
Rewards and Ultimate
Rewards.
Therefore, it is not
going to be useful for aspirational awards which can be achieved with more flexible
currencies such as Chase Ultimate
Rewards or Amex Membership r
Rewards or Amex Membership
rewardsrewards.
In the same way, if a
reward program tells you they're giving you 50,000 miles, you'll want to know how far that
currency goes in their program.
Since the other two cards have the same number of points for their current bonuses, we will break the tie by
going with the more valuable
currency, which is Amex Membership
Rewards over Citi ThankYou points due to Amex's stronger network of transfer partners.
And as transferable points
currencies go, I prefer Chase Ultimate
Rewards points to Citi ThankYou points since it transfers to additional travel partners that I find useful: Singapore KrisFlyer, which Citi ThankYou points also transfer to, and also Korean SkyPass, British Airways Avios, United MileagePlus and Hyatt Gold Passport, among others.
It would be like
going to Expedia.com and booking a flight through their website, but with American Express you have the options of using your
rewards points as your
currency.
Before you
go out and get that next and greatest credit card, or aspire to be that top - tier status on your favorite airline, you need to understand what types of
rewards currency there are.
It's a fair
rewards system as you also get in - game
currency for each race meaning if you can't get the stars on your first
go, you can upgrade and try again.
So the total on - game funds tend to
go up as more people exchange items to NPCs for
currency or perform cash award /
reward activities.