Actually haven’t spent a ton of time on reddit for travel hacking… tbh i don’t even spend a ton of time on FT. When I started I’d go there to look for specific things, but most of the time browsing headlines on boardingarea and DoC are plenty.
If anything respect the flow chart. The message threads can be a good read too but read before you post. They’re not as nice as leasehackrs.
https://old.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/124bohp/credit_card_recommendation_flowchart_march_2023/
It shows 3x on their website. How are you getting 4.5%?
How is this a negative annual fee?
How is this a negative annual fee?
There’s a lot more data in the discussion threads. I haven’t followed it now since I’m too busy and I have 2MM points so… The problem is that everyone is a prick now. They were the ones that got the CSR before it was released and under 5/24 back in the day
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I am bored so I will break it down
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You get 1.5 cents per point so 3%= 4.5% cash
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Aspire gives $250 Airline credit and $250 resort credit if you stay at Hiltons. You also get a free night certificate every year that can be basically used anywhere(from $100 a night all the way to $2000 a night). The Annual fee is $495.
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Southwest Priority comes with $75 credit that can be cashed out. 4 Priority boardings for free($30 each at the minimum) and 7500 points every year.
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Meh we are talking about high 5 figures in cash tax free without too much work if you have multiple players. Nobody wants you to know how easy that is. Anything posted publicly on Reddit dies insanely fast.
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Agreed. I personally have left the game but what other group is there now? Is leasehacker the next one? I was in a slack group that died lol
Yea all the good stuff is all underground now, Telegram and Discord. I have my own private group with friends but there are tons of them.
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Southwest anything is trash. One step above Frontier and Spirit.
It is a small step as well.
Yea we only fly it due to Companion Pass and for positioning flights to Chicago. I imagine it will die soonish.
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I got in with the CSR when you could double dip as the 300 credit was per calendar year not by membership year 
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His site was good until it went mainstream and made a general news website. Can’t really learn anything there anymore. He used to be sooo good. Now just plain vanilla. And comments section is also gone.
But I won’t start counting cards… I have around 20 of them… half are collecting dust for one reason or another, like keeping my overall credit lines in stratosphere to make sure usage % isn’t high or giving free checked bags or some other travel perk for peasants:) I don’t use any of the lounges But I like to board right after business class, especially on American flights where 9 groups, and I get to be 5 after the royalty boards:)
I’m still toying with Delta Reserve where they introduced 15% off for flights on points just because you have that card.
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If you really want to get into it, don’t Willy nilly apply for cards without a strategy. The 15% is nice but it just makes something very pricy, slightly less pricy. Skymiles is known as Skypesos for a reason.
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I’ve been doing this for about 10 years. Hit it hard as my first hacking before meeting LH forum:)
But for the last few years (since kids and the thrill of LH hacks) I’m just coasting by topping point balances with sign-up bonuses and using them for free travel with kids.
Miss the good old days of getting Sapphire Reserve at 150k point sigh un separately for myself and my wife without much effort:) And then doing business class to Australia via 3 layovers (Toronto, Seol, Bangcock). That was a crazy time.
I am guessing you mean 100k CSR. Yea started around then too. Now is a golden age though, you can get double that every few months without much work and this is before even looking at AMEX that is throwing massive bonuses every few weeks.
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15% off on points is on all cards. I have a lowly delta gold for bags and boarding and amex offers, and I get 15%
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any datapoint on Barclays aviator ? they added “may only be earned once” language but I read people are able to get bonus every 2 year.
When you redeem for travel it worth 50% more, Uber/Lyft/Hotel/Car/Air…
Hilton Aspire $450 annual fee, but with $250 air credit(can turn it into UA gift card), one free night(worth $200 at least) and resort credit can somehow redeem to statement credit
$75 credit for spend in Southwest(include ticket), 7500 miles every year(worth about $100)
Question for you card hackers….I only have 2 credit cards currently.
American Express Gold Card : $250 fee
Chase Sapphire Card: $95 fee
Primarily use Amex Gold card for everything and the Chase card gets used while I’m traveling abroad (if they don’t accept Amex) .
Credit score usually sits around low to mid 800’s
Should I get another card? Do I really need a 3rd card? If so, which one do I get? Should I just upgrade the Gold to Platinum? I travel abroad maybe 2-3x a year ish.
Thoughts?
I have the platinum card, the primary driver was the 150k sign-up bonus. However, after using it for a year the value is there if you use/value the credits but it is a little inconvenient having to track/maximize the use of the card. When traveling the perks are awesome, status with all the car rental places, hotels and lounge access is hard to go back. Traveling abroad 2-3 times a year I think you would benefit from the platinum card especially if you would already be spending the credits on things like walmart plus subscription, uber credits, airline incidentals. The draw back is it will not earn as many points as the gold card, there is no bonus categories unless booking travel. I have a Chase Sapphire Preferred card to try to maximize those reward categories and use where Amex is not accepted. Having access to Chase travel transfer partner and amex is really helpful is maximizing point valuation and travel options as there is some uniquness to each program and travel bonuses are different across Chase/Amex. Sorry for the long answer but I think you could easily get the value out of the $695 annual if you would already be spending in the categories you get the added benefit of having access to lounge and travel perks when traveling abroad 2-3x a year would be very welcomed.
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