Triangle Trip

Recently, the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, one of our highly recommend travel cards for Visa/Mastercard (see Terminal D’s post) made a change to their introductory bonus point policy. Chase increased the spend amount from US$3,000 to US$4,000 in order for you to obtain your 40,000 bonus points.

This means you’ll now need to spend $4,000 in the first three months to get the 40,000 bonus points.

Luckily, all other Chase Sapphire Preferred benefits remained the same:

• $95 annual fees (first year waived)
• 40,000 bonus points
• 5,000 additional points for authorized user
• 2x points on travel and restaurants
• No foreign transaction fees

This card must be getting popular with all the commercials you see online and TV. I recommend you get one now before it goes up again!

If you’re an American Express Platinum (AMEX Platinum) cardholder, you can add up to three (3) cardholders to your account for $175. It will cost you another $175 for each card afterwards (5th, 6th, etc.).  The additional cardholders will receive the same benefits as the primary cardholders except for acquiring American Express points as that goes to primary cardholders (benefit #1).

Spending the additional $175 to add your three family members and/or close friends pays for itself with Amex’s credit for your global entry application. Each global entry application costs $100 per application, so the combined savings is $125.  You can even pay for anyones Global Entry cost, it is a one time credit and the name on the card does NOT need to match the applicant.  Note, when applying, it will charge your card before you setup your interview.

Furthermore, the additional cardholders also gets:

1. Access to Centurion, Delta, and Airspace lounges at major airports.  You only need to show your credit card, ID and an airline ticket. You can also bring in two guests.

2. Complimentary access to Priority Pass Select (mostly international lounges).  This is a good gap for airport lounges when flying without airline status. You will have to call customer service to enroll.

3. Free SPG Gold status. We’ve found sometimes SPG may reject you because you are not the primary cardholder but keep trying.

4.  Free BOINGO account for wireless access around the world. BOINGO has many Wi-Fi hotspots in Europe which can be costly when you travel.

5.  Access to ShopRunner, a free 2 day shipping and returns at many stores across the country.

In response to Captain G‘s previous post about the best Visa/Mastercard (or alternative to using an American Express card), I would like to tell you that the Chase Priority Club Mastercard is the only card in my wallet. Like the Chase Sapphire Preferred card (see Terminal D‘s post), it does not have foreign transaction fees.

In addition, the Chase Priority Club Mastercard annual fee is 50% less of the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. The Chase Priority Club Mastercard annual fee is only $49 a year (first year is free). The $49 annual fee is still less than my old American Express Starwood Preferred card which was $65 a year. The Chase Priority Club Mastercard annual fee can be offset with these benefits:

1.  You get an annual free night at any Priority Club property after one year. The real translation is:  at any Intercontinental Hotel in the world which is normally ~$250 a night.

2.  Platinum Priority Club status. This perk is not as good as SPG Platinum but gives you small perks like free bottles water, free Internet, and the occasional room upgrade. Note that the American Express SPG card gives you Gold membership which is equivalent to Priority Club Platinum.

3.  A 10% discount on point redemptions for hotels which is a huge value (36,000 points for Intercontinental instead of 40,000). You should also check out our previous blog post on why hotel points are worth more than airline miles.

You can also check out my previous post regarding the British Airways and Asiana credit cards.