Have a travel related question? Post it here, and I’ll do my best to answer it as quickly as possible.
While anyone can comment on regular blog post, registration is required in order to post a question in this space. Creating your account is free, and you'll be able to see when your question is answered, as well as like comments from other users. And of course, you'll earn status points for offering helpful answers!
This space is intended to be more of a community as well, so please jump in and share tips!
Paying for BA ticket: which is the best card to use?
dear Tiffany
which is the credit card should i use to pay for my BA ticket (incredible deal on F seats London-SFO in JULY for around $4500!?!) to gain versatile points? Chase Sapphire, Starwoods AmEx or BA Chase (only for Avios). i was really OVER Avios for a while ever since your colleagues at Points Pros help me use my AA points (converted from Starwoods) to get unbelievable deals on Etihad, Qatar, Qantas and now Japan Airlines; paying a fraction of the taxes that BA charges. but now with the upcoming devaluation of AA points, is the party over ? i think that with Sapphire and BA Chase, it’s double points — but i can use the Sapphire points to convert to United and others? with Starwoods it is still 20% more points for every 20000 converted. the DILEMMA! help! thanks!
Duane – ah, decisions, decisions. Choices can be a wonderfully frustrating thing!
The Sapphire will earn double points and the BA card will earn you triple points. The Ultimate Rewards points earned with the Sapphire card can indeed be transferred to United or other airlines (including BA) or even to Hyatt. You’re also correct that while the SPG card only earns 1 point per dollar, when transferring 20K points at a time, that equates to 25K miles on many airlines.
So the question is: where do you see yourself needing a boost in the next year or two? If you’re not sure the best place might be to use the Sapphire card. You can always transfer them back to BA if needed and you have other options. With Starwood’s merger with Marriott, we don’t know what will happen with those points and what the transfer options will be (though we expect to be given plenty of time to react).
So if you think you’ll need them for an airline that’s only a partner of SPG, I’d use that card; otherwise I’d use the Sapphire.
Now, let’s see what others have to say! 😀
Your feedback is important in helping us keep our community safe.