Questions and Answers

Hi – We live in Houston but don’t always fly United – finding ourselves flying other airlines more and more overseas. My husband and I usually fly together – we both have Amex platinum cards (he is thinking that we need to cancel one and have one gold) We also have United Pres. Plus Master Card and I recently got the Mileage Plus Explorer for myself. (not sure if that was a good choice) We spread out our spending on all the cards – are we too heavy in the United card area? We spend quite a lot monthly on credit cards but never really seem to get much out of it mileage wise. Seem to not be doing something right – any suggestions?
Thank you!

Well your United miles are good on their Star Alliance partners too. When you go overseas do you typically travel to one certain region? You’ve got the Amex to earn Membership Rewards but you might also pick up a Ultimate Rewards-earning card or even pick up one of the SPG Amex cards before they’re no longer available. While SPG has no bonus categories their points can transfer to more airlines than any other card.

Thank you for your quick response. Do you think we should drop one of our platinum AMEX? Which one would be an Ultimate Rewards card?
We just travel to different parts of Europe, etc. No region in particular.
This is all so confusing to me!

Your Ultimate Rewards cards are your Chase Sapphire Reserve and Preferred, The Ink Business cards, and of you have one of those 3 your Freedom, and Freedom Unlimited will earn Ultimate Rewards as well.

[QUOTE=”lbs57, post: 50403, member: 1792″] Do you think we should drop one of our platinum AMEX?[/QUOTE]

Yes, that card doesn’t have good earnings rates, and there’s no reason to pay the annual fee 2x. Make one of you an authorized user on the other’s card, and save $300 a year.

Before you cancel any cards though, you should be adding some other Membership Rewards earning cards ([URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/best-travel-credit-cards/?credit_card_category=american-express[/URL]). Anything other than airfare should go on a different card, as you’re only earning 1x/1$ otherwise, and could be earning much more. Maybe the Blue Business Plus, or one of the Everyday cards — you’d be surprised at how quickly the points add up when you’re earning in bonus categories!

From there, diversifying into Ultimate Rewards as others have mentioned would also be smart.