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Answers (10)

Sapphire Reserve vs. Platinum Delta Miles

Sapphire Reserve vs. Platinum Delta Miles

  1. Anonymous Guest

    I’ve always used platinum delta miles and have read alot about Sapphire Reserve.

    – I spend quite a bit of money on dining…. ($600 to $1,000+ a month)
    – I take advantage of companion ticket with my wife…
    – My wife travels at times for work
    – If we aren’t using our sky miles for travel, we barely travel delta

    I’ve recently signed up for Sapphire because my thinking is that 3X rewards at restaurants for dining would generate quite a few points for me rather than 1X mile PLUS $300 for travel a year.

    Is my thinking correct? Switching from miles to points make sense?

  2. Anonymous Guest

    Absolutely, less-frequent flyers almost always can do better with points than miles 🙂

    [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/12/04/miles-and-points-for-infrequent-flyers/[/URL]

  3. Gaurav Community Ambassador

    And you can still keep the DL card for the companion ticket. If used wisely it covers the annual fee.

  4. AT in Atlanta New Member

    What a timely post. This is exactly the quandary I’m in. I am Atlanta based and fly almost exclusively on DL since it’s the main option I have; I make 3-5 domestic trips and 1 int’l trip per year, all personal. I admit I have been very uneducated about accumulating miles/points. I currently have the Amex Platinum with about 238k MR points; I have used this card for everyday spend (wrong!!) except dining. I have a second card, the BA Visa (wrong again!), which I got early 2015 to get bonus Avios thinking I’d fly First Class on a long-haul because I had many points from BA flights in the late 90s which I still kept unused. Little did I know the award availability on BA website is awful. I use the BA Visa for dining only. I currently have 225k Avios, which is mainly from my past miles accumulated and the bonus award last year. I would say annual spend on Amex Plat. is $32k and on BA Visa is $7k. I have probably been playing this game wrong all of these years! I only have about 10k actual DL skymiles. I intend to keep the Amex Platinum, but it’s probably time to ditch the BA Visa. My quandary is: what card should I get to replace BA Visa, and how can I maximize everyday spend, dining, travel etc. to accumulate either points and/or miles? Any help is much appreciated. Thank you.

  5. Gaurav Community Ambassador

    [USER=2302]@AT in Atlanta[/USER], you’ll want to take a look at the categories where you spend the most money and get a card that maximizes the value of that spend. If it is travel and dining, then the Chase Reserve, Citi Prestige, or Citi Premier are your best bets depending on what benefits and transfer options you’d like. For everyday spend usually the Chase Unlimited, AmEx Everyday Preferred, Citi Double Cash, and SPG come to mind. Again, it will depend on your goals and to some extent on what program you want to build in.

  6. AT in Atlanta New Member

    [USER=79]@Gaurav[/USER], thank you for the suggestions. I’d say travel and dining are probably my biggest expenses. Fuel, supermarkets, cell phone etc. would come in next.

  7. AT in Atlanta New Member

    Does it make sense to get both the Amex EDP and the CSR if I intend to continue holding the Amex Platinum?

  8. Gaurav Community Ambassador

    It could, really depends on what you are looking for. The EDP is really designed to maximize earnings while the platinum is more focused on benefits. Depending on your needs it might make sense to have both or if the benefits aren’t compelling then maybe cancel the platinum after getting the EDP and making sure that it is linked to your MR account. The CSR is a great way to get a jump start on diversifying your points resources and might be a good premium card to hold on to long term because it complements the bonus categories on the EDP very nicely.

  9. AT in Atlanta New Member

    Thank you, Gaurav.

  10. AT in Atlanta New Member

    After much deliberation and advice from this board and website, I got the CSR last week and the Amex EDP this week. I had a large HVAC purchase to make that I already did on CSR to meet the spend requirement. I’ve shifted all of my everyday spend to EDP since receiving the card early this week. Thanks for your advice. I have an upcoming trip before year-end that I will charge to the CSR for the $300 travel credit.

    I am just wondering if I should also get the Delta Amex Gold card for the 50k miles and $100 credit (which is offered at check-out if you book a flight via DL.com, rather than the $50 credit otherwise). I am curious if it will impact my credit score significantly since this year alone I had a mortgage refi, the CSR and EDP hits. Thoughts?

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