Airline card credit card annual fees, wow $495?
- Thread starter Brons2
- Start date
I don't fly much but know that all airlines can have good days and bad days. One weather situation can paralyze half the country. The same flight one day terrible, the next week great. I book based on price. Many people hate on Spirit or Frontier, but the few times I've flown them, no issues. And why do people even eat at airports anyway? The prices are ridiculous. Nobody heaven forbid, can go 6 or 8 hours without stuffing something down their throat? I'd rather go hungry for little while then spend $10 for a burger.
I am sorry for your loss
A lot of people have more money than time: business travelers, people in layovers, people who couldn't get to the airport with the time they have to prepare ahead (get off work at 6 and a flight at 9 with only 1 hour to go from work to airport, and would rather pay a bit more for food than miss a flight). I think $10/burger isn't that bad, consider even McD can get expensive and a few bucks buys you a lot of convenience, if you don't have time (say you don't want to take time off from work).
There are places I've worked who pay for business class because they expect you to sleep on the plane and then get straight to work when you land, yes it is $3k more but the problem they send you to solve can cost more than $3k a day.
If I'm a student without a job I obviously would pack a PB&J and eat it at the airport instead, and may take flights with 2 layovers and sleep at the airport in between.
A $2 KitKat or Snickers will suffice.
At many or most airports you can pay for lounge access and it's often worth it. Free food and drink and comfortable seating.
The lounge won't have the crowds of a concourse and if close to your gate you can just wait there until boarding begins, never a fast process.
In the past year we spent around 100USD for lounge access at Punta Cana and Doha for the two of us since we had hours to wait and it was well worth it. There is typically a time limit on lounge occupancy but I saw no evidence of the lounge police at either airport. Qatar had a very nice breakfast in the lounge we were in in Doha.
The lounge won't have the crowds of a concourse and if close to your gate you can just wait there until boarding begins, never a fast process.
In the past year we spent around 100USD for lounge access at Punta Cana and Doha for the two of us since we had hours to wait and it was well worth it. There is typically a time limit on lounge occupancy but I saw no evidence of the lounge police at either airport. Qatar had a very nice breakfast in the lounge we were in in Doha.
if you fly a lot the lounge access is worth the money. some places you even get a separate entry from the rest of the passengers .
I've found a regular cashback card out earns a mileage card for a regular person. Airline cards only make sense for business accounts with significant utilization.
You can't balk at an annual fee until you look at the benefit value. I have a travel card (Venture X) with a $395 annual fee, I fly only about 2x per year, and it more than pays for itself.
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Exactly! These cards are for a specific purpose. I've not reviewed the latest offerings, but in the past, the travel benefits were, for me a weekly traveler, worth it for the occasional free flights and bag charges.
Isn’t it just easier to just use a free credit card or debit card and not play games with credit card points.
No one wealthy I know uses a credit for points.
No one wealthy I know uses a credit for points.
In an unusual move my wife just got the standard Capital One Venture Card (she said your "X" is a step up). We NEVER pay for credit cards but this one was a no brainer for her.
Using my wife's numbers she pays $90 a year if she keeps it. We are flying late this year out of the country which is a lengthy trek of around 22 hours in the air in what is a total of 30 hours actual travel time each way to our destination.
The Venture card was a no brainer for this trip. She already met the requirements for the 75,000 miles and used the $250 immediately toward our current airfare and then she was able to apply using the 75,000 miles towards the same trip somehow, my wife is loose explaining details at times *LOL*so she got an additional $871.48 credit SO between all the wheeling and dealing she knocked about a third or one quarter off the cost of the airfare for our trip. This is verified as I am looking at her account online Seems unbelievable but just adds to my other posts if you dont take the money your leaving it on the table.
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I had the Chase Sapphire Reserve for years. It’s $550 annually and another $75 for my wife’s card. I now just use the Chase Freedom with no annual fee and can’t discern a difference in my accumulation of points.
We charge everything we can, typically $8-$15,000/month. Booking a $5,000 trip to Sedona and Scottsdale next month using mainly points from our spend.
Unless you fly one airline a ton I couldn’t make sense of the airline cards.
We charge everything we can, typically $8-$15,000/month. Booking a $5,000 trip to Sedona and Scottsdale next month using mainly points from our spend.
Unless you fly one airline a ton I couldn’t make sense of the airline cards.
Define wealthy for me.
I know several, who by my definition are wealthy, and some have DL cards, some have UA cards, some have hotel rewards cards.
But I’m not certain by which criteria you are defining wealthy.
What a silly post.
Worth $10m+ no debt owning at least two homes outright. I see the credit card pulled out or debit card when we split bill.
I have not had a credit card since the last century, thank goodness. I never had any annual fee, much less $10 a week. That's insane. I'm thankful to have escaped prior to the imposition of these insane fees. Interesting reading though.
I wouldn’t say that the fees are insane. For example, United‘s top level card cost about $500. But it comes with a membership to the United club, which cost about $650.
In addition, use of that card, whether for travel or other purchases, gets you elite status much faster than simply buying tickets.
So for somebody who travels relatively frequently, you get the benefits of faster accrual of status, as well as access to the club at a discount.
Before getting one of those cards, you need to understand what your future spending looks like, as well as how likely you are to use the accrued benefits.
My daughter, for example, lives in Salt Lake City. A huge hub for Delta Airlines. We looked at her needs for travel, and they’re pretty frequent, so she got an American Express that is linked to her Delta SkyMiles account. The benefits that she gets for the amount of travel that she does, and the level at which she spends, greatly outweigh the hundred dollar a year annual fee.
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