Long Haul Business Class for under $2K (Long Post)

[Luv2Phuket]

The Centurion lounges are really a really nice perk, but it depends on whether they have one at airports you often fly into/out of.

One downside to the Platinum Priority Pass access is the lack of credit at the restaurants that accept it and guest limitations (although I rarely if ever have guests with me). My Citi Prestige gets me a much better Priority Pass membership, so I have just used it instead over the years.

I dropped my Platinum when it was up for renewal at the start of the pandemic and their "retention offer" was nada....zip....zilch. 

That said, I definitely will consider the Business Platinum moving forward IF I start traveling again (think there is now a Platinum lounge at Bradley) and/or if I take the leap and buy a condo in Las Vegas (McCarren has a nice Platinum lounge).

[HimBadMan]

12 hours ago, jmukh said:

Just curious: why Sapphire Reserve over Amex for the lounge access? I have the Preferred, but didn't think I'd get enough value out of the Reserve to justify the cost, and several Amex options (Platinum, Marriott, Hilton) will do lounge access and were much easier to justify. The only real benefit I saw to the Sapphire Reserve was access to restaurants at some airports instead of just the Priority Pass lounges, though now I'm curious as to what the Amex Centurion experience is like.

In general, I've had much better lounge experiences abroad (especially in SE Asia) than the US, though the Centurion is supposedly a gamechanger in that regard. I'd probably feel differently if I regularly flew out of a non-priority-pass airport with a couple of great priority pass restaurants, though I'm usually not that impressed by airport food to begin with, so I'm not sure I'd value it enough to justify a Sapphire Reserve. 

A bonus offer to upgrade in a few years would be make me take a second look.  

The main benefit for me and others of the CSR is the 150% redemption bonus with UR points.    That pretty much pays for the annual fee.      For examle 100k UR points is worth 1500 in travel.     So by having a CSR you get an extra $500 per 100,000 UR points. 

I think I have approx 400,000 UR points which means I have $6000 I could use for airplanes and hotels if I book through chase portal. (which is Expedia).  So that's $2000 value right there not including other perks. 

[bgtp]

Although I've been reading, I haven't posted in this thread for nearly four months which tells you just how dull my points game has been lately. I generally do my travel in July/August, so it's still too early for me to book 2022. Hopefully, award availability will still be good when my window opens. I won't do quarantine and have decided on a domestic trip this summer. This means by the time I (hopefully) get back to Thailand, it will be July 2022, about three years since my 2019 visit. Quite a change as I had been going more or less yearly for twenty years.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I didn't get a new card last fall as I typically do since that's when I have some big annual expenses due and it makes it easy for me to hit minimum spends. I even cancelled one of my two IHG cards. I've got three free-night certificates in hand that I plan to use this summer. Hopefully, there will be some nice sign up bonuses in the fall as I'll be 2/24 and eligible again for a Sapphire or United bonus.

Did a little cleaning up to reduce the number of financial accounts I have and closed my Chase checking and investment accounts that I got when they had a nice sign-up bonus. Moved the money back to Fidelity. Too bad they stopped their mileage bonuses for depositing new money 555. On the other hand, I did open an online savings account to get a better interest rate on my cash lying around and picked up a $500 sign-up bonus in the process. Get my first vaccine shot this Thursday, so there really is some light at the end of the tunnel. I've been eating better at home and exercising regularly thru all this and am now in fairly decent shape (for my age). Just gotta keep hanging in there.

 

[Luv2Phuket]

After my first AA "revenue flight" since 2019, I am looking at how difficult it is going to be to make Platinum status again this year....

EQDs are NOT a problem - $30,000 spend on my Aviator Silver exempts me from the requirement.

EQMs are another story, since I'm not getting many/any ass-in-seat miles. By bumping my Aviator spend to $40,000 (doable), I knock out 10,000 miles. This trip netted me about 2,500.

They've reduced the requirement to 40,000, so I've gotta find 27,500 miles somewhere.

I may be taking some (hopefully cheap) weekend trips to Miami once th espring break hysteria there calms down - almost 4,700 EQMs RT. AA just announced that ALL LAX-MIA flights will be serviced by 787 Dreamliners, which I just flew to/from DFW.

Here's where Platinum status can pay off - they code the 3 rows of Premium Economy seats as Main Cabin Extra for domestic travel, so I get them for free when I purchase the ticket. Makes a HUGE difference, as long haul PE is not that big of a drop from the old domestic first 2-2 seating.

 

[jmukh]

My first 50k JetBlue points posted this morning, putting me at about 65k total, and it looks like Bogota round trip this summer is ~28k points. I may attempt to book some PTO time for the summer since points bookings are usually fully refundable, I'm likely to be fully vaccinated by then if Biden's May promise is legit, and Thailand wouldn't happen till the end of the year either way. 
 

On 21/03/2021 at 17:47, Luv2Phuket said:

EQDs are NOT a problem - $30,000 spend on my Aviator Silver exempts me from the requirement.

 

I could also handle ~$35k - $40k a year on mortgage payments starting this fall (after I've fully earned Amex Platinum, the rest of JetBlue, and a tiny bit left of Brex bonuses). Do you think any airline status is worth it if all I'm flying is, say, 1-2 round trips to C. / S. America and one round trip to SE Asia per year? I almost never fly domestic, and I'm wondering if I wouldn't be better off with airline credit card perks and my existing Amex airline credit / lounge access.

Currently tempted by the Virgin Atlantic card for this. 1.5 points means a 40k mortgage = 60k, with a 50k signup bonus, and 7.5k bonus points for crossing $15k and $25k in spending, for a total of 125k. With a little juggling, this could also get me Silver status, but I'm not sure if there's real value in that (vs. the value in the miles). I may need to wait a little while and get my cards/12m ratio down a little before applying, unfortunately. 

The other option would be just picking another random Barclays or Citibank Mastercard to do this with. Wyndham would be an easy one, though I'm not sure I'd get much benefit from it. I'd be running this in parallel with my non-mortgage expenses earning an Amex Gold bonus after the Amex Platinum 10x groceries ends this fall. Barclays did kind of hamstring me with an abysmally low credit limit on signup for JetBlue, so it might be a challenge to run mortgage payments through it unless I do weekly payments.

I'm new to airline miles, but I'm also at the point where I may not be able to travel enough to spend all of the hotel miles I'm accumulating, and the one I want to add after Marriott (Hilton) isn't going to work with mortgage payments. I'm trying to think of a way to get something for the mortgage payments, even if the status isn't worth much by itself. What other Mastercards should I be looking at for Plastiq other than Virgin?

Or should I begin earning Citi, since those are transferable?   

[Luv2Phuket]

I'm not a big fan of Virgin Atlantic. I could be wrong, but I think it is separate and distinct from Virgin America. Since I rarely travel transatlantic, it didn't hold much value for me. I ended up converting all of my Virgin Atlantic miles into Hilton points.

I'm wondering how JetBlue's partnership with American may benefit me for International travel?  That said, AA is, by far, my largest account at aorund 600,000 miles, while I have close to 90,000 with JetBlue.

One tip on that JetBlue credit card -- if you decide it isn't worth the annual fee any more, don't cancel it; just downgrade to their no annual fee card. I don't know that I get much benefit from the no annual fee card that I downgraded to a few years ago - 3X JetBlue miles for purchases on the airline vs 6X for purchases on $99 annual fee card.

Given my chase for Platinum status, I will likely be buying some flights instead of using miles for a little while. Thinking of a trip to Hawaii for my birthday -- not cheap, but about a $1,000 first class ticket would net me almost 12,000 EQMs. That puts a dent in what I need.

Is Platinum status worth the trouble? Honestly, I don't know that it is. There is some "pay off" at being able to book Main Cabin Extra for free when booking (as opposed to getting the "upgrade" to it at the airport if Gold), and I think that I have become spoiled because of that (+ a rare upgrade, although those are far fewer and farther between these days). Back when I was actually flying quite a bit it was, but with me taking fewer flights these days, I doubt that it is.

[HimBadMan]

16 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

I'm not a big fan of Virgin Atlantic. I could be wrong, but I think it is separate and distinct from Virgin America. Since I rarely travel transatlantic, it didn't hold much value for me. I ended up converting all of my Virgin Atlantic miles into Hilton points.

I'm wondering how JetBlue's partnership with American may benefit me for International travel?  That said, AA is, by far, my largest account at aorund 600,000 miles, while I have close to 90,000 with JetBlue.

One tip on that JetBlue credit card -- if you decide it isn't worth the annual fee any more, don't cancel it; just downgrade to their no annual fee card. I don't know that I get much benefit from the no annual fee card that I downgraded to a few years ago - 3X JetBlue miles for purchases on the airline vs 6X for purchases on $99 annual fee card.

Given my chase for Platinum status, I will likely be buying some flights instead of using miles for a little while. Thinking of a trip to Hawaii for my birthday -- not cheap, but about a $1,000 first class ticket would net me almost 12,000 EQMs. That puts a dent in what I need.

Is Platinum status worth the trouble? Honestly, I don't know that it is. There is some "pay off" at being able to book Main Cabin Extra for free when booking (as opposed to getting the "upgrade" to it at the airport if Gold), and I think that I have become spoiled because of that (+ a rare upgrade, although those are far fewer and farther between these days). Back when I was actually flying quite a bit it was, but with me taking fewer flights these days, I doubt that it is.

Platinum status is worth it...  You get lounge access for international travel..   As much international travel I do (or want to do) lounge access is important to me.

AA Flagships lounges are nice in LA, LAX, ORD, MIA and JFK

When you fly to SE Asia on OW you will either stop in Japan or HK or Qatar.  Japan Airlines and Cathay business class (platinum) lounges are very nice.   Although in Doha you cannot access the Al Mourjan Business lounge they do have a Platinum lounge for your to refresh in.

So to conclude: Plat status worth it for lounge access if you won't fly in Business Class. {PE and Coach)

 

 

 

 

 

[Luv2Phuket]

7 minutes ago, HimBadMan said:

So to conclude: Plat status worth it for lounge access if you won't fly in Business Class. {PE and Coach)

 

Great analysis - thanks!

....looks like I'm heading to Hawaii!  555

[jmukh]

On 23/03/2021 at 13:37, HimBadMan said:

So to conclude: Plat status worth it for lounge access if you won't fly in Business Class. {PE and Coach)

 

I agree with you, since I've spent many years consulting while working remotely (and have worked out of a large number of airport lounges as a result). I usually end up checking out of a hotel and then needing to kill several hours before a flight, which leads to being able to bill almost one working day out of an airport lounge somewhere. 

The thing is, between the priority pass on a Bonvoy card and the greatly expanded set of lounge options (including a Centurion opening at one of my home airports) I'm spoiled for choice, even if I ever needed to sign in a guest. Bangkok alone had 12 or 13 lounges priority pass lounges last time I checked (including Turkish, Oman, and Air France) (and they seem to add another one every year). There are so many that I google lounge reviews to figure out which one I should use when I'm passing through.

 

On 23/03/2021 at 13:15, Luv2Phuket said:

I'm not a big fan of Virgin Atlantic. I could be wrong, but I think it is separate and distinct from Virgin America. Since I rarely travel transatlantic, it didn't hold much value for me. I ended up converting all of my Virgin Atlantic miles into Hilton points.

One tip on that JetBlue credit card -- if you decide it isn't worth the annual fee any more, don't cancel it; just downgrade to their no annual fee card. I don't know that I get much benefit from the no annual fee card that I downgraded to a few years ago - 3X JetBlue miles for purchases on the airline vs 6X for purchases on $99 annual fee card.

I was thinking about it as a way of racking up points to use on ANA, since I've never seen Japan, and it'd be an interesting stopover with cheap(ish) connections on to Thailand, Cambodia, or Malaysia. I also have next to no options for earning points on Plastiq, so it's kind of a better-than-nothing deal at 1.5x (and will be compared to Wyndham, Citi AA, etc when the time comes). A couple of travel bloggers have been talking about planning an ANA round the world rewards ticket which looks quite intriguing if I just left my mortgage payments there for a couple of years. 

On JetBlue: I have a 5k point bonus on every renewal, which makes the card a little easier to hold over time, and I suspect I'd get value for it if I'm able to do 1-2 C. / S. America trips per year. The way the political winds are shifting at work, it's also infinitely more likely that I'll be able to do 2x - 4x trips south of the border for every one time I'm able to get a longer trip to Asia approved. 

I've never actually flown JB; this is all pandemic, sit-at-home miles-whoring at the moment. It's entirely possible I'll hate them, though I'm not sure how much I'd have to hate them to give up the 28k point round trips to Bogota I'm seeing at the moment.

I'm also considering lowering my tax withholding and paying an estimated tax payment every month on a credit card for the points; this would let me add something like an Amex gold or Hilton late this summer as well.  

[Luv2Phuket]

Although it's quite a chunk to put on it, I'm pretty sure that you can get JetBlue Mosiac status by putting $50k on your JetBlue card. 

Here's a breakdown on the "value" of Mosiac status:
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/what-is-jetblue-elite-status-worth/#:~:text=The only elite status level,points (%245%2C000 in spending).

I am self-employed (hence my stack of "business" credit cards), but I always use cc for my quarterly estimated taxes. 

[jmukh]

6 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Although it's quite a chunk to put on it, I'm pretty sure that you can get JetBlue Mosiac status by putting $50k on your JetBlue card. 

Here's a breakdown on the "value" of Mosiac status:
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/what-is-jetblue-elite-status-worth/#:~:text=The only elite status level,points (%245%2C000 in spending).

I am self-employed (hence my stack of "business" credit cards), but I always use cc for my quarterly estimated taxes. 

The biggest issue with this is that my JetBlue card is currently my only option for Pastiq mortgage payments, and those circus clowns decided that after a month of sending (print) paperwork back and forth (by mail) and proving that I exist with an IRS transcript form that they can't actually use to pull a transcript (but...they won't take any actual proof of income to prove, you know, income) ...they approved me with a whopping $1k credit line. Which is like one trip to Costco. Otherwise I'd research the value of Mosaic a lot more seriously for S. / C. America trips.

In all honesty, if it weren't for the sign-up bonus, I wouldn't use the card at all at that level, since keeping my utilization ratios low requires literally weekly pay-offs. Oh, and their website was designed in '89 and can't do automated payments.

A combination of mortgage and tax payments *could* get me to $50k in a year (this sounds terrifying just putting it in writing, but I just did the math, and...shit, I really am going to spend that much), but there's no way I can get there on a $1k limit. I think my only viable path forward is to Plastiq a couple of times late summer to earn the second 50k JetBlue points, then add another mastercard for regular mortgage payments.

This would leave non-mortgage spending (including taxes) to finish earning out the various Amexes (platinum currently, then gold, then I'm thinking Hilton) this year. Once I'm done with this year's burst of sign-up bonuses, it'll be a pity if I don't have a regular Mastercard option for mortgage payments, since that's a ton of points; hopefully Barclays will be open to a credit line increase by this point, or I'll have added a Citi Business AA card. If I'm giving up on Chase for another year, I could add an Emirates card and likely spend my way to 1.3x points and Emirates Gold status if I put everything on it, but I'm uncertain there's a real benefit to this other than ~50k Emirates points every year resulting in a free trip to SE Asia every 2 years-ish. But I'm not sure I'd put in the effort unless Barclays is going to re-think the $1k limits to start out. 

 

[Luv2Phuket]

17 hours ago, jmukh said:

I was thinking about it as a way of racking up points to use on ANA, since I've never seen Japan, and it'd be an interesting stopover with cheap(ish) connections on to Thailand, Cambodia, or Malaysia.
 

Going back to this point, you are correct - Virgin Atlantic's absurdly low rate to book ANA is always listed among the best "sweet spots" for frequent flier redemptions.

I was reminded of it today, when i read this (it is #1):
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/airline-award-chart-sweet-spots/?utm_content=B6EA3A5E-8D8C-11EB-B6C0-A012933C408C&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=thepointsguy&tw=1&utm_term=editorial&utm_medium=social

[jmukh]

4 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Going back to this point, you are correct - Virgin Atlantic's absurdly low rate to book ANA is always listed among the best "sweet spots" for frequent flier redemptions.

I was reminded of it today, when i read this (it is #1):
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/airline-award-chart-sweet-spots/?utm_content=B6EA3A5E-8D8C-11EB-B6C0-A012933C408C&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=thepointsguy&tw=1&utm_term=editorial&utm_medium=social

For a beginner, the option to transfer in the missing miles from pretty much anywhere (I have Chase, will have Amex soon, and will likely have Citi later this year) makes it much more likely that I'd be able to pull this off instead of my usual economy ticketing. 

[HimBadMan]

2 hours ago, jmukh said:

For a beginner, the option to transfer in the missing miles from pretty much anywhere (I have Chase, will have Amex soon, and will likely have Citi later this year) makes it much more likely that I'd be able to pull this off instead of my usual economy ticketing. 

You sure you want to leave the back of the plane for the front?   Once you fly front transpacific you never ever ever ever want to go to the back 555

[Luv2Phuket]

42 minutes ago, HimBadMan said:

You sure you want to leave the back of the plane for the front?   Once you fly front transpacific you never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever want to go to the back 555

I fixed it for you  (555)

[HimBadMan]

31 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

I fixed it for you  (555)

Sometime ignorance is bliss.  And cheaper. Hahah

[Luv2Phuket]

DAMMIT! I HATE when I fuck up.....and I just did! 555

For some unknown reason, I paid my estimated taxes today a few weeks before they were due.....but I accidentally used the WRONG card!

I had a perk on both my Hilton AMEX cards (Biz and Aspire) - spend $5,000, get 10,000 bonus points (+ the additional spend bonus points you typically get). Pretty shitty deal, but I'm trying to re-stock my Honors account, and I had to advance some fees for a client, so I already had over $1,000 on my Biz card.

Unfortunately, being a dumbass, I accidentally entered the info for my Aspire card.  Fuck me....

So instead of having the $5k knocked out, I've now got both cards running towards it and am going to have to drop $5k on BOTH of them or I will waste the "perk" of this payment.

I've spent the last 30 minutes trying to figure out how to "fix" it (most of that time on hold with Pay1040.com, to no avail), and it's actually pretty easy -- March health insurance premium is paid on AMEX Biz, so all I have to do is NOT fuck up in June when I make my next estimated payment and I am good on it. As for the Aspire, I'll shift the insurance premiums for April and May to it and, voila, I am there, as well.

Still....as noted at the start of this post - I hate when I fuck up!

[jimboh]

On 16/03/2021 at 22:25, Luv2Phuket said:

My Citi Prestige gets me a much better Priority Pass membership,

Sounds interesting, can you give me some details?

[jimboh]

Are BC Lounges open now in BKK?

[Luv2Phuket]

12 hours ago, jimboh said:

Sounds interesting, can you give me some details?

AMEX doesn't include restaurant credits, but Citi does.

Also, Citi's PP membership includes access for immediate family members, as opposed to a strict "2 guest" limit (Citi also allows 2 guests, if not traveling with family members).

The restaurant credit can be a HUGE perk if traveling through airports that offer it. Credit is usually $28-20, but you may be able to get double the credit if traveling with a "guest." Unless things have changed, I used to get a $28 credit at Bobby Van's Steakhouse at JFK. I always travel alone, but I assume it would be $56 if I had someone with me (not sure if it adds another credit for 3rd guest or not).

Here's a recent TPG blog on it: 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/priority-pass-adds-new-restaurant-us/

FWIW, it looks like "Point The Way Cafe" has replaced PF Changs at the Bradley terminal at LAX. I used to hit PF Changs all fo the time for my credit, but will definitely check this place out on my next trip -- the walkway between Terminal 4 and Bradley makes it an option even when I am not traveling internationally.

[Little Evil]

26 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

AMEX doesn't include restaurant credits, but Citi does.

Also, Citi's PP membership includes access for immediate family members, as opposed to a strict "2 guest" limit (Citi also allows 2 guests, if not traveling with family members).

The restaurant credit can be a HUGE perk if traveling through airports that offer it. Credit is usually $28-20, but you may be able to get double the credit if traveling with a "guest." Unless things have changed, I used to get a $28 credit at Bobby Van's Steakhouse at JFK. I always travel alone, but I assume it would be $56 if I had someone with me (not sure if it adds another credit for 3rd guest or not).

Here's a recent TPG blog on it: 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/priority-pass-adds-new-restaurant-us/

FWIW, it looks like "Point The Way Cafe" has replaced PF Changs at the Bradley terminal at LAX. I used to hit PF Changs all fo the time for my credit, but will definitely check this place out on my next trip -- the walkway between Terminal 4 and Bradley makes it an option even when I am not traveling internationally.

I think Chase is the same as Citi. But this whole thing has caught me with my pants down at least once. Racked up a tab in a restaurant only to be told later on that my card was not accepted. Turns out I only had my Amex version and left the Chase one at home. Best to carry both at all times or figure out if the app/barcode can carry both. I believe the Citi and Chase ones have 16 digits as opposed to the Amex 11, as a way to tell the difference.

[Luv2Phuket]

36 minutes ago, Little Evil said:

I think Chase is the same as Citi. But this whole thing has caught me with my pants down at least once. Racked up a tab in a restaurant only to be told later on that my card was not accepted. Turns out I only had my Amex version and left the Chase one at home. Best to carry both at all times or figure out if the app/barcode can carry both. I believe the Citi and Chase ones have 16 digits as opposed to the Amex 11, as a way to tell the difference.

I got fucked one time by presenting the PP card from my basic AMEX Hilton card -- it didn't even give ME access for free, and they charged my AMEX card for the entry. I made a point to cancel that Priority Pass account afterward and mark all of my cards as to which account they pertained to.

[Luv2Phuket]

Busy morning on the frequent flier front for me....

Given the latest announcement of "considerations" by the TAT, I decided to shore up the plans for my November trip. Going into this morning, I had THREE flights booked on miles going in; one coming out.

I dropped the earliest flight going in (Nov. 4 arrival) -- it was scheduled to allow for a 14-day quarantine. While I may eventually regret dropping it, I wanted to narrow what I have outstanding.

I kept my Nov. 7 arrival, which is scheduled to coincide with some friends going to Bangkok for a convention. I'm also waitlisted on an EVA flight that arrives the same day, because 75,000 EVA miles sounds better than 90,000 United! 555

Because I think their convention is TOAST (Bangkok not on list of cities hopefully opening October 1), I also moved my "no quarantine/no convention" flight back from a Nov. 18 arrival to a Nov.11 arrival.

That leaves me with a choice of a 24-day trip or a 20-day trip in November.

THEN I booked my return flight for next February (dates just opened up a few days ago) - Used AA to book Cathay Biz. 

Unlike the November trip, the February trip has no "quarantine" allowance, and is only booked for 16 nights. I considered tacking one more day on, but stuck at 16 and coming back on President's Day. Then again, if anything is shown by constant changes to the November trip, it's always subject to change!  555

[jmukh]

On 25/03/2021 at 22:02, HimBadMan said:

Sometime ignorance is bliss.  And cheaper. Hahah

This is a risk I will have to take. After my current level of abstinence, a Bangkok trip will likely require several hours lying down on my way home for the plumbing to recover.

 

On 28/03/2021 at 20:51, Luv2Phuket said:

DAMMIT! I HATE when I fuck up.....and I just did! 555

This makes me feel better I habitually add the damn Amex offers to the wrong card, or use the wrong card to pay for something. I've missed out on ~$100 this year so far. Hopefully I did my recent Marriott stay right and will get both the double points / double nights credit + the $300 annual credit. 

 

 

 

On 29/03/2021 at 12:00, Luv2Phuket said:

The restaurant credit can be a HUGE perk if traveling through airports that offer it. 

Here's a recent TPG blog on it: 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/priority-pass-adds-new-restaurant-us/

I have Priority Passes on two Amex cards at the moment (Marriott and Platinum), which basically just means I could swipe in more guests, but since I always travel alone this is relatively worthless except for the one trip ~18 months from now when I'll need to swipe a couple of the bosses into a lounge on the way to / from a conference. 

I have noticed that international lounge access is a huge hit with the ladies, but I try to avoid entanglements requiring traveling together as much as possible, so this is unlikely to be something I get much value out of. As long as at least one card gets me in and I can work remotely + eat non-airport food, I'm happy. 

Would you rate the restaurant benefit as highly if the airport already has a priority pass lounge, or a Centurion lounge (or any of the 8233823838 other subspecies of lounge-like things Amex includes)? I see that DCA is expected to get a Centurion sometime soon, IAD has several well-regarded PP lounges already, and the other airport I *might* use (Baltimore) has neither highly rated PP lounges nor highly rated restaurants.

In other news, I will have shot #2 at the end of April (confirmed), so I may be about to make my first points redemption: JetBlue economy round trip to Colombia, mid-May or June-ish. I also have a ton of Marriott points at this point, but will likely hold off on this till I've spent a few days in Colombia (rumor has it that the Marriotts there are guest un-friendly, and AirBNBs are a better bet). 

It may be time to start figuring out if there's anything I can charge on JetBlue to take advantage of the Platinum's airline credits. I almost never buy extras on flights, so I'm somewhat at a loss for figuring out how to get value from it, especially since I already have a JetBlue Business card which discounts in-flight purchases 50% + earns JB miles at 6x. A seat upgrade would be ideal if it works.  
 

[Luv2Phuket]

2 hours ago, jmukh said:

Would you rate the restaurant benefit as highly if the airport already has a priority pass lounge, or a Centurion lounge (or any of the 8233823838 other subspecies of lounge-like things Amex includes)? I see that DCA is expected to get a Centurion sometime soon, IAD has several well-regarded PP lounges already, and the other airport I *might* use (Baltimore) has neither highly rated PP lounges nor highly rated restaurants.
 

I think the restaurant credit is almost always better than lounge access.

In the old days -- back when it was STILl there and it took Priority Pass credits -- I preferred to sit in PF Changs at the Tom Bradley terminal and order an entree than to go into the Priority Pass Lounge (the inferior KAL lounge, which pales in comparison to the Star Alliance or oneworld lounges). Freshly cooked food is genrally better than the offering on the "buffets" in most lounges 9the obvious exception being the first class lounges where you get cook-to-order food, but they're almost never available via Priority Pass).

That said, i would go out of my way or subscribe to a new card just to get it.

FWIW, I have almost always been pleasantly surprised by the Centurion lounges. It was the one thing I regret after giving up my AMEX Platinum last year....but it's not like I would have had any chances to use that perk over the last year!  555

Another Priority Pass tip (which I think I made pages and pages back):
You can download the PP app and get an electronic version of your card, which most, if not all, lounges will accept.

Also lots of info about available lounges at the various airports -- I think there are 15 options at Swampy, spread across the various concourses.