A real sleeper card is the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey which launched a year and a half ago. And it’s made more attractive with Chase Sapphire Reserve changes.
When readers ask me what to do now that Sapphire Reserve increased earning on airfare and hotels to 4x, but eliminated 3x earning on ‘all other travel’ like Airbnb and cruises – I tell the Airbnb, Vrbo and cruise set to consider Autograph Journey.
- Intro bonus: 60,000 bonus points after $4,000 spend within 3 months
- Earning: 5x on hotels; 4x on airlines; 3x on other travel; 3x on dining; 1x other purchases
- Statement credit: $50 annual statement credit for airfare purchase
- Other benefits: No foreign transaction fees; trip cancellation; lost luggage; cell phone protection
- Annual fee: $95
It still offers 3x on other travel and actually earns 5x on hotels. The earning here is great for a general travel and dining card. And with the $50 airfare credit against its $95 annual fee, it’s a great value at the price.
The challenge is that they’ve got limited transfer partners. They’ve promised more, but this has come slowly. But they just added JetBlue and they did it at 1:1. Chase and Citi transfer 1:1 to JetBlue. Amex, though, is 5:4 and Capital One is 5:3. So 1:1 is strong.
This makes Wells Fargo transfer partners:
- Star Alliance: Avianca LifeMiles
- oneworld: British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus
- SkyTeam: Air France KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Non-alliance: Aer Lingus Aer Club, JetBlue TrueBlue
- Hotel: Choice Privileges
JetBlue now lets you redeem with United as well as Condor.
Wells has transfer partnerships in each of the alliances. Air France and BA are good starts. They need Air Canada Aeroplan. And they should add Accor and try some unique things like GHA Discovery transfers. Mostly, though, I’m excited to see some movement in the Wells Fargo transfer program. It causes me to raise my estimate of the bank’s commitment to the product.
I’d consider pairing this with a no annual fee Active Cash card which earns 2 points per dollar on all spend. Those points can be transferred into this one and moved to miles. What’s more, there are no transfer minimums which means no wasted or stranded points (no transferring 1,000 points when you need only 311, for instance).
Ultimately though I mostly love that this is a reasonably-priced, rich rewards card from a bank that isn’t Chase, American Express or Citi.
@Gary: This is trumped on just about every line item isn’t it by the Citi Strata Elite? One would never use it.
Thank you, Gary. Excellent updates. Saw this on DoC yesterday, and it is indeed a big deal, namely because jetBlue transfers are 1:1 (none of the silly 250:200), and also unlike Amex, Wells Fargo doesn’t charge excise taxes to its customers. So, Chase’s negative changes could very well become Wells Fargo’s win. A lot of folks, including myself, are quite miff’d about the loss of the broad ‘3x travel’ on CSR; for foreign transactions, 3x Alaska Summit seems fine; otherwise, 3x TY on Citi Premier, but, not as broad. BofA premium 2x Travel becomes 3.5 with 75% Platinum Honors bonus (but it’s only cash-back, no transfers). So, yeah, Autograph may very well be the solution, then transfer most to B6 or FlyingBlue. Good post.
Oh, and did anyone else catch that there’s no minimum for these transfers to B6, or am I reading that wrong? If so, that’s brilliant, especially for ‘exact’ topping-off for redemptions. It’s often frustrating to have a spare 800 points just sitting around after an award, so if true, that’s kinda cool that they are more flexible in that regard.
On rental cars, many of us have been spoiled by Chase’s primary coverage, while Amex and others have secondary; does Wells, Citi, etc. also only have secondary? For the 3x travel on rental cars, it’s a factor as well.
Thanks Gary – don’t have any Wells cards to think I need to consider this one to round out my Amex/Chase/Citi/BofA portfolio of cards. As for transfer partners, yes would be nice if more but personally I use BA and Iberia a lot plus have both Virgin and AF/KLM cards since they have good offers and both are an alternative to using Skymiles so this works for me at least.
For Airbnb and vrbo why not the Citi Strata Premier. Much better overall card and transfer partners and codes as travel agencies / 3x, no? For cruising could get a $0 5x custom cash and pay it off in $500 increments per month. Not a cruiser though.
@1990 – for BofA the Platinum bonus applies to some of their points/miles cards as well as the cash card.
For those with lots of points and multiple systems, this is great… because it offers a SUBSTITUTE currency instead of using Chase or Citi. So you can use those points for other redemptions.
The other big one is Choice Hotels.
Why would I use my Citi points at 1:2 Choice, when I’d rather use them for Preferred Hotels, or AA, etc.
WF offers a 1:2 option for that as well.
NOW, combine that with a 2x Business Signify card, that can transfer that cash to points, and you have another angle with which to approach things.
I had, and still have, the Autograph (with no annual fee) before I went to CSR. But I still use the WF for those travel expenses CSR will only give me 1x on so I don’t see a need for the Journey card….yet. In two years, when CSR ends the 1.5 bonus on UR for those of us grandfathered, I may revisit the issue since, if the Riz-Carlton card doesn’t increase its fee, that may be the alternative to CSR. If I’d paid for CS and PP lounge access this years, I’d be over $495 (the new $795 fee less the $300 travel credit). But I’d have to make that decision next year as I’d need one year with a Marriott card before I can upgrade to RC. As for rental car insurance, AmEx has a program where you get primary insurance for up to 42 days on most vehicles.
https://global.americanexpress.com/card-benefits/detail/premium-car-rental-protection/amex-green
@Retired Gambler — Great points. 3% categories (including ‘travel’) on Customized Cash Rewards becomes 5.25% with the bonus. I think their current sign-up bonus is $200 and 6% for that category for the first year (does that mean 10.5% with the Platinum Honors?! Woah.) The only potential issue is that the category is limited to $2,500 in combined purchases each quarter.
“Beating the Sapphire Reserve” isn’t really saying much.
The problem is WF doesn’t have any unique transfer partners, so really no compelling reason to invest in WF ecosystem except for signup bonus, and 60k on $4k isn’t exactly super exciting. I’ll pass unless the big banks won’t approve me anymore.
@Mantis — Have you been ‘de-banked,’ sir? Was it for your ‘conservative’ views? *gasp* (Or, was it just the whole ‘moving to Asia’ thing?)
@1990 – I presume you do not otherwise have car insurance in NY? If so, CSR is secondary, not primary (a fun little NY quirk). C1VX is still primary in NY. Just got a 100k offer today in the physical mail – $10k spend/6 months.
@Peter — Pretty sure CSR is still primary if no auto insurance in NY; I’ve had claims in the past, and CSR’s servicer still honored it. As to C1VX, that’s awesome for you, if they’ll approve. I try their pre-qual tool, but never get it. Meanwhile, I can and have done an app-a-rama with others (Amex, Citi, BofA, Wells, etc.)
Please don’t use “But People Say” … people say a lot.
Gary–you’ve got to read the footnotes! The “All Other Travel” category of Autograph Reserve is not the same as the All Other Travel category of Sapphire Reserve. Autograph Reserve does NOT offer 3x on passenger railway, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, parking lots and garages. For that, you need the no fee Autograph card. So, the Autograph Reserve combined with the Autograph card can replicate the 3x categories destroyed by Chase, but you need both.
@DSK – same game with Strata Premier / Strata Regular (regular has the select transit categories), which I think together with DoubleCash is a much better combo than the Autograph(s) present. Although if you cruise and paying off your cruse $500 at a time with a 5x custom cash is too arduous, perhaps not for that purpose.