Comments

1. So far, Amex is winning. ‘Prove me wrong.’ (RIP)

2. Gary:
   A very helpful article. The landscape for premium cards is changing by the day.

   Right now, my partner and I are firmly in the SkyTeam and Star Alliance camps. My partner has threatened to leave me if I book AA again if there is a choice (6 absolutely awful experiences in a row). Btw, 6 “over the pond” trips in the next 3 months — all on SkyTeam. So the card of choice is Amex Plat, despite the $200 increase (which I won’t feel for 11 months) especially since I have a lifetime UA lounge pass.

   But I was somewhat surprised that you didn’t include Bilt in your review. The card is fantastic. It’s usually my “first out of the wallet” for dining and for non-bonused spend. Bilt transfers to Hyatt 1:1, and I have a 6 day conference at a Hyatt next March. (Yes – I have a Hyatt WOH card. Which is better to accumulate the Hyatt points I need?)

3. @Retired Lawyer — Went through a phase of that myself, except the threat was over United, not American, ironically.

   And, 2 is a coincidence, 3 is a pattern, 6 is… an atrocity. Sorry to hear. Yikes.

   As for BILT, we’re kinda all ‘in a holding pattern’ until this 2.0 thing come February 2026, the transition from WF to Cardless (uh oh), so the ‘good times’ could be over soon with that card… or, it’ll be the dawn of a new era, with the launch of their supposed new ‘premium’ card.

4. Thanks, Gary.

   For years we’ve been using the Chase Sapphire Reserve card for its travel protection coverage, which is particularly helpful for saving us the otherwise 10% trip insurance premium when booking cruises. So we save thousands per year using just this benefit. Once it reimbursed us for a doctor’s visit to our hotel suite for treatment of food poisoning. Another time it reimbursed both of us for a few days missed on a land tour because one of us caught a bug and couldn’t travel. It covered both the lodging and pro rata reimbursement for the missed days. How do the other premium cards compare?

5. This is simply excellent. Thank you for the analysis and especially the chart.

   I agree with @InLA that a chart comparing travel insurance coverages would also be helpful, especially for Citi Elite because those benefits do not seem to be published publicly?

   @RL – Bilt is many things but it is not a “premium / lounge” card. Just feels like a different post comparing best points cards or best points ecosystems.

   Great stuff lately, thanks again! If you do end up calling Chase, may as well ask for a retention bonus along with the new credits/benefits, would be interesting to hear what they will do when asked. Probably a good time to do it post-Amex’s announcement…

6. Thanks for the putting this together, Gary! Exciting time for cards.

7. This is great Gary, thanks.

   Are you aware of whether anyone has created a way (eg, spreadsheet) to keep up with the benefits for these cards?

8. @Michael — I mean, don’t we all? There may be proprietary software or apps designed for that specific purpose, but they’re probably paid. Just make your own. Like, I have a spreadsheet, and notes on my phone, to track what I have, when to use it, etc. You can also make calendar entries, send email reminders for important things, etc.

9. Scam. Prove me wrong.

10. “where Amex has a lounge”
    …they have a 45 minute line.

    Coupon books and luxuriously waiting in line at an airport. And even when you get in then it’s a zoo. So premium. I’m down to only the VX. Plats and CSR have jumped the coupon shark, just not worth the hassle for a marginal theoretical ROI on stuff you wouldn’t ever otherwise buy. Even when just chasing SUBs, the best ROI is the ~$100AF cards.

11. @Gene – Sure. Amex, Chase and C1 run a network of lounges that you can access upon the payment of annual fees of $895, $795 and $395, respectively. If you would like to access those lounges, you pay that fee. It’s not a scam, it’s a transparent product offering that you can choose to take advantage of or take a pass on.

    As part of their product offering, they each offer credits against the annual fee that you can take advantage of, or choose to ignore completely. The only question with each of these cards is whether you would like to access their lounges and, if so, if you feel that the membership fee and credit package is acceptable to you.

    If you would like to earn points or cash back on a credit card, in general, there are plenty of other no or low fee credit cards that you should take advantage of, including some excellent combos (Citi Strata Premier/Regular/DoubleCash comes to mind – $95 for the Premier but $0 if you take advantage of a $100 hotel credit, and $0 for Regular and DoubleCash).

    If you are interested in a lounge card, some of the credit packages (Amex, C1) are better than others (Chase). Of course, in general, I would not prepay $400 to receive a $400 dining credit that is spread out over a one year period in three month increments. But that is the wrong metric to evaluate whether or not to get the Amex Platinum in the first place. As Gary takes pains to note, question number one is do you travel often enough to value lounge access. If so, paying an annual fee for lounge access might make sense for you! And Gary provides a very helpful chart with the lounge locations so you can make an educated choice or choices about which cards might make sense.

    Once you’ve answered that question, then of course it’s completely fair game to evaluate (x) lounge locations, (y) annual fee and (z) credits against annual fee. If you live near C1 lounges, that may be your best option – they are the newest lounges and C1VX has a relatively easy to use $300 travel credit through their portal. If not, or if you value lounge access in the most locations, Amex is the clear winner given (x) the number of locations, (y) the annual fee and (z) the number of credits against the annual fee AND the ease of use of those credits. Chase’s offering is not nearly as compelling given (x) the number of lounge locations, (y) the annual fee (largest increase) and (z) the credits against the annual fee (which are not as compelling and very hard to use as compared with Amex).

    As for Citi, for me they are not really relevant to this conversation at all as the Citi Strata Elite is not really a lounge card (4 annual passes tied to a specific airline/oneworld – not compelling as a lounge card at all – and therefore not appearing on Gary’s location chart). It is, however, a premium credit card that costs $595 and that has credits that offset against the annual fee. Other than for a SUB and Year 1 value, I struggle to understand that card as a “keeper” at all (unless it was the only card that unlocked 1:1 AA transfers, but given the Strata Premier exists, it is not). I can therefore potentially understand why that card would be more irksome to you, although it too is not a “scam” and has very clear terms about what you pay and what you get.

12. Hi! Two questions you say Citi doesn’t really count in the lounge factor because it doesn’t have brand specific lounge access but it does come with priority pass and it seems there are less limitations on access compared to the changes that are upcoming for capital one in the new year. I’m definitely opening the Citi card but having trouble deciding to keep VX. Did your analysis here factor in the upcoming capone changes?

13. @Mantis – just like the VX that you still have, Amex just launched a new app so you can put yourself on a digital waitlist to avoid waiting in a physical line. Obviously if you do not value going to Amex’s lounges, you don’t have to get their card. The primary ROI on these cards is lounge access, and no one said that you should be entitled to access a lounge for free – there’s a fee and there’s potential credits against that fee that you can use or not use. For points earning – of course get other no or low fee cards.

14. @Mantis — I suppose the new credits are not working well for you, if you are indeed based in Asia; unless, they got Resy where you are… that said, for those of stateside in major cities, we’re getting outsized value with Amex following these recent updates.

15. @Sarah – You / P2 can get a $0 US Bank Altitude Connect card and get 4 free priority pass visits a year. You could use one of those visits to go visit a Chase lounge if you’d like, if they are accepting priority pass at the time of your visit. So it’s hard to just say “get the Citi Strata Elite because it comes with PP” but it depends on your usage.

    Agree there are different guest policies with the various bank lounges and with the PP offerings by the banks. Something to think about when traveling with the family – if you’re taking 1-2 family vacations a year that’s very different than the monthly trip to visit grandma (in which case you may have a regular route and airline and all of this goes out the window because you want the AA Executive card or the United Club or Delta Reserve or whatever). All depends on your circumstances.

    Amex/Chase/Citi PP allows 2 guests free versus C1 where guests are $35 each beginning 2/1/26. You could pay $125 for a C1 AU so they get their own PP or just have P2 get their own VX if you’ll use another $300 travel credit – then it’s only $95. Much cheaper than the Amex/Chase/Citi fees before factoring in credits (and your mileage may vary there as well).

    I do agree that the Chase guest policy is still the best (2 guests free, additional guests $27). Depending on your travel patterns that may be a relevant factor in choosing Chase over Amex ($50 guest fee except kids $30; $75k spend unlocks 2 free guests) or C1 ($45 guest except kids $25; $75k spend unlocks 1 guest landing or 2 guests lounge).

16. Bouncing off @Peter, one additional comment on Cap1 on whether to pay for AU access or try and have P2 get their own card. Regardless, Gary has valued the DCA Landing at potentially $100+ a meal so if you live in NYC or the DMV, $125 for AU access is still an absolute bargain in my eyes. P2 getting their own travel credit is nice too, but either seems to be a fine path.

17. @L737 — I had not heard of ‘DMV’ used for DC-Maryland-Virginia before. Nice!

18. @ Peter — The mere fact that it takes 6 long paragraphs just to go through the options proves that these cards a waste of time and effort. We would much rather spend $600 on an airline card that gains us joint access to lounges that we will use most (AA, AS, DL, UA) and provides an easier route to status. We never even consider booking economy, so for any international flight, access is part of the business class/first class ticket. Sure, for a reasonable SUB (one that doesn’t come with a huge 5-digit spending requirement), we’ll bite for the flashy $800-$900 card for ONE YEAR. With the ability to churn with two players, we rarely find ourselves sitting in the terminal due to lack of access, but when we do, it is usually almost as good as a lounge. After all, there is free water, free wifi, free toilet. Unless you are a pig and can’t wait for a meal/snack on the plane, you’ll be just fine. Just say no to these ripoff credit cards.

19. @Gene – 🙁

    @1990 — You’re going to sound so cool in front of your friends next time you talk about the area!

20. @Gene – so your position is that if something is slightly complicated it is not valuable or worthwhile? That’s just silly.

    Yes you can go to a restaurant at an airport and pay $40 for a burger and beer and tax and tip. Or you can go to a lounge. If you visit a lounge 10x a year that’s $400 of value. If you are visiting with P2 that’s $800 of value.

    With C1VX you easily get that value for two people. $395 plus $125 AU fee is $520. So you are prepaying $520 for $800 in benefits in that example. Plus if you book $300 of travel with them they give you $300 back. So if you value that it’s $220 for $800 in benefits. How is that not a good deal?

    If you don’t fly that often or always fly J and get lounge access and you won’t get enough value to make the card worth it, that’s fine! Get a different card! Everything doesn’t have to be for everybody. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have real value for many people. And while the card companies love to promote these things as status symbols (shiny mirrors! Claudia Schiffer on a poster!), you and I surely don’t have to think of them that way.

21. @L737 — Woop!

    @Peter — I’m still with you; sometimes it takes extra effort to play this game right.

    Don’t mind @Gene too much. He’s had enough of annual fees, generally, even if there’s outsized value. He’s also had it ‘up to here’ with certain brands, like Marriott. And, he enjoys ‘dunking’ on Delta, especially with its #1 fan, @Tim Dunn. Otherwise, I think he’s more of a United and IHG fan, unless something has changed. I think he means well.

22. @ Peter — Eating is so 2020. I would be much more excited by a card with a monthly GLP-1 prescription credit.

23. See! @Gene means well! Who needs to eat… ‘in this economy?!’ Bah!

24. @ 1990 — I almost never go to a restauarant since GLP-1s. The portions are 3x too big, the sodium is 10x too high, and, don’t get me started on the tipping thing. Ooo, maybe a card with a monthly tipping credit would be nice?

25. @Gene – all I’ll say is that it sounds like you will love the tapas concept at the new C1 landings with Jose Andres. Small gourmet plates! 🙂

    There are also some good copay cards out there! View from the Medical Wing is next door though.

26. @Gene — How about just order appetizers, or sharing with others? There are still ways to enjoy the tastes, even if smaller quantities. Or, just treat yourself to some fine wine, or spirits, or a cheese plate, caviar, a dessert… or threat your friends and family, business partner, colleagues, client. Just sayin’ you don’t have to do a 6-course meal. Even with GLP-1s. Live a little!

27. This was one of those rare terrific articles that I will save, thank you very very much.