# For United Carpet Club Members



## channimal (Jun 7, 2012)

I'm usually not a big advocate for credit cards or cc spending.. but the new United cc that includes red carpet club membership is very nice.  

Recently, wife and I coming in from Aruba through IAD and we stopped at the rcc.  Come to find out my rcc membership had expired and due to the system integration between CO and UA.. they no longer send out renewal notices  

I've seen the ads for the new cards (explorer and club card) so decided to sign-up.

The United MileagePlus Club Card fee is $395/yr (waived for the first year) and *includes* red carpet club membership. The new costs for carpet club membership for a Gold level (in their frequent flyer program) is $400 and $375 if you are premier 1K.  So, essentially you're either getting the card for free or the club membership for free (depending on perspective).  And, in the first year you pay $0 for both :whoopie: 

Also, 1.5x points on purchases and 2x on UA tickets and *no foreign transaction fees!!*

Was a no-brainer for me since I fly so much for business and have been a carpet club member for more than 15 years now.


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## MichaelColey (Jun 7, 2012)

*American* has a similar card, which is $450/year.  One benefit it had was that the mileage earned on the card by those who signed up before 12/1/11 counted towards million miler status.

*American Express Platinum* (also in the $400-500 range) is what many frequent travelers use, because it includes lounge access for SEVERAL airlines (plus status in several hotel and car programs, I think).


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## Hobo1 (Jun 7, 2012)

channimal said:


> Was a no-brainer for me since I fly so much for business and have been a carpet club member for more than 15 years now.



I was a "road warrior" for close to 20 years (260 nights / cities annually).  

Unless there was a flight delay, I found I spent very little time in an airline club lounge and in most cases I could get courtesy access or purchase a day pass (less than $50) to the lounge, which was a lot cheaper than $300 - $500 for a credit card annual fee.

My rule is to never pay for a credit card regardless of the perks. 

I have a CitiAA card that provides several perks including miles per dollar purchase that I've carried for over 15 years. It has a $100 annual fee. Every year they bill me $100 and every year I call and cancel the card, and every year they waive the fee. :whoopie:


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## Passepartout (Jun 7, 2012)

Heck, I thought this was about some kind of 'carpet club'. And I wondered who needs more of a life than to enroll in a carpet club. I've heard of book clubs and record and movie and golf clubs, but not carpet clubs. Maybe it would work.

Who knew? 

Jim


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## channimal (Jun 7, 2012)

Passepartout said:


> Heck, I thought this was about some kind of 'carpet club'. And I wondered who needs more of a life than to enroll in a carpet club. I've heard of book clubs and record and movie and golf clubs, but not carpet clubs. Maybe it would work.
> 
> Who knew?
> 
> Jim



:hysterical:


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## MichaelColey (Jun 7, 2012)

Hobo1 said:


> My rule is to never pay for a credit card regardless of the perks.


My rule is to always look at the bottom line. If the perks (relative to the perks for the best "no annual fee" card) more than make up for the annual fee, I don't mind an annual fee.

I never thought I would get a card with a $450 annual fee (and I won't be keeping it after the first year), but AA's World Elite MasterCard gave me benefits that were worth the $450. I would have been 200k miles short of lifetime Platinum status (and it would probably take 10 years for me to close that gap just by flying), but by paying the $450 annual fee and spending $200k on the card this year, I'll have it. Plus I get Admiral's Club access.


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## dougp26364 (Jun 7, 2012)

I agree, the bottom line is important enough not to have the knee jerk reaction of not having a card secondary to an annual fee. 

We carry UAL rewards cards right now. One gives us double miles on everyday purchases and has essentially paid for our next flights to Hawaii with the return overnight leg being in first class. Those flights right there will cover the cost of both cards for several years. Plus, the Explorer card gives us priority boarding and 1 free checked bag for each passenger. The free checked bag perk has already paid for that card as well.

Just saying a card isn't worth it because is has a fee can be penny wise but pound foolish. You really need to look at your travel habits and the benefits of the card. I don't carry the AE Delta card because we haven't been flying Delta, so the fee for that card isn't worth it to us. Thus, we don't carry that particular card. We do fly Frontier on occasion and Frontier has a CC with no fee or a card with a little better benefits and a fee. Since we only fly Frontier once every so often, we keep the card with no fee to keep our FF accounts active. Otherwise, I doubt we'd carry that card. But, we do fly United frequently, at least as it stands now, so carrying both cards, even with their fee's, pays off in the end for us each year.

If we took enough flights with long layovers, we might actually take this card out as well. Fortunately, it's not very often we have a layover longer than 90 minutes. For the $450 fee I think I can handle sitting at a Starbucks in the airport vs sitting in the Red Carpet Club. So for us, it might be a great perk but not one we're willing to pay another fee to have.


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## Southdown13 (Jun 7, 2012)

We have had the United MileagePlus Club Card for a few years and have enjoyed the Red Carpet Club Lounge access. I recently received a mailer that promoted their increased the benefits. If you book a flight with United, your 1st and 2nd bags are free. You also get Hyatt Platinum status which might be considered on par with Starwood Gold. I think the added benefits start in July. We were pleasantly surprised that they actually added a few perks.


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## sb2313 (Jun 8, 2012)

the club card also gets you avis presidents club status, which isn't a bad thing at all to have.  There are offers for the first year free for this card, so I'm trying it out for a year and I'll decide after that if I want to keep this card or stick with the $95/year UA chase card.


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## dundey (Jun 8, 2012)

Basically if you check bags - 4 flights a year pays for the card.
I am a continental one pass club card holder, which is now United of course.
With CO it was 2 bags per flight, not sure if it has decreased to 1 with the UA takeover, er merger.  Yeah right!  All of the old CO perks are now gone.  I hate United, but from Newark there's not really a choice now.


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## Hobo1 (Jun 8, 2012)

dougp26364 said:


> I agree, the bottom line is important enough not to have the knee jerk reaction of not having a card secondary to an annual fee.
> 
> Just saying a card isn't worth it because is has a fee can be penny wise but pound foolish. You really need to look at your travel habits and the benefits of the card.



There is a difference between having a cc with perks and paying for a cc with perks.  I have chosen to let the cc company decide whether their annual fee is worth more to them than my business.

They make quite a bit of money from the merchant every time the merchant swipes my card and IMHO that's sufficient.

Personally, I prefer penny wise rather than pound foolish but what makes this a great country is everyone has the right to choose including how they spend or save money.  

The "perks" offered through the cc for an annual fee can be obtained by anyone who wants to spend the time negotiating for them. 

Look at my original post I carry an annual fee card and have for 15 years and have never paid the fee but I still enjoy all the perks that come with the card.


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## x3 skier (Jun 8, 2012)

Other than my AMEX that has close to 600K points still, the only card I pay for is the Chase British Airways card. For $95, I got 50000 Avios which is good for example, about five round trips to Chicago on AA that would cost a minimum of $1000. They will allow me the flexibility to take advantage of the lower fares from Gateway Cities to Europe either with FF Miles or cash. Probably drop it next year when the fee comes due. I also wait for bonus offers to transfer the AMEX Points to airline programs and usually can get 50% additional miles, which helps offset the continuing degradation of miles. 

I weigh the bennies against the cost and these two for me are the only two worth paying for. There may be others with fees but I'm happy with these two and some other free ones. 

BTW, the last few times I have been in either the Admirals Club or Sky Club, they have been packed. Since entry is now available with day passes, various Credit Cards and Memberships, it is more crowded than Walmart on Black Friday. 

Cheers


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## MaryH (Jun 8, 2012)

Southdown13 said:


> You also get Hyatt Platinum status which might be considered on par with Starwood Gold. I think the added benefits start in July.



Sorry I have been Hyatt Diamond and Platinum and SPG Platinum and Gold and hyatt Platinum is a not a very good status level whereas Diamond is excellent.   SPG platinum is pretty decent and they recently beefed up both SPG platinum and SPG gold so SPG gold is more competitive with Hilton Gold.  SPG gold is now miles better than Hyatt Platinum.


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