Amex Hilton Changes

[brp]

I am already enrolled in TSA-pre. Would it be redundant or worth it to get Clear plus?

Highly, Highly, HIGHLY worth it (I hope I stressed that enough ). We've had a number of cases with very long Pre-Check lines and more reasonable CLEAR lines that jump to the front of the queue. At a cost of free, it's no no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.

Cheers.

 

[GT75]

They aren't redundant, but I would only get Clear if part of another benefit such as Aspire card and your airport supports clear.

 

[brp]

They aren't redundant, but I would only get Clear if part of another benefit such as Aspire card and your airport supports clear.

Definitely only if it's Free. I had assumed that in the context of the question. I don't think it's worth $179, but I can make the strong case at Free

Cheers.

 

[Reddart]

Yes, just got the aspire and noticed the Clear credit.

 

[letsgobobby]

I need Clear to pay me for all that detailed info about myself and my iris scan. Why would I give it to them for free?

 

[brp]

I need Clear to pay me for all that detailed info about myself and my iris scan. Why would I give it to them for free?

For all the time I save, I'm happy to give it. That is enough benefit for me. YMMV.

Cheers.

 

[GT75]

We also have a clear lane near the southwest checkin at Atlanta (1 floor down) which isn't well known (as in usually a very short wait).

 

[Monkeyboy]

We also have a clear lane near the southwest checkin at Atlanta (1 floor down) which isn't well known (as in usually a very short wait).

TSA pre check I can take 1 child with me (I think) is clear the same?

 

[letsgobobby]

fortunately TSA lines are very short at our home airport and we have 5 credit cards with free Global Entry every four years so all four of us get it for free. Clear is not worth anything to us - but neither is PP with poor lounge choices. So the new Aspire isn't really worse than the old Aspire to us. It's just not better - it does cost more however.

 

[Reddart]

Ha, yeah I found the PP to be completely useless. Was never in a terminal that had a PP lounge.

 

[ljmiii]

We found PP lounge access at HNL and Bergen, Norway to be useful (the only two airports at which we tried recently).

 

[brp]

Ha, yeah I found the PP to be completely useless. Was never in a terminal that had a PP lounge.

By contrast, our home airport (SJC) has a PP lounge (The Club), so we're there often. We go to a number of airports where this is useful, i.e. where there is not an appropriate airline lounge we can use. We visit lounges 20 or more times a year so, for us, PP access is worth it. But it is very situational.

Cheers.

 

[HuskerATL]

By contrast, our home airport (SJC) has a PP lounge (The Club), so we're there often. We go to a number of airports where this is useful, i.e. where there is not an appropriate airline lounge we can use. We visit lounges 20 or more times a year so, for us, PP access is worth it. But it is very situational.

Cheers.

US too but typically internationally. However, I have used a PP lounge in ATL when the Delta lounge was full. Good option to have.

 

[brp]

US too but typically internationally. However, I have used a PP lounge in ATL when the Delta lounge was full. Good option to have.

Internationally we almost invariably have OneWorld lounges to use and they're typically leaps and bounds above PP offerings, so we go there. But the airports do tend to have the PP lounges.

Cheers.

 

[letsgobobby]

our home airports were great when PP had restaurants. we loved it. That's over in three days. PP now worthless. The Club varies but mostly they're pretty sad. Wife and daughter just went to Escape at SMF and said it was terrible.

we're cancelling one of our Chase Sapphire Reserve cards this fall when AF is due. I'll keep mine for now because of the point earning and the promise that they get their lounges open soon in Vegas, San diego, and Phoenix because the Boston lounge is incredible. but we honestly might just cancel both and move everything to Aspire for the extra free nights. I already have American and Alaska lounge membership and those especially SEA which is close to home are very good. I could and have spent eight hours at SEA AS lounge, and very happily.

 

[HuskerATL]

We have the Aspire but also the Amex Plat that gives us Centurion, Delta, and PP.

 

[brp]

we're cancelling one of our Chase Sapphire Reserve cards this fall when AF is due. I'll keep mine for now because of the point earning and the promise that they get their lounges open soon in Vegas, San diego, and Phoenix because the Boston lounge is incredible. but we honestly might just cancel both and move everything to Aspire for the extra free nights. I already have American and Alaska lounge membership and those especially SEA which is close to home are very good. I could and have spent eight hours at SEA AS lounge, and very happily.

We have the AA lounge access via a credit card and this gives access to the AS lounges. We simply love the AS lounge in SEA terminal N. Could also spend many hours there.

OT story: Shortly after the Max-9 debacle, we had a flight SEA-SJC canceled and they were moving folks around. In the end we got $1500 each (so $3000) and moved to a flight about 3 hours later. Added the money to Wallet and went back to the lounge

The Sapphire has primary car rental coverage, good earning on dining and travel and transfers to Hyatt. With $300 in rebates right off the bat, it's still my primary card, after spending $15K on Hyatt card for a free night.

Cheers.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

We've found PP very useful for SFO, SJC, and other domestic and international airports (Scotland, Frankfurt, Lisbon). They just added OAK (The Club) so that is a bonus. I miss the restaurant benefit they recently eliminated. That was a significant devaluation. Although I use it a lot, I would not pay extra for this lounge benefit.

We are now lifetime gold elite with United so we can use the United lounges and Star Alliance Lounges for international flights. This elite level does not work for domestic flights so the two complement each other quite well.

 

[frank808]

our home airports were great when PP had restaurants. we loved it. That's over in three days. PP now worthless. The Club varies but mostly they're pretty sad. Wife and daughter just went to Escape at SMF and said it was terrible.

we're cancelling one of our Chase Sapphire Reserve cards this fall when AF is due. I'll keep mine for now because of the point earning and the promise that they get their lounges open soon in Vegas, San diego, and Phoenix because the Boston lounge is incredible. but we honestly might just cancel both and move everything to Aspire for the extra free nights. I already have American and Alaska lounge membership and those especially SEA which is close to home are very good. I could and have spent eight hours at SEA AS lounge, and very happily.

Product change from a Chase Marriott card to the Ritz Carlton Chase Visa after getting the Chase Marriott card. For $450 you get a PP account and all authorized users (free to add on at least 4 AU) get their own PP card.

For the $450 you get $300 airline credit (although you have to make a call to Chase to get credit). So essentially paying $150 for a 85K free night certificate. Which I am able to get greater than that value every year.

 

[rc51]

Highly, Highly, HIGHLY worth it (I hope I stressed that enough ). We've had a number of cases with very long Pre-Check lines and more reasonable CLEAR lines that jump to the front of the queue. At a cost of free, it's no no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.

Cheers.

If it's free, you should definitely do it. It's always great to have the option of using it (or Priority Pass). If you travel enough, you will always find a time where that option ends up being the best one (case in point, I skipped the mondo Clear line last night and flew through the tiny Pre line, but other times the Clear line is much shorter). You'll never be sad to have more options.

 

[letsgobobby]

We have the AA lounge access via a credit card and this gives access to the AS lounges. We simply love the AS lounge in SEA terminal N. Could also spend many hours there.

OT story: Shortly after the Max-9 debacle, we had a flight SEA-SJC canceled and they were moving folks around. In the end we got $1500 each (so $3000) and moved to a flight about 3 hours later. Added the money to Wallet and went back to the lounge

The Sapphire has primary car rental coverage, good earning on dining and travel and transfers to Hyatt. With $300 in rebates right off the bat, it's still my primary card, after spending $15K on Hyatt card for a free night.

Cheers.

i would like to learn how to optimize Hyatt transfers. That said we will keep the one card for now.

 

[Monkeyboy]

is anyone going through their statement and asking Amex to correct the point amounts if the have the categories wrong? For example getting 3x for a restaurant instead of 7x.

 

[Lodemia]

Product change from a Chase Marriott card to the Ritz Carlton Chase Visa after getting the Chase Marriott card. For $450 you get a PP account and all authorized users (free to add on at least 4 AU) get their own PP card.

For the $450 you get $300 airline credit (although you have to make a call to Chase to get credit). So essentially paying $150 for a 85K free night certificate. Which I am able to get greater than that value every year.

I did this last year and was able to get free Priority pass for 6 of us. Crazy good deal. Just got my $300 united credit and I’m using my cert in NYC which has a $636 value. I’m thinking I’ve maxed this one out.

 

[Lodemia]

is anyone going through their statement and asking Amex to correct the point amounts if the have the categories wrong? For example getting 3x for a restaurant instead of 7x.

I’ll have to check next month.

 

[easyrider]

is anyone going through their statement and asking Amex to correct the point amounts if the have the categories wrong? For example getting 3x for a restaurant instead of 7x.

I canceled the Hilton Amex because of the lack of incentive to keep it. I was thinking of canceling the Marriott Amex but they give a free night after you pay the card fee and I like the enhanced rental car protection.

Bill