Amex points or Chase 1%

Kirkmain

First time poster, please be gentle

Usually make all purchases, where accepted, with Amex platinum to collect points. Currently signed up for the Chase card which is offering 1% cash back in the first 12months.

Which is better value for money? Amex points or Chase 1%

DailyHail

Depends how you define value.

DullGreyGuy

What would you use the AmEx points for? (Guess you mean MR?) What is the conversion rate?

Other than introducing friends there seems to be a lot less bonus MR opportunities in recent years (or bonus transfers) but if you value airmiles etc then in theory you can get more than 1% value from them. 

Marchitiello

Lifestyle has a big influence for me. 

Assuming you mean “The Platinum” card (MR points),  We can somehow define the cash value of Amex MR point  by the transfer to Avios and then Nectar, giving it £0.0067 per £1 spent.

Chase would currently give you £0.01 per £1 spent.

However, when collecting MR points, the best return would be on luxury travel booking (business/first airfare and/or 5 stars hotel stays), but the argument is that it will only be value if one would have otherwise travel that way in any case.

On my last travel booking for example I have had a return of £0.039 for my MR points

artyboy

...or get yourself a second Amex (if they allow it) - this time the platinum cashback one, that gives up to 1.25% in straightforward cash.

Of course it depends just how much you would put on the card each month, I'm on course to get over £1000 in cashback this year, so clearly it's not a difficult decision in my case...

...and keep the Chase card for anywhere that doesn't take Amex

Kirkmain

Marchitiello said:

Lifestyle has a big influence for me. 

Assuming you mean “The Platinum” card (MR points),  We can somehow define the cash value of Amex MR point  by the transfer to Avios and then Nectar, giving it £0.0067 per £1 spent.

Chase would currently give you £0.01 per £1 spent.

However, when collecting MR points, the best return would be on luxury travel booking (business/first airfare and/or 5 stars hotel stays), but the argument is that it will only be value if one would have otherwise travel that way in any case.

On my last travel booking for example I have had a return of £0.039 for my MR points

Interesting. Yes we use American express platinum to either purchase long haul flights or upgrade to business class on said long haul flights. How did you acheive a return of 0.039GBP per Amex point? It is the platinum card. If thats the potential return, I guess it is still better value for purchase to accrue my platinum points then to get the 1% cashback.

artyboy

Achieving a return like that can be done with BA easily enough if you're the sort of person that stays up till midnight to bagsy reward flights on popular (and therefore expensive) routes the moment they are released. 

Even with certain routes, upgrading from premium economy to business using Avios can be a very good value proposition.

Just by being very flexible with schedules, again - there's a lot of value out there.

But it's shifting sands - airline points get devalued through fee and mileage increases on redemptions. Trying to get a consistent high value return is a very dark art, which is why there's a typical consensus view that the 'value' of an Avios is about 1p.

For (much much) more information, go look on Flyertalk. But the above is precisely the reason that I stick to the cashback Amex,  and use other ways to accumulate my airline miles. Sometimes even by flying 

DullGreyGuy

Kirkmain said:
How did you acheive a return of 0.039GBP per Amex point? 

HKG to LHR in 1st is £10,675 with Cathay Pacific

With Avios, off peak, its 102,000 avios and £5 taxes

That gets you £0.1046 per AmEx point, assuming no transfer bonuses

Obviously there is a question as to if its really worth 10.5p if you'd have never spent £10k on a flight were it not for the points? 

Noneforit999

I have the Amex Cashback Platinum and have earned £450 in cashback this year which is great but they simply credit your account so you then have to spend it back on the Amex anyway.

I think chase allow you to move the cashback elsewhere and do what you want with it?

Marchitiello

I earn and use MR points/ Avios via a number of sources, including Amex Platinum (Personal), Amex Gold (Business), BAPP Amex, Barclays Premier Avios Rewards, Barclaycard Avios Plus, HSBC Premier World Elite, Nectar, CapitalOnTap (Business) and few other ways.

I have made more then 250,000 MR with Amex this year (sign up bonuses, referral) and al through I Have used my Avios from other sources, for the comparison I made for you I have assumed these were MR points (BAPP Amex actually give me 1.5 Avios per pound, and 3 Avios per pound spent on BA, so the return is even higher).

Anyway, that return in the previous example was on 2 First class ticket to a Long Haul, 10 hours flight destination, which unsurprisingly managed to score directly on the App, without having to call a midnight 355 days in advance (a very rare occurrence, the midnight call remain the normal route)

DullGreyGuy

Marchitiello said:

Anyway, that return in the previous example was on 2 First class ticket to a Long Haul, 10 hours flight destination, which unsurprisingly managed to score directly on the App, without having to call a midnight 355 days in advance (a very rare occurrence, the midnight call remain the normal route)

I've always found its very dependent on the route, First to HKG or MEX etc are fairly often available if you're flexible with dates... for Mex outbound for April more days than not have availability (only looking at direct flights). If you're looking at to JFK etc then its the midnight 1 year in advance to get it