All information about the Hilton American Express Surpass, Aspire, Platinum, and Business Platinum Cards has been collected independently by Miles to Memories.
Credit Card Benefits
We intensely focus on certain angles in our points and travel hobby. Many enjoy doing so, sometimes while taking things too seriously. I focus on the former, but I’m guilty of the latter here and there. This often happens in the credit card benefits realm. The importance of maximizing credit card benefits often goes too far, in my opinion. Anger and, perhaps, a bit of inherently-misplaced entitlement are on display with seemingly every benefit change, even newly-added perks. Sure, some are more niche and less useful than others. Many just reflexively holler, “COUPON BOOK!”
Get over it. I hold cards which offer oodles of benefits I don’t use, and that’s fine. I do well enough with signup bonuses and a few select benefits that more than make up for the annual fee. Indeed, I pay for benefits which I don’t care much about, if at all, and I’m not mad about it. Here are just a few.
Bonus Earning on Co-branded Spend
Some of my goals enable more “free” or discounted items and experiences. For travel-related endeavors, I book award tickets and rooms rather than cash rates. Beyond a few Breeze flights, my airline and rail travel has been on awards for multiple decades. So earning bonus miles or points with those entities by using their co-branded credit cards is worth close to nothing in my situation. Paying a higher annual fee for more earning potential with that airline or hotel just doesn’t move the needle for us. But that benefit comes with many of our cards which we hold for other reasons.
Cell Phone Protection
I generally limit my cell phone hijinks to buying cheap unlocked phones and getting ~95% off my monthly rate. This doesn’t involve directly paying for my phone and/or plan with an ultrapremium card offering cell phone protection, so I’m not eligible for the benefit. That’s fine with me.
Waived Baggage Fees
My air travel is primarily solo, and I opt to pack extremely light. I carry on, planning to place my bag under my seat, if necessary. On family trips, we’re often flying Southwest (two free checked bags are standard) or American (status provides free checked bags). Associated credit card perks here come into play for us pretty much never.
Travel Transfer Partners
I’ve talked plenty about how I prefer redeeming the credit card heavyweights’ bank points for cash back. I’ve never transferred Amex Membership Rewards points to a travel partner. I applaud Citi’s eclectic set of transfer partners but haven’t actually ever needed to transfer there. I recently made my first, only, and smallest-possible transfer of Chase Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt. Other than that one instance, I’ve cashed out everything else there. I’m directly or indirectly paying for access to these partners I don’t use, but I easily come out ahead elsewhere.
TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, Clear, etc
I don’t use any of these services for multiple reasons. My home airport is a midsize one with generally short lines. Often, this airport’s premium line is equal or longer than the normal passengers’ line. Regardless, I don’t fly enough where shorter lines makes a substantial difference. After comparing those factors to the time and effort it takes to enroll in these programs, they’re not worth the bother. Am I in a hurry? No. Am I lazy? Perhaps. Is this simpler for me? Absolutely.
Automatic Low/Mid-Tier Status
The last time I cared about mid-tier status as a card benefit was with the first Surpass card I ever held many years ago. It unlocked Hilton Honors Gold, what I still consider the best mid-tier version out there. I subsequently bought into top-tier Diamond with the Aspire, rendering that Surpass benefit unnecessary. I no longer hold the Aspire, but I’m still Diamond; probably due to spend.
Other cards I currently hold offer some random low- or mid-tier elite status which means little. Their benefits don’t bring me anything significant. Amex ultrapremium cards give away Hilton Honors Gold and Bonvoy Gold status. I have that already with other cards or due to separate efforts I’ve made. These status levels are solid benefits for many cardholders, but I must admit that I’m paying for nothing in return here.
Credit Card Benefits – Conclusion
Credit card benefits matter, but only up to a certain point. In most cases, it’s not necessary to extrapolate all possible value out of every benefit. I usually go after a card for one or two primary reasons, which are often enough to more than pay for the annual fee. In other situations, I’ll look for a few more benefits which make up for the annual fee, apply, and call it a win.
Like much in our hobby (and in life), I’ve found credit card benefits shouldn’t be taken in an all-or-nothing approach. Most of the answers are somewhere in the middle. That in-between is where I’ll continue to explore, and I encourage you to do the same!
Which credit card benefits do you have little to no use for, but you pay for them, anyway?
The post I Don’t Get What I Pay For – Why I Avoid These Credit Card Benefits appeared first on Miles to Memories.
