Someone explain this industry to me, I am genuinely confused by the fact that no one seems to be paying face value for their flights. Are people making their everyday purchases with airline cards just so they can get a free business class upgrade and on their flights? Do they really forego cash back rewards just so they fly domestic business class a few times a year?

I don't fly much beyond the one or so inter-continental flight I take a year. While 8-14 hours in cattle class sucks It just doesn't seem worth it to make my day to day purchases on a niche credit card as opposed to a 1-3% cash back card.

Is it really that easy to manipulate the "welcome bonuses" Into free/upgraded flights?

>>2803809 (OP)
>Credit cards charge merchants 2% or so
>Credit cards give you 0.5% per purchase as some type of kickback
>If you spend x amount, you get bonuses

Basically you have to buy loads of shit to get these ''''''''free upgrades''''''''''.

>>2803809 (OP)
>I am genuinely confused by the fact that no one seems to be paying face value for their flights.
Airline CC's rarely change the cost of your flight unless you pay for it with miles. Often 1 mile = 1 to 10c depending on airline and route. Most people use and keep the cards for the status, early booking, free luggage, preferred treatment, lounge access, etc.

>Are people making their everyday purchases with airline cards just so they can get a free business class upgrade and on their flights?
Depends, if you throw everything on that card you can get free flights domestically fairly easily. Though you have to weigh it, many of the heavy hitters add a 3-5% charge on it, like utilities/rent/car payments, etc. I use my AAdvantage card for everyday purchases and it's easy way to rack things up as I often at the end of the year have 1-2 flights round trip to Japan and back.

>Do they really forego cash back rewards just so they fly domestic business class a few times a year?
If you travel a lot it makes sense, also miles can be used for hotels, car rentals, and so on. Not just flights.

>Is it really that easy to manipulate the "welcome bonuses" Into free/upgraded flights?
These are pitched to catch the poorfags into "oh dayum gurl did u hear dat? Free flight round trips and I gots dat free miles to vegas baby!" and will run a balance at the end of each month @ 23.99% and not notice the 99-249 yearly fee.

These cards are beneficial to those who travel for work or pleasure often and pay off their card at the end of the month getting the benefits. For me free lounge access, early boarding, free bag, and ability to collect miles >>> rewards card from others or the "1-3%" cash back that only applies to X/y/z and maybe adds up to something. My job allows me to use personal cards for booking on my travel so long as I expense it all through concur I get refunded, so it's literally free vacations for me.

Also keep in mind that 1-3% cash back is meh, if you spent 100,000 a year in your CC you're looking at 3000 tops. That's assuming you got the absolute best cash back. More likely you're getting 1% or 1000-12000. For those who fly constantly be it work or pleasure, 1000 in checked bag fee's, lounge fee's, upgrades from basic economy, inflight wifi discounts, etc is easy to hit in under 6 months.

being able to waltz into the Admirals lounge and chill for 4ish hours in comfort and have free snacks while I wait for my connection, knowing I don't have to pay 35-55 dollars per bag, and sit in a more comfortable seat is worth 'losing' that hypothetical 3k/yr.

Airline cards are generally crap. You want to stick with a card that gives you flexible and transferable currency like AMEX, Chase, or Capital One.

>>2803842
Most airline cards have pretty decent exchange rates unless your card is specifically for some shit domestic airline like spirit or frontier. Now cash withdrawls on them, completely different story but in all reality if you're doing that much overseas just get something like Charles Schwab or such with GOAT rates

>>2803845
Yes but they hem you in. If you have a United card you can only book United and their partners. If you have an AMEX card that earns MR, you can transfer and book with dozens of airlines.

>>2803818
>>2803820

I get that. I guess it just depends on how valuable your time in the sky is. If you fly often enough it makes sense. I fly rarely more than once a year. I have a $900 in cash back credit between my two cards I plan on using for my 3 weeks Euro trip coming up.

$900 or suffer on cattle class for 11 hours. I see the product now.

>>2803850
> If you have a United card you can only book United and their partners
LMAO what room temp IQ take is this shit?

You can book other airlines just fine you don't get the slight perks of 2x points and free bags+priority boarding. The horror. Just weigh each flight cost and it's advantages/disadvantages and go with that. At worst you use that united card and still get 1x points on the total cost.

>If you have an AMEX card that earns MR, you can transfer and book with dozens of airlines.
I had an AMEX, post covid it has become really meh in the rewards you're better going with an airline card for the "passive" benefits such as baggage/boarding/etc.

Most people here will be 99% covered by weighing Oneworld or Skyteam, if you're trying to rack up stuff for budget SEA airlines lmao.

>>2803852
Or just shop around, ask about lotto options some airlines sell no show tickets at the desk for business/first you can bid on

>>2803845
Charles Schwab has hands down the best banking platform for someone spending a lot of time abroad. I do my investing/retirement there along with my checking because of the no ATM fee benefit

>>2803809 (OP)
This shit is for millionaires who don’t think about spending money.

I do have a chase sapphire preferred tho and I love flexing it on Normie cashiers

Is the JP morgan reserve or Sapphire reserve good?

>>2803903
I make around 100k/yr, these are fine even when I made <60k.
DO:
Pay these off at the end of every month
Use these where you get 2x/3x points the most
Use these as a replacement as much as possible for a debit/credit card
Look at the offers like "spend X in 1 year and redeem 125-250 in a flight credit"
Hit the spending metric when you sign up
Don't
Use these for things like utilities, rent, car payments and other bills that charge 2-10% for use of a CC
Use these as a replacement for an Debt/ATM card for cash withdrawls
Let a balance linger like most retards
Use your miles the second you get a free flight(status can sometimes be better)

>>2803917
CSR is only worth it if you’ll use all the credits. They just increased the fee and in my opinion made the card not worth it. AMEX Gold is one of the best for most people.

Airport lounge access sucks.
Who wants to take a bus to a different terminal at Heathrow to access your lounge for an hour.
Fuck that.

>>2803967
Imagine not being invited to the lounge in your own terminal, kek.

Air miles cards have been worthless for some time now, only boomers buy them because they haven't caught on

And yes buy because points/cash back cards are literally free money, whereas air miles are just a scam to trick you into paying more for your flights not to mention they cost an annual fee

>>2803991
The most cashback does is payoff the annual fee that is waived the first year

>>2803967
Heathrow is such an awful airport

>>2803995
I've got three cashback cards and only one of them charges a small fee

>>2804025
Says the american who's raped at each airport

Absolutely nothing wrong with LHR it's wonderful and even has a thing called a train to it.

>>2803809 (OP)
>Is it really that easy to manipulate the "welcome bonuses" Into free/upgraded flights?

Sort of. Earning points/miles through sign-up bonuses is easy enough: apply for card, get approved, spend minimum amount within set timeframe, downgrade to free card or cancel after one year, repeat as often as possible. Actually redeeming the miles for premium international flights at a not-awful rate is often much more difficult and the part that many of the bloggers and tiktok travel influencer types will gloss over. People will literally spend dozens of hours researching this shit, hunting for deals, and talking on the phone with airline booking agents to get some of the most lucrative and aspirational redemptions, like business-class flights to asia. Unless that sounds like a fun game to you, or you can make really good use of the ancillary benefits of a travel-specific card, you're probably better off with your cash back bullshit.