Chase Sapphire Reserve Will NOT Have the Infinite $100 Airfare Discount

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• Love how active this thread is over VI $100 Airfare Discount... hilarious... WHAT?! NO $100?! OMG. CSR Sucks Donkey Nuts Now! Chase is SO STUPID. I cant decide now between CSR and CSP! OMG. They are almost the same thing. The difference is only $55 now... Why would they do this to us! The $55 difference is makes the CSR useless like sweaty peanuts! Now I must meditate on this at a temple to figure out the quantum space math and make sure everything is in line with my ultra smart personal financial plan. My family and retirement plans and estate planning all hinges on the $100 credit...

• To the guy who is asking why people are upset over the $100 airfare credit since most of us use pointa for flights.
  Yea thats right but sometimes the cash price on tickets are so low that its not worthed to burn miles and rather pay cash.
  Why spend 10K jet blue points if the ticket price is $69 or 12.5K AA points when the ticket is $99 and so on.

• Has anyone used the global entry benefit to buy for someone else? I already applied for myself with the prestige but this card will be giving the benefit too and thinking I might just buy it for a friend and charge him like $70 or something. Apologize if this comment violates some sort of policy but I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of this!

• Y not just wait till December to apply for CSR and get the $300 credit 3 times and only pay AF once?

  • Even if some of the benefits changed, hard to imagine they would change by enough to make up for an extra $300...

    The real issue would be whether the signup bonus will still be 100k by then. But hopefully we will get a clear end date for that in advance, so we can plan.

    Also keep in mind that since the $300 travel purchase would have to post by the December closing statement- and NOT by December 31- in order to count for 2016, you would really need to apply in mid-November in order to make sure to get in on time.

    • Yeah I have to look back at my records on how to time this. Did this exact thing with Ritz Carlton when they offered 80000 points. I remember just getting in under the wire.

  • Benefits might change by then, 5/24 might apply etc etc.

    • Good points. Think I'll still wait it out though as 5/24 won't apply to me at that point and hoping the benefits won't change in those 3+ months.

  • I thought you pay AF within few days after account open (say Dec.7'16), and another in Dec.7,2017.

    • Yes but u could then cancel card in January 2018 and get AF refunded. Thus paying $450 once and getting $900 in travel credits.

• I don't understand why everyone is upset about the $100 airfare credit. Aren't most people who read this blog getting airfare with points and not cash? My understanding of how the credit works is that you have to pay cash for 2 tickets and then you get a $100 credit. If you book all of your flights with points, isn't this a moot point?

  • Agreed. Even if I am paying, I'm paying for Southwest, with my Companion Pass, so this discount is a no-nevermind to me anyways.

  • I agree burning miles for free flights could be the prime focus. My point is more of for the people who take advantage of a cheap flight for status qualification on an airline. I talk about people who are also doing mileage runs coast to coast for those PQM's.
    Sometime, spending also makes sense and at those times this $100 credit makes more sense and if I could do a dirt cheap 2 round trip tickets..I am ahead of the game on the annual fee. And you are right...I keep those 100k points for a great First class flight to Europe or Asia.

• For me, the CSR without the $100 airfare discount is seriously a big flaw. I travel a lot for work but when I travel with my wife, seriously this $100 credit makes a lot of difference.
  If the CSR have this benefit, then I am a keeper of CSR every year and CSR+Premier would be the perfect combo.

• Any reason WHY they're saying CSR card will not have the $100 airfare discount, even though it's an Infinite Visa?

  • Visa features are opt in, not all cards carry the full suite of benefits. I guess Chase didn't want to pay for that benefit/turned it off.

• "Now, the PATH system and the NYC transit system and the EZ Pass system are governmental or quasi-governmental entities but they do qualify for the bonus."
  This doesn't make sense. There's DP online that it is not coded as travel; as well as it is. Who's right?

  • Which one is not coded as travel?

    I will check whichever one you are referring to and get back to you, but to the best of my knowledge, they are all coded as travel.

    I'll also check the Prestige/Preferred combo to see if there is any difference.

    • Actually all. MBTA. Metrocard. EZpass. For CSP and Prestige. (Conflicting DP on ezpass; maybe depends on the state; no1 commented on NYPA.) Thx.

      • OK.

        I recently switched my PATH services from my Sapphire to the Premier but I still have months with the drop-down boxes clearly showing that the PATH earned the bonus for Travel on the Sapphire card.

        With respect to the Premier card, I never have specifically calculated for each transaction whether or not they received the bonus, if the Premier designated them as travel related.

        Nevertheless, the Premier noted that with respect to:

        EZ Pass = Other Travel/Bridges and Road Tolls, Fees

        MTA (NYC's Subways & Buses) = Other Travel/Local Suburban Commuter Passenger Trans

        Port Authority (PATH) = Other Travel/Local Suburban Commuter Passenger Trans

        In addition, I also traveled to London and used the Premier card to load up my Oyster Card for travel on London's Tube. This coded as:

        LUL Ticket Machine Green Park (the name of the particular Tube station I loaded $$ at) GBR = Other Travel/Passenger Railways

        My private parking company since I live in an urban area is coded as:

        Vehicle Services Auto Parking Lots/Garages

        as was another that I had used in Ft. Lauderdale.

        Finally, Amtrak was coded as:

        Other Travel/Passenger Railways,

        and either a bus or train ticket that was purchased to take one into NYC from New Jersey on the New Jersey Transit System, was coded as the following:

        NJT PABT 0901 NEWARK NJ = Other Travel/Local Suburban Commuter Passenger Trans

        Now, as I have noted above, I have not specifically researched that the items above coded as Travel actually received the travel bonus from the Premier, but I have no reason to believe that they did not.

        Further, the one instance where I can easily see a travel related expenditure for the Sapphire Preferred was for the PATH service, and that absolutely did received the travel bonus from Chase, and I see no reason whey since the Premier similarly identifies that as a travel related expense, it would not receive such a bonus.

        I do believe, however, that certain states might categorize EZ Pass as miscellaneous government services, whereas others would categorize it as mine has above as Tolls, which is subject to a bonus multiplier under either the Sapphire Preferred or the Citi Premier.

        I hope the above has been helpful.

      • I think EZ Pass is state specific, but I will check the other ones and get back to you.

        Have not used MBTA -- I assume Massachussetts Bay Tunnel Authority?

• I'm not understanding the naysayers in this thread at all. After the $300 travel credit the Reserve will cost an extra $55 over the CSP. Simply spending $3666 on the card on either travel or dining covers that cost. Anything beyond that means a cardholder comes out ahead. On top of that all the URs a cardholder currently holds gets an instant $0.25 increase in guaranteed value without the hassle of locating award space if the URs are transferred to a FF program. For me that's $600+ in increased guaranteed value. I will be applying ASAP.

  • Paul --

    Thanks for figuring out the break-even point of the CSR -- I think we will surpass that, and your point about UR redemption is well noted, especially since the Prestige is slated to drop from 1.6 cents or 1.33 cents to 1.25 cents/point.

    Therefore, as between those 2 "super" cards, point redemption via UR will effectively be greater in about 11 months time -- something to consider, as well as the better stable of point transfer partners.

• I don't exactly trust TPG post.

  But if true, would make this much less valuable long-term. Will now considering cancelling after year 1.

  Completely stupid the Ritz gets the $100 credit and not the new high-end Reserve. Reserve is the TRAVEL card and has same AF. Ritz is a HOTEL card, so makes less sense for that to be the one with airfare discount...

  • Peter --

    I'm with you. I would certainly "test" whether the CSR Visa Infinite discloses the $100.00 savings or not -- after all, I believe people have to go to a special Visa Infinite web site and input some such things.

    What if Chase says the CSR does not convey such benefit, but nonetheless, regardless of what Chase says, Visa Infiinte cards are set up to provide such benefit???

    The proof will be in the pudding, but I would not foreclose the CSR not providing such benefit.

    As conspiracy theorists and those not fond of the TPG may theorize, if the CSR provides all and more than the CSP card provides, and if its use can serve to lower the effective cost of the CSR even more, then that would undercut the CSP card!

    And, from what I have read above, TPG is the biggest pumper of THAT card, so perhaps his stating that the $100 joint airfare benefit is not included in the CSR card, is an effort, to keep his steady stream of new CSP entrants flowing?

    Only time will tel!

    • Considering the two current Infinite cards have an own URL for that portal, I highly doubt it. But, you're right, have to try.

      • Did not know that they were card specific portals, thanks. Probably won't work.