⚠ *CORRECTION:* At 15:03 and 15:34, the U.S. Bank itinerary was actually a 'Saver' rate. In Main Cabin, it would've also been $316.40. 💥 *UPDATE 11.18.2024:* U.S. Bank launched a new Travel Center. Learn more here: milestomemories.com/u-s-bank-launches-new-travel-center-with-booking-com/ 🚨 GET CREDIT CARD OFFER ALERTS! markscreditcards.com/offeralerts 💳👇 VIEW CREDIT CARD OFFERS! markscreditcards.com/offers 🛍 RAKUTEN - Earn Cash Back! markscreditcards.com/rakuten ⬆️ (More links in Description below video!)
You should do this same video using points. And then show the discounts using the premium card’s multipliers to compare effective cost in points. It would be cool to see what the Chase 25 to 50% Saph prefer/reserve boost looks like against the 5 to 10x multipliers (so subtracting the points you’d earn) with Amex Plat and Chase Venture X. Perhaps using 1 or 2 cents per point (depending on the repetition for that particular flight) I hope this makes sense
I must have missed it in the video, but why wasn't Citi part of this comparison? The general anecdotal feeling is people think Citi is the most expensive.
I really appreciate you going into detail and comparison. This is incredibly valuable for people who want to be conscious of who is offering the best rates. Competition is incredibly important for keeping these banks accountable.
I use the portal from Citi, Chase, Capital One, and AMEX for flights. I would say Capital One is #1 and Chase is dead last. It’s typically more expensive, and often is missing flights all together.
Error: The USB $216 AS SFO-OGG is a Saver fare, which is $50 cheaper each leg ($100 total) than Main cabin fare. 🍎🍎 to 🍊🍊 Comparing Main to Main, they all charge the same, $316.
I did not hear you mention the cons of using travel portals such as delays, cancellations, not getting refunded, hotel managers not recognizing reservations, and worse. I had a flight with Delta Airlines that got cancelled and they refunded Expedia instead of me.
Hi Mark. I'm considering applying for a Capital One card. I've heard the Capital One portal does not have Allegiant airlines (which we fly often). Is this true?
Not sure if it's true 100% of the time, but I just did several searches and Allegiant did not appear in the C1 Travel portal (but those flights did appear on the Allegiant website).
Interesting comparison study, especially since you included so many portals. Any reason you didn't also include the Citi portal? In my experience booking through portals, as well as other OTAs, sometimes when you click through to book the fare you are told the low fare is no longer available. It would have been interesting had you done that, especially for the lower fares offered by BOA.
Great video! Cool thing to see the prices vary no matter the portal or direct flight. I just got the chase sapphire preferred for their SUB offer but after that I think I’ll get the Wells Fargo journey card as a permanent travel card. Getting 5x on hotels and 4x on flights no matter the portal allows me so much more flexibility plus their active cash for a flat 2% on everything makes it a great catch all card.
I think best solution is use points and avoid taxes and fees. There will be times where you can only book boutique places. Maybe if you retest, choose properties that don't use points.
just stumbled onto your channel now. Thank you for another good analysis, and just like you said, you always need to compare them against booking directly with the airlines, hotels, and with one another if you have more than one bank in your wallet.
Appreciate the video. I've checked between amex and chase a few times. Similar results. My last checking we were booking a Hilton. I had a new United card. I was surprised it offered me the same price as my wifes Aspire . We still went with the Aspire purchase for status Bennifts but didn't expect the United card to offer the same price.
Mark, very interesting analysis of the credit card portals. Some of those sample domestic airfares were shockingly high, unless they are a last minute bookings. Were you surprised to see some of the hotel bookings through the portal to be less than booking direct?
Would love to see a video that compares each travel portal when it comes to which gives more value when redeeming points via the portal and the portal's benefits eg: Chase's The Edit vs AMEX The Hotel Collection and Fine Stays & Resorts. Because I feel that while Chase gives more points to redeem, AMEX's portal has better value, (eg: 4th night free if staying 3+ nights, free breakfast, $100 hotel credit), while Chase's The Edit has a lot less value
5 examples is far from conclusive 😄 A statistically significant conclusion for me would probably be comparing 1,000 itineraries. That said, the takeaway is the same. When booking trip, compare prices.
Extremely valuable content! I'm 0/24 and getting ready to jump off into *an* ecosphere, and I've shied away from BoA, Wells, and the USBAR because of the lack of transfer partners. USB acquitted itself well in this test, which gives me something to consider. Question: did you think of trying to simulate the real world 'unfair' fight between the transfer partner ecosystems and portal-only ecospheres? I would think the Big 3 would come out ahead on average, but by just how much (or if at all) would be interesting as well!
0/24 is a great position to be in (enjoy it)! No, I didn't consider doing a "portal vs. transfer partner" comparison. There can be dozens of ways to book a single itinerary with transfer partners, so that research would probably take months to put a video like this together, which included a bunch of examples. That said, it's a worthwhile comparison when booking 1 vacation / trip.
I refuse to use portals. This means that cards that depend on portals for increased point multipliers are unattractive to me. Thanks for doing the work.
I was hoping you would dive into the points battle with those. The Chase Sapphire Reserve would come in real strong with 1.5 multiplier for using Points or the 10X points with Cash. Also consider in that graph what the points multipliers for all those trips booked as a credit so to speak. Good content as usual! Thanks!
Great video Mark! Top notch work! I wish you would have included Citi portal and perhaps a generic portal like Expedia for a greater insight. Maybe for another video! 😊
Great video Mark. Take a look at air travel over seas with in regions or countries. Example inter Europe, inter Asia, inter Australia, inter china. I had a chance to look at chase, citi, and capital one. Capital one offers more options for local airlines and short flights saving hundreds of dollars as well.
But Google is $701 bro and you can take a round trip on JetBlue for a similar itenerary for $240. Google has the Delta flight for $1240, you can also take a round trip on Turkish for $699. These portals are not comparable dude. Google has the United flight for $738 but United has comparable itenerary where you leave at night instead and it's only $373. All of this is to say this is encouraging bad behaviour with credit card portals, most of us are middle class rats at most and we can't be that picky. Please please please if you read this understand that portals will charge you more in comparison to carriers you should be flying.
Definitely wise to compare with general 3rd party portals, like Google and others. This video was only focused on comparing bank portals. It also was not designed to encourage "bad behavior" and does not advocate using portals.
⚠ *CORRECTION:* At 15:03 and 15:34, the U.S. Bank itinerary was actually a 'Saver' rate. In Main Cabin, it would've also been $316.40.
💥 *UPDATE 11.18.2024:* U.S. Bank launched a new Travel Center. Learn more here: milestomemories.com/u-s-bank-launches-new-travel-center-with-booking-com/
🚨 GET CREDIT CARD OFFER ALERTS!
markscreditcards.com/offeralerts
💳👇 VIEW CREDIT CARD OFFERS!
markscreditcards.com/offers
🛍 RAKUTEN - Earn Cash Back!
markscreditcards.com/rakuten
⬆️ (More links in Description below video!)
Finally some fresh content. Not from you specifically but in general in regards to credit card videos.
Good job 👏
Mark, I can’t imagine how long this video took to make! But I appreciate it man!!! Very valuable information.
It was a brutal process haha. Glad you appreciate the info, Luke! 😅
Does capital one’s price matching promise as indicated in the announcement banner hold up? Does anyone have experience with that?
I haven't used it. Perhaps others can share their experiences 👍
This is top tier content! 👑
You deserve more subs.
Thank you!
You should do this same video using points. And then show the discounts using the premium card’s multipliers to compare effective cost in points. It would be cool to see what the Chase 25 to 50% Saph prefer/reserve boost looks like against the 5 to 10x multipliers (so subtracting the points you’d earn) with Amex Plat and Chase Venture X. Perhaps using 1 or 2 cents per point (depending on the repetition for that particular flight) I hope this makes sense
Amazing video! We need a video like this except with travel partners. At least the top flight & hotel travel partners that they all share
I must have missed it in the video, but why wasn't Citi part of this comparison? The general anecdotal feeling is people think Citi is the most expensive.
I would've liked to see Citi in this comparison as well
Totally forgot about Citi 😂
@@MarkReesewant to see a comparison with Citi
I really appreciate you going into detail and comparison. This is incredibly valuable for people who want to be conscious of who is offering the best rates. Competition is incredibly important for keeping these banks accountable.
Wow, I really respect and appreciate your efforts making this unique and enlightening video. 5 stars!
I use the portal from Citi, Chase, Capital One, and AMEX for flights.
I would say Capital One is #1 and Chase is dead last. It’s typically more expensive, and often is missing flights all together.
Great to hear the Capital One experience has been solid 💯
Error: The USB $216 AS SFO-OGG is a Saver fare, which is $50 cheaper each leg ($100 total) than Main cabin fare. 🍎🍎 to 🍊🍊 Comparing Main to Main, they all charge the same, $316.
Good catch.
Thanks for catching that!
For your Delta example, the cash price is slightly more than the taxes and fees I paid on Virgin premium and business class
I like that you included Wells.
Insightful. Love your videos Mark!
I did not hear you mention the cons of using travel portals such as delays, cancellations, not getting refunded, hotel managers not recognizing reservations, and worse. I had a flight with Delta Airlines that got cancelled and they refunded Expedia instead of me.
Correct. This video's focus was only on price comparisons, not the pros & cons of using portals in general.
Which portal was it?
@newagain9964 Chase Portal
Hi Mark. I'm considering applying for a Capital One card. I've heard the Capital One portal does not have Allegiant airlines (which we fly often). Is this true?
Not sure if it's true 100% of the time, but I just did several searches and Allegiant did not appear in the C1 Travel portal (but those flights did appear on the Allegiant website).
Do any/all of these portals include “discount”airlines like Allegiant or Breeze?
Not that I'm aware of.
The amount of work 👏👏👏
Interesting comparison study, especially since you included so many portals. Any reason you didn't also include the Citi portal? In my experience booking through portals, as well as other OTAs, sometimes when you click through to book the fare you are told the low fare is no longer available. It would have been interesting had you done that, especially for the lower fares offered by BOA.
I didn't include Citi simply because I completely forgot about them 😂
Great video! Cool thing to see the prices vary no matter the portal or direct flight. I just got the chase sapphire preferred for their SUB offer but after that I think I’ll get the Wells Fargo journey card as a permanent travel card. Getting 5x on hotels and 4x on flights no matter the portal allows me so much more flexibility plus their active cash for a flat 2% on everything makes it a great catch all card.
Congrats on your CSP approval & good luck on the next!
Boa elite travel card has a discount on flights I think
Correct, but only when redeeming points.
What happened to citi?
Totally forgot about Citi 😂
I think best solution is use points and avoid taxes and fees. There will be times where you can only book boutique places. Maybe if you retest, choose properties that don't use points.
Is there a reason you didn't also compare the Citi Travel Portal
No reason other than I completely forgot about Citi 😂
🤣
Very comprehensive video, thank you. Do these portals also have cheaper hotels as these all seemed quite pricey?
Yes, lower priced hotels are available as well.
just stumbled onto your channel now. Thank you for another good analysis, and just like you said, you always need to compare them against booking directly with the airlines, hotels, and with one another if you have more than one bank in your wallet.
Thanks & welcome to the channel!
Have you compared major travel card pricing (package deal) to Expedia or alike? It would be interesting to know.
I haven't.
Problem with Amex for hotels though is that award redemption is always
For Fine Hotels & Resorts, yes. For regular hotels, it's actually worse at 0.7¢ per point.
Appreciate the video.
I've checked between amex and chase a few times. Similar results. My last checking we were booking a Hilton. I had a new United card. I was surprised it offered me the same price as my wifes Aspire . We still went with the Aspire purchase for status Bennifts but didn't expect the United card to offer the same price.
Another epic comparison analysis! Great job, Mark, you’re a beast, and we appreciate all your efforts! 💪🏆
I love this video as it helps us keep the banks honest!
Always enjoy your content👍🏽👍🏽
Mark, very interesting analysis of the credit card portals. Some of those sample domestic airfares were shockingly high, unless they are a last minute bookings. Were you surprised to see some of the hotel bookings through the portal to be less than booking direct?
Some of it definitely surprised me.
Would love to see a video that compares each travel portal when it comes to which gives more value when redeeming points via the portal and the portal's benefits eg: Chase's The Edit vs AMEX The Hotel Collection and Fine Stays & Resorts. Because I feel that while Chase gives more points to redeem, AMEX's portal has better value, (eg: 4th night free if staying 3+ nights, free breakfast, $100 hotel credit), while Chase's The Edit has a lot less value
Chase portal always show higher price for the flight I looked. So this is not conclusive.
5 examples is far from conclusive 😄 A statistically significant conclusion for me would probably be comparing 1,000 itineraries. That said, the takeaway is the same. When booking trip, compare prices.
Extremely valuable content! I'm 0/24 and getting ready to jump off into *an* ecosphere, and I've shied away from BoA, Wells, and the USBAR because of the lack of transfer partners. USB acquitted itself well in this test, which gives me something to consider. Question: did you think of trying to simulate the real world 'unfair' fight between the transfer partner ecosystems and portal-only ecospheres? I would think the Big 3 would come out ahead on average, but by just how much (or if at all) would be interesting as well!
0/24 is a great position to be in (enjoy it)! No, I didn't consider doing a "portal vs. transfer partner" comparison. There can be dozens of ways to book a single itinerary with transfer partners, so that research would probably take months to put a video like this together, which included a bunch of examples. That said, it's a worthwhile comparison when booking 1 vacation / trip.
Cool vid!
Include Citi next time if possible.
Thx for put in the work!
I refuse to use portals. This means that cards that depend on portals for increased point multipliers are unattractive to me. Thanks for doing the work.
I just subscribed
Thank you!
Great content
That’s super wild that all the portals had the same base flight price.
Almost always.
Vx do price match
Correct 👍
Hotels were definitely more varied than flights.
BOFA and Wells Fargo portals are total trash as expected 😂
The differences are negligible to carry one card over another.
I was hoping you would dive into the points battle with those. The Chase Sapphire Reserve would come in real strong with 1.5 multiplier for using Points or the 10X points with Cash. Also consider in that graph what the points multipliers for all those trips booked as a credit so to speak. Good content as usual! Thanks!
What you should have done is compare the bank travel portals prices to Expedia/priceline. Otherwise great video.
Great video Mark! Top notch work! I wish you would have included Citi portal and perhaps a generic portal like Expedia for a greater insight. Maybe for another video! 😊
Totally forgot about Citi 😂
Great video Mark. Take a look at air travel over seas with in regions or countries. Example inter Europe, inter Asia, inter Australia, inter china. I had a chance to look at chase, citi, and capital one. Capital one offers more options for local airlines and short flights saving hundreds of dollars as well.
👍🏻
🤘
But Google is $701 bro and you can take a round trip on JetBlue for a similar itenerary for $240. Google has the Delta flight for $1240, you can also take a round trip on Turkish for $699. These portals are not comparable dude. Google has the United flight for $738 but United has comparable itenerary where you leave at night instead and it's only $373.
All of this is to say this is encouraging bad behaviour with credit card portals, most of us are middle class rats at most and we can't be that picky. Please please please if you read this understand that portals will charge you more in comparison to carriers you should be flying.
Definitely wise to compare with general 3rd party portals, like Google and others. This video was only focused on comparing bank portals. It also was not designed to encourage "bad behavior" and does not advocate using portals.
💯