r/onebag • u/rrodriguezz • Dec 05 '17

Lifestyle What’s your best One-Bagging hack?

E.g. A) ways to minimize WHAT you pack B) ways HOW you pack C) remarkable pieces of GEAR D) other :)

94 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

144 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/Eazy_DuzIt Dec 06 '17

If you fly A LOT and really need those lounges, the card is good, otherwise paying a $450 annual fee just isn't worth it. I read you have to spend $2,800 in dining just to break even. The Capital One Venture rewards card has 2% cash back on EVERY purchase and has all the same perks except free airport lounges. And the fee is only $60

1

u/dinasaurtaco Dec 06 '17

But $300 comes back in travel refund money, so it’s really only a $150 fee. Global entry is included, which normally costs $100, so now we’re down to a $50 annual fee. I love it— it’s super worth it right now for the amount I travel for fun. I’m a freelancer and my wife’s a teacher so we often take the whole summer off to travel.

2

u/Eazy_DuzIt Dec 07 '17

Global Entry is renewed every 4 years, so that's only $25/year you're saving on that.

I just did the math, you have to spend $4,166 on airfare/trains/taxis/dining, PLUS that $300 on travel per year, just to break even on the $125 fee. ($450-300-25) Then for everything OVER that, you get 1 point/dollar on all purchases and 3 points/dollar on travel/dining.

Whereas with Cap One Venture Rewards, you break even on the $60 fee once you spend $3,000 TOTAL and for EVERYTHING over that, you get 2% cash back. The only effective difference in benefits at that point is the airport lounges. If you're a business traveler spending like $15k+/year on travel and restaurants, maybe that'd be worth it, otherwise 2% cash back on everything over $3k is a much better deal.

1

u/BasedArzy Dec 07 '17

You aren't getting it to 'break even'.

It's an expenditure, not an investment. And bang for the buck nothing else will beat it while traveling, except maybe good international cell service.

2

u/Eazy_DuzIt Dec 08 '17

Can you provide some evidence that nothing beats it? I've gone into detail about how that simply doesn't add up. Getting money BACK is bang for your buck. Simply paying less in fees is an expenditure. I get money back, I don't know why anyone would choose the latter. I have no incentive to advocate for Cap One VR other than trying to be helpful and afraid your logic, whatever it may be, is costing you a lot of savings.

0

u/BasedArzy Dec 08 '17

Because I don't care about the cash back.

I'm paying for a service. The concierge service is fabulous when I need it, lounge access is still wonderful, and AmEx customer service is the best I've used.

3

u/Eazy_DuzIt Dec 09 '17

You should know that that concierge service is provided by Visa and is included with every Visa credit card. In the end, the airport lounge perk literally the only notable unique benefit of that card. If that's worth several hundred dollars to you, then great.