Costco AmEx or Chase Sapphire to buy airline ticket - help me check my math

[AmyAnne]

I am about to spend about $1300 on airline tickets, and to distract myself from the actual cost of the ticket I am obsessing about which credit card I should use for the purchase. We pay off all credit cards in full each month so this is all about the rewards.

My two best candidates are the Costco AmEx, which gives 2% back on travel, and Chase Sapphire, which gives 3 points for purchases made through its website (if I really wanted to drive myself crazy, I could try to factor in any money back I might get from booking through ebates, but I think the rebates for airfare is very minimal - but someone correct me if I am wrong).

So, spending $1300 on AmEx gets me $26 back. Spending $1300 on Chase Sapphire gets me 3900 points, which I would convert to Southwest points. At Southwest, 3900 points seems to be worth about $50.

Which makes the Chase Sapphire card the fairly clear winner, unless I am missing or miscalculating womething (which is VERY possible) . . .

Also, we just got the Chase Sapphire card, so I am just assuming that it would work the way it says--3 points per dollar, with the points convertible to Southwest points.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I like using an airline affiliated card, such as my United Chase card. When I got this card, I received 50,000 FF miles, and get free checked bags, priority boarding, etc.

 

[AmyAnne]

I like using an airline affiliated card, such as my United Chase card. When I got this card, I received 50,000 FF miles, and get free checked bags, priority boarding, etc.

That's a good point, and we have SW, Delta, and United credit cards for that very reason. But these flights are on US Air, which we hardly ever fly. I actually did look at the incentives for signing up for a US Air card, but decided against it, parlty because it didn't seem like a great deal and partly because we just got the Chase Sapphire card.

 

[platamama]

Chase Sapphire:
Pros - more money back, useable once posted to your Southwest account
Cons - need to have enough points in order to purchase a one-way ticket in order to truly get your money back (I wish Southwest would allow a combination payment of cash and points but they don't)

Costco AMEX:
Pros - plain cash back
Cons - annual check, have to wait for it, quite a bit less money back

That's how I see it.