I had to help a girl out and just ordered one. I did receive an email confirmation about 5 min after I completed the order. It is on backorder until 3/30.
Perhaps it feels like circles because you haven't mentioned a goal. I find it easier to narrow down options when my goal isn't "All the cards!!!" like my greedy miser brain wants.
It's totally ok for the goal to be "Lots of UR points" but it'll probably illicit a different path than "Lots of UR points to transfer to airline A" or "Lots of UR points to redeem for a cruise this year" or "Lots of UR points to book a B&B in East Jabip".
Just lots of UR with no defined plan I'd pick anything with at least a 50k bonus to keep you busy until you have a goal. Duplicate cards in a household are ok because you're just doing it for the sign up bonus, it doesn't have to make sense to actually use it later. (Chase, for now, is not like AmEx like that) So the CIU for you isn't a bad choice for this - don't have to worry about an AF, has a smaller MSR that should be easier to complete. Then you can put the airfare charge on the existing CSP to get the 2x points and the trip protections.
OR
The CIP also has trip insurance benefits similar to the CSP. Could go for the CIP, use the airfare charge to help meet the higher MSR of 5k, and earn 3x UR for it on top. Yes it has the $95 AF but you can either look at it as a 70,500 UR bonus (after cashing out some to pay the AF) or paying $95 for trip insurance. If the goal is lots of UR, 70k is better than 50k, if you can make the spend in 115 days. Those extra days Chase gives to meet the MSR can squeeze in another payment for something potentially.
If the goal was to use the UR to transfer, then I'd stick with CSP or CIP. Both have the same lower fee with the ability to transfer to travel partners. Having a CSR does nothing for you really in that situation. Actually, likewise in the B&B scenario as I made that out in my head to be a lower cost redemption through the portal, in which case you may not recoup the extra AF of the CSR in UR redemption savings.
If you referred the your CSP from DH's, he'd get 10k UR, you'd get 50k UR bonus with the waived AF; the same number of UR as the current public offer of 60k but avoiding the AF. (and I believe it's been mentioned you could roll the dice and see if they'd give you an extra 10k to "match" the public one) Still not as much guaranteed as the CIP but also a 1k smaller MSR.
If you had a large redemption planned for this year through the portal, like a cruise or vacation package, then I'd go with the CSR. If you don't, I'd stick with other card options if DH's card could be upgraded to the CSR instead (has to be after 1st anniversary and have at least a 10k credit limit available to do that) if something came up that would make it worthwhile. You'd probably get a better value out of the CSP with the referral options and waived AF.
Hope that helped rather than gave you another circle to follow
False alarm. Baby is asleep! Post on the DIS and ye shall receive!
Still taking recommendations for a magic baby-rocker that will make my life as babysitter to a fuss-budget easier
Edited to add: not four minutes after writing this updated post, the baby wakes up again. I jinxed myself.
Send help!
I've done a 180 from "just grab the CIU" to "maybe it is time for the CSR".
Yes, UR transfer to United. I'm not familiar with them, though, so I don't know if you'd be able to use the travel voucher in conjunction with a points booking. I think @Lain might have a write up on the pros and cons of the United cards versus UR cards. I know the United cards get access to more award space but if you're buying cash fares that probably won't make much of a difference.
Regarding the CSR vs CSP trip protections, both cards offer the same benefits for trip interruption/cancellation/delay but the CSR's delay protection kicks in at 6 hours versus 12 hours on the CSP. But the CSR also adds travel medical protections. The CSR provides emergency evacuation and medical/dental benefits whereas the CSP does not. Not being an expert in this and not knowing your situation, but on the surface it seems like both cards would have given equal payout for your unfortunate delay; the CSR would have just done it on a shorter delay than the CSP.
That said, I'm keeping my CSR this year because I'm looking at it as paying $150 for trip insurance for our Alaska trip later this year. While the emergency medical is not the highest protections you can get it seems adequate for this particular trip and my projected risk for it. If you can justify the AF for it I don't think it's a bad card at all, I'd just want to make sure you'll see value in it. If the piece of mind the extras bring is worth $150, then go for it. I guess the question is, would you pay $150 for trip insurance to an outside agency for the same coverage? If so and if you can book your Universal stay through the Chase portal then the CSR probably has a leg up with the better redemption value. You can transfer all your 180k UR to the CSR to get the better redemption rate.
I think your timing for the cards is going to depend on when you expect to pay for this trip. Are you booking soon? Then you'd probably want to pick the card you ultimately want to cover the trip. If you're holding off then you could probably get a filler card to beef up the UR stash and then grab the "real" one to charge the trip to.
See this is where goals gets you
If I have an option, I think I’d stick with benevolent dictator over destroyer of worlds LOL!
