HSBC Star Alliance...
plus $0 AF is only for first year after which it's a hefty $450.
Yeah, that's a lot of money to maintain a card. I've never spent money on an annual fee (for no other benefits other than holding the card), and, up until now, I've not really considered it.
Yes, I did have an Amex Platinum for a couple of years, but I made sure I got >> $1450 back in benefits every year (and not just frivolous things that I didn't need) and when I wasn't certain that I could, I closed it. Travel, cash back on things that I was going to spend money on anyway (fuel, groceries, flights, hotels). And I got pretty much $1450 in the last year without paying the last year's membership fee, because the benefits dropped (travel, Accor membership, plus 50,000 membership rewards retention offer after the anniversary date but before the fee), which I all used, then closed my account online before the fee was due anyway.
However, on my first read of the HSBC Star Alliance travel insurance policy, it looks
very good.
I haven't read it side by side against a paid policy, but I will before my fee is due. If it is as good as I think it is, it potentially represents an alternative to paid travel insurance. At $450 per annum, provided that you put $500 of pre-paid travel expenses on the card, it is a lot cheaper than travel insurance, so may be worth holding. Not for the status but for the insurance.
so to me this card is just not worth it especially since I'm way off the $60k per annuum required to maintain Gold Status
Yeah, especially with the points discount after $3k per month.
CBA Ultimate...
This is a great card if and only if you can consistently meet the min monthly spend. I used to hold this when the min spend was only $2.5k per month but after they jacked it up to $4k
Fortunately (unfortunately) we spend more than $4k per month consistently, so it's no big deal.
In fact, I didn't get notified (but knew from these forums) about the increase from $2.5k so as a test, only spent $2.6k last month to see if I had been grandfathered in on a lower threshold, or they'd just F$&*ed up the notification. They charged me the fee, but refunded after I asked them to prove when the notified me. They're now running around like blue-coughd flies trying to work out what to do about a) notifying me, and b) working out how many other cardholders they haven't notified.
This is another card with very good travel insurance (even now with the new conditions). I've used it (as backup to paid insurance) for things that paid insurance didn't cover, or when paid insurance cover ran out. and it was good, effective, quick enough and easy enough to claim on. For $420 per year (if you paid the fee every month), the travel insurance is possibly worth the fee.