Which credit card is best for air miles?

[mike_s]

delta has a really good card offered with amex right now!!

I got tired of their $50 or $85 annual fee.

For half the amount of miles, they'll give you the card for free. just FYI to anyone that doesn't want to pay the fee when they charge you. (note: they typically all give you the first year free..


Personally I think the "fee" airline cards are a rip off. Why? because most folks don't charge enough yearly to justify the fee.

If you're only spending $8k a year for example, then it'll take you a bit over 3 years to get to 25,000 points at 1 point per $1 dollar. In that time, you've paid $150 to $255 in fee's.

Now lets say your 25,000 mile ticket isn't available and you have to reserve a 50,000 mile ticket. Then you're looking at 6 years worth of spending to get there and $300 to $510 in fees. For that $300 to $500, you could have just bought a ticket to most places (domestic). Or two tickets on a discount airlines.


So to me, the fee cards just aren't worth it for most people.

Another reason I like the Amex Blue is that "no fees" and they give you cash. Airline miles I've got. Several hundred thousand miles. They are such a pain in the ass to redeem anywhere you really want to go, that for the most part they just sit in my accounts collecting dust. so I really don't want to pay a fee to get a few more of them.

 

[jbjclj]

Capitol One No Hassle Rewards.

No fee and no charges for out of country purchases. We have AX gold that we use for everything in the US, but they charge 2.7% for foreign currency purchases. We also got a debit/money market card from Capitol One. We put money in before a trip and can withdraw at an ATM without fees.

 

[KathyV]

Capitol One No Hassle Rewards.

No fee and no charges for out of country purchases. We have AX gold that we use for everything in the US, but they charge 2.7% for foreign currency purchases. We also got a debit/money market card from Capitol One. We put money in before a trip and can withdraw at an ATM without fees.

I am bumping this older thread because I've just had the opportunity to redeem our Capital One air miles and I am thrilled to report that it really was a "no hassle" procedure! First I picked out the airline and flights that I wanted and then logged onto the Capital One site and purchased the exact same flights entirely with air miles. There were no blackout dates or hidden conditions. I was able to get roundtrip air for 2 to the Turks and Caicos at no cost and saved $1400!

 

[JohnN]

I like the Alaska Airlines Visa Card from Bank of America

+1 I use mine on American, BA, Cathay, Delta, KLM, Air France (oh and Alaska Air). Works great for me

 

[Dr. Lecter]

I'm grandfathered in on the Continental/United PP card, and keep it for the ability to earn qualification miles as well as reward miles, but the new United card that can be gotten now is also pretty nice re: mileage earn rate of 1.5/$1 and some other goodies like no foreign txn fees, no reward booking fees, lesser or no ticket change fees, two free checked bags, and a decent boarding priority benefit. Using accrued miles on United has been easy, though tagging the cheapest reward flights rather than the more mile-expensive tickets requires some planning and flexibility.

These are club cards, so you pay a high ($350 or so) annual fee and get United/Star Alliance airport club access...however, there's a little-advertised way to get the fee reimbursed using reward miles. If you charge a lot to your card every year and/or fly United a lot, you'd be hardpressed to find a better card. I've also heard good things about the Amex Sapphire card for air travel rewards.

 

[KathyV]

Does anyone know if US Airways will award Frequent Flyer miles for AA and/or United? There have been so many mergers and agreements that I'm not sure which airlines are affiliated!

 

[Steve_C]

In my case I have miles from business travel and also from credit card on American.

Things to keep in mind

-I you have an elevated status, then bags are free. That's right you can take 3 bags full of scuba gear both ways for free. The free bags can save a lot of money. As much as the ticket.

-If you have elevated status, then you can do first class checkin even on a coach ticket. I fly to Miami to dive in the Keys. I would not think of doing that on a Sunday without elevated status. I have seen over 2 hours for normal security.

-With some airlines the miles earned with a credit card don't count toward elevated status but do count toward permanent elevated status.

In my case I was a gold with American (earned with business miles) at the same time I passed 1 million total miles (probably half or more from a credit card - we ran everything through the card). I was made a life time gold. So now even though I travel less I still get the benefits.

---------- Post added September 5th, 2013 at 11:22 AM ----------

Does anyone know if US Airways will award Frequent Flyer miles for AA and/or United? There have been so many mergers and agreements that I'm not sure which airlines are affiliated!

If the US Airways deal with American is approved they will merge the FF programs. My understanding is that United would not be part of that but I could be wrong.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

If US Air is part of the Star Alliance, you may be able to use their miles to book United flights, but I'm not sure on what terms. But actually accruing United miles by flying US Air flights or using a US Air card won't happen.

At least for United, card award miles don't count for either annual or lifetime premier status levels. I think even the now-rare PQMs my grandfathered card earns no longer count for lifetime premier, just the status level for whatever year I use them in.

From a United perspective, Gold is the status at which meaningful benefits begin now. At Silver, there's no 3 free bags and a low weight limit for the one you do get; likewise, you cannot book Economy Plus for free at time of booking as Silver, but you can as Gold, which is really nice as a hedge if the cheap, last minute 1st class upgrade you want doesn't pan out.

 

[mike_s]

the only problem with earning mileage is that sometimes the airlines screw you on your miles.


For domestic tickets:

1. Tickets used to be 15,000 miles on most carriers.......
2. Tickets went up to 25,000 miles required many years ago.
3. While you can still get a 25k mile ticket... GOOD LUCK with that idea. To get an "anytime seat" on most is 50,000 miles


so.... your miles aren't near as worth as much as they used to be.

I've still got the Mileage cards on two carriers, but barely use them.


I prefer the CASH option now. Amex Blue Cash seems to work better for me.


Besides, I don't need the miles. I quit flying weekly for work about 10 years ago and I still have about 350,000 FF miles even after tickets I've redeemed since then. so don't need miles. Just give me cash and I'll buy what I want

 

[guruboy]

Find out which airline you will travel with most. If there is a major airline whose hub is in your city, I would bet them.

Then look for a good intro deal for the card, like 60k free miles after spending $X in the first Y months.

Personally, I have a united explorer card. Regardless of the miles, it pays for itself with the bag check fees I've saved.

I would not get a mileage card as a primary spending card though. I can get more for my money through cash back cards. But if I book travel, I use the mileage card.