cathygreen

Are there any credit cards that provide frequent flyer miles or give points to allow upgrades on airlines? What are the best? Thanks

rkkwan

Basically every airline in the US has a credit card that lets you earn miles in that airline's FF program. CO has Chase, DL has an AE, etc...

Most US airlines have partners you can redeem miles on, so for example, even if you fly mostly CO, you may want to get a card affiliated with DL or NW.

If you want a card that can earn you miles/points to be used on multiple FF programs, then your choices include Membership Rewards from some (but not all) AE cards & Capital One.

Many of these cards have annual fees, so compare closely.

Having said all that, if you're not a frequent flyer, or if you don't charge a lot on your cards, don't bother with the airlines card. You'd be better off getting an credit card that charges no annual fees and give you 1%+ cash back. Say you charge $25,000 a year on your credit card. A rebate card gives you $250 which you can use to buy a ticket on any airline you choose.

jeffwill4you

I use a Delta skymiles/American expres card.

Andrew

I use the American Express Starwood Preferred Guest card. You accumulate points with this card, but you can transfer them to your frequent flyer account with most major airlines (except United, which takes points at a 2:1 ratio, making it not worth using). So if I have only 15,000 miles from flying on Delta and I really want a Delta FF ticket, I can transfer 10,000 Starwood points to my own Delta account. In theory. I have only had this card a few months and have yet to try to convert my miles. But I have heard good things about it.

Andrew

scbelle

You may really like the Visa Signature cards... They give you points of their own, which you may redeem as you choose. I chose a trip to Europe... You call their travel agent, who can make all of your travel arrangements, and they will also work with you on specific requests. I already knew EXACTLY what airline, which flight, which date. It was not a problem. And, since the points program actually purchases the ticket, I recieved frequent flier points through the airline! They are very nice and there are no blackout dates.

flyert

I use the FirstUsa/British Airways card and it's been great -- but I also have family in London, so I go there a lot and my miles come in handy.

dbagpen

I notice that someone mentions Capital One Visa for being able to use miles on any airline. I was happy with Cap One Miles One program until last summer: 25,000 miles for a RT ticket (35.000 to Mexico
- great and easy to do. Then they sent a "congratulatory" letter, that I'd been "upgraded" so that all you had to do was book/buy a ticket on any airline, charge it to VISA. Then you "simply" multiplied the cost of your ticket by 100 miles to get the number of miles needed. So, a $350 ticket now requires 35,000 miles. But we're getting to that stage in life where we have to make hurried trips back to Ky. for family funerals; the tickets are $700 - $800 each.

So, the 93,000 miles we have now are not worth nearly what they were. I'm dropping Cap One (they charge $19 a year for the privilege of carrying their card. I'll have to look at the AE and NW cards you mention. Stay away from Cap One!

clevelandbrown

I don't have any of those cards, but here is a link to a site I came across that purports to evaluate them:

http://www.e-wizdom.com/credit_cards/travel.html

underradar

As a follow-up to dbagpen's post, Cap One pulled a fast one on its members with that "upgrade" routine. Basically, if you were sent a new card and activiated it, your account was automatically converted onto a new redemption schedule, which is much less favorable than the existing one. But you really had to dig to figure this out - the information is nowhere in the glossy packet you get sent. The only reason I looked into it is because I noticed that the new cards had a new account number, even though my current card had several months to go before it expired. Because I pay a lot of my bills automatically through my credit card, I wasn't looking forward to the prospect of changing all of that automated information. But I fished around and put two and two together, and then I called Cap One to confirm that I could keep my current card. After first trying to stonewall me, teh customer service rep admitted that (a) I could continue to use my current card and (b) I was better off from a redemption standpoint if I did so.

It's amazing to me that credit card companies can get away with crap like this. The lesson is that whenever your credit card issuer sends you a brand new card when your account is not expired, be suspicious.

jgmc

We will soon be moving to Taiwan. For the last several years, we've been using an AA Visa card to get American miles for our dollars.

Since American is not a big carrier to Asia (although Cathay Pacific is one of their partners), I've been wondering if we should start collecting Star Alliance miles as opposed to One World miles.

I'm also wondering if the AmEx program is better than Visa's.

Any thoghts?

Thanks so much.

rkkwan

You will probably want to use a Taiwan-based credit card for your future purchase. Decide which airline - EVA, China Airlines or a foreign carrier - you want to fly the most, and then get their local Taiwanese card.

NotMe

To get some very good advice on selecting a FF program/credit card, check out the web site www.frequentflyer.com. Also, Consumer Reports latest issue has an article on the various airlines frequent flyer programs. As usual, American topped the list. Too bad I can't use them as they have so few flights out of my local airport.

newyorkgolfer41

I think the best credit card to cover many airlines is the AmEx Starwood card. It covers all major airlines but Southwest, maybe not Jet Blue either, not sure. When you transfer 20,000 points you got a 5,000 bonus so you actually get a round trip domestic ticket for 20,000 points instead of the usual 25,000. The first year is free and then it is $35 per year thereafter.