My interest was peaked the other day when my bank called and said I could transfer my present miles on Alaska Airlines Visa to their card. The annual fee was lower, too, though we usually pay it off monthly. I'm still thinking about it. I didn't like that they didn't partner with BA, as Alaska does.

Presently we only have about 19,000 miles on the Alaska card, but I hate to lose them. Then, lots of cards give you miles up front.

Anyone know of other cards that allow FF mile transfers?

A few friends have told me about their cards but I thought I might get even more info here.

Who out there has a killer card with great features that I don't know about?

You need to be more specific, as I really have trouble understanding all of this.

How can a bank other than Bank of America (who runs AS' VISA) take away miles that are in your account? And transfer into what? Your miles in your AS VISA program can already be used on 14 airlines, so what exactly is your goal?

Anyways, read the fine print carefully. There are many types of "mileage transfer" programs out there, but most of the time, you lose 50% or more of your miles in your process. So, be careful what you're doing.

We have had several different cards to accrue f.f. miles trying to find the best. I believe we have finally hit on it....the AmEx Starwood card. This allows your points to accumulate (no maximum per year) and then for YOU to choose the airline to transfer them to when the time is right. We've used them for AA and Delta and have a trip with Lufthansa coming up that we'll use them for. When you transfer 20,000 (they add a 5,000 bonus) thus you are technically getting a RT domestic coach ticket for only 20,000 f.f.miles. That 5,000 bonus is nice! You can probably read more on the www.spg.com website to see if this suits your needs.

OMG...I could not agree more. The Amex Starwood...totally rules...it really empowers the consumer because you can apply the points to any airline. Love it, so, so much.

I'm another very satisfied user of the AmEx Starwood card.....

I don't quite understand your post either. The miles you earn from your AS Visa are automatically transferred to your AS Mileage Plan account every month, so how could you possibly lose those points? How could the bank withdraw the AS miles that are already in your account and transfer them somewhere else? What exactly is the new program they are offering? Are you looking for a card with a lower annual fee than the AS Visa? We need some more details in order to offer specific advice.

I believe what Giselle is saying is that the CHARGES are already on the card so once paid, these become points. If the outstanding balance is transferred to another card then there will be no points. I'm guessing that is what was meant...??

On that AMEX starwood card, is there any charge for converting the points to a frequesnt flyer program??

petlover,
Assuming that Giselle has a BofA issued AS Visa (that's the only card I know of that offers AS miles), the miles would post to AS Mileage Plan when the statement is issued (unlike Amex charge cards which post after you pay your bill). Once the miles post, they stay in the Mileage Plan account. It doesn't matter if you pay off the outstanding balance in full, over time, or transfer it to another credit card. That's why I didn't understand the original question.

dblkb,
Points from your Starwood Amex charges are automatically posted each month to your Starwood preferred guest account. Once deposited in your Starwood account, you can then transfer it to a number of airlines (not all of them are on a 1:1 basis but most are, so check carefully). See this chart for details:

http://www.starwood.com/preferredgue..._checkRoc.html

There's no charge to transfer Starwood points into airline miles, but there is a minimum amount of points required for each transfer depending on whether you're a regular Starwood preferred guest member (2500) or gold (1500) or platinum (no min). If you transfer 20000 points at one time, Starwood adds a 5000 point bonus which gives you the best value. The card is usually fee free the first year and only $30 a year thereafter. The only downside is that a transfer to your airline program takes 4-6 weeks (according to the Starwood website). I haven't done any transfers recently so maybe someone who has can verify if it does indeed take that long.

BTW you don't HAVE to transfer your Starwood points to airline miles, you can also use them to stay at Starwood hotels. They have some nice properties. They also have a good cash + points program from time to time. Last year I stayed at the Bristol in Vienna for 52 euros + 4000 points per night, a great deal considering what this hotel normally costs.

Patty thanks for the info -- heading to their website immediately.

The Amex - Starwood Preferred card is a good deal if you like to redeem miles for economy class on domestic flights. However, the rules limit the number of Starwood points transferred to any one airline program to 99,999. I assume this is for the life of the program as it does not specify a period of time. So, if for example you need two upgraded economy class tickets from USA to southeast Asia, it costs 120,000 points - so its over the limit, unless you already have miles in your account. I also see that for United's Mileage Plus program (we use the Mileage Plus Visa) you need to redeem 2 points for every mile received.

Can't see how the 99,999 mile limit could be for the life of the program, Craig. At some point, some people would max out and just cancel their cards. Why would they want that to happen?

It's probably 99,999 miles per year...

Andrew

Andrew - Maybe someone can clarify? It would be a better deal if annual...

I called the Starwood Preferred Guest Toll Free number and was told that I could transfer 99,999 points AT A TIME so the total number of points that can be transferred to any one airline is unlimited--now the program is starting to look pretty attractive, especially if I can wean myself off of United Airlines mileage plus program and join one of the others.

I also have the Starwood AmEx card and called today to verify and was told the same thing...99.999 at a time but no limit. Couldn't you just call and transfer 99.999 one day and call the following day to transfer the remainer needed for business/first class?? I didn't ask that ? to the rep.

Actually I did ask that and she said no problem.