julies

About a year ago my husband decided we should start using a USAA card because we could earn points with it to purchase tickets, and we wouldn't be limited to just one airline's frequent flyer program that way. So, now we have enough points to get a substantial discount on plane tickets, and I finally decided to take a look to see what we could get. The card requires that tickets be booked through their agency, and it has an online booking function. But, when I actually went to look for tickets, the price that this agency pulls up is close to double what I can pull up on Kayak or Orbitz for the exact same flights on the exact same days. This is no deal whatsoever because after accumulating all these points I'd end up paying double the price I can book on my own and then get a discount that will bring the ticket down to about what I could purchase it for on my own.

Has anyone ever run into this same type of thing? Our days of using this card are over because it certainly isn't coming through with what it promised. Is this the norm, or did we just happen to choose a card that is a bad deal? Thanks.

I thin I'll also post this over on the US board since this is a US based credit card.

AAFrequentFlyer

First - You are never limited to one airline's program when you have a specific airline CC. In most cases you can use your earned points on all their partner airlines. There are 4 big alliances and each has at least 10 or more partners.

In your case I would suggest getting a cash back card instead. Any cash you get back save it in a special travel savings account. When you have enough you can book any airline, hotel or whatever that you find the best deal with.

IMHO getting points through a CC cards like what you describe, unless it's specific to an airline and you're a frequent flyer, so it's just an addition to the many miles you get from actually flying with that airline or one of their partners, <u>is a waste of time.</u>

Kay2

I have 2 USAA cards. I try to leverage the points just like I do on my Discovercard, opting for the awards that give you more return (such as a gift card for $25 rather than a cash back award of $20).

It is hit and miss on the USAA airline awards. Last spring I purchased a ticket through them for the same price as any other outlet using CO to Europe, but because I was using a lot of points, the value of the award was more than if I had taken the cash back, so it was a good deal.

Recently I was purchasing another high cost ticket to NZ and checked if I could book using my points. I could book some of the fares I saw online at other sites through USAA's partner travel agency, but not a sale fare that was $400 below everyone else's--I had to book through the airline's website.

I recently received a notice that the award terms are being changed soon and the higher value travel awards like I used will no longer be available.

You can still use the card and receive cash back instead of points.

kybourbon

I have one card that works on points not tied to any specific airline and you have to book through their agency. They have a set amount of points and a maximum price. From the US to Europe a ticket is 65,000 points (no black outs) and a maximum of $850. I find the ticket I want and call them to book. It somehow goes on my credit card and then is reimbursed by the agency later with points. While the amount of points required for a free flight is slightly more than an FF account with an airline charges (Europe is 60,000 for my Delta FF account), I find this card useful because I can earn FF miles on my free flight. Sort of like double dipping.

TC

I get points on my AM EX card. I can then deposit those points on a one for one basis into any airline account and then use the points according to that airline's rules. I have found this to be a much better program than those that require booking and paying for tickets with your card points. Am Ex also offers a "pay with points" option and it is massively expensive. The cost of a ticket with pay with points is far, far more expensive than if I put the points into the airlines own system. This spring I was able to transfer points from Am Ex to Delta at a 30% bump. That really helped.

kybourbon

I have AmEx too, but I think my MC is probably the better value.

AmEx flight by transferring points to airline - 60,000 pts + cost of taxes on FF ticket.

MC flight - 65,000 pts plus I earn about 10,000 FF miles for r/t Europe.

AmEx and Delta currently have a 25% bonus transfer.
https://www.delta.com/marketing/mile...1009/index.jsp

puttakka

Capitalone doesn't!

julies

Thanks for all the advice; we'll be looking into something different after we figure out how to get the best rewards on this card for the points we've alread accumulated. After I thought about this for a while I wondered if I'd inadvertently looked at the fares for 2 people rather than the fare for one person. But, the travel awards site was down when I had the time to get back on it, so I couldn't check. Last night I was finally able to try again and while I didn't find fares that were nearly double (on the couple samples I tried) as I had before, they still didn't list the low fares I could find on Kayak so there was about a $150 difference from the $525 I could find elsewhere and this site's $675.

I guess we should have really investigated this more thoroughly prior to using the card. I think the issue is that they don't always pick up the lowest fares and don't include all airlines in their search engines.

Thanks again.

kybourbon

FYI - While I have to book with my card's agency, I find the flight I want first and tell the agency what to book.

I find the Kayak fares listed are rarely there when you actually try to purchase.