I currently have my credit card with Capitol One and like the fact that my accrued miles can be applied to any airline.
Does anyone know of other credit cards that are similar and not devoted to a particular airline?
BS

Seems much less valuable than AmEx Membership rewards, or any loyalty car with any specific airlines...

From their own website...

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The number of miles required by the Cardholder for travel redemption will depend on the cost of the itinerary chosen by the Cardholder at the time of redemption. The mileage requirement is as follows: 15,000 miles are required for tickets up to $150; 35,000 miles are required for tickets from $150.01 up to $350; 60,000 miles are required for tickets from $350.01 up to $600.

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In contrast, it is not unusual to be able to get a roundtrip domestic ticket - - - that would otherwise cost $350.01 to $600 (or even substantially more) - - for only 25,000 miles on any number of other airlines rewards systems. To have to accrue 60,000 miles with your Capital One card is a much poorer deal, from my perspective.

If the routes you commonly want to travel are on Southwest Airlines, then the combination of Rapid Rewards plus AmEx Membership Rewards is hard to beat. Southwest will offer ANY seat on ANY flight (as long as any seat remains, at any price) for only 16 Rapid Rewards points - - which translates to 24,000 AmEx Membership Rewards "miles" - - and best of all, if you have ANY Rapid Rewards points whatsoever, you can make just the necessary fractional transfer from your AmEx MR miles to bring you up to the necessary total. I have never accumulated 16 Rapid Rewards points in one year, but I seem to always have a few (downside: they only last one year, and then they fall out of your account) - - the result is that I can often get a domestic SWA ticket for well under 20,000 AmEx MR miles - - something I cannot do on any other airline.

Of course, AmEx is NOT a credit card... if you need a revolving credit card which allows you to "carry" a balance (never a good idea, in the eyes of most people), then AmEx will not be for you.

Best wishes,

Rex

M&I Bank, headquartered in Wisconsin, but with branches in Arizona, Missouri, Minnesota, Florida, Kansas, Indiana, has credit cards/debit cards that accrue points you can use on any airline, and with no blackout dates.
www.mibank.com

Yes - AMEX. Not only can you use for various airlines and a whole host of hotel/resort programs but you can also buy goods and services with the points.

(I'm finally thinking about going digital for a camera - have been wedded to real cameras til now - and there are dozens of different ones available for points. I just need to do the research to see which one I can live with.)

However, as has been discussed in other threads, the Capitol One has another advantage: it doesn't charge the 1-3% foreign exchange fees that most other credit cards charge.

We typically use our Chase Continental airlines Visa since Continental is our preferred carrier and it also partners with quite a few other airlines. But this year for our trip to Europe we'll use the Capitol One to avoid the foreign exchange surcharges.

Starwood AmEx allow you to accrue points that you can use for starwood hotels and a fairly large # of airlines.

Unlike Capital One, you can add/combine *wood amEx miles with the miles in your airline account. And you get a bonus of 5000 miles per 20,000 miles transfered to your airline account.

Downsides:
Annual fee
has the same poor foreign exchange rate all AmEx cards have

The Capitol One No Hassle Miles card earns you the equivalent of NO MORE than 1% on all purchases, since 15,000 points get you a $150 ticket, 35,000 points get you a $350 ticket, and so on. This is the BEST case scenario. You could actually get less than a 1% reward if you use your 35,000 miles for a $151 ticket.

That is why we opted for the No Hassle Cash Back card instead. Then we at least get a larger percent back on gas and groceries. And we won't pay the 3% on purchases we make in Spain.

<< ...has the same poor foreign exchange rate all AmEx cards have... >>

I can't see that the question, as posed by the OP, is about which credit card to use <i><u>in Europe</u></i>.

I perceive the question to be about which credit card to use for all other everyday purchase - - everything from groceries to college tuition (yes, we racked up tens of thousands this way with no added expense over writing them a check).

Capital One looks like a very SLOW way to earn an airline ticket.

I'm not a cheerleader for Capitol One( just got the card and our impetus was not to pay the 3% surcharge in our upcoming Europe trip) but I forgot to mention that it accrues 2 points for every dollar charged.

Rex, How much is the annual fee for Amex?

The 2 for 1 accrual is acknowledged, but then since it takes 60,000 for what I would otherwise get for 25,000 it still works out as disadvantageous (plus, not combinable with ordinary airline miles accrued through other means).

I think that AmEx has an annual fee of $50. Not sure.

The annual fee now for the basic green card (I've found that's all I need since there's no set spending limit - I've spent over $50,000 some months) is now $55. Assuming you ever travel on business the key is to make the AMEX card the one the company pays for and then keep the no fee ones for yourself.

Thanks for the info. Actually, given its advantages the fee for the Amex is not that bad. I think I pay $60 for my Continental Visa.

I just received my Amex Starwood Platinum and I'm pretty sure the fee is $35.00. A very low fee for a card with such good benefits.

Is there a benefit to the AmEx regarding car rental and insurance as well? I need to get a new card and am more interested in insurance coverage than miles because I don't travel often enough to accrue miles and points.

Hi Rex and everyone. Capitol one has been my business card. Although accumilation is slow, we only use the miles for international trave. As someone has mentioned, yes we take advantage of Southwest and Airtran for our domestic travel. Thanks, BS

VISA Signature Rewards cards (my credit card) allow the holder to use the points on ANY airline, ANY time, as well as for ANY item for sale in any store. I can use them, for example, to buy patio furntiure from a catalog or to fly on Vietnam Airlines, as well as more mundane uses.

Didn't Southwest Airlines change its policy regarding Award tickets? It's my understanding that if you still have a Rapid Reward Award ticket with blackout dates, you can use it on any flight at any time, as long as it's not on one of the 6 or 7 blackout dates and there is a seat available on the plane. While the newer Award tickets don't have blackout dates, they operate like Hot Deals and only have a limited # of seats on each flight. I've been planning a vacation for August and many of the flights are not available using the newer Award tickets.

I believe they also allow credits to accrue for 2 years instead of 1. Even so, I am deeply disappointed in this change. As far as I'm concerned, the Awards have lost most of their value. We will be switching credit cards--we currently have the Southwest Airlines VISA--probably to a cash back card, then we can buy what we want with the money.

For 60,000 miles I can upgrade my trips to Europe from economy to business class. To buy a similar business class ticket with Capital One you have to multiply the cost times 100. A typical business class ticket from San Francisco to London costs around $4,500. That means you would have to have 450,000 miles with Capital One. I don't see how that is a good deal.