Credit Cards with good frequent miles
 

Hi,

I've noticed on numerous forums people mentioning that they like to charge almost everything on credit cards to earn frequent flyer miles. I am interested in doing this also, as I would like to start traveling on a more regular basis.

Could those who do this make any recommendations as to which card(s) they believe give the best "bang for the buck", i.e. which cards give the best miles, which cards have the best/worse available dates for traveling (I'm afraid of getting really restricted with blackout dates), etc.

Thanks in advance!
Carrie

I would start by looking at the airlines you'd like to use, to see which credit card companies they have affiliation agreements with.

There are basically two kinds of airline-awards cards. The first earns generic points with purchases, then you exchange the points for "paid" airline tickets on any carrier, without blackout dates etc. In general these cards are less generous in terms of benefit per dollar charged compared to the other type, that where your purchases earn miles on specific airlines, which you can then exchange for tickets, upgrades, etc. - on that airline and its partners, rather than on any airline. Capital One is an example of the former type, Citibank/American Airlines an example of the latter.

Most airline-affiliated cards (Citi, B of A etc.) usually offer bonus sign-up deals - e.g., 10,000 miles for initial sign-up, and sometimes there can be good deals to be had. However, the devil is always in the details for credit cards, so you really need to do some homework before you put your credit score at risk. What airlines do you like? Do they go where you want to go? What are their reward levels, availability, etc. You may live in a city where there are many airlines to choose from, or you may live near some airline's "fortress hub" where other airlines can't easily compete, hence a lack of available award tickets at times. And some airlines are stingier with awards than others.

Start here - http://www.freefrequentflyermiles.com/index.htm

Also if you're really keen, the airline and credit card forums on www.flyertalk.com are invaluable.

Gardyloo has given you very good pointers.

Just to add, depending what they offer at the time you sign up, Capital One can be very good. We got the offer where we get double points for EVERYTHINg we charge and it's a free card. It's true that the #of points you need to redeem for travel is higher that the airlines level, but their points accumulate faster. For example , if I buy a $600 ticket to Europe , I need to redeem 60,000 points in Capital One.Those 60,000 points would have been only 30,000 miles in my regular Continental visa card because there I only accumulate 1 mile for 1$ of purchases. The minimum amount of miles I need in Continental to get a free ticket to Europe is 50,000 miles. So in this scenario, I would not ahve accumulated enough miles in my Continetal Visa card to get that ticket. However, if you are a heavy traveler in an airline and are going to accumulate a lot of miles that way, it probably makes more sense to get the credit card affiliated with that particular airline.


Also, if your intent is to accumulate miles to get First class tickets, that would require so many points in Capital One that it would be virtally impossible. In that case, you are better off accumulating on a card affiliated to your carrier of choice .

Another website to help with comparing cards and their affinity programs:

www.creditcards.com

Thanks for the advice so far everyone, I know I have a lot of research/comparison to do as well as consider my own needs/wants. I'm thankful to be getting this info from people who have actually used cards/points/miles, etc.

Thanks again!
Carrie

goferfan,

Just to be clear, these mileage-earning cards are not good options for people who plan to carry a balance on their credit cards. Most credit cards that offer such rewards charge an appreciably higher interest rate.

If you carry a balance, then any mileage earnings would be cancelled out by extra interest paid.

I think of having one of these mileage-earning cards as a reward for paying my credit card bill in full every month.

Personally, I think this is an easy question. The Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) credit card from AMEX is the one that I see most frequently recommended - and it is a great card. You earn 1 SPG point per dollar spent. You can then use those points for hotels or transfer them, usually on a 1:1 basis to a wide range of airline FF programs.

Here are a few of the big pluses, as I see them:

1) Probably the best range of programs to transfer to, including both AA and BA, as well as several SkyTeam and several Star Alliance programs. Between all of the partners, I would think you could find a way to get a free flight on just about any major airline. And when you transfer 20k points, they throw in an additional 5k miles, giving you 25k.

2) The SPG program is pretty darn generous. We recently stayed at a Starwood property for 3k points per night, and this was at a hotel that was running at $250 per night for the nights in question. And there are no blackout dates or double-point charges, making the points great for using during high demand periods, where you would otherwise have to pay a big premium. When you really think about it, free nights can often be a better redemption value than miles - my stay above ran 9k points and saved me $750, which equates to over 8 cents per point, which is darn good value. By contrast, the free tickets we used to get there ended up being valued at around 4 cents per mile, and we were lucky to find availability.

3) There are some other nice redemption options available, including using 4 nights worth of points and getting 5, as well as "nights & flights", whereby you get 5 nights in a hotel + 50k miles to the FF program of your choosing. These can be very good value.

4) If you churn a lot of expenses through the card, $30k in spending will get SPG Gold status, with upgrades and other perks.

5) I routinely see 20k point sign up bonuses, which is pretty generous.

On the downside, I don't find the Starwood hotels as consistently good as Marriott, with some of the Sheratons, but there are enough very good ones that you will find good places to use the points. And, earning and redeeming is so much easier than either Marriott or, to a lesser extent, Hilton, that I think it more than makes up for this.

A few other caveats:

a) I personally do not see the value in the Capital One-type cards. I think International premium cabin awards are the only ones worth chasing, and these cards are more limited in the ability to do this, in particular, preventing you from using the card to supplement the miles you earn from flying.

b) If you will fly one carrier more than any other, then you might want to look at the cards offered from the airline, particularly if those cards offer things like Elite Qualifying miles (I know Delta's does) or other perks. Of course, this ties you even more to one carrier, which is not a great thing.