Marla

Renee, <BR> <BR>Like another poster mentioned, we are fortunate to accumulate miles through our business. We also live in a rather remote area (Arknsas!), so not every major carrier flies to our nearest airport. <BR> <BR>We have business credit cards with American Airlines. These cost us $75 per year, but I can accumulate up to 150,000 miles per year with NO monthly maximum. I also have a traditional American Airlines credit card, but it has a $50 annual fee and we can only accumulate 60,000 per year. So, I'm canceling the traditional card and going to use the American business card. <BR> <BR>We also have a Capital One Visa, called MilesOne that is only $19 per year. However, I can only accumulate 10,000 miles per month with no yearly maximum. You can fly on any airline with the Capital One card. <BR> <BR>Good Luck!

Renee

Wow, Marla...I wasn't aware that there were limits to the number of miles you could earn annually! That's too bad....I guess I need to go ahead and spring for an AMEX then, unless something else can beat it. <BR> <BR>Thanks!

MathTeacher

Uh, Marla. <BR>If you have a 10,000 mile limite per month, then your annual limit is 120,000 miles. 10,000 x 12 = 120,000.

Marla

Hey Math Teacher, <BR> <BR>That's right ---10,000 x 12 = 120,000. That's for the Capital One credit card. They don't limit the miles by the year, just by the month. My point was --- 10,000 miles per month for a $19 annual fee is a good deal compared to other deals out there. <BR> <BR>The annual mileage cap is for the traditional American Airlines card. It has an annual maximum of 60,000. I could charge all 60,000 miles in one month if I wanted. Read the fine print on the credit card you are considering and make sure it fits YOUR spending habits.

Patrick

One of the greatest newer mileage givers is American's Aadvantage Dining. You register your credit card with the program and everytime you eat at one of their many listed restaurants you get 10 miles per dollar you spend (not counting the one mile per dollar you're already getting for charging). While in New York this summer, I didn't even pay any attention to what restaurants gave the mileage points and ended up with over 14,000 miles of dining credits. Yes, that means I spent $1400 total in about 16 restaurants that all happened to be on their list. The credits even include the amount spent on tax and tip! <BR>To Robin-K, gee I guess you've named it -- I've become a "mileage whore." I'm just now cashing in 90,000 of my over 218,000 American miles for free business class next summer to Amsterdam and return from Paris. When I bring up that ticket on their website, it is worth $14,000. Normally I'd buy an economy ticket and just use miles to upgrade to business so that I'd regain the miles for the trip, but the cheapest round trip economy I could get with American for the trip and then use miles to upgrade was about $1200, as I am staying over 90 days which seems to eliminate most supersaver fares. Unfortunately when I use miles to get a totally free trip, they do not give credit for the new miles I am traveling.

pat

Marla, <BR> I have heard that with the Capital One, "Miles one" card, you can`t stop anywhere on a frequent flyer trip. Is this true? I have a card affilated with American airlines, and can do one national stop and one international stop with no penalty. I know it`s the same with United`s credit card. What about Capital One? Sounded like you could only be at an airport for a couple of hours, too. True?

KenCT

Excellent thread. I'm really a non-frequent flyer, but I've flown to Europe for free for the past two years, and will be going to London, again for free, in April. Some guidelines, some mentioned before, some not: <BR> <BR>1. Keep it simple. I stick with a single carrier, American, and a single credit card, Visa. <BR> <BR>2. Take advantage of promotions - the dining out card did not work for me because they didn't feature restaurants which I wanted to go to, but I once got 500 miles for walking into a car dealership. The promotion required a test drive, but when I walked in the salesman asked me if I planned to buy the car. I answered "Absolutely not." He signed my card and sent me on my way. <BR> <BR>4. You can get miles on in a lot of places you may not have thought of. I spend hundreds of dollars a month on gas for the car. Then I realized one day that I could put the charges on my credit card rather than my gas card. Haven't used it since. Most recently my dentist mentioned that he accepts credit cards, so I pay at the end of my visit and get reimbursed by my insurance carrier. <BR> <BR>3. Remember that using a credit cards for FF miles is no bargain if you're paying large amounts of interest. If at all possible, pay off the balance each month. <BR> <BR>

Marla

Pat, <BR> <BR>I guess I don't understand your question. What do you mean by international stop and domestic stops? Captial One awards your airline tickets based on dollars. For example, you are allowed $500 for a domestic trip costing you 25,000 miles. We traveled once during an unusually busy weekend, and the tickets were $504. I ended up paying $4 for the ticket because it was over the $500 limit for coach class domestic tickets. <BR> <BR>If you're referring to long layovers at the airport, I didn't see any reference to that in their fine print. You might give them a call before you sign up for their program. They have a website, too. Just do a search for Miles One or Capital One. Good Luck!

Gaye

Hey there, <BR> <BR>I'm a little late getting into this thread, but had a couple of thoughts to share. My husband and I are both Delta Skymiles members and are pretty happy with their program. We have the Skymiles AmEx card, which we use for almost everything and have racked up a ton of miles on. There is an annual fee, but each year you charge over 25000 dollars, you get 10000 base miles and a free companion ticket. We got the platinum card, so we actually get double miles for almost every dollar we spend. We got married in April and put almost the entire wedding on the card, so we easily made the 25000 this year. There is a limit to the amount of miles you can earn on the lesser (non-platinum) cards, but if you don't charge that much it may not be an issue for you. <BR> <BR>As other people have mentioned, look around for special offers. They constantly are offering them. Delta is currently offering double base miles between Oct 15 and Dec 15, and the miles actually count towards medallion status (most promos usually don't). We're going to Paris next week (from Denver) and with the double miles, I will be getting silver medallion status with this one trip plus one I made to Cincinnati last month(25000 miles). Not bad to reach medallion status on two trips. <BR> <BR>Hope that helps you out a bit. <BR> <BR>Gaye

Renee

More food for thought! Thanks Gaye and Ken.

Gaye

One more thing I just remembered....you get bonus miles (I think 1000) for purchasing your ticket online at delta.com.

FLJudi

Another thing to look for in making your decision on which airline to earn miles - can you get the free flights easily once you have the miles? We have over 150,000 Continental miles and have been trying to book trips to Europe for the past two years (as much as a year in advance and flexible on dates) but Continental and its parners have not been able to put together any reasonable connections - it has been into one airport, out of another; arrive one day, flight out doesn't leave until the next, etc. etc. etc. <BR> <BR>American, however, has always been able to get us to and from where we want to go (using British Air partner). We're using them again for the third year in a row. I'll continue to use my AAdvantage Visa for everything! We even put the downpayment for out new car on our card last year.

Vita

FLjudi, This is a good thing to know. I just signed up for a Continental Visa. Just wondering what others have experienced with Continental's FF program.

Mary

Continental Airlines program is ok, but didn't work very well with me. Be careful if you try to use the miles for another airline partner - NorthWest, for instance. Their rules are so difficult to trudge through, I ended up in a mess and wish I hadn't put my amex points there at all. In addition, their seating prices are higher and there are very few seats they'll upgrade you with miles. <BR> <BR>One good website, if you just need a few is Miles4Sale.com. Kinda neat. <BR> <BR>Otherwise, everyone else is correct, using ff credit cards is the way to go and watch every web page for upcoming double miles while traveling. Good luck!

Vita

Northwest is horrible in general, in my opinion. I tried to change my ticket once and they were so difficult. I knew it would involve a fee, but I just wanted to know my options and they kept saying how hard it was to do and how expensive it would be. Very unhelpful. <BR> <BR>Mary, when you say Continental's program didn't work out well for you, was that because of your experience with Northwest or have you had other problems trying to redeem miles from Continental?

Renee

geosf, <BR>How has the webmiles.com program worked for you? I want to apply for their visa card which rewards you with 2 miles per dollar spent with their partners and has an annual fee of 39.00. Is it worth the bother? <BR> <BR>