Best credit card for earning airmiles?
 

We're looking for a credit card that will earn us airmiles. We've never had one and we'd really like one. Any suggestions?<BR>Thank you!

If you have a regular or preferred carrier -- (and you expect them to be around for awhile) -- then I believe that is the place to look first. The ability to leverage miles-earning opportunities from several different sources will allow you to achieve awards more quickly. You are likely to periodically receive special offers that are useful to you in addition the basic offer of mile(s) per $$$ with the card. Setting up multiple accounts with non-combinable points/miles can tend to leave many people with &quot;orphan&quot; balances that are more difficult to make use of unless a high level of activity can be maintained.

Right around the time I started planning my wedding (about 4 years ago) I switched from a regular visa to a &quot;Citimiles Visa&quot; through citicards. The idea was that those wedding expenses could quickly add up to airline tickets. So after a wedding, a new house, furnishings, canoe, Euronpean honeymoon, multiple vacations, and even charging $5000 for a car downpayment I now have enough milage for one ticket from NJ to Minneapolis. I think you could do better.

I personally love my AmEx Starwood card. It gives me the flexability of using the points towards various Starwood Hotels (Westin, Sheraton, 4 Points etc.) or to ANY airline. The conversion for airline miles is 1 = 1 which is MUCH better than the AmEx Rewards Program. Also, I love this because if you transfer 20,000 points to any airline, you receive a 5,000 point bonus so effectively you get a domestic round trip (25,000 miles) for only 20,000 points which makes it even better than the 1=1 coversion. Sometimes I use it for hotels, sometimes for various airlines....it's my call. Until needed, the points just sit there and never expire. This card has now replaced my AA Citibank card and my Gold AmEx. You can use the points for all the major airlines that I know of.<BR><BR>

I should add that the AmEx is free the first year and $30. each year after.

I have used a United Mileage Plus Card for years and have used miles for many upgrades and free trips. Recently, I received a solicitation in the mail (from Chase, I think) for a card that lets you use your miles on any airline with no black out periods. It sounded too good to be true and was very fuzzy on the details of how many miles it took to get an award. I called the company and had to practically twist the arm off the customer service rep to find out that the details of the program are available on the bank's website. It turns out that their program requires many more miles for free tickets and does not offer upgrades (which, for me, are the best use of my miles). Moral of the story: it pays to do some research before you tie up your credit with a card you will not want to use. Now if only I could count on United surviving bankruptcy...

traveller333, Is the deal with the Starwood Amex card that you transfer points to the airline program of your choosing and abide by its associated rules (blackout periods, etc.)?

I use a United visa card with a USAir card as a backup....yes I know they are not the most secure choices.<BR><BR>I have checked out some of the card that claim to let you redeem miles on any airline.<BR><BR>What I found is that, when you read the fine print, they allow you to redeem miles for a ticket up to a fixed value(typically $400). So if your round trip ticket would sell for $650, you would have to come up with the difference.<BR><BR>They are virtually useless for award tickets for first class travel.<BR><BR><BR><BR>

I have an American Airlines Advantage Citibank Card. The annual fee of $50 is worth it because I usually get one free ticket in the continental U.S. per year. If I were you I would determine which airline has the most flights from your home airport and get a card with them. The diadvantage of going with an MBNA card is that you cannot combine miles earned with the card with those earned from travel.

I just signed up for a Delta Sky Miles card. They are giving 10,000 bonus miles right now for joining and double miles if you use your card to pay your Federal income taxes (an unhappy, close-approaching event!)--also for varioius other purchases. The $85 fee is waived for one year.

Thanks, Everyone! This helps!

I have two Continental Airlines/Chase credit cards, a Visa and a Mastercard. Both earn CO miles exclusively. Since I usually fly Continental, it works for me. Plus, they offer double miles at Best Buy, the US Postal Service and a few other national vendors.

We like AAdvantage Mastercard. Last year we went to Cayman and this September, we're going to Hawaii. We don't fly a lot so this was mostly done with just purchases.

It's also important to watch for special deals for opening brokerage accounts, getting home loans, etc. thes can be for 50,000 or more miles.<BR><BR>I've used mileage cards to pay for kid's college and bought 2 cars(the bank loan was used to pay VISA instead of the car dealer)<BR><BR>Last fall, UAL VISA offered double miles on ALL purchases but you had to register your card first.<BR><BR>It reall y adds up, I sued mileage to get 2 free first class tickets to Austalia/New Zealand with a face value of $10,000 for EACH ticket.<BR><BR><BR>In the past I got special checks that got me double miles when used with no

Craig, not sure about the blackout dates. Thus far I haven't run into this yet. I just let the points accumulate until I need to withdraw. So far I've transferred points to SW Airlines (I already had some but was a tad short for a ticket); 20,000 points for American Airlines (they added the 5,000 bonus so I got a domestic ticket) and Continental Airlines (like SW, I already had some points but was around 5,000 short for my ticket). I make the reservation with the airline first before transferring the points into my FF account with any particular airline. I haven't encountered the black out date period, but I haven't travelled on a holiday period either. I really like the flexability of being able to chose an airline rather than being limited to just one airline. Also, the 5,000 bonus miles is a real great discount!! I also used the starwood points for a stay at the NYC Sheraton once as well. It really is the program that works best for us. Certainly worth the $30 per year I now pay (first year was free though). You can call 1-888-625-4988 and they can answer any questions or you can apply for the AmEx card there as well.

Craig,<BR>The points that your earn on the Starwood Amex automatically goes into your Starwood Preferred Guest account. From there, you can transfer your points into one of the participating airlines. Once they are credited to your airline FF account, yes you would then have to abide by the airline's FF redemption rules. Here's a link to the participating airlines: https://www.starwood.com/preferredguest/starpoints/transfer_ff_checkRoc.html<BR><BR>Most transfers are 1 point = 1 airline mile with a 5,000 bonus for every 20,000 transferred, but note that United requires 2 points = 1 mile which is a distinct disadvantage if you are primarily interested in UA miles.