What is the best credit card for accumulating frequent flyer points? Can you use the points on any airline?

MBNA has a credit card whereby you can accumulate miles and use them on any airline. The downside with this credit card is that you cannot combine points earned with the card with points accumulated through a frequent flyer program. If you find that you fly a particular airline most of the time, I would get their credit card that way any points earned on the card will be combined with those earned within the frequent flier account.


https://www.mbnaworldcard.com/WCapp/..._page=home.jsp

I have a Bank of America issued USAirways Checkcard and Visa that I earn points with. I also am a frequent flyer on USAir and earn points that way that are also usable on UAL.

American Express has a very good FF program.

Forgot to add, all of my FF miles are pooled in one account no matter how I earned them.

I agree with DavidDJ's take 100%. If you want true leverage, you need to have a credit card that is wired in with your preferred airline. One program that might be a bit of a hybrid is the American Express Membership Rewards program, which allows you to deposit miles with affiliated carriers. It would be worth checking out to see if your preferred carrier(s) are part of that program and for the purposes of comparison. Personally, I use a directly-linked affinity card and frequently there are bonus opportunities as well as discount flight coupons. As a rule of thumb and strictly in my opinion, mileage-earning cards certainly worthwhile if you are willing to pump an average of $300/month through the account because that will cover the annual fee in mileage value. (You can usually get a sign-up bonus that will essentially return your first year or two of annual fees in mileage value, too.)

I use my Visa for USAIR only and then I use my AX membership miles program to the MILES kitty-- ie. all $ spent go into one kitty so you can have AX forward to your favorite airline....

AX is my MOST favored card to use for the luxury of spreading my points around as I usually fly USAIR or Delta.

And I use my CARDS for EVERY SINGLE THING I CAN BUY- from groceries to gas to clothes to EVERYTHING!!!
And all those tiny little purchases add up....

I have gotten 4 business class tkts to Europe already with the airlines ( NOT in one year!!LOL)....so it definitely pays to charge!!! Unfortunately, we do have to pay at the end of the month...

The Amex card program is particularly good with Continental for two reasons...

1) Continental grants you Elite status and the perks that accompany it simply by virtue of the number of points in your account. On some airlines such as AA, you get free FF tickets for miles accumulated in such a way but get status only for miles actually flown.

2) Twice each year, Continental offers a 25% bonus for points rolled over from Amex. I have a friend who has many business epxenses she charges to her Amex - she gets Elite status and a couple free first class tix to Europe every year yet she does very little flying any other time.

iDine.com

Pretty simple really. Join their program and when you eat at certain restaurants you accumulate points.

There are no fees or strings attatched! I use it all the time as there are several regular places we go that use the program.

Flyboy, you are correct that the Visa works best when spending a good bit of money per month. Fortunately for me, I travel for work and all of my expenses go on that card. Secondly, the bank doesn't charge me an annual fee for the card.

I prefer American Express' Membership Rewards program, as it offers the flexibility of transferring miles to several FF programs. Personally, I have transferred miles to American, USAir, Continental and Delta. (United is not part of the Amex program.)
The negative is that it costs $40 a year. However, I find that the flexibility factor is worth the $40 to me.