JGRIFFIN

Which credit cards are the best for accumulating sky miles? Doesn't it take an awful lot of credits to purchase a ticket?

OliveOyl

We use an AA Visa, but aren't they all pretty much the same: what one offers the next will too? The choice when we selected was simple--living in Dallas, an AA hub, that was going to be the airline we built miles with.

At one mile for each dollar spent they do build slowly...but surely, and we save the miles for larger trips. Even then, if we find a great fare, as we did last time to England, we'll pay cash (Visa gt;) and hoard the miles for another time.

I rarely carry cash, using Visa for most everything, out of convenience, not to get miles. We even paid the kids' college tuition with Visa. It adds up--we currently have enough miles for 3 free trips to Europe, any time of year! The trick is to pay off your balance each month, avoiding interest charges (and negating the gain you got earning "free" miles)!!

Calcul8

I admit we have 2 mileage credit cards, but I no longer think of them in terms of getting freebie tickets. Put it this way: you need to have spent $25,000 to get 25,000 miles, the usual "cost" of a round-trip domestic ticket. Add, also, the $60. (more or less) annual fee, and if it takes you more than 2-3 years to spend that $25,000, you are spending more for the card fee than you might pay for a plan-ahead discount ticket. And you are always paying a much higher interest rate, so if you carry a balance month to month, it adds up fast.

I discovered that we had "spent" $120 in yearly fees and $300. in interest over two years to get a domestic RT ticket that I could have bought for $250 with advance notice.

Here are conditions that do make it worth it:

- If you are also flying a lot so the miles add up quickly.
- If you want the flexibility of a freebie ticket that is good on the spur of the moment so you don't have to book 2 weeks ahead or wait for an airfare war. (I've used miles to get relatives to funerals on short notice -- a godsend.)
- If you want the miles mainly for upgrades. This is the very best use of them. For high season round-trip to Europe it can be 60K-80K miles for a free coach ticket, worth about $800-1000. but often the upgrade to business class is less miles than that (40K-50K) while the fare could be $4000. or more. So you've tripled the "value" of each "mile" you cash in.

Jim Rosenberg

Good advice from the posters above. Mine is similar: concentrate ALL of your mileage-earning opportunities on the airline that you want to fly. I have my card set up on a "full balance autopay" system so a balance never accumulates. It is therefore used the way most people use a debit card. The long distance service, hotel spiffs, promotional bonuses and flight miles all go into the same pot. That is the way to make it all work together with some synergy and get somewhere over a reasonable period of time, IMHO. Happy Trails!

Don

If you really accumulate a lot of miles on a card you need to pick carefully.

I use my card to pay business expenses and usually charge about $15,000 per month and pay it off in full. My American Platinum Visa lets me earn as many miles each month and in the year as I charge. My United card limits the miles to 10,000 per month and 60,000 max per year. This is a big difference for me and anyone else that charges a lot of miles. I have lost some on United by not keeping track and going over the 10,000 spending limit. Just one more reminder to read the fine print.

John

Just FYI -- "Sky Miles" is the name of Delta's frequent flyer program. "Frequent flyer miles" is a better generic term.

I agree with everything said above. I don't fly very much but do spend about $25-40k per year on business expenses. Therefore, I use a Continental OnePass Visa (issued by Chase) for $40 a year. It's a deal. I get a free roundtrip ticket within the US or to Europe (depending on how much I spend that year) for $40!

Traveler

We use the Citibank Travelers card (Mastercard) and have flown free (or at least cheap) very regularly. They give a $100 certificate for every $6,000 dollars charged and can be used in increments instead of waiting until you have a specific amount to make a trip. It's good for any airlines and their travel agents make all the arrangements.

lucy

I used to use a mileage card, but could never, ever get seats on flights. We now use Discover card...no annual fee, and they give you cash back once a year. We just got $850 dollars (1.5%) in a check, and can buy any ticket we want. The only catch is that discover is not as widely accepted, so we have a free AOL visa card and use that as a backup. I get free monthly aol with that one.

lisa

There is a website that is a good resource for information on the best way to maximize frequent flier miles. It is www.mileageworkshop.com, and in addition to information on credit card bonus miles offers it also has information on how to get frequent flier miles from your long distance carrier and other ways. In the past, MCI and Sprint were each offering up to 25,000 frequent flier miles on various airlines for switching your phone service to one or the other. I got 20,000 miles (over the course of a year) on Northwest for switching to Sprint, and before that I got 25,000 miles on American for switching to MCI, and before that I got 25,000 miles on Northwest for having switched to Sprint. Now I think the most you can get for switching is 10,000 miles and some airlines only offer 5,000 or 6,000 miles. Still, when you add it to whatever you charge on your frequent flier credit card, it can add up and help you get closer to a free ticket. Check out the website and read all the various offers that are out there and figure out the best one for you.

John

Another trick, but it could backfire: If you charge quite a bit every month (even if you pay it all off), call up your cc company and tell them you want to cancel. You will get transfered to a special "team" of Customer Service Reps who are tasked to "save" you as a customer. When they ask why you are quitting, tell them it is because of the annual fee. Most of the time they will waive the annual fee for a year or sometimes permanently to keep you as a customer. This works best of course when you have just been assessed your annual fee. I have a Chase Visa that gets points toward air travel and other things that I haven't paid an annual fee on in 3 years.

Dawn Cooper

I use Delta Sky Miles card because Delta is the airline that is going where I am going. It's an American Express card. Any ticket charged on the card gives me double miles. MCI gave me 10K for signing up and I get 5 miles for every dollar I spend on my phone bill. If I charge my wireless phone on my card, I get double miles. I also recieve double miles for gas, groceries and in home improvement stores. There are restaurants that are on the dining plan that give 10 miles for every dollar spent. An meal out with the family can easily net me 750 miles. Healthy choice at one point offered 500 miles for every 10 items purchased. When you buy on the sales (buy one get one free) it adds up.
In 1998 I used our accummulated miles for a trip for six of us to Hawaii. This is a trip we could have never afforded otherwise. This year I used 90K miles for three tickets, my husband used his Delta miles and the two kids finally had enough miles (after I split my Diner's Club miles with them) for another trip to Hawaii. In my account, I have an additional 60K that I am saving for the next trip. If you work at it, it works for you. I pay my bill off every month so it costs me nothing more than the membership fee.

J T Kirk

Does anyone use Diner's Club anymore? Does Diner's Club offer any deals?
It seems like back in the dark ages it was the ONLY card to have.

kam

I use a UA Visa card for everything! My local Safeway gives an additional 1 mile/$2 over the miles given by the Visa card. I'm really accumulating miles. Two months ago we had major, major damage when a huge tree fell and took out our redwood deck. Thankfully, it was covered by insurance who wrote us a check. Now I can charge the repairs to my Visa and get miles as well--this alone will almost get me a free ticket! Some universities allow you to charge your kids tuition! Somehow, getting the miles makes one feel a bit better about spending the money!

paige

I use Southwest Airlines. No first class, but I never have enough miles for first class anyway. The best thing about their frequent flyer program is they send you a ticket voucher each time you reach 16 credits. A credit is equal to a one-way flight or $1,000.00 on your charge card. The drawback is you must acquire your 16 credits in 12 consecutive months or they start dropping off and when you receive your ticket voucher it's good for only 12 months. Even with that, I have used this card for three or four years and have earned at least four ticket vouchers that I have been able to use before they expire. Right now I have two and one expires in August so I'd better plan a trip somewhere !

paige

I forgot the other best thing about Southwest Airlines is the frequent flyer seats are not limited on each flight and there are no advance reservations needed. I do think they have a block out on Christmas and Thanksgiving travel.

guy

For my money the American Express Membership Rewards Program is superior to any other program. Understand that there are several different types of AX card and some may have a limitation as to maximum purchases that can be made..Others do not..
For those of us who incur very large monthly bills...the basis ' Do not leave home without it' AX card which has no limitations regarding point accumulations is a tremendous incentive. Not only is AX the only card I use..it is the only card I own..and I have not had much trouble being without the others all over the world. As you can tell I am a big fan of AX and the Memebership Rewards Program. Also..all of the points accumulated under the Membership Reward Program can be transferred to several different participating member airlines so you are not restricted to just one..albeit, I think other affinity card have the same feature. honeatly it is a matter of preference. Yes, in some cases it takes quite a while ot acumulate enough points to do anything..but it is still worth while to put as many purchases as possible on some card..Those of us that do will tell you that we realize far more FF miles on the grouond than we get from flying..

Dawn Cooper

Guy, My husband uses the Amex Rewards card and I agree that it is superior because of the flexibility of miles. The same benefits that I get on my Delta Sky Miles card of double miles, dining miles, etc for this or that, he gets. Delta works for me because that his the airline we most often use and they gave me an aggragate of 10K for signing up and ultimately upgrading.

MasterVisa

Yes, but: a lot of places don't like and won't take the AmEx card. You must move in very limited circles.

Doug

Isn't the Delta Skymiles issued by American Express? How is it different than the AMEX Membership Rewards?

Dick

I know it's easy to get the annual fee waived on a non airline affinity card.....but is anyone aware of a bankcard that will issue airline miles AND will waive the annual fee?