AirMile Credit Cards & Sky Mile Credit Cards Help!

[PrincessTiffany]

We love to travel, but hate paying the high cost of air fare. We are looking into getting a credit card through my husband's business that will help us rack up frequent flyer/sky miles. The question is WHICH ONE?

I have been trying to read up on all the options and reviews, but there is just so much info and I'm still not sure which is the best card or the best way to go. My husband would use the card to pay the monthly parts bills and expenses for his two tire and automotive stores, so he would be charging and paying off probably $100,000.00 each month. Which card would you recommend and how many "miles" can we build up and use by doing this? Any opinions, specifically, on Chase Sapphire or Capitol One Venture?

Thanks!

 

[prncess674]

First he should probably check with his suppliers and find out if they charge more for orders placed on credit cards. Many wholesalers do not take credit cards for large orders since they pay 2-3% back to the credit card. Some companies will say they take credit, but the price is 2-3% less if you pay be cash or check. Overpaying a few percentage points is not worth the miles.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

First he should probably check with his suppliers and find out if they charge more for orders placed on credit cards. Many wholesalers do not take credit cards for large orders since they pay 2-3% back to the credit card. Some companies will say they take credit, but the price is 2-3% less if you pay be cash or check. Overpaying a few percentage points is not worth the miles.

Even if the supplier will take CC, you may not earn miles when purchasing inventory. When my DH had a small retail store, we had some suppliers who did not charge extra for CC, but American Express stated in their terms and ocnditiosn that they did not award points on inventory purchases. So chekc the exclusions before you buy. Despite this warning, we always received the points, ut our $$ volume was significantly smaller than you are talking about.

We personally like the Starwood Perferred Guest Amex, which awards one SPG point per $ charged. Those points can be used at hotels (for example, 10,000 for one night at the Swan/Dolphin) or converted into many airline programs. My parents used their SPG points for a cash and points award to fly Virgin Upper Class to and from London when they took my neice on the Baltic Disney cruise. They also stayed 5 nights in London on the points before the cruise. This year, they are looking at using these points to book BC on Air Berlin to get to Europe before a Transatlantic cruise.

We use our SPG points for AA miles (upgrade to domestic FC), hotel stays and even Amtrak travel to Anaheim.

Most experts recommend trying to get at least $0.02 in value for each $ charged. If your return is closer to $0.01, you might as well just go with a cash back card.

Best of luck -- Suzanne

 

[prncess674]

I agree with either using the SPG Amex or getting a traditional AMER MR card simply because of the options available. I love my SPG Amex card, but if you are really charging 100K per month I would collect a few cards and spread the amount over a few different programs.

Your original post mentions "SkyMiles" which is term specific to Delta Airlines. DL is one of the most stingy programs for allowing you to redeem at the lower levels. In most frequent flyer circles they are aptly called "SkyPesos" since they are so worthless.

One other card to consider for some of your $1.2Million spend per year is the Hilton Amex Surpass card. Once you charge $40K in a calendar year they upgrade your HHonors status to Diamond VIP which will give you concierge accces and upgrades at Hilton properties all over the world.

 

[JennSaint]

We love to travel, but hate paying the high cost of air fare. We are looking into getting a credit card through my husband's business that will help us rack up frequent flyer/sky miles. The question is WHICH ONE?

I have been trying to read up on all the options and reviews, but there is just so much info and I'm still not sure which is the best card or the best way to go. My husband would use the card to pay the monthly parts bills and expenses for his two tire and automotive stores, so he would be charging and paying off probably $100,000.00 each month. Which card would you recommend and how many "miles" can we build up and use by doing this? Any opinions, specifically, on Chase Sapphire or Capitol One Venture?

Thanks!

www.flyertalk.com is a great place for researching this!! Check it out!

 

[Psychodisney]

Love my Cap One Venture card. I don't think there are any limits to earning and the rewards are very flexible and easy to cash in. You earn 2miles for every dollar, $59/annual fee.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

www.flyertalk.com is a great place for researching this!! Check it out!

Thanks for the link! And thanks to everyone else for the info. I haven't read many good reviews about the Am Ex cards. The Chase Sapphire and Capitol One Venture seemed to have the best reviews in regard to points earned and to customer service.

 

[Redarrow5150]

We use US Bank and it's been incredibly good for us. The rewards are so numerous and with benefits and flexibility in using your rewards. I've listed some examples below.

1.) Double points when using US Bank at Grocery Stores or Best Buy. The website in the rewards section lists double points at certain stores.

2.) You can redeem the points for cash. So for example we had accumulated 46,000 pts. When my wife wanted to use the points toward airfare she just used the points redeem as cash value. Every 10,000 points is worth $100 dollars so for her trip to Florida they credited our account $460 dollars which covered airfare and her Princess Marathon Race.

4.) Last year I got an e-mail offer for the following; Four Detroit Tiger Tickets+Four Hotdogs+Four Drinks+4 Chips for a GRAND TOTAL of $20.00 (NOT EACH BUT FOR FOUR PEOPLE)

5.) On-line statements and previous statements are kept on-line.

 

[MAH4546]

A Citibank card attached to AAdvantage.

At $100,000 a month, in ten months the card holder will be a lifetime AA Gold member, and after 20 months the cardholder will be a lifetime AA Platinum member.

That means elite benefits - upgrades, free baggage, international lounge access, less fees - for life on American Airlines.

And it doesn't hurt that AAdvantage is by far the most generous FF program in terms of finding award tickets.

Redeeming points for cash is an absolute waste. 100,000 Citibank AAdvantage miles can get you a round-trip business class ticket to Europe, which is valued at 4 to 6x more than the $1,000 towards purchase that a Chase card will give you.

It should be noted that all airlines off some form of lifetime mileage, but AA's is the easiest to earn (you never have to step foot on a plane) and AA's program is known as the easiest to redeem on.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Another point for the OP who plans to charge $100,000 per month is that it may be very difficult to get a credit limit that high (or really you need it to be about double that so that you can enjoy a little float).

Also, check for limits on your ability to earn rewards, as many card max your earning each year. For example, I have several Citi AAdvanatge credit cards and woudl be limited to earning 100,000 miles PER YEAR except that I am AAdvantage Gold. You may need to get several cards for this to work. -- Suzanne

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Again, good info. I talked to my husband last night and he said there wouldn't be any penalties to charging at the part houses they use. He said the his Tire distributers would charge penalties and that's why he wouldn't be charging with them. I'm going to look at the fine print as to what the Max points you can earn is - that's a great tip.

Thanks!

 

[Redarrow5150]

So let me understand this... upgrades, free baggage, international lounge access is better than cash? I guess so if you're used to getting raped by AA for charging for baggage.

A Citibank card attached to AAdvantage.

At $100,000 a month, in ten months the card holder will be a lifetime AA Gold member, and after 20 months the cardholder will be a lifetime AA Platinum member.

That means elite benefits - upgrades, free baggage, international lounge access, less fees - for life on American Airlines.

And it doesn't hurt that AAdvantage is by far the most generous FF program in terms of finding award tickets.

Redeeming points for cash is an absolute waste. 100,000 Citibank AAdvantage miles can get you a round-trip business class ticket to Europe, which is valued at 4 to 6x more than the $1,000 towards purchase that a Chase card will give you.

It should be noted that all airlines off some form of lifetime mileage, but AA's is the easiest to earn (you never have to step foot on a plane) and AA's program is known as the easiest to redeem on.

 

[prncess674]

So let me understand this... upgrades, free baggage, international lounge access is better than cash? I guess so if you're used to getting raped by AA for charging for baggage.

Benefits are in the eye of the beholder. If all you want to do is have miles for domestic coach tickets in the US then AA status may not mean much, but to those of us who frequently travel overseas and prefer to do so in premium cabins then AA miles mean a lot. For example, 100,000 credit card spend will typically get you $1000 in gift cards, but that same 100,000 credit card spend will get you a business class ticket from the US to Europe. Trying to buy a biz class ticket from the US to Europe is definitely worth more than $1,000.

Last year I cashed in 120,000 miles for a first class ticket to Thailand where I had access to the Thai F lounge with 13 hours of premium champagne, a full flat bed in sky sleeper, in flight lobster thermidor and premium service all around. Had I paid out of pocket it easily would have been an $8,000-$12,000 ticket.

 

[Redarrow5150]

Sure but don't believe that was part of the post that started this thread.

Benefits are in the eye of the beholder. If all you want to do is have miles for domestic coach tickets in the US then AA status may not mean much, but to those of us who frequently travel overseas and prefer to do so in premium cabins then AA miles mean a lot. For example, 100,000 credit card spend will typically get you $1000 in gift cards, but that same 100,000 credit card spend will get you a business class ticket from the US to Europe. Trying to buy a biz class ticket from the US to Europe is definitely worth more than $1,000.

Last year I cashed in 120,000 miles for a first class ticket to Thailand where I had access to the Thai F lounge with 13 hours of premium champagne, a full flat bed in sky sleeper, in flight lobster thermidor and premium service all around. Had I paid out of pocket it easily would have been an $8,000-$12,000 ticket.

 

[prncess674]

Sure but don't believe that was part of the post that started this thread.

Well no where did the OP restrict her request to only credit cards with cash back options as your suggested. The OP needs to say what is her priority. The OP has several kids (per her signature) and trying to get more than 2 saver domestic coach awards on the exact flight is not very likely. It is more likely that you would find Santa's elves at the North Pole. Racking up too many points in any one program may be a huge mistake, especially when you note that the OP could be charging $100K per month.

If I had that kind of spend I would concentrate on some air miles and some combo of hotel points since it appears the OP would need at least two rooms for her family when traveling on vacation. A nice hotel can easily run $200-$300 a night in a resort destination and being able to cask in points/miles for hotels could be a huge benefit.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Yes, we are a large family, so it's more expensive for us to travel. While the luxury flight and perks that the other pp discussed sound really nice, that's not really something we would be interested in. I would like a program where we can rack up enough points/miles to where we could buy at least 12 coach class tickets per year and some hotel savings would be a nice added bonus.

 

[elainesj]

You have to think about what rewards you want.

We collect credit cards as DH has ridiculously good credit. So we really try to maximize bonus offers and constantly apply for new credit cards although we stick to 2-3 cards we use regularly.

Just note that usually business credit cards offer better rewards and my eperience is based on regular household use, charging just under $10K a year. (on our US credit card. We live in Canada and the bulk of our spending is on Cdn CCs here).

I've read awesome things about the SPG Amex. It doesn't work as well for us as we typically only spend abt $50-$60 a night for hotels (we priceline and are content with that) and so room "value" isn't as high to us. Starwood has great hotels and if you typically pay their rates - and would use Starwood points for free nights...then yes, the value of their points are very high. (I just don;t rate their points as highly because we can get rooms cheaper, kwim?). I should add that I DO carry an SPG Amex. the 10,000 free points for getting the card was irresistable!

Plus, Amex is not accepted everywhere and we really wanted a Visa/MC because of that. (BTW, Discover also seems to have a good rewards program - but I just ignored it as it has the same problem as Amex).

We ended up with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. (different from the basic slightly). Their points seemed to be the most useful and rewarding. It's also fairly flexible (to a certain degree anyway).

I should also add that if you fly Delta a lot, you should get their CC, even if u don't use it. The perks of free check in luggage is GREAT. I do find Delta has really devalued their points. I fly from Detroit and in the old days when it was Northwest, I found free flights easily. Now on Delta, I find flights to Orlando typically to be 40,000 miles, instead of 25,000 miles (from what I can tell, they have very limited seats at the 25K mile level - and they sell out early). Unfortunately, Delta always works out to be the best flight option for me (because Detroit is a major hub for them).

That said, I found a workaround - if you carry the Delta CC, you get the perk of using Pay with Miles!!!. It''s a GREAT way to use miles IMO.

For my Jan trip, Delta flights were typically $300. One day, fares dropped to $150. I jumped on it and paid for the fare with miles. Paid 10,000 miles for $100 of the flight cost, and paid the other $50 in cash. What a steal - even better than spending 25,000 miles on the flight! Even if I had done it at the $300 price, I would only have paid 30,000 miles for the flight - which isn't too too much more than the normal 25K.

 

[prncess674]

Yes, we are a large family, so it's more expensive for us to travel. While the luxury flight and perks that the other pp discussed sound really nice, that's not really something we would be interested in. I would like a program where we can rack up enough points/miles to where we could buy at least 12 coach class tickets per year and some hotel savings would be a nice added bonus.

So based on your signature it appears you are trying to take 2 family (6 tickets per trip) per year. The likelihood of getting 6 saver awards (25K*2) on one flight is nearly impossible. Let's say you are really lucky and are able to get two saver and 4 anytime awards (50K*4) for your family. That means (if you are lucky) you would need 250K per trip.

Now assume those tickets could have been purchased for $300 per person which would be $1800, but since you spent all your points on tickets you are now stuck with paying for your hotel. Let's assume you decide to stay at the Pop Century in WDW which average $200 per night with taxes (which is similar in price to the Swan/Dolphin pricing) and you stay for 5 nights. You are a large family so you need two rooms (2 rooms * $200 * 5 nights) which totals $2000.

Now let's say you instead of taking that money for flights you put it towards hotels first. SPG charges 10K per night at the Swan/Dolphin but gives you the 5th night free. So you would $2,000 worth of hotel for 80K in points. Now others are going to get up in arms and say "BUT NO FREE MAGICAL EXPRESS!" okay so you buy one saver award at 25K and take that $300 and use it for parking and renting a minivan.

So based on this scenario you could "spend"

105K points + $1,800 and still have 170K left. You would also be in a Deluxe hotel and have a rental car for a trip maybe to USO/IOA(don't forget since you would be paying for 5 flights you would also be earning points and you aren't restricted by the narrow flight choices for awards.)

or

250K points + $2,000 and have no points left.

The choice seems obvious to me.

 

[mhconley]

I have a Chase United MileagePlus Visa card. I have used miles more than a dozen times to book two (DW & I) to three (DW, DS & I) saver fare free roundtrip tickets to many different vacation destinations, including on Star Alliance partner flights. I can think of only once that I needed to use a standard award for travel and that was last minute to Las Vegas. I also regulalrly use miles to upgrade my company's mandatory coach class overseas tickets to business class. We use the card for all our groceries and gas and pay it off each and every month. I love MileagePlus!

Martin

 

[prncess674]

I have a Chase United MileagePlus Visa card. I have used miles more than a dozen times to book two (DW & I) to three (DW, DS & I) saver fare free roundtrip tickets to many different vacation destinations,

2 to 3 is lot less than trying find 6 saver coach awards. I challenge you to find a single pair of flights (roundtrip) this summer that have 6 saver awards from ATL-MCO. The OP has school age children so I assume she won't be using these awards on non peak travel times.