Best credit card for air miles for international travel??

[mrsklamc]

You can do it peak season, as long as you're flexible with your dates. Most award tickets allow "open jaw" routing, so I look for flights to and from multiple cities and piece together an itinerary. We've flown into Brussels and out of Paris, and another time into Paris and out of Frankfurt. This last time, my wife continued to Madrid to do some research.

Interesting. I've always wanted to go to Hawaii, and DH would REALLY like for those flights to be first class but it just doesn't make sense financially. Maybe I can figure something out with miles. Thanks!

 

[Kachina]

I adore our Sapphire Preferred card. Had it for about six weeks and just redeemed about $600 worth of travel. We use it mostly for paying bills and regular expenses like groceries and gas. Certain categories do equal more points, and shopping via their portal nets bonus points depending on the retailer as well. We pay it off once a week, long before interest comes due.

I did a bit of research on it before we applied, and can't remember their requirements offhand but they're out there on the credit card/budget forums. People love to analyze that stuff. If you don't think you can get the preferred card, the tier down card they offer isn't a bad deal, either.

It's all up to you though. Definitely pick what will work best with your situation. These points or cash back cards are great to use for money you're spending already. Might as well get something back on that. Good luck!

 

[Angrypenguin]

So, it's basically a cash back card without the cash? What's the gimmick? Why is it worth more than a regular cash back card? Does it earn a higher reward?

Good question. Chase provides a lot of flexibility; for example, I have most 100k in points, or a straight 1k if I wanted cash back.

However, we have plans for an England trip this year. I could use the 100k points for airfare, and with the 20% off for using points, it's worth over $1200 in airfare on any airline.

Or, what I'm planning on doing, is transferring the points at a 1 to 1 swap for Hyatt gold passport points. So 100k chase points = 100k Hyatt points. There's a five star Hyatt regency in central London that is around £350-400 a night, or $640 a night. But it's only 25k Hyatt points a night. So I can get 4 nights at a 5 star in central London for 100k points (equivalent to $1000) where it would normally cost $2,560, saving us over 1500 bucks.

Chase sapphire preferred gives 2x points in travel and dining. It's my go to card, but I use my chase freedom card for the rotating 5x categories for gas and other things. Also have the chase ink card for 5x on cable/phone bills to rack up points.

Good lucky!

 

[elaine amj]

I got into credit card churning a few years ago. We love it and our credit score is great.

The trick is to find something that offers a rewards YOU will use. I still haven't accummulated much in the way of United, American Arlines, Us Airways miles because they don't fly direct from my airport. So we collected Delta miles for some years (even though the miles community calls them Skypesos lol!). While I agree they are not as good a value as many other airlines, the fact that they are the airline I fly the most often and the one I am most likely to choose means that I get to consolidate my miles.

Also, be flexible and look for partner programs.

We are flying to Europe in March. Both my husband and I had 60,000 miles in each of our accounts - which is what it costs to fly to Europe at that time of year. (I know sometimes you can get 40,000 miles for coach on other airlines - but what's the point when I don't have 160K miles in that airline program and am unlikely to get it?). My kids had 40K miles each so both were short. Thankfully I had 50k American Express reward points from another credit card bonus. We transferred 20K to each of my kids accounts. With that we were set for 4 tickets.

A side note: 1st class is the best redemption - but when flying with a family of 4, its hard to justify the extra points. I can either fly 2 of us first class or all 4 of us coach. I went for coach.

In your case, I would think about what you need and apply for a combo of cards that will work together to get you your flights. Consider which airline flies from your city and research how many miles it would take to get you to Europe. (try pricing flying in/out of another city other than London - which tacks on more fees). Maybe you will come up with a couple of options. (e.g. both United and American Air will get you there).

Then, consider the best combo of credit cards. I like a combo of:
- the airlines card which typically gets you 35-50k miles.
- 1 or 2 Chase cards that earns you Ultimate Rewards - Chase Sapphire, Chase Ink Plus, and Chase Ink Bold.(the last 2 are business cards). You could earn 40k - 50k points each which you can then transfer for airmiles for the airline of your choice. Alternative to Chase is American Express points. But their transfers are a bit more limited.

I always calculate every step along the way so I understand what I have to do to get what I want.

Right now I am working on a complicated manuever. I want a Southwest companion pass (need 110,000 SW points) but we have mostly exhausted our applications for southwest credit cards. So we:
- applied for Marriott credit cards for DH (he got 2 of them) and I. Earned a combined total 140,000 points.
- DH applied for Chase Ink Bold (55k points) and Chase Ink Plus (55k points): 110,000 points.
- The Marriott and Chase cards together got us 250,000 Marriott points which can be redeemed for a Marriott travel package with 7 nights stay and 100,000 SW points.

- For the last 10k SW points, I applied for a Best Western CC for 20,000 points which became 4800 SW points and transferred 18k American Express points to Choice hotels which then transferred to 5400 SW points.

If all goes well, I'll have a SW Companion Pass with no money out of pocket (other than meeting minimum spends). Still in the middle of the maneuver - but you get the gist

 

[elaine amj]

I should also add - if you really want to maximize airmiles for flights, learn about open jaw flights and multi city routes. Delta has a completely interesting pricing system that is sometimes bizarre - but can give your a multi city tour for the same price or less. I found it would cost me 60,000 miles + $200 in fees to fly roundtrip to London. I then explored flying in and out of Paris and/or Amsterdam and catching the train or a cheap flight/bus in Europe. I would see more cities and I always understood that flying in and out of London had the highest fees. So I priced out multiple combinations of flights and ended up with the best choices for what our family wanted to do.

For the exact same price (60,000 miles + $200 in fees), we are:
1. Flying direct to London for 9 nights.
2. Then flying to Zurich for 2 nights
3. Then flying to Amsterdam for 1 night.
4. Then flying direct back home.
I could have added 1-2 days in Paris for the same price but we decided not to. Alternatively, we could have done Spain/Portugal for about $50-$100 less in fees. But Switzerland won

I joke that I created my own European bus tour.

 

[Angrypenguin]

I got into credit card churning a few years ago. We love it and our credit score is great.

The trick is to find something that offers a rewards YOU will use. I still haven't accummulated much in the way of United, American Arlines, Us Airways miles because they don't fly direct from my airport. So we collected Delta miles for some years (even though the miles community calls them Skypesos lol!). While I agree they are not as good a value as many other airlines, the fact that they are the airline I fly the most often and the one I am most likely to choose means that I get to consolidate my miles.

Also, be flexible and look for partner programs.

We are flying to Europe in March. Both my husband and I had 60,000 miles in each of our accounts - which is what it costs to fly to Europe at that time of year. (I know sometimes you can get 40,000 miles for coach on other airlines - but what's the point when I don't have 160K miles in that airline program and am unlikely to get it?). My kids had 40K miles each so both were short. Thankfully I had 50k American Express reward points from another credit card bonus. We transferred 20K to each of my kids accounts. With that we were set for 4 tickets.

A side note: 1st class is the best redemption - but when flying with a family of 4, its hard to justify the extra points. I can either fly 2 of us first class or all 4 of us coach. I went for coach.

In your case, I would think about what you need and apply for a combo of cards that will work together to get you your flights. Consider which airline flies from your city and research how many miles it would take to get you to Europe. (try pricing flying in/out of another city other than London - which tacks on more fees). Maybe you will come up with a couple of options. (e.g. both United and American Air will get you there).

Then, consider the best combo of credit cards. I like a combo of:
- the airlines card which typically gets you 35-50k miles.
- 1 or 2 Chase cards that earns you Ultimate Rewards - Chase Sapphire, Chase Ink Plus, and Chase Ink Bold.(the last 2 are business cards). You could earn 40k - 50k points each which you can then transfer for airmiles for the airline of your choice. Alternative to Chase is American Express points. But their transfers are a bit more limited.

I always calculate every step along the way so I understand what I have to do to get what I want.

Right now I am working on a complicated manuever. I want a Southwest companion pass (need 110,000 SW points) but we have mostly exhausted our applications for southwest credit cards. So we:
- applied for Marriott credit cards for DH (he got 2 of them) and I. Earned a combined total 140,000 points.
- DH applied for Chase Ink Bold (55k points) and Chase Ink Plus (55k points): 110,000 points.
- The Marriott and Chase cards together got us 250,000 Marriott points which can be redeemed for a Marriott travel package with 7 nights stay and 100,000 SW points.

- For the last 10k SW points, I applied for a Best Western CC for 20,000 points which became 4800 SW points and transferred 18k American Express points to Choice hotels which then transferred to 5400 SW points.

If all goes well, I'll have a SW Companion Pass with no money out of pocket (other than meeting minimum spends). Still in the middle of the maneuver - but you get the gist

Great stuff!

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Good question. Chase provides a lot of flexibility; for example, I have most 100k in points, or a straight 1k if I wanted cash back.

However, we have plans for an England trip this year. I could use the 100k points for airfare, and with the 20% off for using points, it's worth over $1200 in airfare on any airline.

Or, what I'm planning on doing, is transferring the points at a 1 to 1 swap for Hyatt gold passport points. So 100k chase points = 100k Hyatt points. There's a five star Hyatt regency in central London that is around £350-400 a night, or $640 a night. But it's only 25k Hyatt points a night. So I can get 4 nights at a 5 star in central London for 100k points (equivalent to $1000) where it would normally cost $2,560, saving us over 1500 bucks.

Chase sapphire preferred gives 2x points in travel and dining. It's my go to card, but I use my chase freedom card for the rotating 5x categories for gas and other things. Also have the chase ink card for 5x on cable/phone bills to rack up points.

Good lucky!

You can also use the Ink card to buy gift cards at office supply stores. We particularly like purchasing GC for Amazon. That means that every time we shop, we receive 5X miles at Amazon.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points can then be transferred to any of the 3 major international airline alliances by transferring to British Air, Korean Air or United. Transfer are usually made in real time, which more or less puts an end to the problem of having points but not in the right program. -- Suzanne

 

[elaine amj]

You can also use the Ink card to buy gift cards at office supply stores. We particularly like purchasing GC for Amazon. That means that every time we shop, we receive 5X miles at Amazon. Chase Ultimate Rewards points can then be transferred to any of the 3 major international airline alliances by transferring to British Air, Korean Air or United. Transfer are usually made in real time, which more or less puts an end to the problem of having points but not in the right program. -- Suzanne

Chase Ultimate Rewards are pretty awesome - we've really liked the program.

 

[Angrypenguin]

Question for those of you that credit card churn: do you cancel the cards afterwards? Or do you leave them open to increase your credit/usage ratio?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Interesting. I've always wanted to go to Hawaii, and DH would REALLY like for those flights to be first class but it just doesn't make sense financially. Maybe I can figure something out with miles. Thanks!

First class to Hawaii is not a quality product. Don't waste miles or money on this. Use the cash you save on your hotel, meals, etc.

I like having a specific airline branded credit card because it gives you extras, such as those I already mentioned on UA. Plus, my husband and I try to stick with UA because we have elite frequent flyer status there, so it makes sense to have UA branded cards.

 

[MAH4546]

The best credit card is the one tied to the best frequent flier program. That program is AAdvantage, so this is the best one, with a decent sign-up bonus right now:

http://www.aa.com/pubcontent/en_US/disclaimers/BP-PLATHV.jsp

There's really no comparison. AAdvantage and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan are the only FF programs with miles that you'll actually be able to redeem for flights you want. SkyPesos and MileagePlus are pretty worthless.

First class to Hawaii is not a quality product. Don't waste miles or money on this. Use the cash you save on your hotel, meals, etc.

AA offers a decent product to Hawai'i, especially from Dallas and Chicago - lie flat beds and Hawaiian-themed meals. I wouldn't think it's a waste of miles.

 

[mrsklamc]

First class to Hawaii is not a quality product.

I don't understand? (I usually fly southwest so I'm not really familiar with first class. He has gotten upgrades for work though.)

 

[Pooh2]

Wrong. The Chase Sapphire's points can be used on anything. For example, you could buy a laptop from an online store with the Chase Sapphire and use your Ultimate Rewards points toward a statement credit. You don't need to spend those points on travel.

Just did this to get a new dslr! Felt like Christmas!

 

[GAN]

I could have added 1-2 days in Paris for the same price but we decided not to. Alternatively, we could have done Spain/Portugal for about $50-$100 less in fees. But Switzerland won

Brilliant choice ...IMO!

 

[Kachina]

I really like the Chase family of cards. I started with the Chase Sapphire preferred (40k points when you sign up) and have added a chase freedom card and ink card to get all the points. Then I switch what I'm paying for based on maximum point return value.

Just wanted to say thank you for mentioning the Freedom card. I did some looking into it, and realized that card would fit in perfectly here, too. Applied and was approved. Between this and the Sapphire preferred, we're set.

Thanks again!

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

Just what I was looking for...this thread is very helpful!

 

[ldo]

We have had AA for 10 years, and have used it 4X for Europe. Love it a lot! But, IMHO, I like United better. We only travel in coach to max out our miles. There are MANY times that AA has NO seats for the 30K each way level, but I can get a United or partner flight. Now, it might be Lufthansa, and it might be delayed for 8 hrs, but we still get home for 30K miles in Aug.--LOL! I wish I had more U and less AA miles.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I don't understand? (I usually fly southwest so I'm not really familiar with first class. He has gotten upgrades for work though.)

I meant first class to Hawaii is not worth the extra price, either in cash or frequent flyer miles. It's just not that much better than flying economy, especially on an airline offering economy seats with more room, such as United Airlines Economy Plus.

 

[pjlla]

Thank you SO MUCH to so many of you for taking the time to give such great information. I'll have to take some time this weekend and work out what I think might be best for us. I hate to get locked into one particular airline, since I will definitely be shopping price... and DD may need airmiles for a research project trip this summer AND a semester abroad in the next 18 months.... so I need to keep my options open!

Again, THANKS.............P

 

[rnorwo1]

I got into credit card churning a few years ago. We love it and our credit score is great.

The trick is to find something that offers a rewards YOU will use. I still haven't accummulated much in the way of United, American Arlines, Us Airways miles because they don't fly direct from my airport. So we collected Delta miles for some years (even though the miles community calls them Skypesos lol!). While I agree they are not as good a value as many other airlines, the fact that they are the airline I fly the most often and the one I am most likely to choose means that I get to consolidate my miles.

Also, be flexible and look for partner programs.

We are flying to Europe in March. Both my husband and I had 60,000 miles in each of our accounts - which is what it costs to fly to Europe at that time of year. (I know sometimes you can get 40,000 miles for coach on other airlines - but what's the point when I don't have 160K miles in that airline program and am unlikely to get it?). My kids had 40K miles each so both were short. Thankfully I had 50k American Express reward points from another credit card bonus. We transferred 20K to each of my kids accounts. With that we were set for 4 tickets.

A side note: 1st class is the best redemption - but when flying with a family of 4, its hard to justify the extra points. I can either fly 2 of us first class or all 4 of us coach. I went for coach.

In your case, I would think about what you need and apply for a combo of cards that will work together to get you your flights. Consider which airline flies from your city and research how many miles it would take to get you to Europe. (try pricing flying in/out of another city other than London - which tacks on more fees). Maybe you will come up with a couple of options. (e.g. both United and American Air will get you there).

Then, consider the best combo of credit cards. I like a combo of:
- the airlines card which typically gets you 35-50k miles.
- 1 or 2 Chase cards that earns you Ultimate Rewards - Chase Sapphire, Chase Ink Plus, and Chase Ink Bold.(the last 2 are business cards). You could earn 40k - 50k points each which you can then transfer for airmiles for the airline of your choice. Alternative to Chase is American Express points. But their transfers are a bit more limited.

I always calculate every step along the way so I understand what I have to do to get what I want.

Right now I am working on a complicated manuever. I want a Southwest companion pass (need 110,000 SW points) but we have mostly exhausted our applications for southwest credit cards. So we:
- applied for Marriott credit cards for DH (he got 2 of them) and I. Earned a combined total 140,000 points.
- DH applied for Chase Ink Bold (55k points) and Chase Ink Plus (55k points): 110,000 points.
- The Marriott and Chase cards together got us 250,000 Marriott points which can be redeemed for a Marriott travel package with 7 nights stay and 100,000 SW points.

- For the last 10k SW points, I applied for a Best Western CC for 20,000 points which became 4800 SW points and transferred 18k American Express points to Choice hotels which then transferred to 5400 SW points.

If all goes well, I'll have a SW Companion Pass with no money out of pocket (other than meeting minimum spends). Still in the middle of the maneuver - but you get the gist

I think my mind just exploded. Wow, this is incredible. I am also going to Scotland this summer (conference, so dates only flexible by a few days.) we are planing on taking all 3 of our kids, so airfare is about $7500-8000! Have been reading all of the points blogs but still cannot come up with the best solution. I have 50+k UR points in my Bold account, and DH has about 17k points in his sapphire account. I need to call and see if we can combine our points. Even if we can, it's still not enough for one flight. Should I open, say a united card, get the 30k bonus, then transfer UR points to united? Not even sure if that will be enough. Any other thoughts? If I can just get 1 flights significantly discounted, I would be ecstatic.