Credit cards that earn airline miles?

[Prince Eric1]

I was thinking about getting one of the credit cards that gives credits towards future air miles. I know that the more you spend the more you earn, but how does this actually work. If anyone has one of these, I would love to know if they are worth it and how they work. Are you restricted to certain high priced airlines, and how much do you actually have to spend to get a free flight. Also, are you allowed more than one, example you spend enough to accumulate more than one flight free, can you use them to fly two or three people and only buy one ticket? I was wondering if I did little things like charging my groceries, etc, and paying the bill in full every month if the credits would accumulate to make this worth it.

 

[seashoreCM]

Most of them have an annual fee, typical about $50.00. Most let you earn miles on only one airline each. Most of them get you one mile or point for every dollar you spend. There are other credit cards that have no annual fee and which give you bonuses or rebates around one percent of what you spend.

The Chase Freedom card (JP Morgan Chase Co formerly Chase Manhattan) is one of those with a 1% rebate that is applied to your credit card bill in a later month. The Discover cards also have a 1% rebate but the rebate for the first several thousand dollars of spending is less.

I would probably not go with a card that doesn't let ou redeem an award until 2500 or so points have accumulated.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[maps]

i have 2 credit cards that let me earn miles. capital one seems to be the best right now. it costs i think about $19/yr. i charge everything on my card(even little charges add up) and then i pay it off at the end of the month.
it's one point per dollar spent and once you accrue enough points you can redeem it for any airline, anytime, anywhere. i think it's great. i've flown to disney with my hubby and 2 kids for free almost every year.

 

[XStAnt]

I have an "Elite Rewards" Visa offered by MBNA. It has no annual fee. You earn 1 mile per dollar spent and it is good for any regularly scheduled airline. You book through their travel company. This means you can buy additional tickets if you don't have enough miles for multiple free tickets. However, the rates are the regular rates available to travel agents (no extra discount for internet bookings, etc.). Not a big deal though.

With this card it takes 30,000 miles to fly anywhere in US (25,000 miles in your zone). This is a little more than the airline frequent flyer programs. However, there are no blackout dates since the tickets are being purchased through a travel agency. You also have to book the flight at least one or two weeks in advance.

It's a great benefit. DW and I charge everything (gas, groceries, meals, etc). But, we pay everything off every month because the interest rate is high.

The credit cards offered by the airlines typically have high annual fees ($50-$90) and are only good on that airline.

 

[Prince Eric1]

Thanks guys.

Maps, about how many points or how much to spend to get a free flight? This is almost exactly what I was planning to do, including maybe having my electric bill and phone bills put on the card and paying them.

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

As others have posted we charge everything(food,utilities,cell phone,taxes,gas,etc) and anything over $5.

We use the Continental Master Card(Chase) because of being close to there hub inn Cleveland.

We always book our tickets on-line(1000 miles bonus) and always print boarding passes (another bonus) from home. Also they have a program called I-Dine with over 5000 restraunts that if you eat and charge the meal with the Continental cc you get 10 miles for every dollar charged.........example $50= 500 miles.

Also if you charge at some stores Home Depot,Best Buy,etc you get double miles.

When you charge on Continental's website your airline tx you get double miles also.

The last 2 years we have flown to San Antonio(3 tx) Las Vegas(2 tx) and Orlando (3 tx) just from charging everything.
So the $50 annaul fee for the credit card was well worth it for us.

Most FF miles are for 20-25,000 miles. Our 3 San Antonio tx were 60,000 FF miles for the 3 tickets........they were having a sale on the Continental website.

 

[Figaro]

We have the Starwood American Express card. It costs $30.00 a year and is a partner to every airline that we fly. When I transfer 20,000 Starwood points to the airline I want to use, Starwood tosses in another 5,000 points which is enough for a ticket. You get one Starwood point for every dollar you charge and you can get more points for staying at Starwood hotels (Sheratin, Westin and others I can't remember right now)(smile).

 

[maps]

princeeric
with my capital one card, they use "zones" to figure out how many points you need. since i live in the northeast, florida is in my zone and i only need to have 18,000 points. i guess this was a really good deal since all their cards now have you needing 25,000 points in this same zone. it really adds up quickly once you get used to charging everything.

 

[Prince Eric1]

Thanks maps and everyone else. I'll have to check into that Capital one card.

 

[LauraLea]

We use Orbitz and love it. You can book any airline (not Southwest though). Airfare under $400 requires 20,000 points. But you can also apply 7500 points to reduce tickets by $100.

Once I found RT tickets from IND to MCO for $157. 2 tickets were $314 or only 22500 points and $14 on my cc. Not Bad.


Laura

 

[BobH]

You need to charge $25,000 on a credit card to get tickets on most frequent flyer programs. So you realistically need the card with the lowest fee to get your money's worth because even your free tickets end up costing you whatever the fee is. You also need to fly as frequently as possible. For example if you take 3 years to earn a ticket you have paid 3 years worth of credit card fees to get that ticket. Use your milage for the most expensive airline ticket you plan to buy - not for a cheap ticket that you can afford to pay for. I use the American Airline Advantage program only because I paid my kids college tuition on the card (but I pay the bill off monthly) so I can rack up miles quickly. Now that they are graduating I plan on downgrading to the Capital One card because the fee is only $19 to $39 depending on the card you get. You also need to know if the airline you choose as your frequent flyer program services the airports you like to fly to. For example I can't get to Savannah to the DVC at Hilton Head using American. Delta has this market locked up. At least Capital One's program allows flexibility in airline choices. I would like to hear from people who have had success with this program. Make sure you pay off your credit card bill monthly or all the savings go rith out the window. Good Luck!

 

[maps]

capital one really is no hassle when it comes to getting the airline tickets. i first go online and find the eaxct flight i want. then i call them up, give them the info and they issue me an e ticket. i couldn't believe how easy it was. i thought for sure there had to be a catch but i've used them for over 10 airline tickets in the last 2 yrs and it's always been worth it.

 

[mom_rules]

We've got an American Express Airmiles Gold card-No fee!
Haven't used the miles yet so can't answer that part.