What credit card is best for air miles?

[daughtersrus]

Any suggestions for the best credit card that lets you earn miles that can be used on any airline?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

This blog has some GREAT info on credit cards and signup bonuses: http://millionmilesecrets.com/

Usually the best deals come when you pick an airline and go with it - for example Southwest Card signup bonus is 50,000 points right now. That's over $700 in free airfare. My wife and I have each gotten 2 of the southwest cards in the past 4 years and have managed to score over $3,000 in free airfare. All the major airlines have credit cards and the signup bonuses can be HUGE.

Chase Ultimate Rewards (Sapphire/Freedom, etc.) can be transferred to United, Southwest or British Airways and you can use points to buy flights on their travel portal which I think includes lots of other airlines (not sure).

After that you get into some of the capital one cards which I don't think provide as much value.

I'd recommend taking a look at the blog above (and there many others out there: thepointsguy, doctorofcredit, frugal travel guy, etc.) and figuring out which plan is best for you.

 

[daughtersrus]

This blog has some GREAT info on credit cards and signup bonuses: http://millionmilesecrets.com/

Usually the best deals come when you pick an airline and go with it - for example Southwest Card signup bonus is 50,000 points right now. That's over $700 in free airfare. My wife and I have each gotten 2 of the southwest cards in the past 4 years and have managed to score over $3,000 in free airfare. All the major airlines have credit cards and the signup bonuses can be HUGE.

Chase Ultimate Rewards (Sapphire/Freedom, etc.) can be transferred to United, Southwest or British Airways and you can use points to buy flights on their travel portal which I think includes lots of other airlines (not sure).

After that you get into some of the capital one cards which I don't think provide as much value.

I'd recommend taking a look at the blog above (and there many others out there: thepointsguy, doctorofcredit, frugal travel guy, etc.) and figuring out which plan is best for you.

Thank you!

I will look at the blogs.

I'm looking for miles that we could use for travel to/from Europe.

 

[Marionnette]

Thank you!

I will look at the blogs.

I'm looking for miles that we could use for travel to/from Europe.

Then first check to see what airline(s) you would be using to make that trip and then choose your CC accordingly. Airline CCs are nice for the additional perks they provide, but the points are less flexible than other CCs.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a good card for international travel because it has no foreign transaction fees as well as a nice signup bonus. Its rewards points are part of Chase Ultimate Rewards and you can transfer points from one UR account to another or into a FF or frequent guest rewards program.

The Barclay's Arrival CC is also another favorite among travelers, although I haven't explored getting one yet. I often see it mentioned on the travel hacking blogs.

 

[Psychodisney]

We use the Capital One Venture Card. Earn 2% on all purchases. Can be used for any travel expense: hotel, airline, rental car. The amount of points needed is based on the fare. You can shop for the best price, buy it, then "erase" it.

Another good resource to read is The Points guy. He has a website and FB page.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

The big 3 programs that transfer to airline miles are: Starwood Preferred Guest, Chase Ultimate Membership Rewards and Amex Points. One of these will likely be your best option for Europe, unless you plan to fly in coach.

If you are looking for coach tickets to Europe, I would suggest a cash back card. I would only get a card with cash back redemption limited to travel if the signup bonus is significant. -- Suzanne

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

British Airways has a 100,000 point signup bonus right now (but you have to spend $20k in the first year)

 

[RobbW]

The big 3 programs that transfer to airline miles are: Starwood Preferred Guest, Chase Ultimate Membership Rewards and Amex Points. One of these will likely be your best option for Europe, unless you plan to fly in coach.

If you are looking for coach tickets to Europe, I would suggest a cash back card. I would only get a card with cash back redemption limited to travel if the signup bonus is significant. -- Suzanne

We currently use the SPG AmEx card for most of our spending and love it. We have gotten really good value out of the SPG points, and they can be transferred/converted to airline miles on a 1-to-1 basis on certain airlines. My only complaint with this card is that it is an AmEx card, which isn't universally accepted. If there was an SPG Visa card, we would use it exclusively and really rack up the points!

 

[bond24seven]

We use the Capital One Venture Card. Earn 2% on all purchases. Can be used for any travel expense: hotel, airline, rental car. The amount of points needed is based on the fare. You can shop for the best price, buy it, then "erase" it.

Another good resource to read is The Points guy. He has a website and FB page.

I also use the Venture card.. It is so ridiculously easy to redeem your miles. And I like that I can shop airlines... I also have the Southwest card but Southwest isnt always the lease expensive airline, even without bag fees..

 

[hsmamato2]

British Airways has a 100,000 point signup bonus right now (but you have to spend $20k in the first year)

For Europe, you should look into this....or I think a United card is su[[osed to be good for that type of travel- that blog referenced above has lots of good posts- just search for the type of travel you are thinking about and types of cards to look at.with a little bit of work and learning you can save quite a bit.

 

[PopGirl26]

For (mostly) domestic travel the Southwest companion pass is amazing. It would be included in any of the blogs listed above.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

British Airways has a 100,000 point signup bonus right now (but you have to spend $20k in the first year)

That's really odd. So you don't get your points for a year?!? I wouldn't go for that lol. The longest I've seen is a 5-month spend.

For that you'd either have to bank or have a planned trip at least a year and 3-4 months out.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

That's really odd. So you don't get your points for a year?!? I wouldn't go for that lol. The longest I've seen is a 5-month spend.

For that you'd either have to bank or have a planned trip at least a year and 3-4 months out.

Here's the current promo:

• 50,000 after $2,000 spend on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
• 25,000 more after you spend $10,000 total on purchases within a year of account opening
• 25,000 more when when you spend a total of $20,000 on purchases within a year of account opening

Also, if you spend another $10,000 in the first year (for a total of $30K), you also get a companion certificate that allows 2 passengers to travel on the same itinerary for the number of miles for one passenger. Both passengers do need to pay the taxes and carrier imposed charges.

For British Airways, the carrier imposed charges are significant, often equal to the cost of a ticket in coach. So this offer makes no sense if you want to fly to Europe in coach. If you want to fly in business or first, think of it as paying for a coach ticket and using miles to upgrade. -- Suzanne

 

[calypso726]

Our everyday spend cards are the Starwood Preferred Guest which transfers to over 30 airlines, Chase Sapphire Preferred which earns UR points and transfers to United, Southwest, British Airways, Korean and Virgin Atlantic as dwell as Hyatt and Marriott. This is one of the best cards out there when you consider the sign up bonus and the ability to earn 2 miles per dollar on travel and dining. We combine these UR points with UR points earned and transferred with the Chase Freedom quarterly bonuses. We have a few Amex that earn membership rewards but don't put much spend on them.

We did pick up the British Airways Visa. Can't pass up a 100K mile bonus when it comes our way. Fortunately it had been two years since we last had a BA Visa for 100K miles bonus and qualified for this one. The taxes and fees are awful but we only use them to fly in first to Europe and they are still often less than the cost of an economy ticket. SuzanneSLO said it best, think of it as upgrading with the miles. You may not want to spend an actual $30K to earn the companion ticket but there are ways to manufacture the spend. This is what we will be doing.

The blogs mentioned by SouthFayetteFan are the same blogs I follow. I'd add Frequent Miler to the list, View From the Wing, Mommy Points and check out Flyer Talk. Travel Hacking can seem overwhelming at first but if you take slow and learn just the basics you can really get a ton of value from this game. The first year we started doing this DH and I earned over a million points and miles and I had no idea what I was doing. To be honest, I still don't compared to the bloggers LOL Three years later and we have burned through several hundred thousand miles and still have over 2 million to burn. We have flown in first class round trip to Europe 3 times all on BA, once to Vancouver and a handful of domestic flights in first as well. I will say that the experience has completely spoiled DH and turned him into a princess who won't fly in coach if the flight is more than 3 hours Anyhow, feel free to ask any questions. I know there are several fellow travel hackers here. Besides, the DIS is much friendlier than Flyer Talk

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Three years later and we have burned through several hundred thousand miles and still have over 2 million to burn.

Great Post - I agree with everything you said. To add something else to those interested my advice is get in now! Don't Delay...here's why:

1) Every dollar you're spending could be earning you in excess of 20% back when you're working on a signup bonus. If you're using a simple 1 or 2% back card you're missing opportunities.
2) The "Game" is changing. You can still earn a ton of points but it is getting harder and the credit card companies have closed some loopholes and are tightening things up. If you look at calypso's post they have miles to last for years to come, I'm not quite there yet but well on my way. Some of the tricks I used a year or 2 ago don't work anymore. That doesn't mean I'm going to quit earning or give up, it just means on some things my earn rate is a little slower. Get in now before more of the best deals disappear forever!

 

[MillauFr]

If you are looking for coach tickets to Europe, I would suggest a cash back card. I would only get a card with cash back redemption limited to travel if the signup bonus is significant. -- Suzanne

Agreed the airline points can be a great deal when you are flying in business or first class. For coach they generally aren't as good a deal.