I've never used frequent flier miles so far, and I usually use American Airlines (two flights from where I live) = $500 approximately R/T. On my current credit card from a local bank they only lower offer air fares to Mexico. I could conceivably charge everything to my credit card and pay it off monthly. Any in sight would be appreciated. I just don't know where to begin...
Originally Posted by FarOutWestEnder
You can do so much better than that. Spend some time reading travel blooger sites, or spend some time on Flyer Talk. Both will give you the answers you are looking for with a little research. I personally recommend using a card that transfers to numerous frequent flyer programs, not a single program like AA. U will see the best results in churning credit cards and taking advantage of sign-up bonuses.
If you sign up for the AAdvantage credit card while on an AA flight, you can get 40k or 50k miles after you get the card and use it to purchase $300 in the first three months. That's almost good enough for two round trip tickets. Usually each way is about 15k, but you can get them for 12k sometimes (very rarely).
I have this card myself.
~Moose
Mi Irie
~Just my two cents worth - I mostly only comment on places I've seen and or eaten at personally.
Yup. Specifically, it is the AAdvantage Citi Card that has the 50k mile bonus right now (there is also an AAdvantage Barclays card, which kinda sucks). I think CosmicMoose dropped a zero as the terms state that you have to spend $3000 in the first 3 months to get the bonus. However, this might not be too difficult if you churn your monthly expenses through the credit card, as Booger stated (just make sure you pay it off at the end of the month, because the APR is pretty high).
Based on a similar discussion in another thread, I am in the process of cancelling my Barclays AAdvantage card (had it since it was a USAirways Mastercard) and opening a Citi account, just to get the bonus miles. When we flew back from Jamaica in early July, I was waiting for the flight attendants to hand out the AA Mastercard application at the end of the flight. When they did, I was disappointed to find out it was for the Barclays card and the bonus was only 25,000 miles. Anyway, the application for the Citi AAdvantage card is pretty easy to find online.
If you fly Southwest the Visa Southwest premier card is the bomb
Cap
Linston's Zion Hill Taxi
Captain Dave
A helpful flight attendant advised us to each get the AA card with 50K miles if you spend $3K in the card in the first 3 months. We each did that over separate 3 month periods and, as advised, cancelled the cards before the annual fee was due. A few months ago, we cashed in for two round trip tickets to Barcelona and 2 more for Oakland CA. Not sure how AA will feel if we do that again!
Everyday, we use a Cap1 Venture card that gives 2 miles/$ spent. All of our monthly expenses that we pay in full are charged to it. You'd be amazed how fast they rack up to useful rewards. Rewards that have no blackout dates and are airline agnostic. We used them for two round trip tickets this past Jan/Feb in Jamaica. Cash them in for cash is the worst of it! I recommend that you Google "Best rewards credit cards." It's crazy to not turn your everyday expenses into rewards.
We're all in this together and none of us is getting out alive.
Thanks to everyone lots of helpful ideas -- from where I live in upstate New York, the American Airlines advantage card makes the most sense for my travels.
Actually the SPG Amex makes the most sense for the long term everyday spend. Every 20,000 moved to AA comes with a 5,000 point bonus. So your points carry a 25% premium. You can open the personal card and the business version(sole proprietor), even without a business in order to get both sign up bonuses. You can also move your points to British Airways Avios, which offers lower redemptions on short hail flights, as well as Alaska Mileage Plan, which has partnersip thru the year. The biggest problem with AA is they typically offer horrible availability, especially for those who like to fly in premium cabins.
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