<p>We live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and D will be going to school on the east coast. Anyone have an opinion on whether getting a credit card (and which card) tied to a frequent flyer program is a good deal, given such factors as annual fees, miles accrued for purchases, and condition of the airline industry? Interest is not a factor since we pay off every month. I now use a Costco Amex card which gives back 1-2% with no annual fee. I mostly fly United. Thanks.</p>
<p>I have several. I would suggest one that is not tied to a specific airline.</p>
<p>I don’t have the answer to your question, but I will recommend Studentuniverse.com. We have found their flights to be generally cheaper than other online travel sites, especially for last minute travel.You need a student ID to register.</p>
<p>We’ve had a Capital One Go Miles credit card for the past several years. We can fly any airline. There are no blackout dates, seat restrictions, required Saturday night stays, or minimum redemption levels. On the occasions we’ve redeemed miles for tickets, we’ve had absolutely no problems. On one occasion, we were even able to specify a particular flight during peak hours of a holiday weekend.</p>
<p>You can check out the credit card on the Capital One website.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Check whatever airline has the cheapest flights between the cities you will be using, and get whatever credit card is associated with that airline to double the value…</p>
<p>I’ve been dedicated Citibank AAdvantage card user for years and have accumulated zillions of miles, mostly by charging business office expenses. AAdvntage miles are great as long as you plan way in advance for popular destinations and times. But just recently I have been thinking of switching. </p>
<p>With Citibank you get a mile per dollar charged on the card. It takes 30,000 miles for a domestic round trip ticket on AA. So when you have charged $30,000 you get a ticket. A round trip ticket at least half way across the country (like Dallas - LA) is going to cost about $300, or 1% of what you have to charge to get the ticket. </p>
<p>So one of the 1% cash back cards would accomplish the same thing, and I would not be tied to one airline’s stingy freq flyer program.</p>
<p>I hate to admit I know about it, but AARP’s 1% cash back Visa card looks good.</p>
<p>United has a no-fee college credit card that gives double miles for tickets booked through united.com. Assuming a SFO-east coast flight normally runs about $400, a FF mile ticket is a good deal, using only 25,000 miles for United’s cheapest award.</p>
<p>I have a Capital One card that gives a rebate to DD’s 529. With the shape some of the major carriers are in who knows how much the frequent flyers miles may be portable to another airline/partner carrier, so usually I would opt for a cheaper flight from the no-frills airlines (Hey, aren’t they all these days!), over one that does frequent flyer rewards.</p>
<p>To the OP, depending on which East Coast destination, it might be cheaper to fly Jet Blue than a specifc airline like United. Jet Blue flies from Oakland & Sacramento to NY. </p>
<p>We like United’s Mileage Plus Visa. We also have Citibank Advantage card. H has several cards to charge business expenses-- like dt123 we rack up the miles this way.</p>
<p>We like Diners Club – it routinely wins the “best frequent flyer card” award and is very flexible. Pretty standard – $2 = 1 Mile. The only downside has been that DC is not accepted as widely as the others, but . . . later this year DC will enter into an agreement with MasterCard that will allow the DC card to be used wherever MasterCard is accepted.</p>
<p>We have an AAdvantage card and pay our monthly tuition bill on it, but have been thinking of switching to Capital One because sometimes we would rather fly another airline then American.</p>
<p>Oh yes, definitely charge college tuition if at all possible!</p>
<p>Look into the travel program with AMEX. You can use it on many airlines but not United.</p>
<p>I will point out that Citibank Advantage has a 60000 miles/year limit on how much charging you can convert to miles. (I.e., if you charge more than 60K/year, you don’t get more than 60K miles.) This may or may not be an issue for you.</p>
<p>Alaska Airlines signature card has no such limit; they are partners with both American and Northwest, but not United. But we live in Seattle, where Alaska maintains a hub. </p>
<p>Personally, I no longer fly United, since I have found their service truly horrifying. I worry about them going into bankruptcy, as well.</p>
<p>You may find (depending on which east coast city your student is flying to) that the cheapest fares are on Southwest.</p>
<p>dmd, Citibank has a Business version of the AAdvantage card that has a 150,000 mile annual limit.</p>
<p>United also has a business card with higher annual miles limit.</p>
<p>You folks that charge tuition: Does the college charge a fee for doing so?</p>
<p>We use Capital One, and the lack of blackout dates has been a huge help.</p>
<p>I just used some of my Delta ff miles for two tickets. 50,000mi for each - not so good!</p>
<p>newmassdad: nope</p>