What credit card do you recommend for earning travel miles?
My credit card currently earns me miles on Lufthansa, as I travel to Germany most years.
Unfortunately, it’s harder for me to use Lufthansa since I’ve moved and my preferred airport is Hartford.
Airlines I’m likely to use out of Hartford are United, American and Aer Lingus.
(If this has already been discussed, please direct me to the thread!)
It’s a personal question for example, to me Southwest is best. $99 and you get 100k miles.
But that only helps if you travel domestically.
Delta often runs solid first time deals - I think the last was $85k points, no first year fee.
Do you stay in hotels? Maybe you pay air as it’s unknown but have a Marriott or Hyatt card - and cash in on lodging.
The answer is different dependent on the person and overall needs.
Another thought - a 2% cash back card beats all these but you won’t get as big a sign up. Wells Fargo gives $200.
Use your 2% to pay for your flights - then you’re not always beholden to one.
We have the United Visa. We fly United 99% of the time so it was a no brainer for us. It includes a certain number of club passes/year, upgrades, free checked bags, double mileage for hotels too, etc…
Hi fendrock!
What airline do you fly with most often? And how often do you fly? Many people have recommended the Chase card, but I believe it has gotten extraordinarily expensive. And I recently read an article which I unfortunately can’t find that the AmEx cards are making it harder to apply/convert points to flying miles.
If there is a particular airline that you fly almost exclusively with or who has a hub in Hartford, I would suggest you get their card. We are in a Delta hub, and at this point I not only prefer Delta, but I prefer flying nonstop (whenever possible). we have purchased the Delta reserve card. I previously had the Delta platinum card and it gives you lots of miles for shopping, and both the platinum and the reserve card give you a companion ticket after one year, and also 4 free guest passes to the lounge if you care. I ran the numbers and, based on the frequency of our flying across country to see family, and also other travel, combined with other expenses, that it became practical and worthwhile for us to upgrade to the reserve card. It calculates/converts spending to medallion qualifying dollars at a better ratio and I was able to reach a higher status with Delta, which then paid off because it gave me back $700 which more than paid for the card itself plus I got the companion ticket and easier access to apply it, as well as global upgrades, which I am using to fly to Australia and New Zealand. And with the higher status with Delta, I get a better ratio of getting bonus points for flying miles as well so the benefits compound on themselves. I hope that makes sense. Feel free to reach out to me back channel if I can clarify further.
We have American Airlines only because that is what we fly the most.
Do you receive extra miles for booking Lufthansa flights? If not, and the miles earned are just based on credit card usage, you could simply continue using your card and earning Lufthansa miles and redeem them for United flights. United and Lufthansa are Star Alliance partners, so you can use miles across both carriers.
We found that when we tried to use our Delta miles on a Korean air flight (with one itinerary booked through Delta, but changing in Seoul to KA to get to Hong Kong for that second half of the itinerary- first leg was on Delta) that Korean air, even though we were flying first class on Delta, would not allow us to book in their business class using Delta miles. They would only put us in coach.
This is highly dependent on your home airport and spending. Many people like transferrable points - Chase or AmEx - but you really need to see if they transfer to airlines that you’ll use. If you’re in a hub for an airline it might make sense to concentrate on that airline.
I’m paying attention because I’m thinking of switching.
I’ve had American for decades, and SW for quite some time. But after the SW changes it’s not as beneficial to have that card.
I have Chase Sapphire preferred, and I’m considering applying for the one that just went way up in price, because it seems like the benefits may be worth it.
It’s actually more beneficial to have the SW card - because you get free bags with it (for up to 8 on your reservation).
I just paid $70 for my daughter to check a bag - $35 each way. She showed her card - but she’s not the primary card holder. I am. NOw, if i was on the flight with her, it’d have been free.
But with Southwest I like to get on, get off, so i can re-get the bonus every two years.
Deleted
Bags have always been free on SW (as I’m sure you know), and we also got multiple early-bird check ins. Now we don’t get the early bird check ins. Plus they took away the flight credit that doesn’t expire - you only get 6 months or a year.
Yep, @1214mom after May 28, now SWA fliers have to pay for bags. And their seating policy is about to change too.
Delta Amex cardholders as well as all levels of Delta medallion status get free bags. Likely true for other airlines as well.
@fendrock - Don’t know if Delta is an option for you, but with cr card spending you also get both “mqd’s” towards medallion status and flying miles, and the higher medallion status you have the better the ratio of flying miles
I fly out of Hartford. I don’t have an airline cc at this point as there’s not really a dominant airline at BDL and the places I’ve traveled to recently (Austin, Chicago, Charlotte, & Atlanta) are mostly hubs for different airlines (except Austin) and so I’d have to connect if I wanted to stick with one airline.
Anyway, the past few years I’ve had a Chase Sapphire Preferred and I’ve racked up quite a lot of points that I’ve been able to transfer into various other airline programs - Virgin Atlantic, United, Air France/KLM, & Jetblue. They also have southwest for domestic flights. They also have occasional transfer bonuses.
American isn’t affiliated with any credit card except their own. Aer Lingus is affiliated with both Chase and AMEX. United is only affiliated with Chase. Downside to the CSP is that you don’t get any free checked bags. It really all depends on your travel habits.
You will want to product change your Sapphire to another Chase card (Freedom perhaps), then wait ten days or so before applying for the new Reserve. Otherwise, you will not earn the SUB on the new Reserve.
Sapphire deal sounds nice. What’s the cost of that new $$$ one? Just curious but am still piling all onto the Delta AmEx. I forgot another benefit of the Delta AmEx. If you are paying for/booking a flight with miles and you have a Delta Amex, they reduce the # of miles needed by 15% (and you pay the little junk fees with your credit card). So if, for example, you were buying a ticket that cost (picking an easy # for the example) 100K miles, you only have to use 85K miles if you have the card. It came in super handy when getting the tickets to Australia/New Zealand.
Hartford is our preferred airport, and really, there are very few direct flights anywhere. We have a chase card. I accumulate points and use them to pay my chase bill. It’s like getting a free airline ticket.
For international flights, we go to Boston or JFK.
From everything I read, a travel mile is generally worth 1 to 1.25 cents. For that reason I gave up on using a credit card to accumulate travel miles with everyday use, as I do better with cash rewards. I had both Wells Fargo and Fidelity visas that offer 2% back on everything. Fidelity transfers rewards to an investment account that accumulates interest/gains, which of course I like.
I now have a 3%-back-on-everything Robinhood Gold Visa (I know, Iknow, but 3%!) which only costs $40/year. I don’t think mileage awards can compete with that.
I still use my BOA Alaska ard when I buy tickets on Alaska as they offer 3 miles/$ on Alaska travel and of course I accrue miles through the frequent flier program and everytime we get a new card. In April, I got 80,000 miles for a new card. I am waiting for Delta to have a similar special on new accounts and will get one of their cards when they do.
Redemptions vary widely. I recently used 200K points for $8000 of air & hotel, so that was a great deal for me. I had earned the points at 2 points per dollar charged, so $100K of spending, however, most of my CC earning is via sign-up bonuses. You do need to calculate the annual fees spent in opening and maintaining these CCs but I have found the payout better than pure cash.
You do need flexibility with travel dates so it does not work for everyone.
Yes that’s the “value” I’ve heard for each mile too, but sometimes, between sales and the 15% discount Delta offers for using the cr card, it can be a great deal. The flights we are taking Atl-Lax-Akl, first class across country/Delta one suites over the ocean we got for 178,500 mi each, and the return from Syd-Lax-Atl (same delta one suites and first class) for 144,500 mi each. Fortunately I had been banking miles so had enough to get these tix and use the global upgrade certificates. All we paid in $ was around $285 total in taxes and fees. No complaints here!! In my mind, the card was well worth it, and the compounded flying miles b/c of the status for spending and flying helped. YMMV