What are the best overall CC's with airline miles including signup bonus miles and other perks? Charlie
CHARLIE- I'd also have to say Delta - go for the gold - u get 10,000 signup miles and double miles on Delta purchases and at supermarkets.
My be HARDER than I think it should be to get...THEY WANTED ME TO "STEAL" SOME OF MY CREDIT LIMIT FROM MY AMEX BLUE TO BE ABLE TO GET THE CARD!!! ...THIS IS REALLY SOME "PRE-APPROVED"!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I told them I would THINK about it...NOT!!!!!!!!!!
The Sears Choice Rewards program offers Airline tickets and numerous other benefits for just 25.00 a year. www.searschoicerewards.com
I think the Delta card is great if you usually fly Delta or its partner airlines, but the Starwood card is nice if you would like to transfer points to almost any airline of your choice. When you transfer 20,000 points, Starwood automatically adds 5,000 points to give you the 25,000 needed to get the free ticket. It's like getting 1.25 miles per dollar instead of the usual 1 mile for every dollar.
I have also noticed that Starwood has a special program called "Nights and Flights." If you are patient and accumulate points, this may be the way to go. Save up 60K and you get 5 free nights at a Starwood AND they transfer 50K miles to your airline. I really think the Delta and Starwood cards are the best cc out there. Saar, btw, if you are reading this, I didn't get the 4000 bonus points. Just the 1000 + the 500 for the 1st stay) cheers, Calypso
I like the MBNA Elite Reward Platinum Plus. You don't get much in the way of signup bonus miles, only 500. But, you can get a roundtrip ticket (US) for 25-30k miles, or a night at a hotel for 5k, or an Avis car for 5k miles for a day. They also have other stuff, $25 gift certificates and merchandise. Downside is miles expire after (I think) 7 years.
I also have the MBNA Elite Rewards card and I think it's pretty good if you are looking to fly any airline with no blackout dates, but I think you need a little more than 25,000 miles for a free ticket anywhere in the U.S. (zone requirements). The miles also expire after 4 years. Starpoints never expire as long as you charge the card at least once a year or stay at the hotels. I'm mainly using Starwood for the miles and Elite Rewards for the free gift certificates.
Seafirst bank offers the Alaska Airlines Card. I think you get 5000 with a Platinum and a bunch of other perks as well. I like flying Alaska because they only require 20,000 miles for a ticket. But I live in Alaska so it works for me. Heres the link. Its Bof America. www.bankofamerica.com/creditcards/index.cfm?template=cc_partner_card_details.cfm&card=alaskaair
Diners Club gives you points that you can use with their rewards catalog ... or transfer to ANY airline program or ANY hotel program. Great for spreading points around to a few different programs. They offer 10k sign-up bonus, and on occasion, up to double poiint transfers (BA, CO, and DL have done these - your points transfer at an accelerated rate - from 1.25x to 2x). I like Diners program because it works with ALL airlines. Unfortunately, the card doesn't work with all merchants but it gets better every month. I don't like "miles one" or "elite rewards" that some cards offer - they promise a ticket with no blackout dates, but the miles required are more than most airline programs (25-30k vs. 15-25k) and have financial limits. Also - some cards, like the Amex Delta one, can help you earn the all-important "Elite" status. For info. on frequent flyer/sleeper/spender programs, I recommend taking a look at www.insideflyer.com. -mj (mile slut extrordinaire)
