Hi all, Longtime lurker, first-time poster. 5'10, 175 (ding). OK, so I recently moved across the country for work, which means I'll want to travel back home to visit friends, family, etc. at least a couple of times a year. I figure w/ all that travel I should sign up for an airline miles card. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm not really partial to one airline, and my credit is pretty good (720+). What say you? (Thanks in advance.)
Kam - good link! Beezy, welcome! Good question and one we get often around these parts. If you're not particularly loyal to one airline, there are a couple cards I would recommend. My favorite miles card right now is a little-known card from BarclayCard called the Arrival World MasterCard. 2x points on all purchases, 40,000 bonus points ($400) after you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months and you can redeem on any airline. The only catch is the annual fee ($89, waived the first year), although there's a version of this card with no annual fee but the trade-off is less bonus miles. No foreign transaction fees if you're flying abroad, either. Here's the full review: http://www.creditnet.com/credit-cards/barclaycard-arrival-world-mastercard-earn-2x-all-purchases If you're going the airline-branded route, of course you have to consider a.) which airlines you've had the best experiences with and b.) whether the airline actually flies to your destination. For instance, I love the Chase SW Airlines Card, but they don't fly to my hometown so obviously that's not the right choice for me. One card I do really like is the Delta Gold SkyMiles Card from American Express. 30,000 bonus miles after just $500 in purchases in the first 3 months, double miles when you book your Delta flight through them and loyalty perks like checking your first bagged for free and priority boarding (YESSS). It's not all perfect - there's an annual fee of $95 (also waived the first year) and no intro APR. But if you're looking for loyalty perks w/ (in my opinion) a really solid airline, this is the card I would recommend. (Here's all the details: Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express Review - 30,000 Bonus Miles - Creditnet.com)
