credit card miles

[TeanneTX]

I've noticed a lot of people flying business using their FF miles. I'm thinking that I should look into this option too. I usually spend 3-4 K a month on my credit card and pay it off each month-never carry a balance. We use the Chase Southwest Airlines card. Any recommendations on cards to use that would use Delta/AF/ KLM. We usually fly with those airlines and also AA occassionally. With our upcoming cruise-I'd really like to get the direct flight out of Austin on BA to London and then to AMS. Would love some input about FF miles on different cards.

 

Teanne

[FlyerTalker]

I would suggest that rather than just take random advice, you study up on the subject. MANY good blogs that give great information out there. Many can be found at Boarding Area. You can search for specific URLs. Good ones include:

 

View From the Wing

One Mile at a Time

Frequent Miler

Mommy Points

The Points Guy

Frugal Travel Guy

Angelina Travels

 

Two things to consider - differences between signup bonuses and continued spend. Some cards are better for one or the other, rarely both. Also whether you want to go with earning in specific programs or want to have transferable points that you can put to many different airlines. In general, unless you have a big reason to put all your spend in one place (such as elite spending waivers) most "experts" believe that transferable points are worth it in flexibility.

 

Read up....much to learn beyond just bonuses. See what program works best FOR YOU - your spending patterns, your redemption goals and more.

 

Sorry that this isn't the quick and dirty "do XXX" answer, but I think it will be better for you in the long run. Plus you will learn to almost never use cash - even for a quart of milk, get those points!!

[Globaliser]

With our upcoming cruise-I'd really like to get the direct flight out of Austin on BA to London and then to AMS.

One thing you need to remember is that having enough miles (whether through a credit card or otherwise) doesn't mean that you'll get a ticket on a specific flight. On most airlines, you still need to find flights that have award inventory, which is generally rarer and faster to "sell out" than inventory for cash tickets. So if you already have a trip that you need to get a ticket for, but you haven't even started collecting miles for the possibility of a business class ticket, there's a decent chance that you will find that you're now doing too little, too late.

 

IME, you're more likely to be successful in using frequent flyer miles for premium cabin award tickets if you build up and keep a balance of a few hundred thousand miles in your frequent flyer account, so that the instant that you have a need and you see availability, you can pounce on the award. On the BA network, for example, there are some award seats which have a predictable release pattern and which are almost invariably booked within a couple of minutes of release.

[fbgd]

One thing you need to remember is that having enough miles (whether through a credit card or otherwise) doesn't mean that you'll get a ticket on a specific flight. On most airlines, you still need to find flights that have award inventory, which is generally rarer and faster to "sell out" than inventory for cash tickets. So if you already have a trip that you need to get a ticket for, but you haven't even started collecting miles for the possibility of a business class ticket, there's a decent chance that you will find that you're now doing too little, too late.

 

IME, you're more likely to be successful in using frequent flyer miles for premium cabin award tickets if you build up and keep a balance of a few hundred thousand miles in your frequent flyer account, so that the instant that you have a need and you see availability, you can pounce on the award. On the BA network, for example, there are some award seats which have a predictable release pattern and which are almost invariably booked within a couple of minutes of release.

 

+1

 

Globaliser and I are both BA regulars, saving up miles for an available award you see is going to be futile.

 

I'd suggest, as I did to you in the other thread you started/posted in that looking at getting the BA Chase Visa and combining it with AARP discount. 10% off the total fare for the Visa plus $400 off for AARP tickets in First/Club.

 

The Visa also offers a "Travel Together" voucher after $30k annual spend so you get a second ticket for 0 miles, but you do still need two seats for availability and to pay two sets of taxes and surcharges which on BA is not insignificant. Expect to pay around $1000 per person for those.

 

If you absolutely have to be somewhere on a given day then BA's system may be tricky to work with if you want to use miles all the time. I personally find the sweetspot to be paying for business class and using miles to upgrade to F.

[Gardyloo]

Several credit card programs, including American Express, Chase and Citibank give you the ability to transfer your points to one of several airlines with whom they partner. When you do that, you can redeem points for trips on that airline or any of its partners; for example transfer to Delta and you can redeem Delta miles on Air France or KLM. Or transfer to British Airways and redeem Avios for flights on American or Qantas or Alaska Airlines, as well as on BA itself.

 

I'd look at the Starwood hotel chain's Starwood Preferred Guest branded cards. You'll get a signup bonus, but then you can transfer points to a very wide range (I recall something like 30) of airline partners, sometimes at a discount but sometimes with a bonus (i.e. 1 SPG point = 1.25 points with somebody else.) This gives you the ability to shop for the best "deal" in terms of mileage required or add-on costs, or availability, then transfer the points and off you go.

 

Citibank, which has a long-standing "conventional" arrangement with American Airlines, also now offers "Thankyou" points which can be transferred to numerous airlines including Singapore Airlines, which offers excellent redemption rates and surprisingly good availability for a premium carrier. Thankyou points also sometimes can earn "bonuses" when being transferred.

 

Remember to look at the annual fees with these cards, and factor that into your computations. With credit card miles you're paying for those miles in the first place, so you need to keep that in mind when you think about redeeming them. There's really no such thing as a "free" flight, you just want to leverage the best deal.

 

Follow up on FlyerTalker's suggestions for websites to consult; it will be WELL worth your time.

Edited July 6, 2016 by Gardyloo

[ptrpanpens]

Citibank and Chase Sapphire transfer miles to Flying Blue, which is KLM, AF, Alitalia and even Delta. I have not had that difficult time getting business class miles to France or Italy, even to Athens for 62,500 ow. Citi thank you premier had a 50,000 mile bonus for spending $3,000 in 3 months plus they give a whopping 3 miles for every dollar spent on travel, gas, taxi, etc. chase also had the same 50,000 mile bonus but only gives 2 miles for every dollar on travel. But these both add up fast plus there are ways to get even more by adding an additional user.

 

I earned over 135,000 on citi in very little time.:D

[waterbug123]

Several credit card programs, including American Express, Chase and Citibank give you the ability to transfer your points to one of several airlines with whom they partner. When you do that, you can redeem points for trips on that airline or any of its partners; for example transfer to Delta and you can redeem Delta miles on Air France or KLM.

 

Also, with Amex you have the option to leave the points with Amex and let Amex book your flight (you tell them what flight you want) and because Amex is "paying" the airline for your ticket, you can still earn airline miles for the flight. Not sure if this is all Amex cards and all airlines that partner with Amex, but I know it works for Amex platinum and Delta. Obviously you need to compare the redemption rates of doing that vs. transferring the miles to the airline and then using airline miles to buy the ticket (and thus not EARN miles on the flight) to decide what's best in each particular situation. We've done it a time or two when cash flow was tight but we wanted to earn miles rather than use them, in order to horde a bunch of miles for a future high mileage trip.

[Ashland]

I still can't figure out how to use my BA Avios miles to book a flight on American Airlines :o:o:o

[TeanneTX]

I would suggest that rather than just take random advice, you study up on the subject. MANY good blogs that give great information out there. Many can be found at Boarding Area. You can search for specific URLs. Good ones include:

 

View From the Wing

One Mile at a Time

Frequent Miler

Mommy Points

The Points Guy

Frugal Travel Guy

Angelina Travels

 

Two things to consider - differences between signup bonuses and continued spend. Some cards are better for one or the other, rarely both. Also whether you want to go with earning in specific programs or want to have transferable points that you can put to many different airlines. In general, unless you have a big reason to put all your spend in one place (such as elite spending waivers) most "experts" believe that transferable points are worth it in flexibility.

 

Read up....much to learn beyond just bonuses. See what program works best FOR YOU - your spending patterns, your redemption goals and more.

 

Sorry that this isn't the quick and dirty "do XXX" answer, but I think it will be better for you in the long run. Plus you will learn to almost never use cash - even for a quart of milk, get those points!!

 

Thanks so much-your always such a wealth of great information. Thanks again. Will start researching those sites and others and get some insight on the "points" game.

Teanne

[TeanneTX]

One thing you need to remember is that having enough miles (whether through a credit card or otherwise) doesn't mean that you'll get a ticket on a specific flight. On most airlines, you still need to find flights that have award inventory, which is generally rarer and faster to "sell out" than inventory for cash tickets. So if you already have a trip that you need to get a ticket for, but you haven't even started collecting miles for the possibility of a business class ticket, there's a decent chance that you will find that you're now doing too little, too late.

 

IME, you're more likely to be successful in using frequent flyer miles for premium cabin award tickets if you build up and keep a balance of a few hundred thousand miles in your frequent flyer account, so that the instant that you have a need and you see availability, you can pounce on the award. On the BA network, for example, there are some award seats which have a predictable release pattern and which are almost invariably booked within a couple of minutes of release.

 

Thanks-thats good to know. I thought if you had the points-you could get the flight you want. I do need to do a lot of research on this whole "points" things.

Teanne

[TeanneTX]

Citibank and Chase Sapphire transfer miles to Flying Blue, which is KLM, AF, Alitalia and even Delta. I have not had that difficult time getting business class miles to France or Italy, even to Athens for 62,500 ow. Citi thank you premier had a 50,000 mile bonus for spending $3,000 in 3 months plus they give a whopping 3 miles for every dollar spent on travel, gas, taxi, etc. chase also had the same 50,000 mile bonus but only gives 2 miles for every dollar on travel. But these both add up fast plus there are ways to get even more by adding an additional user.

 

I earned over 135,000 on citi in very little time.:D

 

Thats good to know-thanks.

[FlyerTalker]

Delta has had a "policy" that you can almost always get an award seat except at very high demand times. However, you can be paying 3 to 5 times the number of miles that you might find at another time. So your 65,000 mile business ticket is more like 350,000 miles. Even that "last seat" availability may be going with the ongoing changes at SkyPesos.

 

Speaking from experience, FF awards in/out of an international "cruise day" are rare and expensive. Often, I've gone in several days before a cruise and left a few days later. Otherwise demand prices up the award costs. To utilize awards one needs to be flexible with both dates and routings. Everyone wants that nice non-stop to Venice - you'll usually do better by flying into a Euro-hub and connecting. Ditto with other cruise ports.

 

Be prepared for disappointments when you first go searching for seats. You'll get the hang of how to do it after a while.

[TruckerDave]

Delta has had a "policy" that you can almost always get an award seat except at very high demand times. However, you can be paying 3 to 5 times the number of miles that you might find at another time. So your 65,000 mile business ticket is more like 350,000 miles. Even that "last seat" availability may be going with the ongoing changes at SkyPesos.

 

Speaking from experience, FF awards in/out of an international "cruise day" are rare and expensive. Often, I've gone in several days before a cruise and left a few days later. Otherwise demand prices up the award costs. To utilize awards one needs to be flexible with both dates and routings. Everyone wants that nice non-stop to Venice - you'll usually do better by flying into a Euro-hub and connecting. Ditto with other cruise ports.

 

Be prepared for disappointments when you first go searching for seats. You'll get the hang of how to do it after a while.

 

 

United has this as well....if a seat is available you can use miles for it. (assuming you have one of their chase credit cards). Plus, like others, the price is high for anytime biz/first seats. But, depending on how many miles one has and how many one earns this might not be an issue. With the ease of earning these days, "price" has almost become a non factor to me.

[plane2port]

When I need to fly to meet a cruise, I always look at cruises and flights where I can use my points simultaneously. You can usually put a cruise on hold for 24 hours, while you work out the airfare.

 

I keep an arsenal of points from the three major alliances. Not huge balances, but enough to get two people at least one-way in economy. On our last cruise, we flew Atlanta-Amsterdam-Venice, then Venice-Paris-Amsterdam-Atlanta on Delta, KLM, and Air France using Delta SkyMiles. As you can see we had 4 legs on the return. This is typical of our miles redemptions--we can usually get where we need to, but it will not be on the most convenient flights.

 

The miles were obtained from two credit card sign ups--the business version of the Delta AMEX, and a personal AMEX Platinum. The Plat awarded Membership Rewards points which I transferred to Delta.

 

If you get confused by all the different mileage programs, you could start by getting a couple of cards that give you cash back on travel. One of these is the Capital One card and the other is the Barclay Arrival card. Each of these historically has offered 40k points which can be redeemed for a credit on your statement for travel. The Arrival also awards 2 points per dollar spend, and has the extra bonus of being a true chip and pin card.

[slidergirl]

See what monthly bills are payable with a CC. Utilities, trash collector, insurance, rent, mortgage... Sign up to use your CC on these - many have a monthly auto-pay function. Then, instead of paying each one separately, you just pay off the CC. AND, you are earning miles or points for them! It may not be a lot, but every mile counts ;)

[TruckerDave]

See what monthly bills are payable with a CC. Utilities, trash collector, insurance, rent, mortgage... Sign up to use your CC on these - many have a monthly auto-pay function. Then, instead of paying each one separately, you just pay off the CC. AND, you are earning miles or points for them! It may not be a lot, but every mile counts ;)

 

 

This is exactly what I do....cable, electric and cell phone alone equal about 3500 easy miles a year. :D

[4774Papa]

Many excellent posts here.

I will just add my experience with flyer miles and credit cards.

 

I have the Delta Skymiles Platinum Card as well as the Barclay's American Airlines MC and the Chase SouthWest Air card.

 

We live in Georgia and Delta usually works as our cheapest and best airline for overseas travel. Delta miles don't expire and the AmEx Skymiles card is the card we charge most of our household bills on, racking up miles constantly. With the Platinum card you get once a year a companion certificate for flying anywhere in the Continental US for $99. Also, once you spend $25K in a year you get a bonus of 10,000 miles.

 

The Barclay's American Airlines card is not as good as the Delta AmEx, but we had it with USAirways and when they merged with American, I kept the card. I like the option of going with American if their price is lower than Delta. American's foreign network is not as good as Delta, since Delta includes Korean Air, Air France and KLM which I enjoy flying on.

[diane.in.ny]

A good place to start is this website

 

http://www.creditcards.com/

 

Very legitimate site which gives you a lot of information in one place.

 

I too have used credit card miles for flying ... sometimes coach, sometimes business class. But now that the airlines have changed the 'cost' of tickets from a standard number of miles based on the destination to a varying number based on date/time/etc (just like a paid ticket), IMO miles are not worth as much anymore. The 'cost' to get a mileage ticket has just gone through the roof.

 

Personally, I"m looking for an alternative to the airline affinity card but don't want to pay a small fortune in fees every year. Right now I still have airline affinity cards that I am thinking about cancelling. The only reason I haven't done it yet is that at least with those cards I end up with free checked luggage and priority boarding.

[FlyerTalker]

A good place to start is this website

 

http://www.creditcards.com/

 

Very legitimate site which gives you a lot of information in one place.

It will give you basic info on many cards that are available and what you may have pre-qualified for. It will NOT give you info on what cards have the best signup bonuses, what cards have the best spend bonuses for your purchasing pattern and what cards are appropriate for specific aspirational goals you may have. For example, if you want to earn points to use at a specific resort in Polynesia or Maldives, or you want to specifically fly in the Etihad First Apartment, you need to research elsewhere.

I too have used credit card miles for flying ... sometimes coach, sometimes business class. But now that the airlines have changed the 'cost' of tickets from a standard number of miles based on the destination to a varying number based on date/time/etc (just like a paid ticket), IMO miles are not worth as much anymore. The 'cost' to get a mileage ticket has just gone through the roof.

I beg to differ. The game has gotten tougher in some ways, but for the versatile and the industrious there is still a ton of value out there. But you need to know what you are doing.

Personally, I"m looking for an alternative to the airline affinity card but don't want to pay a small fortune in fees every year. Right now I still have airline affinity cards that I am thinking about cancelling. The only reason I haven't done it yet is that at least with those cards I end up with free checked luggage and priority boarding.

There have been some recent posts about cards that one should have but never use. That the benefit of owning the card is more than the fee, but that spend should be put in more beneficial places. The IHG card is one like that - you get a free night stay every year which is worth more than the $49 fee. Same with an airline card if the free baggage benefit is more than the card fee. So...just what kind of "alternative" do you want? If you think that miles and points aren't worth it, just go for a cash rebate card and be done with it.

[Globaliser]

I still can't figure out how to use my BA Avios miles to book a flight on American Airlines

On the BA website?

[diane.in.ny]

If you think that miles and points aren't worth it, just go for a cash rebate card and be done with it.

 

Seriously thinking about that.

 

Thanks for the info on the IHG card.

[4774Papa]

Seriously thinking about that.

 

Thanks for the info on the IHG card.

 

I have done the math and if I just went for the cash rebate, no way would the benefits equal what I have received from miles.

[diane.in.ny]

I have done the math and if I just went for the cash rebate, no way would the benefits equal what I have received from miles.

 

I agree. I just have to find the right card with miles/points that will work best for me, our spending and our traveling.

[Clay Clayton]

Everyone wants that nice non-stop to Venice - you'll usually do better by flying into a Euro-hub and connecting.

 

Or from the Euro-hub to a nearby city and taking the train....not the optimal but for our trip several years ago, it was the only way we could get to Venice on points at the saver level. We drove to Dulles, flew Air France to Paris, connected to Bologna and then took a 30 min? train to Venice. Thankfully for the return we were able to get award seats from Venice onward.

[ISLABONITA]

In my experience a combination of cash back such as Barclay's World Arrival Plus which their 40k miles equals more than $450 cash back on travel expenditures and many other cards such as AA, SW, JetBlue and Chase Sapphire Preferred along with Thank You Premier have gotten me and husband to Hawaii 2x in first class and for the next trip down to SA in business and F class.

The $450 back on Arrival World Plus doesn't come close to the First class fare using miles with AA or UA.

A good balance of hotel cards have also saved us easily $500-$1000 per vacation.

Right now I am concentrating on Alaska Air ( partners with many airlines) for flights to Sydney and back from Auckland.

This card is easy to acquire multiple times and gives you 25k to 30k miles depending on application. ( one with no minimum spend the other with $1k spend)