Best credit card for Rewards/Mileage?

[fencerbill]

I figure the dedicated parents are the ones who have thought through which credit card is the best.

I now have one that accumulates points but I have to make reservations through them and use points/dollars in blocks of 50.

Is Capital One with the funky commercials the best?

[JEC]

I am a Frequent Flyer for Continental (unfortunately I fly too often - Platinum). As most of you, I have quite a few credit cards, but the one that I use the most is a Chase Continental MC which also adds miles to my One Pass account. They have had the best FF program among US carriers for several years according to trade magazines and polls. Unlike other programs, miles do not expire (unless the carrier goes under).

[Phincer]

I think it just depends on what airline you fly the most-we are Southwest people-but we also use Continental. When The Husband flies for work, most of the time he takes Continental (the rest Southwest)-and when those miles add up to a ticket, we fly that carrier for fencing. Southwest is what we fly most as a family, and we have a Chase Southwest card.

That's it for credit cards (we don't like credit, but we love the miles). We try to put as many household bills as possible on it, and any big-ticket items, car repairs, etc. I think we get a great deal and it sure helps.

One thing Southwest is doing-their free tickets expire, but for $50 you can reactivate them for a year. That got us our airline tickets for Christmas break.

Also-sign up for every hotel points program-eventually you will get a free night. It may take a while, but what the heck, it's free!

[noodle]

Is Capital One with the funky commercials the best?

capital one sucks really hard. i'm cutting mine up after i pay this last bill.

if you want the best, what you'll need to do is get a credit card with a yearly fee, but one with lots of bonus miles. sign up for the frequent flyer club for that airline, associate the card to the club, and only spend money on that card.

use the club webpage to look up places to shop where you get bonus miles for shopping there, and do that.


there's no one best card, because if its a multi-use card, the rewards suck. if you can use it on any airline, it won't be anywhere near as good as the membership-fee-requiring cards that are only applicable to one airline.

pick the airline with the hub closest to where you live, and go with that one.

[teacup]

I like the Capital One No Hassle because you can choose to be reimbursed after travel for any airfare on any airline at anytime. The money is credited to your account in a couple of days.

Since you need 35,000 points for airfares between $150.00 - 350.00, don't redeem the points unless you have a fare close to $350.00.

It is especially good for international fares because over $600.00 each point equals one dollar regardless of price. If your air fare is $660.00, you need 66,000 points, again any airline, any date, any fare.

It is much easier than having to book travel in advance using points with either frequent flier miles or a point credit card.

No annual fee either.

With airline specific cards you don't have the flexibility to get the cheapest fare on non stop flights at good times which to me is more important than being loyal to one specific airline.

Besides as well as getting No Hassle points you can receive airline frequent flier miles. Being enrolled in Star Alliance, One World, SkyMiles and Southwest programs, should pretty much cover all airlines.

[acydblack]

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[acydblack]

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[ChivNick]

I went to the NACs recently at the Rosemont Convention Center and I saw this little pamphlet that offered a credit card through Chase that had a picture of two fencers doing what they do best, and they offered several options with the card but yea I'd look around and compare before choosing, Chase though is a good place to start.

[pokey]

The CC we use the most in our household is the United Mileage Plus Visa card. It's pretty unremarkable. $1 per mile, with a high APR and a $60 annual fee. I'll echo what others have already said, i.e. pick an airline with a hub near you or that you fly a lot, and put most of your bills on there to rack up points. They've also got a "flex" spending option called "Choices" that lets you use earned miles from the Visa card and burn them for tickets at the rate of 100 miles per $1 of the ticket. It's not necessarily better, but depending on the situation it gives you more flexibility because it's blackout and capacity limitation free.

That having been said, I find that redeeming the miles on United for a worthwhile flight (in terms of timing and ticket cost) can be a bit difficult if you don't have copious amounts of advance notice or frequent flier status.

The other CC I'm really fond of is the Chase Perfectcard (it's a Mastercard, if it matters to you). The reward structure is pretty simple. 3% cash back for gas purchases, 1% cash back for everything else. No annual fee. While this isn't tied to a particular airline/hotel/whatever reward program, I do like that it is basically hassle free. Earned cash rebates are automatically credited against your next monthly statement in full every month, which means you don't have to deal with waiting until you get a minimum amount or redeem in discrete blocks (like say, Discover).

[mfp]

The other CC I'm really fond of is the Chase Perfectcard (it's a Mastercard, if it matters to you). The reward structure is pretty simple. 3% cash back for gas purchases, 1% cash back for everything else. No annual fee. While this isn't tied to a particular airline/hotel/whatever reward program, I do like that it is basically hassle free. Earned cash rebates are automatically credited against your next monthly statement in full every month, which means you don't have to deal with waiting until you get a minimum amount or redeem in discrete blocks (like say, Discover).

The PenFed Visa Platinum Cash Rewards card pays better:

5% cash back on gas when used at the pump. (That's effectively a 18 cent per gallon discount around here)

2% cash back on supermarket purchases

1.25% cash back on everything else

The PenFed card is also very notable in that purchases in foreign countries only are charged a 1% fx fee vs the typical 3% most other cards hit you with. Since there's a 1.25% rebate also, you still net 0.25%.

Cash rebates are credited monthly automatically. No annual fee.

[T]

I like the Capital One No Hassle because you can choose to be reimbursed after travel for any airfare on any airline at anytime. The money is credited to your account in a couple of days.

I also like Capital One No Hassle because I can use any airline and it doesn't matter if dates are blocked. You have to be careful of the interest rates - but if you pay it off regularly then it isn't that bad. We charge EVERYTHING on it and get points. I flew to the Pan Am Games and will fly to the Olympics with the points (I have saved them up for the occasion). The best thing about it is that since I am from San Antonio - which is not a hub for any airline - I cannot rely on one airline as the one I use all of the time. This program gives me the most flexibility.

[10gallonhat]

Hilton Honors Platinum American Express (has no annual fee) plus a Hilton Honors Citigroup Visa for places that don't take Amex (also no fee). I have no idea what the interest rates are on these since I never run a balance. These will not get you airline tickets but are good for hotel rooms/suites at Hilton Properties (Hilton, Conrad, Doubletree Suites, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inns, Hilton Garden Inns, Homewood Suites and the Waldorf). There are virtually no black out dates and the "suite" set up is great for traveling with the fencers in your life while maintaining separate sleeping areas. We run $50-70,000 a year through these cards and haven't paid for a hotel room in years (figure 7-10 nights in suites per year, and the suites include full breakfasts). Airline cards are a rip-off, with unrealistic blackout dates and blocking alot of non-stop flights. Hotel cards are a much better route for us, we never seem to have much trouble finding inexpensive airfares. Good luck in your choice.

[mfp]

If you and your credit card(s) have done any foreign travel or purchases since 1996, you might want to investigate filing a claim to eventually get some money back from the Foreign Currency Conversion Fee Antitrust Litigation Settlement fund:

http://www.ccfsettlement.com/

The deadline for filing is May 30th.

If you made any foreign transactions using your (US issued) Visa, MasterCard and Diners Club credit, charge, or debit/ATM cards from February 1, 1996 to November 8, 2006, then you can file.