Best Credit Card for racking air miles?

[jakenoack]

I am wondering if my fellow mustachians can suggest the best credit card or cards for accumulating as many air miles as possible. Please list pros and cons of the card as well. I would hope that there is a card out there with no annual fee. I just find it so hard to bring myself to pay a fee for a credit card. lol

If you have any particular info for me to read on cards, then please do share. Thank you. =)

[johnny847]

I can tell you right off the bat that there is only one cc that I know of that  earns miles (directly or indirectly - in this case it is indirectly) and has no annual fee past the first year (many of them do waive the annual fee for the first year). The Amex everyday earns Amex points that you can transfer to certain airlines.

[SilveradoBojangles]

We've been happy with the Chase Sapphire preferred card.

Pros - you can transfer miles directly to your United Mileage plus account, so the miles end up being worth more than with other cards I've had where they miles translate to some dollar amount for ticket purchase. We fly United a lot because we live near a hub, so with between putting all possible expenses on the card (some of which earn double points) plus flying the miles have racked up quickly. It has no foreign transaction fees, and it had a chip long before they were common in the states, making it easy to use when abroad.

Cons - The annual fee is $95 after the first year. But we've bought multiple international mileage tickets in the last few years, including three to Europe last summer that would have cost at least 4500$, so the fee has been worth it to us.

[HAPPYINAZ]

you might enjoy learning from the free online class on http://www.travelmiles101.com/

Many people here have recommended it.  I am currently working my way through it.  Very informative about which cards are best for variance reasons. 

[HAPPYINAZ]

We have been thrilled with the Barclay Arrival plus card.  2x miles on all purchases.  It's not tied to any airline and you just use your miles to remove payments made to airlines, rental cars, hotels, etc. 

http://www.findmybarclaycard.com/barclaycard-credit-cards/?campaignId=2165&cellNumber=1&referrerid=GGLPS0215BRARR


Lots of people think Chase Sapphire preferred is best card if you were to only get one.

[elaine amj]

I've found that it all depends on you, your location, and your travel wants.

Southwest is a very fun one for domestic/Caribbean travel. Very satisfying very quickly. You can get 2 CCs to earn 100k points and then do some creative (and doable) travel hacking to get another 10k points. For 110k points, you get an additional Companion Pass. This means whenever you travel (pay in cash OR by points), your companion travels completely free (not even needing points).

An average round trip flight is about 30k points so you can easily get 2-3 roundtrip flights for just getting the 2 CCs.

If you have a spouse and kids, your SO can also do the same things and now, both your kids can travel for free (plus a negligible $5.60 in taxes each way). We flew 5 round trips with our kids last year, and I guestimate we used about 150k worth of points (not sure as it is not something I track).

For us, we LOVE it. The only drawback is that our local airport is not a hub, so we do a lot of one-stop flights now whereas before, we were firm on nonstop flights only.

[BigoteGato]

Take a look at these two sites for more pointers than you can imagine: millionmiles and thepointsguy.

[Richmond Savers]

you might enjoy learning from the free online class on http://www.travelmiles101.com/

Many people here have recommended it.  I am currently working my way through it.  Very informative about which cards are best for variance reasons.

Glad you're enjoying the course! 

We'd love to have any and all Mustachians register for the free Travel Miles 101 class (originally called "Miles for Mustachians" in fact!).  We've had hundreds of fellow Mustachians go through the course and MMM mentions us on his credit cards page ( http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/credit-cards/ )as a good place to learn more about travel rewards. 

[Jules13]

Definitely agree that it depends on where you want to fly or what you want to do (for example maybe you'd be better off with points for hotels?).  We accumulate miles to fly to Australia (to visit family) so we use the Citibank American Airlines card because American partners with Qantas.  I've looked at other options, but that appears to be the best card for us. 

However, having said that, since I've had to start working around school schedules, I've had some troubles booking with miles, so might start looking into the Capital One card since you just buy your flight on whatever airline and then use the points to pay for it.  That would be really helpful when, for example, Qantas is having a big sale (like now) but there are no award tickets. 

I enrolled in that travelmiles101 class and found it FULL of info.  So full, in fact, that I got behind and lost and overwhelmed.  I fully intend to go back to it all though with my new questions about Capital One.

Good luck!

[kpd905]

Right now the Southwest Airlines cards are at 50,000 miles, with $2,000 spend each.  If you get a personal and business card, you'll have 104,000 miles after hitting the spend on each.  If you then spend $6,000 more on the cards, you'll get a companion pass for both 2016 and 2017, allowing you to bring anyone with you on award flights during that time.

Otherwise the Chase Sapphire Preferred, United Mileageplus Explorer and Barclays Arrival+ are all good cards.

[klystomane]

I'm in the Citi ThankYou camp.

All things equal, I think it's overtaken CSP.

[Jags4186]

I am wondering if my fellow mustachians can suggest the best credit card or cards for accumulating as many air miles as possible. Please list pros and cons of the card as well. I would hope that there is a card out there with no annual fee. I just find it so hard to bring myself to pay a fee for a credit card. lol

If you have any particular info for me to read on cards, then please do share. Thank you. =)

So it really depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. 

For the casual user who wants 1 card and minimal headaches, cash back is the way tot go. You should go with IMO the new Fidelity 2% Visa card.  2% everywhere, 1% FTF (so 1% cash back international), no annual fee, $50 minimum redemption, will work at Costco come March.  Not enough information out there yet, but if the "points" you earn on it are US Bank Flex Points then you could really be earning near 4% on your purchases when using points towards travel.

If you have 100k at Merrill Lynch you can get 2.625% cash back on the BoA Cash Rewards CC.

If you want 3% CB you can sign up for the Discover It Miles card which offers 1.5% cash back, then it will double all cash back earned on your 13th statement.

Points are great but you need a lot of them (especially if you plan on traveling as a couple) and are relatively worthless until you have enough for a redemption.  48,000 united points are worthless to you if you need 60,000 to go to Europe for example.

Also--everyone here is recommending Barclay Arrival +.  I mean it's great for the $400 sign up bonus but sucks otherwise and is definitely not worth keeping past year 1 when that annual fee comes due.  I'd just stick with a regular 2% cash back card.

[elaine amj]

For the casual user who wants 1 card and minimal headaches, cash back is the way tot go. You should go with IMO the new Fidelity 2% Visa card.  2% everywhere, 1% FTF (so 1% cash back international), no annual fee, $50 minimum redemption, will work at Costco come March.  Not enough information out there yet, but if the "points" you earn on it are US Bank Flex Points then you could really be earning near 4% on your purchases when using points towards travel.

Ooooo...sounds intriguing. I'll have to take a look at it.

BTW, when is Costco switching from Amex anyway?

[kpd905]

Also--everyone here is recommending Barclay Arrival +.  I mean it's great for the $400 sign up bonus but sucks otherwise and is definitely not worth keeping past year 1 when that annual fee comes due.  I'd just stick with a regular 2% cash back card.

I only do sign up bonuses.  That way I get 10-75% back on all of my spending instead of 2%.  After the fee hits I would cancel or downgrade.

You can worry about which card to put $20,000+ spending on to get $400, or you can just grab one sign up bonus.

[Richmond Savers]

Also--everyone here is recommending Barclay Arrival +.  I mean it's great for the $400 sign up bonus but sucks otherwise and is definitely not worth keeping past year 1 when that annual fee comes due.  I'd just stick with a regular 2% cash back card.

I only do sign up bonuses.  That way I get 10-75% back on all of my spending instead of 2%.  After the fee hits I would cancel or downgrade.

You can worry about which card to put $20,000+ spending on to get $400, or you can just grab one sign up bonus.

I agree with this 100% for my own strategy, but like everything with travel hacking it comes down to comfort level with how many cards one feels like opening. 

As you so succinctly described, nearly all the value is in the signup bonuses and I try to get 10+ of them a year which works out to easily a 20%-30% back w/o breaking a sweat.

[I'm a red panda]

I just got an american airlines offer of 60,000 miles with $3,000 spending in the first 3 months.  My husband has had this card for awhile and every time he calls to cancel they waive the fee and give him another 10,000 bonus miles for $1,000 in spending.

The Delta Amex offer I just got was only 50,000 bonus miles but it is also only $1,000 in spending. When DH had asked them to waive the fee on this one, or else he would cancel they said "sorry to see you go"- so it wasn't as good as the AA card...

[Jags4186]

I only do sign up bonuses.  That way I get 10-75% back on all of my spending instead of 2%.  After the fee hits I would cancel or downgrade.

You can worry about which card to put $20,000+ spending on to get $400, or you can just grab one sign up bonus.

Oh I 100% agree.  I do signup bonuses as well--lots of them--and lots of MS as well.  But from the tone of the OP it doesn't seem like he or she is looking to go that direction.

[Jags4186]

For the casual user who wants 1 card and minimal headaches, cash back is the way tot go. You should go with IMO the new Fidelity 2% Visa card.  2% everywhere, 1% FTF (so 1% cash back international), no annual fee, $50 minimum redemption, will work at Costco come March.  Not enough information out there yet, but if the "points" you earn on it are US Bank Flex Points then you could really be earning near 4% on your purchases when using points towards travel.

Ooooo...sounds intriguing. I'll have to take a look at it.

BTW, when is Costco switching from Amex anyway?

Looks like March.

[TheAnonOne]

You won't be obtaining the largest amount of miles from 1 card.

However, my favorite baseline card is the Capital One Venture. This card gives you 2 (miles/cents) for every dollar (2%) spent on the card in any category. These are redeemed by simply claiming the miles as cash against any travel charge.

Other than that, we churn a bit. The Southwest offering is the most lucrative by far because, you can obtain around 3k in travel from the two cards alone.

[Richmond Savers]

I just got an american airlines offer of 60,000 miles with $3,000 spending in the first 3 months.  My husband has had this card for awhile and every time he calls to cancel they waive the fee and give him another 10,000 bonus miles for $1,000 in spending.

The Delta Amex offer I just got was only 50,000 bonus miles but it is also only $1,000 in spending. When DH had asked them to waive the fee on this one, or else he would cancel they said "sorry to see you go"- so it wasn't as good as the AA card...

That 60k offer on the AA card is really solid!!  That's an offer I've only heard a few people receiving in the mail, so I would strongly consider opening that one.  I certainly would if I got it mailed to me :)

[TheAnonOne]

I just got an american airlines offer of 60,000 miles with $3,000 spending in the first 3 months.  My husband has had this card for awhile and every time he calls to cancel they waive the fee and give him another 10,000 bonus miles for $1,000 in spending.

The Delta Amex offer I just got was only 50,000 bonus miles but it is also only $1,000 in spending. When DH had asked them to waive the fee on this one, or else he would cancel they said "sorry to see you go"- so it wasn't as good as the AA card...

That 60k offer on the AA card is really solid!!  That's an offer I've only heard a few people receiving in the mail, so I would strongly consider opening that one.  I certainly would if I got it mailed to me :)

Even after AA is going to devalue the points? I have around 160,000 AA miles and I am worried that they will become a bit useless...

[I'm a red panda]

That 60k offer on the AA card is really solid!!  That's an offer I've only heard a few people receiving in the mail, so I would strongly consider opening that one.  I certainly would if I got it mailed to me :)

I was worried about the $3,000 spend to get it, as that is a lot for 3 months, so I decided to go with Delta first. But the AA card has a deadline of March 31 to take advantage of it, so I will apply for it after I meet the Delta $1,000.

And since I don't plan to spend extra to meet the terms of the offer, if I get 60k points and then they devalue them, it's still 60k points I didn't have before.

[HAPPYINAZ]

I just got an american airlines offer of 60,000 miles with $3,000 spending in the first 3 months.  My husband has had this card for awhile and every time he calls to cancel they waive the fee and give him another 10,000 bonus miles for $1,000 in spending.

The Delta Amex offer I just got was only 50,000 bonus miles but it is also only $1,000 in spending. When DH had asked them to waive the fee on this one, or else he would cancel they said "sorry to see you go"- so it wasn't as good as the AA card...

We just got the 60,000 mile offer from American, so we jumped on that.  Nice to know about calling to cancel and getting a 10K bonus, thanks!

[Zoot Allures]

Even after AA is going to devalue the points? I have around 160,000 AA miles and I am worried that they will become a bit useless...

I've been reading about the "massive devaluation" of AA miles, but it seems a bit overstated when I look at the actual changes to the award chart, at least where economy class is concerned. In fact, for economy flights between the US and Mexico, Central America, or the Caribbean, the required number of miles is actually going down a bit. But first class is definitely taking a huge hit. I might try to book a first-class trip to Asia before the devaluation takes effect.

[Feefers]

I received the 60k AA offer a few weeks after I signed up and received the 50k card offer -___-. I just completed the spend for this one, I'm looking at southwest for my next one . Is anyone worried about the massive Bluebird shutdown? Did anyone have their account blocked for future loads?

[dabears847]

Also--everyone here is recommending Barclay Arrival +.  I mean it's great for the $400 sign up bonus but sucks otherwise and is definitely not worth keeping past year 1 when that annual fee comes due.  I'd just stick with a regular 2% cash back card.

I only do sign up bonuses.  That way I get 10-75% back on all of my spending instead of 2%.  After the fee hits I would cancel or downgrade.

You can worry about which card to put $20,000+ spending on to get $400, or you can just grab one sign up bonus.

How do you use so many cards at a time/miles> How often do you travel?

If I were to travel with the family 4 of us. What would you recommend for local, US use only?

[Calvawt]

I currently have 20 credit cards and a little over 1,000,000 miles banked.  I agree that you need to define your travel goals and THEN pick the right card.  Otherwise you might end up with miles that are really hard for you to use.

[goosefraba1]

Sounds like i need to pair a Southwest Airlines with our CSP. I like that you can use the CSP on almost anything. Great card. Customer Service is top notch.

[Richmond Savers]

I just got an american airlines offer of 60,000 miles with $3,000 spending in the first 3 months.  My husband has had this card for awhile and every time he calls to cancel they waive the fee and give him another 10,000 bonus miles for $1,000 in spending.

The Delta Amex offer I just got was only 50,000 bonus miles but it is also only $1,000 in spending. When DH had asked them to waive the fee on this one, or else he would cancel they said "sorry to see you go"- so it wasn't as good as the AA card...

That 60k offer on the AA card is really solid!!  That's an offer I've only heard a few people receiving in the mail, so I would strongly consider opening that one.  I certainly would if I got it mailed to me :)

Even after AA is going to devalue the points? I have around 160,000 AA miles and I am worried that they will become a bit useless...

Yeah, I definitely don't think they'll be worthless at all.  I was bummed that some of the off-peak prices were changing, but they were always a little too good to be true (or to stay forever). 

For the most part it wasn't a horrible devaluation...

[Richmond Savers]

Even after AA is going to devalue the points? I have around 160,000 AA miles and I am worried that they will become a bit useless...

I've been reading about the "massive devaluation" of AA miles, but it seems a bit overstated when I look at the actual changes to the award chart, at least where economy class is concerned. In fact, for economy flights between the US and Mexico, Central America, or the Caribbean, the required number of miles is actually going down a bit. But first class is definitely taking a huge hit. I might try to book a first-class trip to Asia before the devaluation takes effect.

Totally agreed!  And I like their new chart for sub-500 mile distance flights in the 48-states and Canada.  7,500 AA miles one-way now for economy MileSAAver compares reasonably well with the British Airways award chart (especially after they devalue) for those short flights in the US.