Need a new credit card with travel benefits

[Maryanne]

So, I live in Boston and used to use AA miles to fly to STT and London. Now that AA no longer directly flies to those cities, I would like to stop using my AAdvantage Citi card. (It's my only credit card.)

A little research recommends either the Barclay Arrival World Mastercard or the Capital One Venture Rewards Card. Does anyone have familiarity with either of these? What I love about AA is the simplicity: just go on their website, choose the flights, and pay with miles. Plus I've never had a problem getting the flight I want, even last-minute, which is how we often travel. It was bad enough when they stopped the non-stop to STJ, but now no non-stop to LHR!

Thanks!
Maryanne

[mbw1024]

We have the Cap One Venture (2 points for every dollar spent). Have not used it to redeem for any travel yet, just letting the points pile up. There was a thread about this card on the off topic board. Let me see if I can find it.

[mbw1024]

Here you go...
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/v ... redit+card

[Maryanne]

Thank you, MB! I did a search and came up with nothing.

If anyone still wants to chime in/update, I'm all ears. I also should mention that using miles got me hooked on traveling Business Class. Wondering how well the upgrades work with those cards. Thanks.

[mbw1024]

With the Cap One card you are not really using miles. You buy whatever flight you want and then when the charge hits your card you have the opportunity to "erase" it from your balance. Let's say you but a flight for $900.00. You add two zero's to that to erase it with points so that would take 90,000 for you to erase.
You add two zeros to any travel expense in order to be able to erase it. (hotel, car rental, airfare).

[mit43]

Points vs Miles = Apples vs Oranges. They are not the same thing.....

We use Airline Cards because the only benefit we are interested in is free award flights in the off-season. The miles cards works better for us.

If our flights in the off-season cost $1,000 if would take 100,000 "points". That woulf mean spending $50,000. (x2 points for each doller spent = 100,000 points)

However, with our "Miles" it usually takes 20,000 miles for the off-peak award tickets. That would be spending a max of $20,000.

If you prefer high season tickets, it would not work as well. You have to first decide what is your priority for the miles or points and see which works best for you.

[mbw1024]

I agree they are not the same thing (points v. miles). With the AA/US Air merger I have not seen any very good deals on using miles so I am stepping away from that for the time being. Will see how that all plays out and may go back to a true mileage card in the future, just don't know which one!

[Maryanne]

Thanks, MB, and yes, Tim, that's exactly what I don't like about "points," especially since I enjoyed using all the AA miles we accrued to fly Business Class. A Business Class ticket via points quickly wipes out all your points...

[ToonMann]

Over the years, we've traveled to many Caribbean destinations on American Aadvantage miles. But we've found it increasingly difficult to find the flights we want on AA (unavailable travel dates, too many miles required), so we switched to the Capital One Venture card. We've been pleased with the switch.

Here's why:

As explained above, the Venture card allows you to use your points to "erase" flights you've charged to the card. For example, to erase our $475 flights to STJ, we needed 47,500 Venture points. To get these points, we charged $23,750 to the card (two points earned for every dollar charged).

Had we charged $23,750 on the Aadvantage card, we would have earned 23,750 miles, not enough for even a domestic flight.

TM

[dreamshark]

I have a Delta Amex card which I used for all major payments before my trip (villa, airfare, etc.) because it gets me FF miles on my hometown airline. I haven't actually flown Delta to the USVI for a long time because American is cheaper, but I can always use Delta miles for something.

The other useful thing about the Delta card (or most any Amex card) is that if I travel somewhere where car rental is NOT covered by my home car insurance, Delta provides a cheap insurance policy so you can decline the car rental insurance. Again, didn't need it for USVI because my home insurance covers it. However, a lot of insurers consider the USVI to be "foreign travel" and don't cover it. Be sure to call your insurance agent and check. And don't accept an off-the-top quick answer - make them call their underwriter and verify. Apparently coverage varies not only by agency but state by state.

I have a Capital One "World Mastercard" for exactly one reason - they are possibly the only credit card company that does not tack on an egregious 3% surcharge for "foreign travel." But the USVI is part of the USA, you say? Doesn't matter - insurance companies make their own rules. Both of my Visa cards DO charge the extra 3% for USVI! So I used the Cap One card on my recent trip for every situation where credit cards were accepted (restaurants, car rental, grocery stores). I have never paid much attention to their reward points, which look like more trouble than they are worth. I currently have $22 in reward points, which is not worth jumping through hoops to redeem. But that 3% surcharge can add up. Other than overseas travel I never use this card because I think Capital One is a sleazebag outfit that makes most of its money by exploiting people with poor credit. But their higher-end cards really are a good deal, provided you don't let them upsell you on "services" you don't need.

[dreamshark]

With the Cap One card you are not really using miles. You buy whatever flight you want and then when the charge hits your card you have the opportunity to "erase" it from your balance.
You add two zeros to any travel expense in order to be able to erase it. (hotel, car rental, airfare).

How is the "erase purchase" feature any better than just taking your points as a credit to your Cap One account? Does it give you more money back per point, or is it just more fun to do it that way?

[byado18]

I really like my Chase Preferred Signature card!
2x points on travel & dining
7% annual bonus
No foreign transaction fee
1:1 transfer of points or ability to book through their site/Ultimate Rewards!

[mbw1024]

With the Cap One card you are not really using miles. You buy whatever flight you want and then when the charge hits your card you have the opportunity to "erase" it from your balance.
You add two zeros to any travel expense in order to be able to erase it. (hotel, car rental, airfare).

How is the "erase purchase" feature any better than just taking your points as a credit to your Cap One account? Does it give you more money back per point, or is it just more fun to do it that way?

Not sure I understand the question. You can't just use your points to credit your account at any time. At least not that I am aware of. It is related to a travel purchase. As I said I have not used the feature yet I am letting my points build (got the card 5 months ago perhaps). For now it allows me to shop all airlines to find a fare and a schedule that suits me. If I choose to I will use my points to credit myself for the cost of the flight.

[dreamshark]

With the Cap One card you are not really using miles. You buy whatever flight you want and then when the charge hits your card you have the opportunity to "erase" it from your balance.
You add two zeros to any travel expense in order to be able to erase it. (hotel, car rental, airfare).

How is the "erase purchase" feature any better than just taking your points as a credit to your Cap One account? Does it give you more money back per point, or is it just more fun to do it that way?

Not sure I understand the question. You can't just use your points to credit your account at any time. At least not that I am aware of. It is related to a travel purchase. As I said I have not used the feature yet I am letting my points build (got the card 5 months ago perhaps). For now it allows me to shop all airlines to find a fare and a schedule that suits me. If I choose to I will use my points to credit myself for the cost of the flight.

Prodded by this discussion I (finally) clicked on the "Explore Rewards" link on my account page to see what I had to do to redeem my paltry points. The options for "Redeem" are "redeem for a check, or an account credit, gift cards, and more. It's your choice!" But my card is a "World Mastercard" which may work differently than the one you have.

[PA Girl]

I have given up on trying to use our USAir FF miles. We don't have the flexibility as it relates to finding the best mileage deals first, scheduling vacation second. Even my retired mother had a heck of a time using theirs and that was with two savvy people obsessively watching the site. I will be canceling the USAir cc I have and will likely replace it with that Venture card.

The "points" work for us because like others mentioned, I can shop all the airlines and find the flights that work best for us. We are likely more picky about travel time, connections, etc. than most.

I am a huge fan of Amex Platinum for many reasons, the fact that you get 20% of the points back for travel purchases being the biggest. It does, however come with a hefty annual fee but we make sure to use the $200 travel credits, airport lounge access, travel services, etc and by the end of the year, it seems even up. We run a lot of business expenses through it so the points add up. It isn't always accepted, which is why I need to replace the USAir visa.