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credit cards with frequent flyer miles

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:38 pm
by sea-nile
I am trying to find ways to get to STJ more often. 8) I never considered myself a frequent flyer, but in 2007 I flew 3 times and in 2008 it will be 3 times at least, once to STJ, once to Florida and once to Hawaii.
So, I was wondering if having one of these credit cards would be worth it and would pay off.
I figured if I used it for gas and groceries that would add up pretty fast as it is. If I use it for everything maybe it would be worth it.

I was looking at the Miles by Discover.
Does anyone use this?
Any other ideas or opinions?
Thanks!

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:50 pm
by waterguy
I put every thing on my AA card and just pay that one bill each month adds up quick and if you don't have one yet they give you 25000 miles for signing up

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:03 pm
by flip-flop
I have the delta amex card. I think I pay $125 for the annual fee but I put EVERYTHING on there that I can. Groceries, gas, drugstores and several other places do 2x the miles all times. I always sign up for the double and triple mile promos when they come around. I don't fly that much - 3x a year for work, 2-4 times a year for pleasure, but I still rack up the miles. More from purchases than actually being a frequent flier. When we bought our last car I put the max they would allow me to put on my card and then immediately paid it off with the money we'd saved for the down payment.

We got 3 tix in May of 2005 @ $10/each and 4 tix for our November 2007 trip @ $10/each. Even if you tally the annual fee for 3 years + the per ticket cost, that's 7 roundtrip flights for $445. I currently have 170k miles waiting to be used. I just have to decide what we want to do with them. I know what I want to do with them.

Its money I spend anyway, so I might as well focus it somewhere. There are critical keys of course - don't ever pay more for something to get the miles, pay off your bill every month, and be early and persistent to find the best tickets @ the lowest mileage redemption.

For me its part of the fun!

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 5:23 pm
by StJohnRuth
sea-nile,
Whatever card you end up with, see if you can get any of your utilities on there like gas, water, trash pickup, electric, phone, cell phone etc.
Another tip - don't wait for the bill to come in the mail and pay once a month. If you sign up for on-line bill payment you can do it weekly or a few times a month.
See you sooner!
-Ruth

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 9:09 am
by cptnkirk
We are not frequent flyers at all. These cards are great. Charge everything and I mean everything and the miles add up fast. We get a card get the free miles at the begginning and by the time we get to the year mark we have at least one free ticket maybe two. Cancel that card then move to the next airmiles card and start over. Our aa card now has enough for two tickets. Time to move on to the next airline. Just pay your statement in full everymonth and its a great deal. They say cancelling your card has an effect on your credit score but if its very good like ours it really doesn't matter a whole lot.