<p>I was reading the thread about kids going away to college far from home. I have one of those. :( :) Sad and happy at the same time.</p>
<p>I've never had a credit card that had an air miles benefit before, but I think I should get one. I'm not even sure how they work in terms of still being able to shop for good air deals and so forth. I have learned there are two kinds -- the ones sponsored by certain airlines where you earn miles for that particular carrier, and bank sponsored cards where you can use the miles on different airlines.</p>
<p>Since we do not live near a major airport, and for his college my son will also not be flying out of a major airport, we don't have any single airline that meets our needs, and almost always have to mix-and-match carriers to get anywhere at a decent price.</p>
<p>That leaves us with the bank card option. Any suggestions on what is the best one? Help a know-nothing with this new challenge... please! ;)</p>
<p>I don't have one of those but I have a Costco 'cash-back' card that I can spend on anything I want. I don't know how it'd stack up against an 'air miles' card.</p>
<p>I like the Northwest card because it captures miles from Alaska, Delta, Continental, and a host of others, and Northwest's new plan allows you to combine miles with cash for flights.</p>
<p>I also have a NW card, but after that initial happy year with the free miles for signing up, it's a mighty expensive card. It is worthwhile, but you do have to pay attention to the miles and be sure to use them. Many FF miles just expire, unused. </p>
<p>A friend swears by the Capitol 1 card, as it works with any airline and is free. I am less impressed with their system, as well as the deluge of promotional mail they send me.</p>
<p>^^^yes, can someone explain? I sometimes read the come ons that come in the mail from Capitol One, and have never seen the air-mile-on-any-airline option.</p>
<p>Do you request it? Or just wait until that offer shows up in the credit card offer lottery?</p>
<p>American Express has the blue sky which won't tie you to an airline. I use Blue and it takes awhile to build up the points you can also book on any airline.</p>
<p>Consider the cash back cards with no annual fee (like the Costco AmEx) then take advantage of discount airfares on any airline and just pay cash.</p>
<p>I had the Capital One card, but they usually required many more miles for things than the Northwest one, though flights are obviously more flexible.</p>
<p>I used a Citibank card for a long time that gave one Aadvantage mile (American Airlines) for each dollar spent. To get a plan way ahead, domestic free ticket takes 25,000 miles or spending $25,000 on the card. Then I got a cash back card that pays 1.25%. Spending $25,000 gets me back $312.50, enough to buy a plan ahead, domestic round trip ticket practically anywhere from the middle of the country where I live. And cash is a lot more flexible.</p>
<p>'rentof2, where do you live and where is he flying into? Some of the airlines have unbelievably great cards where you earn double miles if you book with their card.</p>
<p>We use the Costco cash back option and mooch off H's frequent flier Alaska miles. That's pretty much the only perk he gets from traveling to the land of evil bosses twice a month.</p>
<p>Here's a website that lets you compare the best credit card deals <a href="http://cardweb.com/%5B/url%5D">http://cardweb.com/</a>. I am another who prefers the cash rebate cards, and I will never, ever pay an annual fee for a credit card (Costco has an annnula fee for the club membership, but not for the card itself). Different cards offer different deals, and different percents back. For example, if I book a flight on the Delta website, I get 3% back on my AmEx business platinum card (the card costs me nothing). Some cards take a little closer monitoring, like the citicard, which sends checks in minimums of $50, you have to call them to ask for the rebate, and you can get no more than $300/yr.
Do you mink sharing what airports you will be using? My favorite pasttime is finding deals on the web!</p>
<p>If you use a Southwest Airlines Visa card for enough purchases during a 12 month period you get a companion pass that allows your companion to fly free on any flights with you for a year. I don't know the spending threshold, but we've achieved it for a couple years now and nothing beats free flights.</p>
<p>Check out credit unions.
Although there is an annual fee, my card uses significantly less points for a cross country trip than CapitalOne does, and there are no blackout dates. If you find the flight, the points are based on the cost of flight.</p>
<p>I have a National City Bank cash rewards card. Last year I got a check at the end of the year for $500. If I could only put tuition on it.......I was able to put #1 son's frat-house on it this past year which was huge!</p>
<p>The minute my older son turned 18, we got him a Chase Student card - which also gives cash back. The limit was very low and no co-signer required. It has been a huge blessing and will do this with #2 son too. </p>
<p>I don't like the thought of being tied to one airline.</p>
<p>Fascinating. I use to use my Citi AAdvantage card all the time, as often used AA to fly across coast. For the $50 charge, it was worth it. Now, AA only has one direct flight a day, so don't find this card advantageous. (Still have over 100,000 miles on it).
Also have Amex gold advantage card, for $150/year. Get air miles whenever book with that card. I use it at Costco. I believe you earn twice the points as with Amex Blue.
I guess its time to do some research.</p>
<p>Out here in Seattle, I use an Alaska Airlines mileage card. Companion ticket. Web-based flight finding. Lots and lots of partners. Most importantly to us, no limits on the number of miles/year---we use it for all our business expenses too. It's been five years since I paid for a flight anywhere.</p>
<p>This is a good thread -- although I am still not sure what we will do. With my oldest son in school overseas and my youngest going to boarding school on the east coast, I can see we will be doing alot of flying (both kids already fly a ton). We always join the frequent flyer programs -- but since we look for the best price/best flight option, we never seem to fly often enough.</p>
<p>We have a USAA debit card with the cash back option (or airline mile option -- although it seems to work out the same).</p>
<p>I guess I will keep watching this thread and see what the suggestions are -- We have 3 round-trip tickets for my oldest and 4 round-trip tickets for my youngest to buy just for this summer. I am hoping to figure out the best way to do this before I buy those tickets!</p>
<p>I have had a CitiBank AAdvantage card for years. We've been able to earn a few free flights. But now they've upped the required mileage (100,000 miles to western Europe in the summer) and it's very hard to get a direct flight. It was on the news today that they are going to increase the mileage requirements for the more popular routes.</p>
<p>We also have a Visa that gives 3% cash back on supermarket, gas station and drug store purchases and 1% on everything else, but it has an annual cap. I'm thinking of finding another similar card, so when we max out the cash back on one card, we can start the other.</p>
<p>If a discount airline (Southwest/Air Tran, etc) serves your intended market, I'd say go with that airline's Visa or Master Card. They have pretty attractive plans. </p>
<p>If you aren't sure which airline you are going to use, or if the area isn't served by a discount carrier, consider Capital One. They allow you to make your own reservation and pay for it using the miles accumulated with them. It's a simple procedure and you benefit if you are able to get a cheapo fare! If your ticket costs $500, you 'spend' fewer miles than if your ticket cost $800. We bought a going-to-the-opposite-coast 'senior week' ticket that way and it was quite painless. I charge groceries, gasoline--pretty much everything on this card. The challenge is paying it off every month to avoid the hefty interest rate!! </p>
<p>CO allows more flexibility than our old American Airlines card that was good only for AA travel and mileage 'cost' is significantly higher on AA.</p>