captain_amazing
Footballguy
Wife and I are looking for a CC that gets good miles, as we have family we need to travel to now. We'd like a BoA CC that does that, but we'd go with whatever is best. Thoughts?
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Credit Card Mile Geeks (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter captain_amazing
- Start date
captain_amazing
Footballguy
They deleted the other one.
Any thoughts on the best credit card for miles?
Any thoughts on the best credit card for miles?
Chemical X
Footballguy
this is so vague.......i like it.
what airline?
what airline?
Phil Elliott
Footballguy
Cost: free card, $100/annual, $495/annual?
Access to lounges or just want the miles?
Access to lounges or just want the miles?
ComfortablyNumb
Footballguy
I like my Southwest Airlines card. It cost $99 but I got 50,000 bonus miles which is enough for two R/T tickets, possibly more.
Otis
Footballguy
Guys I know who used to spend tons of time on the Flyertalk forums convinced me that the Starwood Amex is the best card to get and use regularly. Wife and I both have it and do nearly 100% of our monthly spending on it, and I try to put whatever business travel I can there as well. It seems solid. Supposedly the SPG points are high value when transferred for flights etc. I nearly always stay at a Starwood hotel and they are generally reliable, though I have had a couple of minor gripes in recent months.
Also they recently paired up with Delta, so there are some added incentives if you fly Delta regularly.
But yeah, this is what I used and have been told to use by people who are smart about this stuff. This was a few years ago, I haven't reevaluated since, so it's possible there is now something better.
The St Regis in Puerto Rican is a great beach vacation resort, not too far, don't need a passport, great for kids, and the beach there was as private and secluded as we have seen (aside from the really extravagant stuff).
cstu
Footballguy
It's best for people who travel internationally, especially when the dollar is weak (now is not great for redemptions).
The perk I like the best is 'Nights and Flights' which gives you 50,000 airline miles and 5 nights at a category 4 hotel for 70,000 Starwood points.
Here's some questions that need answering:
What's your closest airport
Will you be flying to the same place more often than not, or just random travel
Do either you or your wife fly for work? If so, do you predominately use a specific airline?
Are you willing to put all of your spend on the same card every month? (I hope you pay it off, but that's another thread)
How many times a year to you envision the family traveling?
What's your closest airport
Will you be flying to the same place more often than not, or just random travel
Do either you or your wife fly for work? If so, do you predominately use a specific airline?
Are you willing to put all of your spend on the same card every month? (I hope you pay it off, but that's another thread)
How many times a year to you envision the family traveling?
avoiding injuries
Footballguy
I use the venture card. Works great for me.
PinkydaPimp
Footballguy
Two really good sites for finding good deals(bonus) on these cards are:
https://www.nerdwallet.com/travel-miles-credit-cards
http://thepointsguy.com/credit-cards/
Also see this:
Top 10 Travel Rewards Credit Card Offers for July 2015
I personally have the united presidential plus and the BOA card, but i never use the BOA one and the rewards arent very good TBH.
Chase Saphire is supposed to be a very good card. That would be my recommendation.
ETA: whatever card you get, if you travel internationally, make sure the card you get has no international transaction fees! Also make sure it has the chip and signature option.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/travel-miles-credit-cards
http://thepointsguy.com/credit-cards/
Also see this:
Top 10 Travel Rewards Credit Card Offers for July 2015
I personally have the united presidential plus and the BOA card, but i never use the BOA one and the rewards arent very good TBH.
Chase Saphire is supposed to be a very good card. That would be my recommendation.
ETA: whatever card you get, if you travel internationally, make sure the card you get has no international transaction fees! Also make sure it has the chip and signature option.
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NutterButter
Footballguy
Good god, this sounds painful.
Rodeojones
Footballguy
Your first question needs to be where you want to travel. This will dictate which airline/bank issuing card/s you should go with. The Starwood Preferred is overrated imo. The signup bonus is meh and the reason why it is sometimes spoken highly of is the amount of transfer partners. With Costco dumping AMEX next year I will cancel the card in 2016.
That being said, for generic every day spending Chase has some excellent cards with good signup bonuses and category bonuses.
Most points geeks will tell you using points for US travel is a waste of points unless your converting your Chase UR points to Avios and flying cheap to Hawaii from the West Coast. The one exception would be a local airline like Southwest.
Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions. I have flown all over the world using strictly miles and just returned from Hawaii where I flew the family of four using only points.
That being said, for generic every day spending Chase has some excellent cards with good signup bonuses and category bonuses.
Most points geeks will tell you using points for US travel is a waste of points unless your converting your Chase UR points to Avios and flying cheap to Hawaii from the West Coast. The one exception would be a local airline like Southwest.
Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions. I have flown all over the world using strictly miles and just returned from Hawaii where I flew the family of four using only points.
the moops
Footballguy
Anything new and exciting in credit card rewards? Looking for something
We fly mostly Delta, but will not hesitate to fly Spirit or whatever else if it is cheap enough. I do have about 100,000 Delta miles already waiting to be used. We fly probably 4-5 times a year. One of those times is mostly international, otherwise just flights to FL, CA, MA mostly.
We can generally find pretty cheap flights to those places (200-300), so I am not sure whether just an airlines reward card is our best bet.
Reading good things about the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Thoughts?
We fly mostly Delta, but will not hesitate to fly Spirit or whatever else if it is cheap enough. I do have about 100,000 Delta miles already waiting to be used. We fly probably 4-5 times a year. One of those times is mostly international, otherwise just flights to FL, CA, MA mostly.
We can generally find pretty cheap flights to those places (200-300), so I am not sure whether just an airlines reward card is our best bet.
Reading good things about the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Thoughts?
PinkydaPimp
Footballguy
That chase sapphire is generally considered one of the top cards out there.
Check Nerdwallet or thepointsguy
for additional card suggestions of deals going on.
matuski
Footballguy
I believe the Delta card also grants you status and free checked bags? Check me on that.
This could easily outweigh any extra points you might get elsewhere.
Lehigh98
Footballguy
Easy... Southwest
There are a couple kinds of Southwest Visa CCs, "Prime" and 'Premier" or something. They often do a promotion where you get 50k miles for a new card and putting something like $2k on in the first 3 months. Do that with both cards = 100k+ miles.
https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/southwest/2rtfosam1
Here's the good part...
When you get up to 110k miles, you get a companion pass that's good for the remainder of the year and all of the next year. So not only are you flying BOGO but you have 110,000 miles to use for flights.
https://www.southwest.com/rapidrewards/tiers-more-companion-pass
My wife and I both did this last year and have the companion passes (one for each of our two kids) through the end of this year.
Here's a post about it from the website linked above...
http://thepointsguy.com/2015/09/how-to-earn-the-southwest-companion-pass-for-almost-two-years/
There are a couple kinds of Southwest Visa CCs, "Prime" and 'Premier" or something. They often do a promotion where you get 50k miles for a new card and putting something like $2k on in the first 3 months. Do that with both cards = 100k+ miles.
https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/southwest/2rtfosam1
Here's the good part...
When you get up to 110k miles, you get a companion pass that's good for the remainder of the year and all of the next year. So not only are you flying BOGO but you have 110,000 miles to use for flights.
https://www.southwest.com/rapidrewards/tiers-more-companion-pass
My wife and I both did this last year and have the companion passes (one for each of our two kids) through the end of this year.
Here's a post about it from the website linked above...
http://thepointsguy.com/2015/09/how-to-earn-the-southwest-companion-pass-for-almost-two-years/
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cstu
Footballguy
Wow, just found out that the Starwood card now has no international transaction fees.
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/starwood-preferred-guest/26129?extlink=af-us-ccsg-PLALM&PID=15-11842753-7242679-26814_A200013748749&BUID=CCG&PSKU=SPG&CRTV=STALM&CID=4055899
parasaurolophus
Footballguy
This was our third year with the southwest companion pass. We missed it for this year, but will likely get it for next year. Man we abused that thing. Absolutely loved having it.
The General
Footballguy
I didn't realize that, well overdue. If you travel at all for work I would recommend that card and/or the Chase Marriott card and pay for the hotel with that card. They both have some decent bonuses for hotel charges paid for by their cards.
Between SPG and Marriott you can find a hotel pretty much anywhere.
matuski
Footballguy
I switched from the SPG card to Marriott. Prefer the SPG resort properties, but I stay at Marriott brands and accrue the points so much faster with the paired CC.
Companion Pass (SW going to Mexico/Caribbean $$$$) + Ritz Carlton/JW/Atlantis resorts has treated my family to some nice trips.
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Ted Stickles
Footballguy
Starwood is about to be de-valued with the upcoming Marriott acquisition. I churned the Starwood credit card twice.
Ted Stickles
Footballguy
I've acquired well over 1M in airline points over the last 5 years strictly through the sign-up bonus churning of rewards CCs.
Not a fan of the points guy. I personally enjoy Lucky's blog the most out of the saturated bloggers... http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/
Not a fan of the points guy. I personally enjoy Lucky's blog the most out of the saturated bloggers... http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/
The General
Footballguy
Agree on Marriott being a bit better on points. Platinum status combined with paying with their Chase card racks up points fast.
That card also doesn't have international fees.
That card also doesn't have international fees.
mquinnjr
Footballguy
For cash back, cannot top Citi DoubleCash MasterCard. No annual fee and 2% back on all transactions and uncapped. Get 1% at the end of the billing cycle, and the other 1% when you pay that billing cycle balance. I pay in full every month, so I get the extra 1% on the next billing statement. I have a Sallie Mae MC that gves 5% back as a statement credit on gas (first $250 per month), groceries (first $250 per month), and Amazon (first $750 per month) as my other card, but they unfortunately stopped taking new applications. Who ever thought that would be unprofitable for them? 
Hoping they don't shut the rewards down for grandfathered accounts, or I'm on the lookout for a new gas/grocery/Amazon card.
Hoping they don't shut the rewards down for grandfathered accounts, or I'm on the lookout for a new gas/grocery/Amazon card.
flapgreen
Footballguy
$800 a night is pretty extravagant in the real world
PinkydaPimp
Footballguy
check out thepointsguy or nerdwallet they usually do a monthly on which cards have the best deals.
matuski
Footballguy
matuski
Footballguy
Pick the airline you want to fly to Europe and get that card.. this isn't rocket science.
PinkydaPimp
Footballguy
matuski
Footballguy
They are. Not why it lost its position at the top, however.
That card used to be head and shoulders above the rest. It has lost that position over the last several years through the competition getting better, and through depreciation/loss of features on its own accord.
Chadstroma
Footballguy
It really depends. Things like what airline you prefer (or don't prefer any), how much you travel, how many perks you want, how much you are willing to pay on annual fee, etc. There is no 'one right answer' when talking miles.
Bucky86
Footballguy
Yeah, but it still remains to be seen whats going to happen with their points valuation.
Bob Loblaw
Footballguy
My wife and I each just got Alaska Airlines Signature Visa cards from BofA. There is a $75 annual fee. But, upon approval, each of us get 25,000 bonus miles and a companion pass. It works for us because we (me, wife and 3 kids) are going to Hawaii this summer, and with the bonus miles and companion passes, instead of $3,375 we'll be paying about $1,675. The companion passes aren't free, but rather $99 + taxes with purchase of matching ticket. So, I buy round trip ticket for me, one kid gets companion pass. Wife buys one round trip ticket for her, 2nd kid gets companion pass, and we each use points for 3rd kid (40,000 bonus miles for round trip to Hawaii).
Companion passes are given out on every anniversary date.
Companion passes are given out on every anniversary date.
