Credit Cards For Air Miles

[LAI]

Just FYI, as far as I've researched, only wachovia and capital one credit cards are not charging a foreign fee transaction (usually 3%) for those of you traveling overseas.

[Charlie640]

I have an AMEX Delta Skymiles card which I use for my biz and have racked up big time miles on it. I have not paid for a airplane ticket in a long time. I only get pissed off when I try to book a ticket on a partner airline like Avianca or Continental and they DO NOT allow me to use Double miles to get on the flight I want. If I book a Delta flight I can get any flight I want if I redeem double miles. I am upset about that cuz I now have a coach seat instead of a 1st class seat coming back on my Overnight Flight from Lima.... and Continental HAS 1st class seat available ! I have a hard enought time sleeping as is and a coach seat just makes it a whole lot worse.

Maybe I'd be better off with another Miles program. I know Continental has one.

ALSO....
check out www.points.com
You can cut deals to swap miles between different airlines.
I guess I should be using them!!!

[HonkyTonk]

Thanks to everyone who responded! I got some great info and will soon make some CC changes because of your input.

Thumbs up Gringos!

[Tinto]

Here's even a better deal on FFM from AMEX, compliments of another board member who passed on the information to me. This card will get you 35k miles over 2 years with just 2 purchases (1 per year).

AMEX Business Card 25,000 Rewards Pts

https://www201.americanexpress.com/s...YTJQ&openria=0

Promo bonus ID: 2329
Found on Ibankdesign.com

5,000 bonus pts for getting the card
20,000 bonus pts at first purchase made by 12/31/07
$125 fee waived for first yr
5,000 bonus pts for $20K spend in a yr
20,000 bonus pts for $50K spend in a yr
10,000 bonus pts for renewal for first time.
3-25% automatic savings on business related purchases (see terms for what)
Membership Rewards annual fee of $40 is waived

The bonus 25,000 Membership Rewards points may be redeemed for one domestic round-trip airline ticket. Card members transferring points to participating domestic airlines will be charged a fee of $.0004 per point, up to $50. This charge is to offset the excise taxes American Express currently pays to the government on such transactions.

[Tinto]

Here is another credit card offering 25,000 miles. There are strings attached of course.

Citi Platinum Select World MasterCard / AAdvantage

Earn 25,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after $750 in purchases within the first 4 months2
Earn 1 AAdvantage® mile for every $1 spent on purchases2

• Pay No Annual Fee for 12 months & $85 thereafter1
• No blackout dates on award travel2
• Visit select cities with Reduced Mileage Awards & save 7,500 AAdvantage®miles

Source: https://www.citicards.com/cards/wv/f...ARDS&x=28&y=13

I use the Citibank milage card. It is only good for AA. My February trip from Los Angeles to Lima cost about 150 dollars in fees. I used the miles. I think it takes 30,000 miles no matter where you go. A year before I used the miles to go to BQ Carnaval. I bought the ticket (using miles) early enough so, I think it was only 75 dollars in fees. Well, actually the ticket was only to Bogota. From Bogota I got a round trip avianca ticket from Bogota to BQ (and back). If I remember the avianca ticket was about 150 - 200 U.S. dollars. Still cheaper than going with Copa and all cash (no miles).

Which brings me to some questions. Doesn't Copa have an agreement with Continental? Do you get Continental miles if you fly Copa?

[LastLion]

I use my miles recently and someone mentioned this before, but Delta has an affiliation with avianca. I just bought a ticket to bucaramanga from Los angelos thru my CC miles at delta and they booked me a straight shot from LA to bogota, bogota to bucaramanga for 30,000 miles!

With miles you do not want strings attatched, it can be a pain in the ass!!! Make sure you read the fine print,

BUT 25,000 miles is a national flight, and you only need 5,000 more for an international, might be worth looking into!

PS, I read somewhere that the miles may increase soon to 40K for international, I am acutally surprised it hasn't with fuel charges and increasing airfares!

[HonkyTonk]

The different CC rules and BS can make your head swim. I used CC miles where it's more or less 1 point per dollar. I used just over 60k points to fly to Bogota recently, the ticket price right about $600.

Just today I signed up for Delta Sky Miles program where I don't have to use that $%a&8S0# American Express anydamnthing :mad: I should have done it years ago. You're credited for the amount of miles you fly with Delta and can come up with a freebie not related to CC use. Since I fly Delta almost exclusively, it works for me; in addition to my no charge CC points.

[Jay_D]

You may want to take a look at B. of A. Signature Visa Worldpoints... $1=1 point, 60,000 trade to cash=$580 about the price of a tic to MDE.

Almost always fly Taca or Avianca so this works out pretty good... 25k C.L. not hard to get and no annual fee...bonus points available although there is a FTF now.