Good Credit Cards for Air Miles

[robbie3982]

Anyone have any recommendations for credit cards with good airline rewards? Any you recommend staying away from?

I currently have a Discover that gets me cashback rewards which I''m racking up serious points on, but now I''m thinking airline rewards would be better.

My cousin who lives in Israel just got engaged and will be getting married there sometime next May-September. I looked up the cost of a ticket and the cheapest was about $1300! Yikes! If FI and I are both going to go, this could really help us out a lot. They''d have to be pretty flexible though since we''ll be going for a wedding and will have very specific dates we''ll need to be there.

 

[KimberlyH]

Look into American Airlines cards, they have partnerships with several airlines that will allow you to use your points. If you join their AAdvantage program http://www.aa.com/apps/AAdvantage/AAdvantageHome.jhtml?anchorEvent=false you''ll be given the opportunity to get an AA Mastercard.

 

[robbie3982]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I can''t find any flights between Pittsburgh and Israel ever on AA

 

[Kaleigh]

We have a Visa US Air cc. Not sure if they fly to Israel though...

 

[KimberlyH]

Date: 4/4/2007 3:26:42 PM
Author: robbie3982
Thanks for the suggestion, but I can''t find any flights between Pittsburgh and Israel ever on AA

Robbie,

Look into their partnerships w/ other airlines. Perhaps give the CS desk at AAdvantage a call and see if they have any partner airlines that fly to Isreal and if they allow you to use your miles there.

 

[sumbride]

It takes a long time to earn enough miles for flights to Israel, and remember that almost all (if not all) of these cards have annual fees of approx. $50. In order for it to benefit you the most, you should use your rewards card for all daily purchases, but keep up with the limits so you don''t get high interest rates. I don''t know what your credit rating is, but since I know you''re just out of school I can''t imagine they''d give you a very high limit, and most of the time you only earn 1 mile per $ spent. You get double miles at some places, like gas stations and drug stores, but usually it''s just 1 mile per dollar.

I just looked up the award rates on AA for partner airlines and it would cost 180,000 miles for ONE ticket to Israel. That''s 360,000 miles for two... if you don''t plan to spend $360k in the next year, I would just look into a good travel agent. If you are both under 25, you should check out USTA (student travel) as well.

 

[dani13]

We have the Continental Airlines Chase Mastercard- they give you 1 mile for every dollar you spend...I have been charging alot of things that I usually use my debit card for- you would be surprised how much your everday expenses add up!!

 

[robbie3982]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I already use my credit card for everything (I pay the balance down to 0 every month). I hate carrying cash.

If you don''t have enough points for a whole ticket, can you just get a discount on a ticket? I alone charge at least $1000 a month (I pay any bill I can with the credit card too) and FI always uses his debit card, so if he started using a credit card we''d get more points.

Unfortunately we''ll both be 25 before my cousin''s wedding.

 

[curlygirl]

I have a Delta Skymiles American Express. I love it. I actually think one of Delta''s partners may be El Al. You should check into it...