Fob_Magi

Since I have got a new nice paying job, I am looking for a credit card with reward miles. The problem is the airline I fly the most (Southwest) is not the one I would want the miles on... I'd want the miles for trips to europe or something for vacation... and southwest doesnt service these locations... any suggestions on how I should go about this?

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maleficent

My personal opinion.. reward miles for airlines are a bit of a scam.. shop wisely, and it's not that expensive to fly -- anywhere... the amount of money you'd have to spend to get a free ticket isn't worth it...

Go for the lowest possible interest rate you can find for a credit card...

or go go for Amex which you can apply those miles to virtually anything...

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The_Jazz

I've got a couple of these credit cards, but I also fly a lot, and I can say wholeheartedly that flying is the better way to accumulate miles. I've got a Delta Amex, but I rarely fly Delta anymore because of some changes in my job. I've got enough miles there through basic credit card use to go anywhere in Europe first class. I'm now hoping to have enough to get 2 tickets so that I can take my wife somewhere nice for an anniversary or something. Maybe the 2012 Olympics in London....

By the way, the Delta Amex is not eligible for the regular Amex points, which is also a killer program. My corporate card is tied into that, and I'll tell you that it's the best program of it's kind that I've ever seen. If you're specifically looking to use your points/miles to fly, it's not that great, but the other items are fantastic. I'd check out their site.

Given that Southwest doesn't go where you want to vacation, I'd find the best rate on whatever card the other carriers have and go from there unless there's some place specific that you want to go - hint: United doesn't fly to Moscow. Then you need to use the card as your primary method of payment. Also, tie your card into whatever other bonus programs you can. For instance, rental car companies will give you miles as will hotel chains. You can also get miles for restaurant usage at insane rates (example - 10 miles for every dollar for one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago). The main thing is that you've got to use the card quite a bit to make any sort of headway.

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CityOfAngels

My new card is an Alaskan Airlines w/ BofA. It didn't take long to accumulate over 5,000 miles, but then again, I have no idea how far 5,000 miles is. I've never used the miles, so I guess I'm in the same boat as you; wondering which card is best as far as mileage goes. More specifically for myself, I'm wondering if mine is any good.

As far as it not being expensive to fly "anywhere," my brother and his wife just recently bought their tickets to Sweden; one way, and it cost them about $4,000; not including hotel, etc. etc. That's a pretty nutty price tag for two tickets.

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maleficent

most airlines - a free ticket - -domestic - coach - will cost about 25,000 miles... (that's 25,000 dollars) Oversears -- triple that...

5000 probably wont get you across the street....

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captobvious

Also keep in mind that there are a lot of blackout days that airlines don't let you use your miles on. To be able to fly on some dates, you have to use 25,000 miles each way, so it's 50,000 miles just for a roundtrip domestic flight. So unless you schedule is really flexible, it is likely to take a lot of miles for a "free" roundtrip ticket somewhere, especially Europe.

CityOfAngels

Ah, so they just call them 'miles' to make you think you can fly for free, based on distance, when in actuality it's a common points system, with "price tags" in points? That's pretty lame.

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The words "love" and "life" go together. It is almost as if they are one. You must love to live, and you must live to love, or you have never lived nor loved at all.