Best CC for Airline Rewards

[winnied]

Does anyone use a cc to rack up airline rewards/miles? Any recommendations? 

[emilyinchile]

What's going to work for you depends on your travel style. I have the American Airlines Citibank card, which I like because I fly AA a lot. But it has foreign transaction fees, so I don't use it in Chile. I (kind of randomly) have the BA Chase card, which has no foreign transaction fees, so I have Avios over on BA too that I will probably eventually use on Iberia to avoid BA's crazy fees on mileage tickets.

A lot of people like the Chase Sapphire cards, as those seem to have good benefits and aren't tied to a particular airline. If you fly whatever, then that may be a good option. If you're more tied to one airline then the airline's card may be your best bet.

[frlcb]

We love the Chase Sapphire Preferred, and we can use it on most airlines, hotels, rental cars, etc.

[gt7301b]

Check out creditcardtuneup.com/, you can enter your typical charges and the site will recommend a card based on your spending patterns.

[ashap]

If you really want to get into the game you need to diversify and rack up some miles across programs. I have Chase Sapphire Preferred for flexible points, 3 or 4 AA cards with nice sign up bonuses and United. AA and United are nice because you can book one way tickets and stop overs so you don't need to rack up as many miles to get you places.

[Susie]

+1 for Chase Sapphire Preferred.

If I lived near an airline's hub, I'd probably do an airline card, but I don't have much airline or airport loyalty. I prefer something that's more flexible with that.

[winnied]

Nov 13, 2013 10:06:41 GMT -5 gt7301b said:

Check out creditcardtuneup.com/, you can enter your typical charges and the site will recommend a card based on your spending patterns.

 This was super helpful - thanks! I ended up going with Barclay.

[cransplash]

Nov 30, 2013 21:44:13 GMT -5 winnied said:

Nov 13, 2013 10:06:41 GMT -5 gt7301b said:

Check out creditcardtuneup.com/, you can enter your typical charges and the site will recommend a card based on your spending patterns.

 This was super helpful - thanks! I ended up going with Barclay.

gt7301b- Super helpful link- thank you

winnied- Do you know- when you're trying to redeem your points- if you can redeem them at places like kayak.com? Or, does it need to be at an actual airline's website?

[winnied]

Dec 8, 2013 13:38:56 GMT -5 cransplash said:

Nov 30, 2013 21:44:13 GMT -5 winnied said:

 This was super helpful - thanks! I ended up going with Barclay.

winnied- Do you know- when you're trying to redeem your points- if you can redeem them at places like kayak.com? Or, does it need to be at an actual airline's website?

The miles are used to reimburse your Barclaycard credit account for "travel purchases." After you make the "travel purchase" you can choose to use your miles to payoff that purchase on your Barclaycard account. According to the Barclaycard FAQ:

A travel purchase and redemption is defined as: Airlines, Travel Agencies & Tour Operators, Hotels, Motels & Resorts, Cruise Lines, Passenger Railways and Car Rental Agencies as defined by the merchant category code. A Dining purchase is defined as: Restaurants and Fast Food Restaurants as defined by the merchant category code. Purchases made at merchants that do not process transactions under these terms or that use incorrect merchant category codes will not qualify. Barclaycard is not responsible for incorrectly coded purchases.

The "merchant category code" is a 4-digit code the companies use to report the charges to Mastercard, Visa, etc. From googleing, the general consensus is that online travel agencies - e.g. kayak.com, expedia, priceline, etc - are considered "Travel Agencies & Tour Operators". So, the short answer is yes, you can use the miles to pay for kayak.com purchases.