Credit Card Air Miles

NCDieselWrench

NCDieselWrench

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 6, 2007
Location
Concord,NC
The wife and I have been discussing getting a credit card that earns air miles, to help ease our traveling expenses. Does any one have experience with these, or have a recommendation as to which card is better than others? Any info is appreciated, thanks!
 
I have thought about the same thing. Use the CC to pay the regular monthly bills, then pay the CC off each month. Same $ going out, but possibly earning miles. I am like you, I would like to hear from others that have used these CCs.
 
My parents have had a US Airways card for years. Everytime they go to book a trip and use their miles, I get to hear mom complain about what seats they can't get, how the tickets are overpriced, and how its going to take extra "miles" to do it. I believe its one of those things that there are rare occasions where the system works in your favor, but most of the time you get screwed.

It would make more sense to me to have a card with cashback, that way you can get whatever seats you want on whichever discount flight you can find. I understand dollars, but the miles don't make sense. A 4000 mile trip costs like 100,000 miles. Maybe thats why the airlines don't make money, haha.
 
jeepinmatt said:
It would make more sense to me to have a card with cashback, that way you can get whatever seats you want on whichever discount flight you can find.
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This. And, in some cases, you can get gift cards for restaurants, sunglasses, clothing stores, etc., for more value than the actual 'cash back.' Use that to have 'more' fun on the trip and not have to hassle with the rules of using the air miles.


Tacoma747 said:
Don't cc companies know if they can get one in your wallet they will make money on you. Why else do you think they offer miles? They know EVENTUALLY you will miss a payment, or start just making payments on it.

Best advice I can give (never had a cc), DON’T get one...
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The CC companies do make money off you using their card... the stores and restaurants pay a percentage of the charges to them.

Having one is a big part of building good credit... important for getting loans to buy houses and cars and other things, unless you have the cash to do so outright (also not a bad way to go). The trick is to be an adult about it and never charge more than you can pay off in a month. If you can manage that, it is not a bad way to handle a lot of incidental and regular expenses.
 
Tacoma747 said:
Don't, cc companies know if they can get one in your wallet they will make money on you. Why else do you think they offer miles? They know EVENTUALLY you will miss a payment, or start just making payments on it.

Best advice I can give (never had a cc), DON’T get one...
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This advice applies only if the question is "should I get a CC".
Completely irrelevant if you're a responsible CC user already and just want a pay-back system.

From what I've gathered, the cash/gift cert/etc systems are better in the long run. It's goin gto take you forever to gain enough miles to actually be useful, and then (as mentioned above) you'll be dismayed at how limited it is.
 
We have a hilton honors card.....havent paid for a hotel in years, and pay it off every month. I think at last check I have 125 free nights. I have paid $0 in interest, and have had three itmes repaired under VISA warranty that were outside of manufacturers or pointof purchase return period.
 
i've had a air miles card for about 5 or 6 years- about the only big boost in return on investment I've ever had with it was when I was flying back and forth to chicago about once a month or more. It netted me 3 "free" one way tickets. That being said, if you do a lot of traveling, a AAA card can save you a decent amount at hotels and what not and most of them will stack your AAA with a military/etc discount.
 
You can do the same thing without a credit card, plus, it's cash back, not gift cards, etc. May not be as 'good' as a CC rewards program (may be better), but it's alot harder to get in trouble with one. And as I am typing this, I see the Perkstreet ad on NC4x4, go figure... (link to their site below)

I understand you people say as long as you are 'responsible' you won't get in trouble with a CC, I guess I see it that I am responsible enough to not WANT a credit card. I HATE making payments on anything, even if I used the CC to make other payments, and then just pay the CC bill, it's just another payment that has to be made. I just don't see the point of adding risk to your life with a CC, sure, you might not ever use it as money you don't have, but then again you might...

As for having a CC to build credit, I never had one, bought a truck with a loan (won't do that again either, even though I paid it off in 1.5yrs), and bought a house... You can buy a house with a ZERO credit score.

http://www.perkstreet.com/home.aspx...et-Variants&gclid=CPCss4yOi6sCFQ5y5QodZlyUKg#
 
Tacoma747 said:
You can do the same thing without a credit card, plus, it's cash back, not gift cards, etc. May not be as 'good' as a CC rewards program (may be better), but it's alot harder to get in trouble with one. And as I am typing this, I see the Perkstreet ad on NC4x4, go figure... (link to their site below)
I understand you people say as long as you are 'responsible' you won't get in trouble with a CC, I guess I see it that I am responsible enough to not WANT a credit card. I HATE making payments on anything, even if I used the CC to make other payments, and then just pay the CC bill, it's just another payment that has to be made. I just don't see the point of adding risk to your life with a CC, sure, you might not ever use it as money you don't have, but then again you might...
As for having a CC to build credit, I never had one, bought a truck with a loan (won't do that again either, even though I paid it off in 1.5yrs), and bought a house... You can buy a house with a ZERO credit score.
http://www.perkstreet.com/home.aspx...et-Variants&gclid=CPCss4yOi6sCFQ5y5QodZlyUKg#
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You are probably a big Dave Ramsey follower. I am a fan also, but I de-extreme his plan a bit.

Fact is credit isn't always evil.

For example I have an auto loan that yars ago I would have thought was a bad idea. I borrowed against my own money, at 1.5%. The way I lookk at it I pay 1.5% for a safety net. If my world blows up tomorrow, that loan can be converted to a fixed 4.5% secured by title, and I have my $15,000 to spend as I see necessary. If I paid cash, I would have saved $1,000 over the 4 years. That $250/year is cheap insurance against mayhem in my world.

That said, as a father and several years ahead of you on the journey we are definitely in slightly different worlds. Your viewpoint changes. At your age/stage I think you are doing the absolute perfect thing, at my stage I have modified it a bit.

Oh yeah, when my company expense account runs 6-7k/month it is nice to not pay it and wait on re-imbursement, credit cards help there also.

Or when smoking deals come along, it is nice to have the cash to grab and flip.
 
That is pretty interesting... and similar perks to my (more traditional?) bank's online and savings options... but it seems predicated on using your debit card *like* a credit card.

Does it work like any other debit card, in that if the number gets stolen then your actual money is gone? Based on what I've heard from friends, that's a way bigger PITA to fix than if your CC# gets stolen, which I have had happen once.

I respect your commitment to paying cash and not letting cc debt ever be an issue for you. I agree with Ron, the same 'formula' doesn't necessarily work for everyone or work for every stage of life... so definitely do what works for you. I've worked hard to not only save but to have "emergency" savings... but I learned what to do/not do partly through some minor mistakes early on and partly through just growing up and getting smarter about it... and a better-paying f/t job helped, too. ;)
 
trailhugger said:
... and a better-paying f/t job helped, too. ;)
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You know it's funny...the more my income has increased the better my wife has gotten at budgeting and not over spending....or at least the consequences are less severe.
 
Tacoma747 said:
As for having a CC to build credit, I never had one, bought a truck with a loan (won't do that again either, even though I paid it off in 1.5yrs), and bought a house... You can buy a house with a ZERO credit score.
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Yeah, but you pay more for the privilege. OTOH, if you take all the stuff you normally buy every month (gas, groceries, etc) and put it on the rewards CC, pay it off next month when the bill comes due, no problem. And like Ron said, there's no reason not to use credit occasionally to keep more cash on-hand. It's just a question of weighing the opportunity costs of various options.
 
On the other hand, I just got a delta card only to save the checked baggage fee. Even if I never use the flyer miles, that's still $50-60 a flight saved.
 
pretty much agree with what EVERYONE is saying, hard not to from an objective standpoint

there's pros and cons to both sides of the street, CC's vs No-CC's

it's really difficult to start out life without going in debt at some point, whether it's a house mortgage or car loan or just hard times - digging out of that debt is the tricky part. A good number of us always try to live beyond our means until we learn a hard lesson and sometimes even that lesson doesn't stick

Make 100k a year .. live like your making 150k..
Make 30k a year.. live like you're making 50k..

the better off you are financially, the easier it is to live within your means and still be materialistically satisfied -- or.. simply be able to afford your ELECTRIC BILL UGHHHHH

I think one of the biggest things that helped me dig out of debt was managing to not operate my CC's as a means of "Living"

When work allows or whatever your routine schedule restriction allows.. flip the main on the house and go camping and do your best to live off what you catch! That was one of the ways I dug out and never felt "neglected". I was at a point where my schedule allowed me to do it. I got my year permit and spent about 10 weeks that year on the beach fishing .. hell of a way to pay off your bills.. by simply not spending money - not using electricity..

Probably could have done it in 6 weeks if I hadn't been drinking so much beer.. but. hey.. it cut back on the amount of bread I was eating with my meals
 
To go back to the original question... I think the best air miles card, hands down, is Southwest. We charge most of our household expenses, pay it off every month, and still earn enough to get 2-3 free tickets per year. They have very very few blackout dates, and since its Southwest there's no such thing as seat assignments, checked bag fees, etc.
 
I have a US Air CC and have used it for about 9 years now. I have over 100k miles and have cashed in miles before. Everything went smoothly, booked it online, printed my boarding pass and had no problems... The inexperienced traveler may have more difficulty. You can even use more points to upgrade to 1st class...

Oh, I used to be a US Air/British Air VIP member and can get into their Penthouse at the airport. Free snacks, beverages and nice atmosphere to wait until you can board. My membership ran out, but if you are a smooth talker you can usually get in there and take advantage of the ammenities before you depart.

Its a good investment IMO.. Just make sure to pay ontime! ;-)
 
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