I think most people who will read that article, will get pumped up after reading it, but then realiz

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Credit cards also bundle in travel benefits for frequent flyer benefits , it s a relatively new phenomenon that holding a co-branded credit card comes close to approximating first-tier elite status. I wrote at length on how to use credit cards to get the benefits of elite status early last month .
If you don t pay your bill in full each month, this game is not for you. Many of these cards have high interest rates, you re better off looking for low balance transfer offers to save on interest. holiday inn express hotel suites san antonio riverwalk The Slate card from Chase offers 0% interest for 15 months and no balance transfer fees . That s going to be far more important than earning miles and points with your credit card. (I wrote about the Slate card back in October .)
Talk about generous, says Liz Weston, author of Your Credit Score. Although holiday inn express hotel suites san antonio riverwalk it s not an airline card per se—the card lets you accrue points that can be worth 3 to 4 cents (sometimes more) when you cash them in for Starwood hotel rooms, like the Westin Resort in Maui and the Excelsior luxury hotel in Florence, Italy—the card can be used for frequent flier programs for 30 different airlines.
This is a great card. I ve held it in my wallet since about 2001. For spending that isn t bonused by another card, at merchants in the United States which accept American Express, it s hard to do better than the Starwood card.
But it s also one of the very best cards for earning airline miles. The key here is the broad number of transfer partners, and that for every 20,000 miles transferred into an airline account you get 5,000 bonus miles with most partners that effectively means you earn 1.25 miles per dollar on all spend, not just 1 mile per dollar, and at a lower annual fee than most airline co-branded cards as well.
Weston says she s a big fan of this card, which allows you to buy any airline holiday inn express hotel suites san antonio riverwalk ticket. The card reimburses you from the points you earn. I think it s a great fit for those who aren t elite frequent flyers, since you don t have to deal with blackout dates or limited supply, holiday inn express hotel suites san antonio riverwalk she says. The card will allow you to earn two miles to the dollar on all spending.
I once had a retired couple come to me with hopes of seeing the world in a premium class of service well into the future, they had accumulated 2 million Capital One points. It was really quite unfortunate breaking the news to them that at most they had $20,000 to spend n travel if we managed to get $3000 business class airfare, then they could take 3 trips together. If they had real airline miles they could have taken ten.
Ultimately, you can t do better than a penny a point on airfare. Earning 2 points per dollar means you effectively have a 2% cash rebate card which is good as far as cash rebate cards are concerned but where the rebate is restricted in its use. You d be far better holiday inn express hotel suites san antonio riverwalk off getting a good cash back card like the Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express .
There s a $95 annual fee (waived the first year), but you get 40,000 bonus points if you spend $3,000 in the first three months. holiday inn express hotel suites san antonio riverwalk That s a very nice bonus, says Hardekopf. You get two points holiday inn express hotel suites san antonio riverwalk for every dollar spent on travel and dining, and one point for every dollar spent on all other purchases.
The signup bonus is outstanding, 40,000 points gets you nearly 2 nights at the top Hyatt hotels in the world and is two-thirds of a one-way business class ticket to Asia. But the signup bonus is not the best feature holiday inn express hotel suites san antonio riverwalk of the card by a mile, some cards are outstanding for their signup bonuses only but this is a card you actually want to put your spending on.
Next up in the piece, though, is the Southwest Airlines Visa , good for folks who want to fly Southwest (and the card gets you enough points as a signup bonus for a free ticket) but that doesn t include me, to each their own, but there s no comparison as to how good or bad the earning rates are on the card relative to others.
The PenFed Premium Travel Rewards from American Express is good for spend on airfare, and little else (other than international spend due to no foreign currency transaction holiday inn express hotel suites san antonio riverwalk fees), but isn t even the best card for airfare, I like the American Express Premier Rewards Gold card which I use for my airfare spend 3 Membership Rewards points per dollar but some would prefer the Travelocity American Express that can generate up to 10% back on Travelocity purchases holiday inn express hotel suites san antonio riverwalk .
Finally, the piece recommends the United Explorer card and the Citibank American AAdvantage card for their travel benefits (in that regard, you could just as easily holiday inn express hotel suites san antonio riverwalk add in the Delta American Express or US Airways Mastercard ).
But the piece doesn t outline the differences in reasons for offering these recommendations that there are cards for the signup bonuses (and you really don t want to put spending on them otherwise), cards that are rewarding for actual spending, and cards that are outstanding for their benefits even if you never put a single charge on the card.
Given that the article is offering different cards that fit into these different categories without, apparently, realizing it it s strange to then end the piece focusing only on the spending holiday inn express hotel suites san antonio riverwalk decision criteria:
The best advice, buried in this article (you have to engage holiday inn express hotel suites san antonio riverwalk in some sort of hermeneutical exegesis exercise to find it), is to just get a one-two punch of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and the Starwood American Express and call it good.
Some links in this post will earn me a referral credit. You don't have to use my links in signing up for these credit cards, of course, but the links I provide are to the best-available offers I m aware of, and I certainly appreciate it as well.
I think most people who will read that article, will get pumped up after reading it, but then realizing its a lot harder for them to get these cards and benefits, because most of the travel cards require good to excellent credit. Something A LOT of Americans DO NOT have. The small minority of credit card holders, with the right attitudes and qualifications will benefit. The article is a good primer no doubt, but defly a lot more to this game than meets the eye Thanks for the posting!!
Though imperfect, articles in general interest publications do help spread the word about the tremendous benefits of these cards. Many people with good incomes and excellent FICO scores shy away from getting more cards in the mistaken belief that their credit rating will take a big hit.
I m confused holiday inn express hotel suites san antonio riverwalk with the valuation of airline miles. Assuming 1) You don t fly internationally, and 2) You don t care about premium redemptions, is there any reason for me to say, use my Amex Gold over my Penfed Travel card for airline purchases?
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