Airline rewards card advice

[Anonymous]

That's pretty cool you could pull it off. And yeah, it requires some planning. I was trying to pull a trick out of a hat if I could, ha. What's worse for planning is that her employer for the internship hasn't even given full details of things yet. Where to stay, dates, etc. They're still working it out. So good luck I guess...

[bigbang91]

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@NRB525 wrote:

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@bigbang91 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
We live in NW Ohio, so the closest hub is Detroit. Optionally Columbus or Cleveland.

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Detroit is Delta hub, so Amex delta or amex platinum, which can be transferred to manh airlines that fly to europe. Citi AA also another good deal

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If planning on travel to europe, partner airlines are just as important. Delta partners with KLM, I haven't flown United to europe, there are likely partners for that.

D-Day: if you are seeing a MileagePlus Explorer card offer on a website with a 50k miles bonus, you have a special deal. When I go to a website, I see 30k miles, I just got a mailer for a special invite for 50k miles that I will take in late February. This was triggered because I recently re-upped some old miles in my MileagePlus account.

Both Delta AMEX Gold and United Chase MileagePlus are good programs, quite similar in how they operate. Since both cards have the first year AF waived, I wouldn't be too particular about which one gives your friend a first credit card. I do know the AMEX is easy cheezy to get an AU added to the account, I haven't looked into the capability with Chase, I was not able to find any links for my cards to add any AU, but was surprised looking at BofA that the AU has basically full access to the CL and account. So I'm not getting any BofA AU set up. Capital One or AMEX sure.

The other to consider is PenFed. They may be hard to get a card from, but they do have a travel type AMEX, and I have activated a secured VISA CC just to get one. All their cards, even the secured VISA, have EMV and a PIN option, so it may be slightly better overseas in certain situations with an explicit PIN. I haven't tested it, but it is geared for overseas military, so should work reasonably well.

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Apparently you havent see the massive mileage devaluation by both United and Delta, and the change to award miles base on ticket prices. So Amex platinum would still be better, can be transfer to all major European airline including Us Delta, and British Airway as well. 

[dilettante]

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@bigbang91 wrote:

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@NRB525 wrote:

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@bigbang91 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
We live in NW Ohio, so the closest hub is Detroit. Optionally Columbus or Cleveland.

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Detroit is Delta hub, so Amex delta or amex platinum, which can be transferred to manh airlines that fly to europe. Citi AA also another good deal

---

If planning on travel to europe, partner airlines are just as important. Delta partners with KLM, I haven't flown United to europe, there are likely partners for that.

D-Day: if you are seeing a MileagePlus Explorer card offer on a website with a 50k miles bonus, you have a special deal. When I go to a website, I see 30k miles, I just got a mailer for a special invite for 50k miles that I will take in late February. This was triggered because I recently re-upped some old miles in my MileagePlus account.

Both Delta AMEX Gold and United Chase MileagePlus are good programs, quite similar in how they operate. Since both cards have the first year AF waived, I wouldn't be too particular about which one gives your friend a first credit card. I do know the AMEX is easy cheezy to get an AU added to the account, I haven't looked into the capability with Chase, I was not able to find any links for my cards to add any AU, but was surprised looking at BofA that the AU has basically full access to the CL and account. So I'm not getting any BofA AU set up. Capital One or AMEX sure.

The other to consider is PenFed. They may be hard to get a card from, but they do have a travel type AMEX, and I have activated a secured VISA CC just to get one. All their cards, even the secured VISA, have EMV and a PIN option, so it may be slightly better overseas in certain situations with an explicit PIN. I haven't tested it, but it is geared for overseas military, so should work reasonably well.

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Apparently you havent see the massive mileage devaluation by both United and Delta, and the change to award miles base on ticket prices. So Amex platinum would still be better, can be transfer to all major European airline including Us Delta, and British Airway as well. 

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Oh, yes, one thing you can always look forward to every year is the deval.  

Though I have the Amex Plat, the problem I have with it is that it takes forever to post points from spend and if I need to transfer quickly to an airline account, I have to call to expedite the points after the payment posts.  Also, the lack of bonus categories for spend and high AF (especially for AU's) can be a problem for some.  I keep it in my arsenal of cc's for the benefits that I find extremely useful for me (FHR, IAP, lounge access, and charge capability) but I consider it more of a benefits card rather than one for point accumulation.

[heyarrnold]

All three Citi AA cards are currently at 50k sing up bonus. She should also check to see if she is pre qualified for the Amex PRG 50k sign up bonus or Amex Plat 100k offer. And as others mentioned, the United in branch is at 50k. Remember that the CSP can transfer UR points to United at 1:1, and so can the Ink Plus. Each is at 40k and 50k sign up bonus, respectively. 

[mongstradamus]

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@heyarrnold wrote:

All three Citi AA cards are currently at 50k sing up bonus. She should also check to see if she is pre qualified for the Amex PRG 50k sign up bonus or Amex Plat 100k offer. And as others mentioned, the United in branch is at 50k. Remember that the CSP can transfer UR points to United at 1:1, and so can the Ink Plus. Each is at 40k and 50k sign up bonus, respectively. 

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you can throw barclays into mix as well since you can use them to book award travel on both us air and AA. They will be completely converted to AA miles sometime in the spring. Another thing to keep in mind. You probably could do an ex pull like citi or amex and then do barclays which is TU pull that would reduce the HPs. 

[B335is]

A lot of people pointing out the Delta hub in DTW on here, but what they aren't pointing out is you still need to connect in JFK to get to Copenhagen (dilettante mentions it though). Delta redemption value to Europe isn't all that bad, but in terms of partners you're kind of limited to just Delta cards unless you pick up a US Bank Korean Air card. Even though Delta owns 49% of Virgin Atlantic, I haven't been able to transfer miles yet between the two.

United is a nice option because if you pick up Lufthansa Miles and More card the points transfer easily and United doesn't charge close to the fuel surcharges that LH does.

I would personally do American + US Airways + British Airways + Alaska Air. 4 different CCC, good sign up bonuses and BA points easily transfer to AA. US Air Dividend Miles will be merged into American AAdvantage next quarter so now would be a good time to get that card. Alaska miles have good value, can be redeemed on many carriers (including American, BA and Delta) and it's hands down the easiest card to churn.

Just because Delta has a hub in your nearest airport doesn't mean Delta has to be your carrier of choice. Heck, Spirit considers DTW a hub as well - using that logic you would get a Spirit card.

[Kellan]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Now that I've had time to compare cards, rates, flights and etc. on my computer (posted earlier on phone), I think this is a failing idea. In seeing what various points are worth, no sign up bonus is going to even negate most of the cost of the flight. Add in the necessary spending, delay in actually getting the points, etc., it's a pretty hairbrained scheme. Seems smarter to just do deal hunting for cheaper airfare than try and drag credit into this. I really don't even want an airline card. Although in reading I kind of do want a CSP now...nope, not gonna do it.

So thanks for the suggestions, but I think I've cancelled out the notion with a little further thought. Ah well.

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First if it has to be a card then i would take the US airways card, for 90 bucks you get 50k miles. And you can get one way to europe for that. They are a one world airline so you get AA, British airways, and many others. The reason for this card is they dont waive the anual fee but you get the miles after your first purchase and paying the annual fee. 

But if you are hunting for Cheep Tickets have you looked at WOW airlines. They are an iceland airline but they have good deals to London. but out of BOS or BLT. YOu might find you can get a better deal with a cheep flight to BOS, Then to London, And then to Denmark. either way there are cheep ways to get to Europe.