The Chase Sapphire Preferred points can be transferred without fees (but it's only AF free in the first year).
OP what are your travel goals? Focusing on the AF first is not going to get you very far. Are you looking for domestic or international travel redemptions? Coach or luxury? These are better starting points IMO than weeding out cards based on AF.
FWIW, frontier has a no AF card with 20k bonus which is likely to get you nowhere fast.
Focus on the redemption and in many cases the AF is a bargain. Case in point, Citi AA 100k offer, 450 AF. you get a $200 statement credit. That's 4 round trip domestic or 2 round trip business class to Europe for $250! Would you pay 250 for a business class ticket? That's 250 plus spend you have a solid deal.
if your travel goals are clearer you will get more specific advice.
Starting Score: 501
@Open123 wrote:
@longtimelurker wrote:
@Open123 wrote:Neither the Chase Sapphire or Blue Sky earns miles transferrable to an actual FF or Hotel rewards program, which is what I think the OP meant by "airline" miles.
Well, if you don't insist on "transfer" but instead earn miles directly in a program, I guess there are some, such as Citi AA Bronze, and doesn't Amex have some free Deltas?
I think so, but they're no longer available to new applicants. The Amex Delta was grandfathered of course, but I've read of some claiming to call AmEx to apply for it successfully, though I have no idea if it's possible.
+1 to above. All available new delta cards have fees. The bronze aa card offers 1mile /$2 and no perks. Horrible.
@mohammadmoghimi wrote:
@shols44 wrote:
if your travel goals are clearer you will get more specific advice.
Here is the story. So far, I have been trying to optimize cash back with my credit card spendings and bonuses. The only mile account that I was primarily working with was southwest rapid rewards which is essentially a cash back travel rewards program not a true mileage program. I have about 80k points in my rapid rewards account now after redeeming 20k or a roundtrip ticket. I earned it with my southwest flights, csp and freedom cards as well as other bonuses, online spendings, etc.
It's been brought to my attention that 100k miles on an airline can do much more. For example, with american airlines you can fly to Europe for only 40k so me and my wife could use ~80k miles to travel to europe which otherwise costs us well above 2000$.
Looks like 1 mile worths something like 1-2 cents for domestic flights but may worth 2-3 cents or more for interantional flights. I'm just talking about coach here. These sound better than the default 1% cash back for the spendings that I cannot get back more than 1%.
I got a targeted offer of 50K miles for amex gold after which I started thinking about all these things.
Excellent. If I were you, I would get three cards.
1. Citi's current AA Advantage offer of 100k miles, $450 AF and 10K spend. There is a $250 statement credit. For $80 cost, you can spend 10K in one month between you and your wife. (You should get her one as well).
2. Get the SPG Amex. 25k bonus points. (5k transfer bonus to AA) AF $65, waived first year. (One for you and the DW)
3. US Airways Mastercard 35K Bonus, AF waived first year. This offer is out there. I can PM you the link if you want. Its better than the public offer. which doesn't waive the AF the first year. (You and wife). The reason for this is that at some point, Dividend miles and AAdvantage will merge and you will have extra miles napping in your account, and use them on one world carriers like Cathay to Asia etc.
If you do all three, you should have 200K AA miles, 50K SPG (60K) with transfer bonus, and 70K US Airways.
If you apply for only yourself, 100K, 25K, 35K.
Transfer the SPG points to your AA account, you will get a 5K bonus. You will have 130K AA miles. Which is more than you need for two round trip saver (peak) awards on AA to europe. If you fly to europe non-peak, you will only need 80K miles.
If both you and DW get them, you can fly business class to europe for 100K round trip (peak). So two business class tickets for roughly $600 out of pocket. Needless to say, you should cancel or downgrade or ask for a retention offer when Citi's 450 AF is due.
If you would rather not go the 100K miles route, there is a non public link for Citi offering 50K miles. I can PM you that as well.
Prior to United's recent devaluation, I would have included the CSP in the mix but now I'm not as high on accruing united miles.
I think going with AA, US and SPG is an excellent way to start IMO.