travel rewards card

[aamex]

Hello everyone, This is my first thread. I'd like some suggestions on travel rewards cards. I'm 20 years old and in college but I have landed a really nice job after graduation (this fall) that is far from home. So I'd like to know a few of your favorites so I can research and make the best choice. I would prefer American Express because of the backdating. So far I'm gardening because I'm app paranoid and want my accounts to age. I have an auto installment that's 27 months and two c.c. AAoA is a little over a year. I wont be making this decision for another six months because I want it to be perfect. Thanks for being a great resource

[Smerri1029]

Me personally I love my AmEx Premier Rewards Gold Card. I rack up points quickly with 2x on Gas/Groceries and 3x on airfare. If you will be doing a lot of flying you will earn points quickly. The annual fee is waived the first year ($175 after that) and you can transfer points to different frequent flyer programs. Depending on your home airport (Boston for me so I transfer Membership Rewards points to my JetBlue True Blue program). This is a charge card and must be PIF each month.

Another option is the Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express which you earn star points on spending. These can be transferred to hotels as well as airlines (be advised a transfer may take up to 48 hours where with Membership Rewards it is instant). I do not have this card but I have read plenty of good reviews on travel web sites about it. This card comes with a $65 annual fee I believe.

Those would be my two recommendations for travel cards. Also, before you do apply, check around the internet and make sure you are going to get the best bonus offer for signing up as far as bonus points and everything go.

[aamex]

Smerri, Thanks alot for your input. I have a preapproval for premier gold, but at the time I didn't think the annual fee would be worth it. What are your thoughts on Blue Sky and Hilton?

[Walt_K]

What kind of travel do you want to redeem for?  If it's mostly domestic travel in coach, then Blue Sky is a fine card.  Blue Sky is basically like a cash back card that has a better earning rate.  If you're more interested in redeeming for intercontinental business/first tickets, then you want a card that earns miles, or points that can be transferred into miles.  It would take you a lot of spend to earn enough rewards on Blue Sky to redeem for business/first tickets.

In my opinion, the Hilton card is good for hotel stays and its nice that it has a no fee version, but the transfer of Hilton points to airline miles is horrible.  SPG is definitely better if you want to be able to transfer points to airline miles.  Although, a nice benefit of the Hilton card is that $20,000 spend gets you Gold status which includes free breakfast.  With Starwood, you have to spend $30K to get Gold and that doesn't include free breakfast.

I have both the PR Gold card and the Starwood card (just recently received Starwood).  I'm able to put a lot of reimburseable spend through the cards to justify the annual fees.  If you don't think you can justify the annual fee of the PR Gold card, maybe get a Zync and some packs and accumulate MR Express points.  When you have a store of points that you would want to redeem for travel, add a Green or Gold card and your points will convert to regular MR points.  Of course, you would then need to plan things a little more in advance.  You probably wouldn't be able to redeem for last minute travel. 

[aamex]

It will be domestic flights NY to FL and NY to WY, I like Delta for business class. But, ill fly coach on these flights since ill be paying for it. So blue cash looks to be optimal? Any non amex cards that you favor?

[Walt_K]

If you like the Amex Blue Sky, take a look at Penfed's Premium Travel Rewards Amex.  No AF.  5x points for airfare.

Other than that, if you fly the same airline all the time, or most of the time between NY and FL/WY, check out that airline's card.