topic Re: Miles in Credit Cards

Miles

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 13:10:14 GMT

What is an average number of miles earned per dollar spend on a prime travel rewards card?

Thanks!

Re: Miles

Repo-ed — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 13:23:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
What is an average number of miles earned per dollar spend on a prime travel rewards card?

Thanks!

Re: Miles

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 13:36:01 GMT

Oh okay. I just got the Cap1 executive office to give me 1.25 miles for every dollar spent and I wasn't sure if that was "good". LOL

Re: Miles

Repo-ed — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 13:42:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Oh okay. I just got the Cap1 executive office to give me 1.25 miles for every dollar spent and I wasn't sure if that was "good". LOL

Look up a great blog called the boardingarea and you'll quickly find out about credit card churning and how worthless these miles/points cards are after their sign-up bonus has been applied to your account.

Re: Miles

Cdnewmanpac — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 14:46:06 GMT

First, keep in mind that capital 1 "miles" are not the same as frequent flyer miles. Think of them as cash back points that you redeem after you purchase airline tickets using the card. Second, I'm not sure how you could read boarding area or flyer talk and come away with the impression that travel cards are only useful for the sign up bonuses. Unless you mean cap 1 specifically. Or do you mean for people who don't travel? For people who fly or stay at hotels frequently, miles or points often have greater value than straight cash back.

Re: Miles

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 14:47:51 GMT

@Cdnewmanpac wrote:
First, keep in mind that capital 1 "miles" are not the same as frequent flyer miles. Think of them as cash back points that you redeem after you purchase airline tickets using the card. Second, I'm not sure how you could read boarding area or flyer talk and come away with the impression that travel cards are only useful for the sign up bonuses. Unless you mean cap 1 specifically. Or do you mean for people who don't travel? For people who fly or stay at hotels frequently, miles or points often have greater value than straight cash back.

Gotcha. I just did some playing around on the rewards menu. I think I will benefit more from the "miles" from Cap1 though, rather than Cash Back (since I have two other cash back rewards cards). I don't think I made the wrong choice for my own personal needs.

Re: Miles

distantarray — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 14:55:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Cdnewmanpac wrote:
First, keep in mind that capital 1 "miles" are not the same as frequent flyer miles. Think of them as cash back points that you redeem after you purchase airline tickets using the card. Second, I'm not sure how you could read boarding area or flyer talk and come away with the impression that travel cards are only useful for the sign up bonuses. Unless you mean cap 1 specifically. Or do you mean for people who don't travel? For people who fly or stay at hotels frequently, miles or points often have greater value than straight cash back.
Gotcha. I just did some playing around on the rewards menu. I think I will benefit more from the "miles" from Cap1 though, rather than Cash Back (since I have two other cash back rewards cards). I don't think I made the wrong choice for my own personal needs.

1.25 is ok but 1.5 cash back works out better, although in all fairness i prefer points or miles cause cash back feels like I'm just getting money and deposit to my account and I don't feel like I earned it i just feel like i got some money back, with points i feel like it's free money, i dunno just weird mindset. but regardless 1.5% cash back would be much better than 1.25 points or miles. I would take the cash back and just pay for my own ticket, but at that limit even if you max it out and pay in full once every month you would only be looking at $15 a year extra you would have in bonuses a year. if you chose cash back

Re: Miles

masscredit — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:16:20 GMT

I prefer the mileage. I used to have two AMEX SkyMiles accounts that I used for my business. Those cards got used every month and I racked up over 1 mil miles over time. The mileage does feel better than getting cash back. It's kind of like a partically free trip somewhere.

It was 1 for every $1.

Re: Miles

Anonymous — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 00:08:48 GMT

Miles are worth more than cashback for me, and many others. Even at 1.25 mile to 1.5 cashback. That's because you can redeem miles at a very good rate and get more value for your money than if you just bought a ticket with cash.

Re: Miles

HiLine — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 02:13:35 GMT

Frequent flyer miles are worth more than 1 cent. General travel rewards miles are worth 1 cent or less; they are redeemable at a value of 1 cent per mile, but the condition that they can only be redeemed for travels makes them worth less than cash back.

You can get at least 1.5 mile per dollar spent with the Bankamericard Travel Rewards card. It's 1.65 miles if you have a checking account with them.

Re: Miles

CreditScholar — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 04:39:37 GMT

@HiLine wrote:
Frequent flyer miles are worth more than 1 cent. General travel rewards miles are worth 1 cent or less; they are redeemable at a value of 1 cent per mile, but the condition that they can only be redeemed for travels makes them worth less than cash back.

You can get at least 1.5 mile per dollar spent with the Bankamericard Travel Rewards card. It's 1.65 miles if you have a checking account with them.

+1.

1.25 is pretty mediocre given that there are better options out there. Neither CapOne Venture nor BofA Travel Rewards are real mileage earning cards. They call them "miles" but they're essentially nothing more than cash back cards. You redeem the "miles" against travel related charges, but otherwise they're identical.

True mileage cards fall into one of two categories:

1. They earn miles and deposit them directly into a frequent flier's account. This is most common with co-branded cards.

2. They earn points that can be transferred directly into a mileage account. UR, SPG and MR are examples of this.

Real miles are worth much more than 1 cpm, and they're primarily worth it if you plan to fly business or first class. If all you're looking for is domestic coach flights, I wouldn't bother with mile cards. A high-end cash back card would be much better in most of these cases. Domestic coach tickets are pretty cheap as it is, and you don't have to worry about availability and a multi-tiered redemption cost found in some programs like Delta.

Re: Miles

HiLine — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 06:00:59 GMT

@CreditScholar wrote:
@HiLine wrote:
Frequent flyer miles are worth more than 1 cent. General travel rewards miles are worth 1 cent or less; they are redeemable at a value of 1 cent per mile, but the condition that they can only be redeemed for travels makes them worth less than cash back.

You can get at least 1.5 mile per dollar spent with the Bankamericard Travel Rewards card. It's 1.65 miles if you have a checking account with them.
+1.

1.25 is pretty mediocre given that there are better options out there. Neither CapOne Venture nor BofA Travel Rewards are real mileage earning cards. They call them "miles" but they're essentially nothing more than cash back cards. You redeem the "miles" against travel related charges, but otherwise they're identical.

True mileage cards fall into one of two categories:
1. They earn miles and deposit them directly into a frequent flier's account. This is most common with co-branded cards.
2. They earn points that can be transferred directly into a mileage account. UR, SPG and MR are examples of this.

Real miles are worth much more than 1 cpm, and they're primarily worth it if you plan to fly business or first class. If all you're looking for is domestic coach flights, I wouldn't bother with mile cards. A high-end cash back card would be much better in most of these cases. Domestic coach tickets are pretty cheap as it is, and you don't have to worry about availability and a multi-tiered redemption cost found in some programs like Delta.

+1 back

I would also add that frequent flyer miles are especially valuable for international travels where redemption rates are very favorable. Another case is when you need tickets for prime travel seasons when tickets are very expensive, but the availability of reward tickets then depend on each airline's policy. For example, Delta Airline's Skymiles are also known as Skypesos because you can never book reward tickets with them.