Best points system for flights

[littvay]

Dear All

Lately both my dad and I have been disapointed in the airlines' miles systems.  Availability is horrible.  Black out dates.  Ridiculous fees in addition to the miles we have to use.  So We both decided to eliminate the United/AA (and in my case also Delta - which is the worst as they charge ridiculous amounts of miles on most flights are charge ~$400-500 if the flight does not initiate in the US... might as well just buy the ticket...) credit cards from our lives.

My father has been a relatively happy FlexPerks user now.  Recenly he managed to buy round trip tickets from Europe to Thailand for 50k points (each) without much trouble with availability.  But this card's foreign transaction fees are a killer (especially since he spends quite a bit of time in Europe and in Asia) and I know this card is not very favorable in the reviews.

So what should we swing for?  What is a better option.  We are in this for the long run so the annual fee shouldn't be too high (CSP is a hard sell because of this).  Venture looks a little better despite the low sign up benefits, but as I said we are in it for the long run.

But really, the most important issue is availability.  Will we find flights for a reasonable amout of points?  If we go $2 per pt there was no way we could have bought those Europe to Thailand flights.  Also other booking sites might restrict, say all flights have to initiate in the US.  These would all disqualify in our case.  The issue here is that you will never really know how good flight availability is, how good the booking system is util you sign up.  So I am hoping to get some info about Your experiences.  Which card (or cards) should I advise my dad to sign up for?

In sum.  Flight availability, flexibility with routes (can start from anywhere in the world), low fees and preferably no FTF is what we want.  Annual fees should be worth it in relation to the benefits.  $50 of Flexperks, no issues.  $59 of Venture, still OK.  $95 of CSP I am starting to think might be too much.  But open for arguments otherwise.  Open to all other options as well.

What are our best options?  Thanks.

[RemyWinchester]

Id go with the Venture.... or Barclays Arrival which is another 2% card with massive sign up bonus and FTF

[red259]

Venture card is basically a cash back card for travel purchases. Its not a miles card where you put miles directly into an airline program to redeem. I would think the venture is better than flexperks. If you want actual miles you can put into airline programs than the CSP is a much better option. AF is waived the first year. There is another thread re: airline cards form today and I would recommend reading through that as the advice would be relevant to you as well. 

[red259]

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@RemyWinchester wrote:

Id go with the Venture.... or Barclays Arrival which is another 2% card with massive sign up bonus and FTF

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The two cards are similar. My understanding is that if you are going to spend over 15k on the card over the course of a year the Barclays is worth getting even though it has a higher fee. Otherwise the Venture is better. It takes 15k of spend to get a large enough redemption bonus to negate the extra $30 in the annual fee.  

[littvay]

Thanks for the heads up on the other thread. I managed to miss it.

I actually do not want to put my points towards miles. The airlines are sucking more and more by the month. But I am also not interested in point to cash reimbursements.as , in my experience, flights cost more in USD than points/miles. Best would be a system with its own booking place where i could book for points with good availability. Availability is key so anyone has comparative knowledge on this front, it is very welcomed. As far as i understand, Flexperks has this. But could be wrong.

Also, i am open to arguments as to what is the best system. (Go with this or that is not as helpful) and sign up bonus is not as essential as long term benefits with use.

Thanks again for being awesome!! (Super helpful as always.)

[ezdoesit]

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@littvay wrote:
Thanks for the heads up on the other thread. I managed to miss it.

I actually do not want to put my points towards miles. The airlines are sucking more and more by the month. But I am also not interested in point to cash reimbursements.as , in my experience, flights cost more in USD than points/miles. Best would be a system with its own booking place where i could book for points with good availability. Availability is key so anyone has comparative knowledge on this front, it is very welcomed. As far as i understand, Flexperks has this. But could be wrong.

Also, i am open to arguments as to what is the best system. (Go with this or that is not as helpful) and sign up bonus is not as essential as long term benefits with use.

Thanks again for being awesome!! (Super helpful as always.)

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There are really only two real players for airline miles.  Chase CSP.  Amex SPG or PRG (  SPG is better than the PRG ).

What airlines do you fly most?  The best of these cards are very subjective and a lot of variable go into it.  If your father goes to Europe why are you worried about a $95AF because I am sure he would put enough of the card to justifly the AF. 

IMO I think the SPG is a better all around card.

[CreditScholar]

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@ezdoesit wrote:

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@littvay wrote:
Thanks for the heads up on the other thread. I managed to miss it.

I actually do not want to put my points towards miles. The airlines are sucking more and more by the month. But I am also not interested in point to cash reimbursements.as , in my experience, flights cost more in USD than points/miles. Best would be a system with its own booking place where i could book for points with good availability. Availability is key so anyone has comparative knowledge on this front, it is very welcomed. As far as i understand, Flexperks has this. But could be wrong.

Also, i am open to arguments as to what is the best system. (Go with this or that is not as helpful) and sign up bonus is not as essential as long term benefits with use.

Thanks again for being awesome!! (Super helpful as always.)

---

There are really only two real players for airline miles.  Chase CSP.  Amex SPG or PRG (  SPG is better than the PRG ).

What airlines do you fly most?  The best of these cards are very subjective and a lot of variable go into it.  If your father goes to Europe why are you worried about a $95AF because I am sure he would put enough of the card to justifly the AF. 

IMO I think the SPG is a better all around card.

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+1. I've never had availability issues with UA (or US), so part of the problem here is that your father should educate himself a bit more about how to search for flight availability. If you just do blind start-to-end desintation searches on the website, you won't find nearly as much as what's really available.

[Walt_K]

http://boardingarea.com/bloggers/ (especially like view from the wing, frequent miler, one mile at a time)

millionmilesecrets.com

thepointsguy.com

frugaltravelguy.com

It's a trade off.  You either opt for a fixed value program like Venture where there are no blackouts and points are always worth $0.01, or you leverage the value of airline miles where there are capacity controls but you can get outsized value.  In the latter, you need to be a little more flexible with your dates of travel, understand how to use alliance partners, etc.  Happy reading.

[dxz7]

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@ezdoesit wrote:

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@littvay wrote:
Thanks for the heads up on the other thread. I managed to miss it.

I actually do not want to put my points towards miles. The airlines are sucking more and more by the month. But I am also not interested in point to cash reimbursements.as , in my experience, flights cost more in USD than points/miles. Best would be a system with its own booking place where i could book for points with good availability. Availability is key so anyone has comparative knowledge on this front, it is very welcomed. As far as i understand, Flexperks has this. But could be wrong.

Also, i am open to arguments as to what is the best system. (Go with this or that is not as helpful) and sign up bonus is not as essential as long term benefits with use.

Thanks again for being awesome!! (Super helpful as always.)

---

There are really only two real players for airline miles.  Chase CSP.  Amex SPG or PRG (  SPG is better than the PRG ).

What airlines do you fly most?  The best of these cards are very subjective and a lot of variable go into it.  If your father goes to Europe why are you worried about a $95AF because I am sure he would put enough of the card to justifly the AF. 

IMO I think the SPG is a better all around card.

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I don't think the spg or prg is the right card for op. Op said no high annual fee cards, and prg is 175. plus both cards has a foreign transaction fee. So I personally think the chase csp would fit better with no ftf and 2 points per dollar on travel n dining, if using UR mall and book through hotels.com you will get 7 poinnts per dollar spent. But maybe also keep the bofa travel rewards in mind? no af, no ftf, 1.5 pts per dollar speng

[SoonerMagic1]

There are really only two real players for airline miles.  Chase CSP.  Amex SPG or PRG (  SPG is better than the PRG ).

What airlines do you fly most?  The best of these cards are very subjective and a lot of variable go into it.  If your father goes to Europe why are you worried about a $95AF because I am sure he would put enough of the card to justifly the AF. 

IMO I think the SPG is a better all around card.

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I'm glad you mentioned this.  I have become an Amex fan and keep seeing references to SPG on the forum, but I don't understand their reward and redemption structure.  Do you mind explaning what you like about the SPG?  (FYI - I have a PRG that I may or may not renew when the AF hits and a Delta Gold that I will probably eventually PC to another card.)