Miles card

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I have been thinking about and reading different opinions on good miles cc but haven't been able to choose one. This would be my first miles card and I just don't know which one to choose. Any reccomendations on a good miles card??

[Anonymous]

We will need more information...

Do you have a limit on an annual fee?

Who is your preferred airline?

What are your credit scores?

[Anonymous]

Yea sorry, left some important details out. My credit score is 694 across the board. I don't have a limit on annual fee but no fee would be nice. I prefer Delta.

[Anonymous]

1st and most important, do you use the same airline 80% or more of the time. If so that is the 1st thing to look at, 2nd is weather you want to get the intro card with basic bennies or step up to the mid range with free 1st bags and better miles per dollar. Or if you want to go big you can get the card with a high AF but those give you lounge and a bunch of points plus companion tickets, and much much more.

I got the platinum delta thru amex id love to get the reserve but i dont fly but 3 or 4 times a year.

[MrDisco99]

If you're looking to earn Delta miles, your best bet is probably Amex MR points which can be converted to SkyMiles.  The Amex EveryDay and EveryDay Preferred cards earn MR points at a pretty good rate.

[Anonymous]

My wife and I both got gold Delta SkyMiles Amex cards...flying out of CVG, Delta is our preferred vendor.  I have pondered upgrading one of them at some point, and perhaps downgrading the other to the no-AF blue version.  We shall see.  We are going to Siesta Key in March with the kids, and our SkyMiles paid for a large portion of the airfare for 5 of us...

[UpperNwGuy]

In general the miles cards don't earn as many miles as the points cards, so get a points card and transfer the points to miles.  If you fly Delta or Jet Blue, get an Amex card that earns Membership Rewards points that can be transferred to Delta or Jet Blue.  If you fly United or Southwest, get a Chase card that allows you to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to those airlines.  If you fly American, I think your best option is to earn SPG points on the Amex SPG card and transfer those to American.

[Anonymous]

Although you can't transfer Chase points to American directly, you can transfer them to British Airways which can be used on American flights. But I'd go with a Chase Sapphire card or Amex card that earns MR points.

[Anonymous]

---

wrote:

In general the miles cards don't earn as many miles as the points cards, so get a points card and transfer the points to miles.  If you fly Delta or Jet Blue, get an Amex card that earns Membership Rewards points that can be transferred to Delta or Jet Blue.  If you fly United or Southwest, get a Chase card that allows you to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to those airlines.  If you fly American, I think your best option is to earn SPR points on the Amex SPG card and transfer those to American.

---

Here's my question about that -- as someone who lives in a Delta hub city, there's value to me in maximizing my benefits with Delta. 

If I were to get one of the Delta Amex cards, like the Delta Reserve, I could earn MQM's and eventually qualify for Silver tier, which has some additional benefits beyond just the basic SkyMiles points. Like possibly getting a better seat and a chance at an upgrade. There's a bunch of benefits there I'd check out for fun but aren't actually that important to me--like lounge access, I'll enjoy it, but don't really need. 

So I understand if I were just going straight for miles I'd be better off with the Chase Sapphire cards or the Amex MR cards and then transferring the points over to miles. But then I wouldn't be earning that Silver tier, I'd just be getting miles.

Any thoughts on whether the additional points are worth more than targetting the elite tier? I doubt I could get to gold tier but it seems a pretty easy shot for me to get to Silver tier if I were to put most of my spending on a card that can earn MQMs.

[Anonymous]

If I were you i would go ahead and get either the platinum or reserve delta card. If you can afford the reserve one then id try it for 2 years. If anything you will have the points when you downgrade.

All the bennies that they have i hope you choose to give it a try for a year or 2 i like my platinum card but if i flew more id have the reserve one. 

Platinum after 1 yr gives you a companion economy ticket to use in the USA, where reserve gives you either 1 economy anywhere in the world or one 1st class in USA.