I'm new NW silver elite member (will be gold by end of next month) and will likely focus on flying NW next year to maintain status unless there are huge negative changes in the program.

But I keep getting all kinds of solicitations from other airlines sponsored credit cards (AA, United, etc.) to pay somehwere between $50 and $70 for a credit card for a year, and then get "5,000 miles and a free companion ticket" or something like that after my first credit card purchase.

Are these miles I shouldn't pass up, even given the fee, e.g., just in case I decide to eventually switch to AA or United or whatever airline is soliciting? Or do many of you throw these out (given the fee), they're just not worth the "insurance" and would result in orphan miles?

Related to this: is there still a good way of getting something out of orphan miles on multiple airlines (other than building up the individual accounts into a free ticket)?

I think you should pass these miles up, especially those that have a fee for the first year. With the demise of HHonors exchange for US airlines frequent flyer programs, it is much harder to launder orphan miles at a reasonable exchange rate. I think you have to ask yourself if you would pay $55 for 5,000 miles. If a free ticket costs 25,000 miles, then you are paying $275 for the ticket. While domestic ticket prices haven risen over the last year, I still think it is a bad deal given reduced award availability (for instance, check out NW and CO forums) and present ticket prices.

I suppose you could always get some magazines with your miles, but again, not on the top of my list. And companion tickets, don't even get started. Often, but not always, the fare you have to pay for the non-companion ticket is well in excess of the fare you could have purchased the ticket for elsewhere, so while there may be some savings, there isn't much.

Over the years, I have taken the Diner's Club offer (12,000 miles), the Delta Amex offer and netted 25,000 miles, the NW US Bank Visa offer(10,000 miles), and the CO Mastercard offer (10,000 miles and Silver for the Mrs). All brought reasonable returns factoring in the usage, but to get just orphan miles seems pointless. If you fly the airline or a partner, the card makes sense, otherwise it just distributes your miles among too many programs.

So in my opinion, ditch the offers for airline cards for airlines that you don't use. The Starwood and Hilton cards are different, but that is another subject.

As for converting miles, the consensus seems to be that you lose a lot in the translation. Magazines????. My Delta balance is 53 miles and Continental is down to 324 and I am glad I got the miles out of these programs and into Hilton before the HHonors exchange ran out. I haven't been on a Delta plane in years and even though they are partners with NW now, don't plan on it . . .

What is your mile collecting strategy??? Do a mileage makeover on yourself before you end up with too many stray miles.

I would agree to pass these miles up. It is also not worth it to your credit rating to keep opening and closing credit card accounts. It is also not worth it financially to keep them open and pay a fee on them for another year if you have another card that will be getting the charges. You can only put your charges on one card, so no sense having more than one, unless your primary card is one like Amex or Diners that has less acceptance and you need a Visa/MC for backup. Since your primary card is a Visa (NW) this does not apply.

If you need HHonors points, the HA Visa MAY be worth it. First use bonus of 10K miles = 20K Hilton points with a $50 annual fee.

http://www.hawaiianair.com/hawaiianm...redit_card.asp

I have a somewhat different opinion. In the past I collected only AA miles, but then some Delta Amex double-mile promos came along that I could not resist. And, NW and UA promos occured that promised to give enough miles for a domestic RT, so I went for them too.

I've just used most of the Delta miles to reserve three tix to Istanbul for next summer. And I'm keeping the NW and UA miles for almost-specific purposes.

I'm glad I've chased the miles, even though my AAdvantage balance hasn't changed much lately. When I see a good AA promotion, I'll go for it.

As to too many credit cards hurting your credit rating, there is a very good discussion of that topic here.

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Middle_Seat

It is not opening the credit cards that can hurt the rating, it is the constant opening and closing of them (not to mention the hassle). If you sign up for a card to get 5k miles and pay a fee of $50, will you pay that fee to keep the card a second year, when you already are paying a fee on another card? You can only put the transations on one card.

[This message has been edited by quinella66 (edited 10-01-2003).]

The 5K up front deals for a fee are usually not worth the fee. But, there are some incredible deals out there on credit cards. 15K for free with Northwest, if you don't already have a card with them (you probably do). 10K each for free on American and Delta. 4K for free with Starwoods, plus many other free offers from hotel cards that allow points conversions to miles. 6K for free on Lufthansa. 2500 free from Frontier. 20K for $60 on United (super deal!).

Many of these deals can be combined with other deals (telephone, finance, sign up for email or e-statements, etc,etc) for the same airline to get an easy ticket.

Of course, you can find out about all the deals I mentioned, and most of the others, on my web site below.

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Free Frequent Flyer Miles