MilesBuzz! - Non airline miles program w/ no or high monthly mileage limits (over 10k/month)

My business has been using our company rewards credit card to accumulate miles so we can travel (mainly out of Houston, TX). We just found out our card has a $10k monthly limit (100k yr.) We put well over 10k a month on it and are trying to find another card that will allow us to accrue as many miles as possible and still be flexible with airlines, hotels and blackout dates.

Are there any decent programs that have very high limits out there? There are many airline specific programs that are unlimited, what about non airline specific?

Thanks

Talk to Diners Club about a high limit, or Amex Platinum. I'm not a big fan of Membership Rewards it's been on the decline for awhile, but I still use it b/c I can put $150k+ on the card at a time and no one else lets me do that. ;)

Diners Club Club Rewards is much better than Amex in that it allows you to transfer yhe miles to more airlines. UA and AA are not possible with Amex.

Have you visited Gary's Website (www.freefrequentflyermiles.com/index.htm)? Over the years, he provided valuable miles info for both personal and business accounts to our FT community.

Is there a limit on SPG Amex? That would be your ideal rewards card: it actually yields airline miles better than either Diner's or the traditional Amex MR - not that I recommend burning all of your Starpoints for miles. You get flexibility to go to a bunch of different airlines if you absolutely need a flight award, or you can redeem for free hotel stays with what appears to me to be fewer blackout dates and less capacity control. (No hotel program has truly zero blackouts and no capacity control on awards.)

I've studied this subject for over a decade (not overall affinity points earning via actual flying or hotel stays...specifically affinity point earning via credit cards).

I was a huge fan of AA/Citibank's AAdvantage card until spring, 2004, when AA's stealth rollout of their onerous capacity control scheme, called "milesaaver" brought my accrual efforts to a screching halt and made me re-examine my own affinity efforts. In retrospect, I am thrilled AA woke me up from my apathetic slumber and made me re-examine the "VALUE PROPOSITION". AA (and Citibank, the affinity partner) lost. :(

Settled on the starwood / AMEX and have never been disappointed.

Since then, I find no other card touches the starwood/AMEX card in terms of VALUE of the starpoint, or in terms of FLEXIBILITY of the starpoint. Yes, USING the AMEX card can be difficult, but if you can figure out that issue, then go for it. Assuming certain fundamentals are in place, you can apply for and attain a high limit amex/OPTIMA card. I, like Gleff, feel the Membership Rewards has really become moribund and lame (my words, not gleff's), so I use my starwood/AMEX almost exclusively and my CENT card sits almost unused these days.

My advice - don't waste any time - dump (or convert back to non-affinity cards) any airline-specific affinity card (or relegate it to backup use only) - and apply for the starwood/amex OPTIMA card, and focus on earning starpoints.

Finally, I DO believe using starpoints for hotel stays may be equal to or better use than converting to airline points, but then I do not fly internationally either where higher value can be gained w/ airline points.

Agree that Starwood gives a good yield. However, its not as flexible as Diners Club. Furthermore, burning lots of miles for free hotel rooms IMO is a much weaker value proposition than using them for transoceanic flights or upgrades. Since the OP asked about flexibility, DC still appears the best bet as it has many more redemption options.

My US Credit Card Comparison Table (http://www.andrewcram.com/frequentflyerCC.html) includes quite a few cards with info on Max miles per year etc. It may be useful (for instance - Northwests Business Visa has no annual limit on miles earnt).

Furthermore, burning lots of miles for free hotel rooms IMO is a much weaker value proposition than using them for transoceanic flights or upgrades.

Agreed - I typically don't burn lots of miles for hotel stays, just like I typically don't burn lots of hotel points for airline flights. Points and miles are nearly always most powerful in their native form.

That said, I've broken the rule a few times...small SPG-to-miles top-offs or an occasional AA-to-HH conversion if I have a short-term award need.

The 'very high limit' point is sorta key here.

And the answer to which card to choose may depend on what very high limit means to this poster.

I have no problem getting a $50k limit with Citibank, but they aren't going to let me run up $150k in charges in a single month.

Amex will let me do that on the Platinum card, but they won't let me do it with the Starwood (Optima) card.

To me, 'very high limit' isn't 50k ... so I keep the Amex Plat (I won't spend the fee for Centurion, I'd consider it if I had gotten in at the old grandfathered annual fee).

But if very high limit is 35-50k then more traditional rewards cards may be fine, depending on your credit. BankOne and Citibank both give me at least that much credit.

And by the way, ILUVCITIBANK, the value of a frequent flyer program isn't strictly in its own award availability but also that of its partners.

While I haven't had difficulty finding awards on American metal myself, I personally value my American miles for their oneworld and partner awards (e.g. my recent LAX-PPT/PPT-AKL-SYD/MEL-LAX award in F).

Of course, I also collect CX AsiaMiles -- American isn't always the best way to claim oneworld flights.

But this particular way of looking at the value of American miles may not be of much use to you, if you don't fly internationally.

there are some significant advantages for the hilton amex card, especially if you don't pay to stay in hotels much.

The hilton card gives 5 points per mile for gas purchases, for groceries and for restaurants (along with hiltons), which means you can rack up points faster and 3 points for other stuff.

starwood gives you 3 points, but only for starwood stays. everything else is 1 point. That said, it obviously takes fewer points to get a starwood night.