MilesBuzz! - Which credit card gives you the best mileage?

After reading this forum for a while I finally understand (somewhat) the term "mileage run" and am really itching to do it. But since I don't have a lot of time or money, I thought may be a credit card might help??? The most I can collect from flying is not more than 15000 per year. I use credit card for everything. But the USAA card I'm using doesn't give me mileage. What card should I get to receive the most mileage for my money? I am a United Mileage Plus member. Even if I don't get elite status I'm still ok with more miles per year if it's worth it to get a new card.
Thank you in advance.

I'd recommend the Starwood American Express card - search the MilesBuzz & SPG forum for reasoning why. As for this post, I'm moving this to the MilesBuzz forum where you may get some better answers as this is more relevant to that forum that the Mileage Run forum.

Thanks & welcome to FlyerTalk!

bhatnasx
Mileage Run Moderator

... What card should I get to receive the most mileage for my money? I am a United Mileage Plus member.

If you like United and MP and intend to stay with them, then it would seem that the MP Visa is the way to go. All your c/c purchases collect miles, 1mile per each dollar charged. If you get the gold card, everything you charge for airfare on United.com earns double miles. There is a link to sign up that gives 17,500 bonus miles with first purchase on the website at United.com.

JR

If you like United and MP and intend to stay with them, then it would seem that the MP Visa is the way to go. All your c/c purchases collect miles, 1mile per each dollar charged. If you get the gold card, everything you charge for airfare on United.com earns double miles. There is a link to sign up that gives 17,500 bonus miles with first purchase on the website at United.com.

JR

Or you can use this link for 20k and first year fee waived.

http://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/webcgi/webserve.cgi?partner_dir_name=united_signature_20k _1styrfree&page=cont&mkid=60NS

Lufthansa through MBNA has a 12,000 miles for first use promo. It may be targeted:

Annual fee $60
Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for Purchases Standard APR:

9.9%.
See explanation below for Default APR1

†Other APRs Cash Advances: 2.9% Introductory APR for Balance Transfers and Cash Advance Checks through your first twelve statement Closing Dates; after that the Standard APR is 9.9%. The Introductory APR may end sooner if your payment is late.

The Standard APR for Bank and ATM Cash Advances:19.99%.

Default APR: Up to 19.99% for all Purchase and Cash Advance balances if late or overlimit.

Grace period for repayment of balance for Purchases At least 25 days from the statement Closing Date (provided you fully paid your New Balance Total from the previous statement by its Payment Due Date).
See below for explanation.
Method of computing the balance for Purchases Average Daily Balance
(including new transactions).
Transaction fees for cash advances and fees for paying late or exceeding the credit limit Transaction fee for Bank and ATM Cash Advances: 3% of each such cash advance (minimum $10, no maximum).
Transaction fee for Balance Transfers and Cash Advance Checks: 3% of each such cash advance (minimum $10, maximum $75).

Late-payment fee: Based on your balance on the business day after the Payment Due Date - $15 if $100 or less; $29 if between $100.01 and $250; $39 if over $250.

Over-the-credit-limit fee: Based on your balance as of the day the fee is assessed - $15 if $500 or less; $29 if between $500.01 and $1000; $39 if over $1000.

Transaction fee for Purchases Transaction fee for the purchase of wire transfers, person-to-person money transfers, bets, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips; money orders, foreign currency and travelers checks from a non-financial institution: 3% of each such purchase (minimum $10, no maximum).

Information contained in this advertisement was accurate as of 12/1/2005. The information may have changed after that date. To find out what may have changed you may contact MBNA America Bank, N.A., for specific information by calling 1-800-932-2775 or by writing to P.O. Box 15020, Wilmington, DE 19850. TTY users, please call 1-800-833-6262.

Bonus Miles — Earn 12,000 Bonus Miles after you use your new Lufthansa Miles & More Platinum Plus or Preferred credit card account to make your first purchase, balance transfer, or other cash advance transaction. If you make an eligible purchase transaction you will also receive regular Miles earnings. Your one-time Bonus Miles earnings will be reported on the credit card statement following the statement containing the initial transaction. Lufthansa reserves the right to make Bonus Miles and promotional offers selectively available to Cardholders based on flight activity, geographic location, Program participation, or

After reading this forum for a while I finally understand (somewhat) the term "mileage run" and am really itching to do it. But since I don't have a lot of time or money, I thought may be a credit card might help??? The most I can collect from flying is not more than 15000 per year. I use credit card for everything. But the USAA card I'm using doesn't give me mileage. What card should I get to receive the most mileage for my money? I am a United Mileage Plus member. Even if I don't get elite status I'm still ok with more miles per year if it's worth it to get a new card.
Thank you in advance.

There are two things to keep in mind here:

(1) Sign-up bonuses. A mileage addict could easily cycle through a dozen or so airline cards, hoarding 100k-150k FF miles without too much difficulty. Some cards are be free (see bpauker's UA link for starters, AA has a similar fee-waived 1st year card with signup miles); others require you to front the annual fee. Still, mileage hounds will in many cases decide that the annual fee is well worth the bonus miles. (Search the airline forum here of your choice for the best promos, and note that there are frequently much better promos than the standard offers listed permanently on the airline sites.) The practice of milking sign-up bonuses is well documented here in Milesbuzz and on the MC/Visa board. Some folks elevate this hobby to another level by milking 0% money along with the sign-up bonuses. Just be aware that this activity might impact your credit score if you decide to get very active opening/closing CC accounts.

(2) Finding your primary-spend card. The one where you actually keep and earn miles every month. The easy, no-brainer answer is SPG Amex, as baht has already recommended. We FTer's generally love this card and use it as a benchmark against which all others are compared. But...if your goal is simply max UA miles (as opposed to free hotel stays or miles in other programs), then SPG Amex has a drawback in that its partnership with UA is lame - it takes twice as many Starpoints for a UA mile as it does for other airline miles. So...carrying SPG Amex solely for that purpose is weaker than the UA Visa. That said, I still recommend it: it's a nice balance to have an award hotel room when you get to wherever your award airline flight takes you, and SPG does convert nicely into about a dozen other airlines, so you can top-off other accounts for awards as well.

With apologies to pinniped. there are two more things to keep in mind:

(1) There are two general kinds of cards: those who give you "real" airline miles or whose points can be turned into real airline miles if you want, and those that accumulate points in their own program that can only be used for awards within that program. This isn't the place to debate their relative merits, there are many threads on that, but you should decide which is best for you and make sure you get that kind. (This information may be buried in the fine print. If it doesn't feature the name of a specific airline, isn't by AmEx (which includes the Starwood card) and isn't Diner's, chances are it's the second kind.)

(2) This may be FT heresy, but some people shouldn't get any airline card at all. Depending on what you buy and how much of it, what your other mileage-earning sources are, and the kind of awards you want, you may do better by getting a cash rebate and using it to buy tickets - which will then also earn miles!

With apologies to pinniped. there are two more things to keep in mind:

(1) There are two general kinds of cards: those who give you "real" airline miles or whose points can be turned into real airline miles if you want, and those that accumulate points in their own program that can only be used for awards within that program. This isn't the place to debate their relative merits, there are many threads on that, but you should decide which is best for you and make sure you get that kind. (This information may be buried in the fine print. If it doesn't feature the name of a specific airline, isn't by AmEx (which includes the Starwood card) and isn't Diner's, chances are it's the second kind.)

(2) This may be FT heresy, but some people shouldn't get any airline card at all. Depending on what you buy and how much of it, what your other mileage-earning sources are, and the kind of awards you want, you may do better by getting a cash rebate and using it to buy tickets - which will then also earn miles!

No apologies needed...those are good points! Other than temporarily for the sign-up bonuses, I don't carry or use any airline cards at all.

Also, to add to the mix...it can't hurt to baseline against whatever the best current rebate card on the market is. Gives you an objective data point about what those miles, points, or other rewards are really costing you in terms of cash-in-pocket right now. (In the MC/Visa world, I think it's a Fidelity card, but I'm not sure.)

After reading this forum for a while I finally understand (somewhat) the term "mileage run" and am really itching to do it. But since I don't have a lot of time or money, I thought may be a credit card might help??? The most I can collect from flying is not more than 15000 per year. I use credit card for everything. But the USAA card I'm using doesn't give me mileage. What card should I get to receive the most mileage for my money? I am a United Mileage Plus member. Even if I don't get elite status I'm still ok with more miles per year if it's worth it to get a new card.
Thank you in advance.

I suggest that you take a deep breath, then take an hour or two studying the credit card section of my website below. Note especially the big bonuses offered in the Annual Fee Cards sections.

Southwest Airlines Visa - Business Card ^

M8

For those who use the UA Visa card, how often are there double mile promos on everything you buy? (not just UA tickets, etc.) Im looking for a Visa card that gives double points on everything, at least occassionally.

For those who use the UA Visa card, how often are there double mile promos on everything you buy? (not just UA tickets, etc.) Im looking for a Visa card that gives double points on everything, at least occassionally.

Hello SkyTeam777,

I believe Diners Card (or is it Diners Club) gives you double points. But once you transfer the points, they get reduced 2 to 1. I've heard that once in a while that British Airways will take the points on a 1 to 1 transfer.

As for UA Visa, I use it charge my taxes (federal, state, property) and my gym fees where I get double miles! There is a fee for charging taxes but the overall benefit is terrific. I seem to remember that UA Visa will give you double miles during certain times of the year -- like now.

David

I believe Diners Card (or is it Diners Club) gives you double points. But once you transfer the points, they get reduced 2 to 1. I've heard that once in a while that British Airways will take the points on a 1 to 1 transfer.

With DC, you earn 2 pts for $1, but it takes 2190 points to get 1000 miles. $1 = 0.91 miles. Note: DC may have re-set their scale to 1:1, but the premise is the same - you will never get the true 2-to-1 that we are talking about except during the promotional periods.


As for UA Visa, I use it charge my taxes (federal, state, property) and my gym fees where I get double miles! There is a fee for charging taxes but the overall benefit is terrific.

Unfortunately, as high as those fees are, the only thing that could really make me jump into this would be 2x Starpoints. The fees tend to run well over two percent (sometimes close to three percent!). While in some cases I might apply a present value over 1.5 cents per mile, making the promo appear attractive at first glance, I rarely actually am willing to pay a penny a mile using present cash. I'd maybe pay 3 cents for 2 Starpoints. Maybe.

My answers:

(1) UA Visa and DL Amex when they are offering double miles on all purchases, which seems to be around four months a year. During those periods, they're usually the best.

(2) Any card with a substantial threshold bonus. Best example: a few months ago, for a new Green business card, Amex offered a 45K bonus if you made $15K in purchases within a certain period. Other example: DL Amex Plat 10K bonus for $25K in purchases each year.

(3) Starwood Amex 25% bonus all the time, occasionally with supplemented by other bonuses like 50% for BA and 25% for DL.

(4) For merchants that don't take Amex, and during periods when UA Visa is not offering double miles, the Diners Club MC, because of the 50% BA bonus and other smaller bonuses.

The "What Credit Card Should I Choose?" Master Thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=457077)

My answers:
DL Amex Plat 10K bonus for $25K in purchases each year.

I had no idea. Thank you!

(4) For merchants that don't take Amex, and during periods when UA Visa is not offering double miles, the Diners Club MC, because of the 50% BA bonus and other smaller bonuses.

But DC MC charges $.95 per 1000 miles, so if you use it so irregularly, is it really worth the fees? I'm not sure.

The code for this is G8WX.

Lufthansa through MBNA has a 12,000 miles for first use promo. It may be targeted:

Annual fee $60
Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for Purchases Standard APR:

9.9%.
See explanation below for Default APR1

†Other APRs Cash Advances: 2.9% Introductory APR for Balance Transfers and Cash Advance Checks through your first twelve statement Closing Dates; after that the Standard APR is 9.9%. The Introductory APR may end sooner if your payment is late.

The Standard APR for Bank and ATM Cash Advances:19.99%.

Default APR: Up to 19.99% for all Purchase and Cash Advance balances if late or overlimit.

Grace period for repayment of balance for Purchases At least 25 days from the statement Closing Date (provided you fully paid your New Balance Total from the previous statement by its Payment Due Date).
See below for explanation.
Method of computing the balance for Purchases Average Daily Balance
(including new transactions).
Transaction fees for cash advances and fees for paying late or exceeding the credit limit Transaction fee for Bank and ATM Cash Advances: 3% of each such cash advance (minimum $10, no maximum).
Transaction fee for Balance Transfers and Cash Advance Checks: 3% of each such cash advance (minimum $10, maximum $75).

Late-payment fee: Based on your balance on the business day after the Payment Due Date - $15 if $100 or less; $29 if between $100.01 and $250; $39 if over $250.

Over-the-credit-limit fee: Based on your balance as of the day the fee is assessed - $15 if $500 or less; $29 if between $500.01 and $1000; $39 if over $1000.

Transaction fee for Purchases Transaction fee for the purchase of wire transfers, person-to-person money transfers, bets, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips; money orders, foreign currency and travelers checks from a non-financial institution: 3% of each such purchase (minimum $10, no maximum).

Information contained in this advertisement was accurate as of 12/1/2005. The information may have changed after that date. To find out what may have changed you may contact MBNA America Bank, N.A., for specific information by calling 1-800-932-2775 or by writing to P.O. Box 15020, Wilmington, DE 19850. TTY users, please call 1-800-833-6262.

Bonus Miles — Earn 12,000 Bonus Miles after you use your new Lufthansa Miles & More Platinum Plus or Preferred credit card account to make your first purchase, balance transfer, or other cash advance transaction. If you make an eligible purchase transaction you will also receive regular Miles earnings. Your one-time Bonus Miles earnings will be reported on the credit card statement following the statement containing the initial transaction. Lufthansa reserves the right to make Bonus Miles and promotional offers selectively available to Cardholders based on flight activity, geographic location, Program participation, or

....Unfortunately, as high as those fees are, the only thing that could really make me jump into this would be 2x Starpoints. The fees tend to run well over two percent (sometimes close to three percent!). While in some cases I might apply a present value over 1.5 cents per mile, making the promo appear attractive at first glance, I rarely actually am willing to pay a penny a mile using present cash. I'd maybe pay 3 cents for 2 Starpoints. Maybe.

Here's how I see it..... it takes let us say 120,000 award miles to fly to Austrailia. So, I use my UA Visa to charge my taxes... so that's $60,000 of taxes (don't ask), times let's 2.9% fee.. I will round up to 3% and that's $1,800.

I pay $1,800 in fees for a $12,000 first class seat to Sydney and you're saying those fees are high? I don't follow your logic. Maybe my miles varied.

David

Unless you plan to pay the UA miles visa off each month, you're better off finding a cash back card. With APR's reaching 16.99% variable with the UA Visa it does not make sense to hold a balance. Unless you don't mind paying that much interest. Just my 2 cents.

I wish the US Airways Visa card would offer double miles on everything promos, the miles are better for me being in NC.

The benefits of cycling cards to pick up initial bonuses can be significant. Obviously you need to always have some card(s) around so that you can live life and purchase stuff, but between AMEX, DC, airline cards, etc.

Re-signing up for a card you've had before, or signing up for additional cards can be a YMMV experience. Searching on the web though can provide an idea of what's working now..


Example
http://blogs.flyertalk.com//blogs/viewwing/archives/2004/12/applying_for_cr.html

Here's how I see it..... it takes let us say 120,000 award miles to fly to Austrailia. So, I use my UA Visa to charge my taxes... so that's $60,000 of taxes (don't ask), times let's 2.9% fee.. I will round up to 3% and that's $1,800.

I pay $1,800 in fees for a $12,000 first class seat to Sydney and you're saying those fees are high? I don't follow your logic. Maybe my miles varied.

David

Are you aware that you can buy 25K miles directly from UA each calendar year for less than what it costs you paying your taxes with that UA Visa card? And through a business, you could purchase still more UA miles for still less?

Also, I don't know what fares are to SYD depending on COS and time of year, but I wonder if a saver award ticket (120K miles) really equates with a $12K ticket. One ought not impute the same $ value to restricted tickets (limited availability) as to unrestricted ones.

... paying your taxes with that UA Visa card?...

Doh! :eek: What a great idea! Just dawned on me to pay my taxes with a credit card that earns miles. All these years I just write a check. I'm slow, but I eventually catch on ;)

M8

Are you aware that you can buy 25K miles directly from UA each calendar year for less than what it costs you paying your taxes with that UA Visa card? And through a business, you could purchase still more UA miles for still less?

UA Visa runs a Double Miles promotion for paying taxes, which by my calculations makes the cost close to half that of buying 25K miles directly from UA. Where I am, the cost of paying property taxes was 2.5% (as opposed to income taxes at 2.75%). So the effective cost per mile would be 1.25 cents/mile for paying property taxes, 1.375 cents/mile for paying income taxes.

Here's how I see it..... it takes let us say 120,000 award miles to fly to Austrailia. So, I use my UA Visa to charge my taxes... so that's $60,000 of taxes (don't ask), times let's 2.9% fee.. I will round up to 3% and that's $1,800.

I pay $1,800 in fees for a $12,000 first class seat to Sydney and you're saying those fees are high? I don't follow your logic. Maybe my miles varied.

David

Well, if you were ready to spend $12k on a ticket to Sydney, and you found an avenue to only spend $1,800 to get the ticket, then by all means do it and save $10,200. I can't argue with your logic in that case - saving $10k that you were getting ready to spend on a paid F ticket certainly makes the transaction completely worthwhile.

Does anyone know if is possible to open a new account (20k mile offer) from chase when you currently have a gold account? I just to have the first usa platinum card but since I didn't want to pay annual fee they gave a gold card instead. Now I would like to take advantage of that 20k offer but I don't know if I have to close the other account first. I really don't want to do it since is one of my two credit accounts that have the longest history. I would like to get the platinum for six months and cancel it.

Thanks for the advice? My current score is 800, what impact would that have on it?

Doh! :eek: What a great idea! Just dawned on me to pay my taxes with a credit card that earns miles. All these years I just write a check. I'm slow, but I eventually catch on ;)

M8


Don't forget the fee for charging your taxes. The government can't absorb the fees, so you are hit with them - 2.49%, iirc.

See https://www.officialpayments.com/pc_template_standard.jsp?JSESSIONID=DxyGmyntjpDbwL H!1055893175!77893940&body=pc_feec_body.jsp for a fee calculator. Even with my 2% cash back card, I'd be losing money.

Unless you think miles are worth more than 2.49 cents, it doesn't make sense IMHO

you're looking at getting miles or points for people who travel, but the alternative is looking for cards that give you the most points and miles for people who DON'T travel.

The hilton Amex card, for instance, give you 5 points per $1 for filling up at the gas pump and has some other benefits that can be better for people who don't travel as much

Does anyone know if is possible to open a new account (20k mile offer) from chase when you currently have a gold account?

as far as i know you can, i personally have the ua signature, ua platinum, and ua gold

Well, if you were ready to spend $12k on a ticket to Sydney, and you found an avenue to only spend $1,800 to get the ticket, then by all means do it and save $10,200. I can't argue with your logic in that case - saving $10k that you were getting ready to spend on a paid F ticket certainly makes the transaction completely worthwhile.

I see it All in a totally different way.

It would be a Savings of $10,200 ONLY if you would normally buy that tkt at that Fare. If instead, a person would buy a coach seat at say $800, then they didnt save $10,200. But instead paid $400 in order to upgrade the tkt they would have gotten. Still not bad , but then again No miles will be earned either on the flights.

Whenever I cash in for a free tkt, I consider the savings Not how much the seat would have cost me, BUT rather how much I didnt sopend for the type of tkt I would Normally have Purchased.

Same with the Hotel programs. If you cash in for a Suite if one normally doesnt reserve suites then I wouldnt consider that I saved a bundle , rather I compare it to how much the room thta I usually reserve would have been.

Anyway in the OPs case, if I was going DownUnder , I wouldnt want to go in Coach. So even $1800 for a free Non-Coach Tkt isnt bad at all for that length of a trip. But then again before I would go ahead and do it, Id research the odds of being able to Bag a seat to OZ, when I want to go. If reports are slim to none for getting that seat, then Id rather keep my $1800

This is the best card out there...Earn 1 point for every $$ spent....then call their own Travel Agency to have them purchase you a ticket on any airline and you then earn miles on that flight:

15,000 points gets you a ticket up to $300
20,000 points gets you a ticket up to $500
40,000 points gets you a ticket up to $1000

These tickets can be purchased for anywhere in the world.

I havent paid for a ticket in years and keep building up the miles

NFCU Travelcard:

It's my understanding that not many people are eligible for the card:

* All Department of the Navy (DON) Personnel— regardless of location or rank, including:
o Active duty Navy and Marine Corps
o Reservist, regardless of drilling status
o Civilian employees
o Retired or Annuitant
* DON Contractors assigned to U.S. Government sites afloat or ashore
* DON Officer Candidate programs, NROTC, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
* U.S. Government—Military and civilian personnel employed by the U.S. Government assigned to, stationed at or working at a Navy installation, afloat or ashore
* Family—including:
o Grandparents
o Parents
o Spouse
o Siblings
o Children (includes adopted, foster and stepchildren)
o Grandchildren
o Household Members

gotta go with starwood

If you're just looking for max miles, you may want to consider other ways to get miles into whatever program you want. I like UA. I signed up twice for large bonus miles. Joined and renewed ameniti. Initially pay tuition with my MP visa for 2x miles. Did netflix twice. Various other little bonus things here and there. So far I've got 150k miles in 13 months for doing what I normally do (except ameniti,) so I think this was the right card for me. Plus, in a couple months I get the 10k graduation bonus from UA. I guess my point is pick the best program then look for a card.
As someone mentioned before the MP Visa interest rate is pretty high, but you can (should) pay it off each month. They always seem to have .99% balance transfer offers though.

I see it All in a totally different way.

It would be a Savings of $10,200 ONLY if you would normally buy that tkt at that Fare. If instead, a person would buy a coach seat at say $800, then they didnt save $10,200. But instead paid $400 in order to upgrade the tkt they would have gotten. Still not bad , but then again No miles will be earned either on the flights.


Actually, I do see it your way - I was responding to someone who apparently does actually buy int'l F tickets. I would value an F ticket to Australia at maybe $1500 on an airline on which I already have elite status and maybe $2000 on one on which I did not. That's about the amount of cash I'd fork over for the seat. So I'd run my numbers based on that.


Same with the Hotel programs. If you cash in for a Suite if one normally doesnt reserve suites then I wouldnt consider that I saved a bundle , rather I compare it to how much the room thta I usually reserve would have been.


Also agreed - that's why I like Starwood. Even the 1-2 night stays yield decent returns. I figure a fully cancelable Starwood award stay with my Gold status is worth whatever Priceline would charge me for the room, plus say $25 or so for the privilege of NOT screwing around with Priceline. So running those numbers, I still find it pretty easy to pull about 3 cents a point at typical Cat 2 Westins (generally a high-3-star hotel). Thanks to SPG Amex, I haven't needed to Priceline anything in a couple of years now...

my opinion:

1 - starwood amex.

-they are easy to redeem
-can transfer to all major airlines and save 20% or more in doing so
-great hotels if you stay in one

2 - AA citi mc. (use if the amex is not accepted at a store)

-easiest airline to redeem on
-if you dont fly them, you should have no problem finding friends who do, and you can use your miles to book them flights and in return they can book somthing for you on one they have miles on that you do fly.

-current credit card offer is one year no annual fee, 20k AA miles. a family member just got one:

http://www.aa.com/apps/netSAAver/ViewPromotionsDetail.jhtml?fileName=O1105_Citi20K_ CnsmrCD_WIDE.xml&repositoryName=PromotionContentRepository&itemDescriptor=PromotionContent&anchorLocation=Homepage_Bottom

Good luck!
:)MM

Very nice miles!

If you're just looking for max miles, you may want to consider other ways to get miles into whatever program you want. I like UA. I signed up twice for large bonus miles. Joined and renewed ameniti. Initially pay tuition with my MP visa for 2x miles. Did netflix twice. Various other little bonus things here and there. So far I've got 150k miles in 13 months for doing what I normally do (except ameniti,) so I think this was the right card for me. Plus, in a couple months I get the 10k graduation bonus from UA. I guess my point is pick the best program then look for a card.
As someone mentioned before the MP Visa interest rate is pretty high, but you can (should) pay it off each month. They always seem to have .99% balance transfer offers though.

This would be exrtra smart if the taxes are paid in a county which does not charge a fee: such as Dallas in Texas.

UA Visa runs a Double Miles promotion for paying taxes, which by my calculations makes the cost close to half that of buying 25K miles directly from UA. Where I am, the cost of paying property taxes was 2.5% (as opposed to income taxes at 2.75%). So the effective cost per mile would be 1.25 cents/mile for paying property taxes, 1.375 cents/mile for paying income taxes.

This is the best card out there...Earn 1 point for every $$ spent....then call their own Travel Agency to have them purchase you a ticket on any airline and you then earn miles on that flight:

15,000 points gets you a ticket up to $300
20,000 points gets you a ticket up to $500
40,000 points gets you a ticket up to $1000

These tickets can be purchased for anywhere in the world.

I havent paid for a ticket in years and keep building up the miles

Do you have to be in Navy or affliated as listed below to get this card? I looked at the credit app and it did not mention this. That sounds like a great deal for 15K points to get a ticket...

Rob