MilesBuzz! - Best card for international flights?

I am looking for a credit card that will allow me to earn miles to fly from Houston to London in a few years. I know there is a Continental card, is there a better option out there? I'd like to not be tied to one airline, and I would also like to not have the entire summer blacked out. Am I asking too much?

My personal choice would be the Starwood AMEX. The fee is $35 a year.

Here's the story:
$1 = 1 Starpoints
1 Starpoint = 1 Mile
If you transfer in blocks of 20,000 you get a 5,000 mile bonus so
20,000 Starpoints = 25,000 miles

Starwood is affiliated with many airlines, though I don't have a list at the tip of my fingers.

When you get closer to your dates of travel you can call each airline and find out if they reward availability for the days you are looking for and ask them to hold the award while you make a transfer into their program.

Be sure to sign up for any hotel and airline programs you use.

If you are trying to get business class / first class awards in the summer you may have problems in the summer. I would suggest you do a search on each of the airlines forums here to learn more about reward availability and the pros and cons of each airline. The search function at the top of this site can produce a wealth of information

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Rachel
CO - Platinum
Hilton - Diamond
SPG - Platinum
The Princess' Pictures (http://photos.yahoo.com/prncess674)

Thanks for the info. If I understand correctly, you can transfer your points earned into your FF account at one of their partner airlines? Seems very flexible. I will follow up. Thanks again.

hey there is a better one i belive. NWA WP Visa there is now a promo fow 25,000 bonus miles + you qualify for 10,000 point promo Fly Free Faster 2 promo if you use 5 partners by end of July. So basicly you have 35,000 bonus to start with* *(after 15 months)I will put more info on here later tonight. Work is calling my name

I refuse to pay a fee for any card. I have lots of offers for free cards on my web site below, many of which offer free up front miles just for successfully applying for the card. My favorite for international travel is the AMEX card, because, last I heard, they do not charge the usual 2% rip off fee for currency conversions that the more greedy banks charge.

Click on Free Frequent Flyer Miles in the left menu, then on Credit Cards in the top menu.

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The Personal Travel Experience of Gary Steiger - including how to get free frequent flyer miles on the web.
http://home.earthlink.net/~pgary/TravelFrame.html

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pgary:
My favorite for international travel is the AMEX card, because, last I heard, they do not charge the usual 2% rip off fee for currency conversions that the more greedy banks charge.
</font>

From my Starpoints Amex card agreement: "If you initiate a transaction in a foreign currency, it will be converted into U.S. dollars on the date it is processed by us or our agents at a rate set by us based on an interbank, tourist or (where required by law) official rate, increased in each instance by up to 2%."

They have indeed charged me a full 2% in the past two years, and from all I have seen in FlyerTalk, they do the same for ANY Amex card.

That rate still beats the 3% total fee from VISA/local bank. Like prncess674, it's my first choice. And the fee is actually only $30, effective after one year's free use.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pgary:
My favorite for international travel is the AMEX card, because, last I heard, they do not charge the usual 2% rip off fee for currency conversions that the more greedy banks charge.
</font>

That's incorrect. AmEx cards (all of them) are among the worst for international travel, as not only they surcharge 2% for transactions in foreign currencies, but also their exchange rate is almost 1% less favorable compared to the one used by VISA or MC.

There are several banks that issue credit cards with no bank-imposed surcharge (just 1% added by VISA and MC alike). My favorite is MBNA, as it also has great customer service. Amtrak MC from MBNA has no annual fee, just 1% total surcharge for international transactions, earns 1 Amtrak point per $ spent, and Amtrak points can be exchanged for UA or CO miles 1:1 in the increments of 5,000.

I think we are getting off topic here. The question in this post is in regard to which card should he use to earn FF miles towards a reward ticket, not what card to use once he gets their.

The MBNA America MasterCard co-branded with Amtrak's Guest Rewards program is a fine tool.

You will automatically accrue 1:1 Gust Rewards points with every purchase dollar spent, but those points can be transferred easily and on-line to United, Midway, or, for you masochists out there, Continental.

Speaking of which, if you are accruing miles for an award flight to London, you are definitely better off accruing those miles is another airline's frequent flyer program, as actually getting awards particularly in BusinessFirst (international) via Continental OnePass is much more stingy and convoluted than the airline makes it out to be. Get ready for an uphill battle, especially if you don't have Platinum Elite status.

Can you be more specific with regards to what type of ticket you want: free coach, buy coach and upgrade, free biz, etc.

There are numerous threads discussing upgrade availabilty. This might help you determine who you'd want to fly. CO is notorious for difficult upgrades.

Thanks everyone for their replies. Here are some more specifics:

I am most interested in getting 2 free round trip coach tickets from Houston to London in roughly 20 to 24 months. I know that CO flies direct Houston to London, so a program that would let me transfer miles to CO would be perfect.

So far, the Starwood Amex card sounds like my best option. I really like the flexiblity it offers.

I too use to refuse to pay annual fees, but the $35 for the Starwood card is insignificant compared with the benefits you receive. I also have an MBNA Amtrak card as a back-up. MBNA does not tack on any additional fees for foreign transactions. AmEx and most others charge 2%.

As a newbie to the Starwood family, I am also impressed with the bonuses available when staying at Starwood properties.

And don't forget that you earn more that one point per dollar when staying at their properties.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

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AA, Onepass, Skymiles, Hhonors, Starwood

Are you flexible on your dates of travel? do you have any CO miles yet? do you do any travel or do you plan on earning all your miles through purchases? do you think you could make even silver status on CO? There are more reward seats held for elites?

What about this quote I found when I opened my account:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">And your Starpoints will never expire as long as you have at least one stay at a participating Starwood hotel or resort at least once a year.</font>

Is there a way around this? I can easily see myself going a year with staying in one of their hotels. Is transferring the points to miles the way to beat it?

[This message has been edited by JakAg (edited 06-11-2002).]

prncess674:

Are you flexible on your dates of travel?

Yes, it is a vacation, would like it to be in the May timeframe, but not an absolute requirement.

do you have any CO miles yet?

Only about 6,000.

do you do any travel or do you plan on earning all your miles through purchases?

I have one CO trip planned for this year, but that will be it. Plan on doing it all through purchases. Can spend 70,000 - 80,000 easily in that time frame.

do you think you could make even silver status on CO?

Not sure what is required. If frequent travel on CO is required, then no.


[This message has been edited by JakAg (edited 06-11-2002).]

I would personally use the Starwood card but forget about transferring the miles to Continental. You can get there in less than half the time if you send the points to Qantas as *points transfer 1x2 to Qantas and once in Qantas you can use them for any OneWorld airline (and several other partner airlines). That plus the 5,000 point bonus means 20,000 starpoints would get you 50,000 Qantas miles which is one coach ticket! You can also stay at Starwood hotels and earn bonuses to make earning even quicker.

British Airways flies IAH-LGW and IAH-IAD-LHR and Qantas offers the same redemption (a coach seat) for the same price (50k miles) as Continental. Qantas' award availability is probably better, as they don't pull the same standard/EasyPass stunt that CO does.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JakAg:
What about this quote I found when I opened my account:

Is there a way around this? I can easily see myself going a year with staying in one of their hotels. Is transferring the points to miles the way to beat it?

[This message has been edited by JakAg (edited 06-11-2002).]</font>


The simple answer is to transfer the points out to miles but you wouldn't want to do that before you have 20,000 points accrued so as not to miss out on the 5,000 point bonus.

That said, if you travel at ALL, make one of your stays at a hotel that participates in Starwood Preferred Guest and you won't have any problems. Keep in mind that it's not all Westins and W's out there. There's also quite a few Four Points Sheratons and other mid-priced hotels that work just as well as that $400 a night suite. If nothing else, take a romantic evening away from home and stay somewhere else! Grab a bottle of bubbly and make the most of it. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Eugene:
That's incorrect. AmEx cards (all of them) are among the worst for international travel, as not only they surcharge 2% for transactions in foreign currencies, but also their exchange rate is almost 1% less favorable compared to the one used by VISA or MC.</font>

What evidence do you have of this? I just checked on a Canadian AmEx charge and found the commission to be 2.1% of the Interbank rate on the day of the charge. It's possible they used the rate on a different day, which would explain the discrepancy from 2.0%, but I've never seen an AmEx foreign-exchange commission approaching 3%.

MBNA and Fleet have a 1% commission.
Most other Visa/MCs are now 3%.

By my calculation, MBNA/Amtrak is the best mileage-earning card for foreign purchases (but you have to travel on Amtrak to avoid having your miles expire). I use the Starwood AmEx, which is second-best.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by QuietLion:
What evidence do you have of this? </font>

Just my bills (VISA, MasterCard and AmEx) for charges in Australia, Switzerland and South Africa. Comparable charges (identical transaction and posting dates) appear to have about 1.7 - 1.8 % difference in exchange rate used between AmEx and MBNA.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by QuietLion:
you have to travel on Amtrak to avoid having your miles expire.</font>

Just once every three years. And since points are most likely to be transferred to airline miles anyway, that's a non-issue.

Kanebear,

I agree that the transfer rate right now from Starwood to Qantas is good but it is going to take our IAH friend a while to aquire the points needed. If the exchange rate to Qantas is still as good as it is now then it is a better deal. I have a feeling the Qantas door is going to be closing quickly. But that is just my opinion.

I know alot of people don't like CO but I personally have never had a problem getting reward seats on the dates and times I needed. I did have to be patient and watch the flight regularly but it has always worked out.

You can't beat the Starwood deal if you have any volume on the card at all. With respect to expiry, it is not an issue as long as you keep spending on the card. To keep your points from expiring you can have one stay per year however, that is not the only way to keep an account active.

Once you have enough points to convert to miles for the airfare, you can use additional points earned for hotel stays in London. I can assure you that Starpoints with "no blackout dates" rates are FAR more valuable at one of their London hotels than using them any other way.

I can't believe I said Amex when I meant AMTRAK. Senior moment with my "A's" mixed up. Yes, of course, Amex charges a 2% fee. I never use it internationally. I use either the 1% AMTRAK card or my Juniper Bank card (also 1%, with a cash back program similar to that of Discover). The AMTRAK deal is on my site.

Sorry about that.

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The Personal Travel Experience of Gary Steiger - including how to get free frequent flyer miles on the web.
http://home.earthlink.net/~pgary/TravelFrame.html

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Eugene:
That's incorrect. AmEx cards (all of them) are among the worst for international travel, as not only they surcharge 2% for transactions in foreign currencies, but also their exchange rate is almost 1% less favorable compared to the one used by VISA or MC.
</font>

Not only that, but Amex is not as widely accepted as V/MC. In South America, at least in the countries I was in, even Diners was more widely accepted than Amex.