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Credit Cards That Allow Points Conversion to Airline Miles (1 to 1 or better)

Credit Cards That Allow Points Conversion to Airline Miles (1 to 1 or better)

Old Dec 27, 2010, 11:24 pm
  #1  
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Credit Cards That Allow Points Conversion to Airline Miles (1 to 1 or better)

I'm particularly interested in non-Amex cards, but I'm interested in any. I'll start with the ones that I know of (updated to reflect posts below):

Fidelity Investments Signature Visa (Annual Fee: $0)- Air Canada Aeroplan
Fidelity Investments American Express (Annual Fee: $0)- Air Canada Aeroplan
Chase Amazon.com Visa (Annual Fee: $0)- British Airways Executive Club [No Longer Allows Points Conversion to BA Miles]
Starwood Preferred Guest Amex (Annual Fee: $65)- many
American Express Membership Rewards (Annual Fee: Varies) - many
Bank of America Merrill+ VISA 1:1 to BA in blocks of 5,000 ($0)
Diners Club Mastercard 1:1 to many airlines, but closed to new applicants ($95)
Chase Sapphire Preferred British Airways, Amtrak, and Continental ($85)
Wyndham Rewards Visa Not quite 1 to 1, but 0.8 to 1 on UA, CO, DL, AA, AC, and a bunch of others when you redeem 8,000 points ($4,000 in spending) for 3,200 miles ($0)

Last edited by CMHFlyerOH; May 16, 2011 at 10:32 pm Reason: updated Amazon.com Visa; Added Wnydham Rewards
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Old Dec 28, 2010, 12:46 am
  #2  
 
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Chase Sapphire Preferred: Can transfer to British Airways, and maybe CO still? The annual fee is $85.
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Old Dec 28, 2010, 9:45 am
  #3  
 
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Originally Posted by godlovesugly
Chase Sapphire Preferred: Can transfer to British Airways, and maybe CO still? The annual fee is $85.
Doesn't this card have a fee free for one year deal currently?
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Old Dec 28, 2010, 12:07 pm
  #4  
mia
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Chase Amazon.com VISA 1:1 to BA in blocks of 5,000 ($0)

Bank of America Merrill+ VISA 1:1 to BA in blocks of 5,000 ($0)

Diners Club Mastercard 1:1 to many airlines, but closed to new applicants ($95)
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Old Dec 29, 2010, 4:30 pm
  #5  
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Chase Sapphire Preferred:

Originally Posted by mrx900
Doesn't this card have a fee free for one year deal currently?
No. Annual fee is waived for the first year.


Originally Posted by godlovesugly
Chase Sapphire Preferred: Can transfer to British Airways, and maybe CO still? The annual fee is $85.
I successfully transferred to Continental last week.

The annual fee is waived for the first year via the offers on my website below.

Last edited by mia; Dec 29, 2010 at 7:07 pm Reason: Combine two consecutive posts
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Old Dec 30, 2010, 4:10 pm
  #6  
 
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Chase Sapphire Preferred is a pretty nice card, as it also allows for transfers to Hyatt, Intercontinental Hotels & Marriott (and Amtrak)

If they added 1 or 2 more airlines (and keep transfer option to UA after merger /w CO), it could be one of the best cards out there, IMO. If they added Delta, it would mean all 3 alliances would have redemption possibilities.

Outside of the AMEX cards, its the only one I know that allows transfers to multiple partners.

As mentioned, it has an annual fee, waived for first year. And make sure you get the PREFERRED version, not the free version, as that does not allow transfer of points.
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Old Dec 30, 2010, 4:35 pm
  #7  
mia
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Originally Posted by rajuabju
... If they added Delta, it would mean all 3 alliances would have redemption possibilities.
Chase is the affinity card issuer for Amtrak, every airline, and every hotel chain which accepts transfers from this program. They haven't really done anything except repackage their existing card-issuing relationships, but there are curious omissions such as Southwest Airlines and United.

It seems improbable that they could make a deal with Delta, because of Delta's tight relationship with American Express and the intensifying rivalry between Amex and Chase. They might be able to work with a foreign Skyteam carrier, but there is no obvious opening, and the carrier would know that the card would generate a high level of partner redemptions.

Outside of the AMEX cards, its the only one I know that allows transfers to multiple partners.
Diners Club Mastercard
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Old Dec 30, 2010, 5:09 pm
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Originally Posted by mia
Chase is the affinity card issuer for Amtrak, every airline, and every hotel chain which accepts transfers from this program. They haven't really done anything except repackage their existing card-issuing relationships, but there are curious omissions such as Southwest Airlines and United.

It seems improbable that they could make a deal with Delta, because of Delta's tight relationship with American Express and the intensifying rivalry between Amex and Chase. They might be able to work with a foreign Skyteam carrier, but there is no obvious opening, and the carrier would know that the card would generate a high level of partner redemptions.

Diners Club Mastercard
Good point, re: Delta. I also think its unlikely to happen, but would be darn nice.

Still, if they are able to keep UA once the merger is 100% done, and BA, it would remain a worthwhile alternative to Amex for a lower fee.
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Old Dec 30, 2010, 6:25 pm
  #9  
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Originally Posted by mrx900
Doesn't this card have a fee free for one year deal currently?
Doesn't the SPG Amex listed in the OP as being $65 also still have a first-year annual fee waiver?
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Old Dec 30, 2010, 6:33 pm
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Originally Posted by mia
They might be able to work with a foreign Skyteam carrier, but there is no obvious opening, and the carrier would know that the card would generate a high level of partner redemptions.
Also: Many/most of the continental Europe as well as Asian FF programs (as opposed to UK programs such as BA) have an "unavoidable" expiration of miles (ie, you can't stave off expiration just by having "activity"). So a card specific to that program would be of dubious use to US-based fliers who didn't either spend a lot (enough to earn an award and use it before the expiration) or add to that SkyTeam's partner's miles balance not just by using the card but by crediting all their Delta flying to that partner (which would reduce or eliminate their ability to earn status on Delta itself!).

Having the ability to transfer from Chase Sapphire Preferred would avoid this problem (since you could transfer only once you'd earned enough points for an award, and only right before you needed to use the award), but I doubt that Chase would make a SkyTeam airline a Sapphire Preferred partner if that SkyTeam partner didn't have a card of their own with Chase, which gets us back to the above paragraph.
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Old Jan 1, 2011, 8:33 pm
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Compared to the SPG Amex card?

I'm curious to know what advantages this Sapphire Preferred card might have over the SPG Amex. For one, it's certain to be accepted more places.

But the annual fee is slightly higher, and the 7% bonus is dwarfed by the 25% bonus (5K free miles transferred for every 20K) with SPG. What am I missing here?
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Old Jan 1, 2011, 8:46 pm
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Originally Posted by ThatAdamGuy
I'm curious to know what advantages this Sapphire Preferred card might have over the SPG Amex. For one, it's certain to be accepted more places.

But the annual fee is slightly higher, and the 7% bonus is dwarfed by the 25% bonus (5K free miles transferred for every 20K) with SPG. What am I missing here?
Where do you find the details on teh Sapphire Card? I would like to get it because I could xfer 25K miles into CO before they completely become 1 with UA... is it 7% for xferring 20K like SPG's 20K ?
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Old Jan 1, 2011, 8:47 pm
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http://www.chasesapphire.com/compare-cards/
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Old Jan 1, 2011, 8:58 pm
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Originally Posted by ThatAdamGuy
Awesome..thank you for very much. I just applied and was approved for the card. I will xfer those points to my CO account....that should put me on top for an F ticket to Asia.
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Old Jan 2, 2011, 8:15 am
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Originally Posted by mrx900
Awesome..thank you for very much. I just applied and was approved for the card. I will xfer those points to my CO account....that should put me on top for an F ticket to Asia.
I will do the same, but wouldn't it be cheaper to get a Y ticket and then spend 30k miles + money, or are you not allowed to do that?

I'm on a paid with cash M TPAC flight and the RT was around 1600 for M. It only costs me 30k miles +250 to get upgraded to BusinessFirst on CO
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