Tristamus

Hello everyone,

I am, first of all, brand new to this community. Nice to meet everyone.

Secondly, I have some questions concerning FF Miles, Japan, and Credit Cards. I figured this particular forum would be appropriate for such questions, as they are concerned with international things (especially Japan).

My first question, is in knowing whether or not someone my age, 23, would even benefit from something like a credit card that is particularly suited to someone who plans to travel to Japan and / or other Asia flights. I am talking about the credit cards you use to pay for groceries...restaurants...gas...whatever. The ones that net you miles for everything you purchase.

I've wondered for a while now if something like that could be used to my advantage, to start young and early, to rack up my miles for future travel plans at some point in time. I've been to Japan before, but I specifically want something to help out future flight plans to Japan, if possible. I also have heard that once signed up for one of these such credit cards (the kind that give you 30k Miles or etc for signing up), you have to pay a yearly fee to keep the card active. Is this true? Is this just how it works?

As you can see, I am a complete newbie when it comes to these things. If someone with related experience can point me in the right direction, I'd be truly grateful...

Thanks everyone!
-Antonio

JALPak

Welcome to FT and ANA forum, Tristamus!

Different FFPs have different rules regarding mileage expiration. If you wants to rack up miles over an extended period of time, you should pick a program which the miles won't expire as long as there are mileage activities, e.g. AA, UA are some of the options. Without knowing the FFP and your flying pattern, it's hard to answers some of your questions.

Tristamus

Hey there, thank you for your welcoming and response!

As far as what my FFP is, I am considering AA or Virgins Flying Club - AA miles don't expire, it seems, as long as there is account activity.

Considering the chances of getting a credit card with AA, what do you folks suggest is best for someone like me who will EVENTUALLY be flying, but am definitely not frequent?

Is there something better out there for earning miles especially geared towards Asia flights, or should I just stick to the AA miles program (and possibly sign up for their credit card too?).

Italy98

Welcome to FlyerTalk Tristamus. Additional information would assist in providing a more detail response to your questions.

Paiteaw

Getting the AA credit card with the 75k sign-up bonus would be a very nice start to accumulating miles. Put all your living expenses on it and your miles will not expire with monthly account activity. There are other promotions you can earn miles with such as dining, shopping, get an insurance quote, ....etc.

SanDiego1K

Welcome to FlyerTalk, Tristamus. Since your question has nothing to do with the ANA Mileage Program, let's move it along to MilesBuzz.

SanDiego1K
Senior Mod

Tristamus

Hey there guys,

No problem San Diego! My Apologies =)

Great responses, however - I will give you those 4 bits of information you requested, Italy98! Hopefully I can get some more detailed direction soon!

1. How frequently would you be flying.

Maybe only 1 flight every 1 or two years (Truly low amounts of flying)

2. What would be your home base airport.

Milwaukee Airport or Chicago O'Hare, possibly Midway as well.

3. To what other locations would you be flying.

Possibly Florida, South Korea, China, Iceland

4. How many trips do you believe you will be making?

At most, 1 or 2 during a 2 year span of time. Unless I have more money to spend by then.

Hopefully the more details I give you guys, the closer I can get to finding the best solution for me! Thank you guys for all your time answering these things! =)

-Antonio

bt13

AA wouldn't be a bad choice, given one thing. You would want to check their alliance partners and do your research on availability of award tickets using AAdvantage miles on the other carriers to the Asian destinations you have in mind. I am not an international traveler, outside of the Caribbean, so I don't take advantage of the alliance ever.

That being said, you should have good domestic routings out of Chicago with AA. The credit card offers for AA are really good right now- but they will have an annual fee after the first year- but if you put everything you can on the card, you make the annual fee worth it. If you don't charge much after your first year, you may want to think about canceling before your fee is due. I just started using things like their dining program and their online retail shopping program and have racked up about 5,000 miles since June doing things I normally do.

Whatever FFP you choose, make sure to learn all about it and take full advantage of the promos and bonuses and you'll be headed to Japan sooner than you think.

MilesMark

I agree that AA might be a good bet for you. I've been with them since 1983 and have gotten lots of long-haul award travel, especially on their partners. And they seem to do some good routes (China, India, Moscow, etc.) from ORD.

I would also urge you to look at the Starwood AMEX as a credit card of choice for all sorts of reasons (n addition to an airline affinity card, not the least of which is the conversion bonus.

There are lots of ways to rack up miles without flying and you'll get some excellent tips by trolling FT. Feel free to take a look at my free tipsheet posted at
http://www.scribd.com/doc/17745143/F...Flier-Tipsheet.

Good for you for starting this early.

Madinat

thanks for the link!

just outta curiousity--i thought ALL FFP's kept your miles as long as you had activity in the account every so often(18-24months)?

MilesMark

Don't know about others, but AA just requires some activity every 18 months. Activity could include a charge on a Citibank AAdvantage card, eating in a restaurant registered in their Rewards Network, a purchase through AA eShopping (good luck getting THAT posted!) or - as a last resort - flying!

HoKo

To answer your question: No that is incorrect. There are many mileage programs where miles expire regardless of activity. Out of the major carriers for example, Korean Air miles expire 5 years after earning (switching to 10 years eventually), Asiana after 7 years, Thai after 3-4 years, Cathay Pacific after 3 years, etc.

The point is you need to carefully research your program before making a choice, The AA cards currently have outstanding sign up bonuses but the SPG card earns the equivalent of 1.25 AA (or a multitude of other choices) miles assuming you take advantage of the 25% bonus on transfers in blocks of 20K SPG points and has a lower annual fee (just raised to $65 annually but still less than the $85 you will see on the AAdvantage platinum.

Here is an excellent chart that summarizes mileage expiration policies for numerous airlines. Kudos to The Global Traveller for putting this summary together!

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/theglo...eage-expiry-2/

Tristamus

Hey guys,

Thanks HoKo! The SPG Card - It sounds like a very nice program! So, it nets 1.25 times the amount of miles that an AA Card would net me? Also, cheaper annual rate...

However, as far as expiration goes, as long as I pay for things with that card, that counts towards putting of it's expiration, correct? Because I know that with AA, as long as there is some activity within an 18 month span of time, my miles won't expire.

If it turns out that all these things are true HoKo, I'll definitely take a look and use that referral you're talking about =)

ken7

as previously mentioned, I'd get the 75k AA Visa, and probably the 75k AA Amex if you can hit the spend reqs. 150k is an awesome place to start, and AA is a good airline for you. It's be $85 a year apiece for those cards, so I'd cancel one soon after getting the 75k miles.

Stoughton

But not nearly as accepted. There are quite a few places that do not take Amex so you should have a Visa or MC as backup if you plan to use Amex as your primary card.