Originally Posted by
ZER0C0NTR0L1278
Greetings all I am new to the whole mileage collection game and I am currently a student. I'm looking for a good credit card that I will be able to get to start racking up some miles. Anyone in the same boat or can someone point me to some good cards to help me get on my way?
Welcome to FT. Do you currently have credit cards/decent credit? While credit cards offer a massive boost in miles at first, over time they can be a losing game if you're not careful. Annual fees and APRs mean that you will need to carefully consider whether or not you want to go down that road.
Since you're new the game and I've got 5 minutes, I'll go over some basics of stuff to think about. If you've already thought this through, please ignore.
1.
Who are you going to earn miles with? Depending on how often you fly and with who, this can affect what card (if any) you decide on. As a rule, you want to have as few mileage accounts as possible with the highest point balance possible. 10 accounts with 7,000 miles each will get you no where, but 1 account with 70,000 will fly two to the Caribbean for taxes and fees. Consider what airlines you fly with and who they are allied with. You can collect all those points into one pot, which will make your life happier. It should also be noted that some programs are more difficult to redeem on. Do your research and choose a card after that.
2.
What are miles worth to you? Putting a dollar value on miles makes it easier for you to compare what you're going. For example, I give my miles a base value of $0.01 per mile. In some cases, I will redeem for more than that but keeping my mind set on a low value means that I am not tempted by deals or flights that aren't that great. This $0.01 is just an estimate though, as the real value will be whatever the cost of the ticket you're replacing is, divided by the miles. So, a $250 ticket inside the US @ 25k miles pegs your miles at $0.01. However, if you're getting an award ticket for the same trip when the tickets are hovering by $500, then those miles are worth $0.02 per mile.
Using that, you should also take into consideration how much you'll spend on your credit card and how much it costs to have that card. If you expect to earn 5000 miles per year through the card and annual fee is $50, then you're not really getting a benefit at the $0.01 per mile rate. In fact, with interest you've probably lost money.