beltway

Yes, incredibly enough.

Jeney

Capitol One is the card to get. 2 points for every $ spent and you can convert points to airline miles

mia

While Capital One calls their points "miles"' they cannot be transferred to any other program.

PFKMan23

So are Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Fidelity Amex the only ones currently available, ie: ones that you could actually apply for today?

jeelele

Can Worldpoints earned from AMEX Fidelity be transferred to another individual's AC account? Does anyone here know or have experience in doing that? Please PM me if you prefer that.

ChrisInSD

Only what currently available? Card that can transfer to CO? Only card with no annual fee?

SPG AMEX can do this, but at 2:1.

Another option is the AMEX Membership Rewards program--I transferred MR pts to CO in the past. However, remember that points earned in the AMEX program are subject to a hefty "excise tax" (I don't believe this is a tax; it is an AMEX fee) of about 1/10th of a cent per pt. So transferring 25,000 miles from an AMEX card to your FF acct will cost you $25.

The Chase card allows you to transfer to only 2 airlines, and has an annual fee.

Others correct any errors or omissions.

PFKMan23

Are they the only cards that convert at 1:1 or better, the "or better" being the key as there are already several options that convert at 1:1 (of course depending on the airline).

ChrisInSD

AMEX SPG converts 1:1.25 if you transfer in batches of 20,000 miles. However, you cannot transfer to CO. You can transfer to AC Aeroplan or US Dividend Miles however and book *A trips.

mia

This is a Federal excise tax recovery fee, and it applies only on transfers to USA based airlines.

Hefty The fee to transfer 25,000 points would be $15.00

sdsearch

CO won't be around in another year or so. It will officially merge with UA sometime next calendar year (2012).

AMEX MR is ending the ability to transfer to CO in September 2011.

Just how many points do you envision earning on a card, that you can transfer to CO in time?

Otherwise, I would suggest either focusing on transfering to UA (since CO miles will be UA miles in a year or so anyway), or another *A airline as some have suggested.

Meanwhile, the only type of cards that allow you to transfer to airlines that don't have an annual fee transfer at way less than 1:1. They are typically other (besides SPG) hotel cards. The best (5:4) would be WyndhamRewards MC, via Barclays/Juniper.

If you want 1:1, you have to learn to live with annual fees, at least "on paper". If it were AA miles you wanted, you could get a Citi card with first year annual fee waived, and then at least some years try for a "retention" offer which for many people gives an option of getting a credit equal to the annual fee for some sort of minimum number or amount of purchases in the near future (relative to when they call). But I'm not aware of most other banks waiving or offsetting the annual fee on subsuquent years, and Citi doesn't support any other airlines besides AA.

CMHFlyerOH

This is not true if you want to get Air Canada aeroplan miles. The Fidelity Investment Rewards Amex will net you 2 miles/dollar and the Fidelity Visa Signature will net you 1.5 miles/dollar, and both cards do not have annual fees.

ChrisInSD

Thanks for correcting my numbers. I still think the fee qualifies as hefty--certainly when compared to nearly every other alternative. I think Diners may charge this as well (the reason I never signed up for their rewards program for my corporate card), but other than that example I know of no other CC issuers that pass on this cost of doing business to the consumer (feel free to correct if I've misspoken).

If I have an AA or UA or US or whatever airline card, the issuing bank must pay the airline for the miles it buys to distribute to cardholders and must pay a 7.5% Federal Excise tax on the amount paid.

The bank recovers these costs (both for the miles and the tax) by charging annual fees and, of course, through merchant transactional fees.

Considering the entry level MR card carries an annual fee of over $100 to begin with and that AMEX charges merchants higher transaction fees than the other 3 networks this additional fee is gratuitous. Most members are unaware the fee even exists until they transfer their miles for the first time--AMEX is counting on it.

ChrisInSD

Is Aeroplan the only program the Fidelity card is linked to? And am I correct in assuming that one does not need to actually open a Fidelity brokerage account? Does Aeroplan have partner redemption fees?

CMHFlyerOH

1. Yes, aeroplan is the only transfer partner they have.

2. Correct. You do not need to have a Fidelity brokerage account.

3. I'm not sure what you mean by "partner redemption fees." Do you mean charging an additional fee to book a United, Continental, etc. flight using aeroplan miles? Or do you mean charging to convert Fidelity Rewards points to aeroplan miles? The answer to both is "no."

CMHFlyerOH

I completely agree with you! It is important to mention, though, that this fee only applies when concerting MR points to miles in US carrier programs. And a BIG plus of MR remains that they typically transfer instantly.