I am new at the miles thing. We have a son going to college far enough away that the air miles look GREAT! We would like to pay his college costs with Visa or Mastercard and at least get free miles for all of this money we are forking out. We need a card on which we can charge anything--not just online stuff... and definitely not one that just gives u air miles if u charge an airline ticket. Our goal is to not have to spend money to get our son home each holiday. I checked into AmEX and feel that their deal is the best I have seen so far--with its double miles and all--but the univ. doesn't take amex. Does anyone know of a visa or mc that has good benefits--like bonus miles for signup or dbl points? Thanks!

I suggest you see what airline(s) provide the best flights from college to home. Then shop for a card which gives miles on that airline. All the major carriers hav an affinity card. If you post more specifics, you will get more useful responses. With a litle effort, you can get lots of miles ! Welcome to Flyer Talk.

Try Capital One MilesOne Visa Platinum credit card. It has a $19 yearly fee but it is worth it. You receive one point for every mile and can book a flight on ANY major airline, no black out dates. You can even book internationally. It's a great card with a great deal.

You can find it on the web at www.milesone.com.

I second Schutzee's recommendations. You may also wish to consider what airline you prefer whenever you ever have occasion to fly, since presumably the card will be in your (parental) name, not your son's. However, an airline offering the most convenient connections/non-stop flights to wherever your son is going to school is probably the primary variable, especially since most travel will be at holiday time.

You should also try to use the card for as many other purchases as possible, beyond just tuition, in order to get extra miles.

I have been looking at all kinds of visa/mc cards & those for delta and USAir. I really do like the double miles offered by amex & would like to find a program like that one but so far only found single point ones.

i know that what usually sounds too good to be true usually is a bad thing... but has anyone tried this: buy something with the single point visa and then transfer the balance monthly to an amex card. would u get the original card miles and then the double from amex? this feels a little shady and wonder if it has been done anywhere. there must be some sort of law i would be breaking or some credit card rule i am crushing because--other than the effort/time involved--it seems too good to be do-able. i even feel guilty coming up with the idea.

i sure do wish the school took amex. that would be the answer to my skymile prayers!

harp -
Welcome to Flyertalk. The idea you propose is inviting, but AmEx does not count mile transfers toward mile accumunlation. I agree with everyone else...find what airlines fly the most direct routes to where your son will be at and where "home" is and go from there. All airlines have affiliated credit cards. Most also come with sign up bonuses of 5000-10000 miles and you can also link your phone lines to these accounts too (Northwest and Sprint, Delta and MCI, etc.) These phone sign ups also come with bonuses and you usually get 5 miles for every long distance dollar spent. In addition, use the card for other purchases as each dollar spent equals one mile.

Best of luck.

I may of missed something here, does AMXP have a double miles promotion going on right now???

You can get an American Airlines Visa/MC with $50 annual fee from Citibank and accumulate AA miles since you can use AA miles to claim award travel on US Airways.

There is a promotion that offers 10,000 AA miles for first purchase. Check out the following link for more info:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum71/HTML/000565.html

It is my opinion that the card issued by MBNA that is affiliated with the NEA (National Education Association) is the best around. Round trips on ANY airline are just 15,000 points, and are accummulated at the rate of 1 point per dollar spent on anything. No blackout dates - even holiday travel is O.K.! Annual fee is $30, waived the first year. No sign up bonus. You or your spouse are supposed to be a member of NEA to carry this card and redeem points for trips, but I've yet to hear of anyone ever checking. I have had the card for just less than one year and I am delighted with it. My daughter attends Univ. of Wisc. at Madison, but they don't accept credit cards for tuition, at least not yet. They're "working on it". I just redeemed points for my first ticket with them, and daughter will be home later this week (San Diego). See my post elsewhere in this forum. Sorry, I don't have the website, but you can obtain full information from their customer service number: 1-800-854-7338. Good luck!

Captain Mike

Here is more information on the NEA card. It is the best deal around!!
http://www.neamb.com/programs/ccptrv.html

I agree that the NEA card is an excellent value and one of the best for certain types of travel. However, it's important to note that it requires 21 day advance purchase and a sturday night stay over. This may be easy to achieve if you just want your son to be able to fly home for holidays. For me, one of the most valuable features of free tickets is to be able to use them for spontaneous last minute travel when purchased ticket prices are often obscene, so I've never taken this card, though I'm aware of the value it represents. But I'm thinking about getting one for my wife, who has a much easier time figuring out when and where she'll travel, doesn't mind being locked into a schedule, and often goes on short hop trips. I find the feeling of being locked in just way too oppressive, and must end up eating at least half the no refund tickets I've ever bought, and paying ridiculous fees to convert the credit on others to flights I can use.

Thanks to everyone who helped me out with advice. I finally decided on the NEA one because it had a $30 yrly fee and a round trip flight of 10,000 points with no monthly limits on the number of points u can get.

Thanks again!

s_harp: Good choice. Do be careful to abide by the cautions Steffo raises, however, because there are virtually NO EXCEPTIONS to the rules. Try to concentrate your son's flying on just one airline, too. That way, he will accumulate miles in that program more quickly, since "free" tickets purchased for your son by NEA/MBNA do, repeat do, earn mileage in that airline's program. While you cannot combine your NEA credit card miles with individual airline miles, that's O.K., since even if it takes several years to earn a free ticket in say, American's program, those miles don't expire as long as there's account activity within 36 months.

Also....be sure to pay the full NEA card balance each month, because the interest rate is punishing!

That said, happy charging!!!

Captain Mike