Newbie to FF programs
 

My situation:

Wife is Australian, we live in Memphis TN, USA
Two kids, one 4, one 8 months.

The "Plan" was/is to fly to Australia every other year. To keep mama happy, I need to be more diligent in making this happen.

On a quick search, it seems that the best points/mileage non airline affiliated card is the Capital One No Hassle Miles Ultra, earning 2 miles per dollar spent.

I can put quite a bit of purchases on the card, maybe 40k - 50k in a year, possibly even more.

Any suggestions on whether I would be beter off with this or an actual airline affiliated card?

One possible advantage on an airline card would be the ability to purchase an economy ticket and upgrade the international portion to a higher class. But I wouldn't be able to accumulate the points as quickly at 1 - 1.5 points per dollar.

Thanks for any and all suggestions
Tracy

All points are not created equal. Earning "points" twice as fast doesn't necessarily generate an award for half the spending. Typically "generic" programs assign a monetary value to the points which they use to buy a ticket, while airline mileage redemptions are based on zone and seating class without regard to the dollar cost of the ticket.

What airline(s) might you fly to Australia, and how many points would Capital One require for an economy or business class ticket to Australia?

Could you generate any miles from other sources, such as domestic flights, hotel stays, car rentals, online shopping portals etc? You can accumulate all these miles in a single airline program, but (to my knowledge) Capital One awards points only for credit card transactions.

You may find the How to Begin section of my website below useful.

Probably will fly Qantas from LA to Sydney (but we are not locked in to that, they seem to run good sales prices on their tix)

From Memphis to LA, cheapest flight available.

I spoke with a cr from Capital One and she stated that I could either use their travel agency or book my own and they would reimburse the card with the number of miles I had built up.

We do not fly often, mostly will be just to go to Austrlia. I do purchase quite a bit doing house rehabs and everyday expenses. My thought was that getting the 2 miles per dollar spent and being able to use any airline would fit our use better, since we won't fly enough to build up any airline loyalty.

And Gary, I have read your site before, thanks for the link. I'll read more to refresh what I've forgotten.

Thanks
Tracy

Mia is right about all points not created equal. I suspect without knowing that your better bet would be a Starwood Amex card, which I think gets you 1.25 miles per Starwood point on most airlines, and an American Airlines Citibank (?) Visa (or is it Mastercard?) for those expenses you can't charge to Amex. You'd thus open an AA account, convert the Starwood points into AA miles and combine them with the miles you'd directly accumulate through the AA Visa/Mastercard. Then get the Qantas tickets using your AA miles, since they're partners in the One World airline alliance. By searching online or through Flyertalk you can find the best deals for getting bonus miles just for opening these CC accounts.

Sorry I don't know all of the details, but if you do the math re accumulation and redemption miles this might be a better option than Capital One. You also might post a related question on the AA or Qantas forums re this approach.

Be aware, by the way, that free tix to Australia can be hard to get, and often require calling ahead 330 days and/or persistent follow-up.

I really appreiciate y'all sharing your experiences. There seem to be so many "nuances" with transferring miles from one to another, getting bonus points/miles, etc. etc.

If it can be/will be an issue getting tickets to Australia, and IF I can get 2 points/miles per dollar on the Capital One card and they reimburse me the purchase price of any ticket I buy (as long as I have the miles to cover the cost) it still seems to me that Capital One may be a better deal.

I will post in one of the airline forums to seek advice from there.

Thanks
Tracy