What programs do you reccommend for me? :)
 

Hi, I'm new to this forum and looking to get some insight on potential programs I should sign up for.

I have already signed up for American Airlines' program and AirTran's A+.

I am interested in getting miles so I can take free flights. (I recently graduated college and am looking for a job in marketing/advertising/pr, so I don't have much of a budget for traveling although it's a huge passion of mine) It would also be nice to "gift" my mom with flights to visit relatives.

In order of priority, I personally would LIKE TO visit Europe, Asia, western US (have never been), and cruises. In order of priority for my mom, she NEEDS to visit Jamaica, Florida (Miami area), and Canada (Toronto). She has no need for hotels or hotel upgrades since she would be staying with relatives. She needs to visit Jamaica at least once a year. So you can see that we are open to a rather large selection of national/international programs :)

I would be flying out of any NYC-area airport and my mom is able to fly out of NYC-area airports as well as MacArthur (Long Island).

I am also registered with mypoints.com which offers United Mileage Plus (as well as Hyatt and Marriott but I'm not really concerned with hotels) and e-miles which partners with AirTran Airways, Alaska Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, Hilton HHonors and US Airways.

What do you travel-savvy folks reccommend for me/my mom? :D

There are several credit card offers offering miles. If possible I would grab a couple of those.

ok, I see you're not getting a lot of responses here so let me share with you what I learned in the last 30-40 days.

Open up credit cards that give you a lot of miles. Good cards such as

Chase Saphire = 50K points = 50Kmiles into Continental
AA Citi Visa/Amex = 75K miles
SPG is great but currently no good offers,
etc.

Some recent deals were great that I got .... British Airways 100K miles, Continental 50K miles, Amex Gold 75K points.

Pretty much ... visit this board and see what the latest deals are.

Keep in mind ... when applying for cards, see which bank is giving them out. I don't suggest applying for too many cards from one bank. Wait 30-40 days before you do. Major banks are Chase, Citi, Amex, Barclays, Bank of America ... but most cards come from Chase and Citi.

Keep in mind that many cards make you spend $500-$3000 in first 3-6 months, so be sure you meet that requirement.

Since you're a young guy who is not spending a lot of money every month on business expenses, the only way you'll get miles is from these promotions. I'd recommend BankDirect as your "savings" account but it's good if you have at least $50K to keep there for which you'll be getting 5K AA miles a month. If this is what you want to do, let me know and I'll send you an invite for which you and I get 1,000 miles each.

Also, if you have $20K + to play with, you can do the Fidelity investments thing. See the thread on this forum.

Bottom line is ... don't rush. Don't jump on bad offers. If a new offer pops up, wait a few days, couple of weeks. See what people report back and then jump on it if it's a good deal.

Right now a good deal is offered by Chase Saphire card. Also .... just got AMEX Gold card and got lucky with a customer support rep who modified the offer to 75K points. 90% of people couldn't get that as it either expired or had some limitations availability only to specific university graduates.

so ..... just play the game but don't go overboard. Too many CC applications will get you turned down. As you apply for these cards, have your mom do the same. Most airlines now allow one way travel. So you book a ticket TO somewhere and use your moms points/miles to book a RETURN ticket.

good luck.

Oh and check out awardwallet.com to help you keep manage your awards.

Igor and UA Fan thanks so much!

I have a Chase Freedom card and will look into other credit cards.

American Airlines travels to lots of destinations so I definitely signed up with them. So you think I should also open a loyalty account with Continental as well? I checked Continental's site and they seem to have lots of partner airlines that we might use like Delta, United, US Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Air Canada.

I'm really curious as to what airline(s) I should funnel any future credit card miles to? Should I just sign up for every airlines loyalty program?

In my opinion .... Continental is a must. There will be a lot of offers like SPG Points, Amex points, etc that you can easily transfer to Continental which has a huge partner network. Like flying business class to Europe and paying $168 for your seat? Go for it.

American Airlines is a must for me because I get miles every month from BankDirect.

Like I said, don't go crazy especially in the beginning. Read the forum. Learn. As you get your deals from new credit cards, consider closing them at least 6-7 after you open them (not earlier). You don't want to pay that annual fee.

Major players are AA, Continental, Delta Skymiles, British Airways, ..... might want to get a Chase United Airlines card ... currently around 40K miles I think. As Continental and UA will merge soon, your miles will be combined.

Just go for great offers. If nothing great is available, wait it out. Don't apply just to apply.

You got the AA Citi visa 75K for your self and mom? In 30-40 days try to apply for their business card. May get another 75K miles.

If you want to take a chance on something right now .... find the Amex Gold card application and apply. Once you get the card, call them and say that your friend applied for same card and got 75K points and you would like the same or else you won't activate it. Hope for the best. I got lucky. Many people were turned down but their mistake was .... they gave up. Instead, hang up and call back later. It all depends on who you get on the phone.

First of all, welcome to FT and thanks for filling out your profile with your location (as most newbies don't bother with that).

You should have frequent flyer accounts with all airlines but you don't have to apply for them right this second. Just before you book a flight with them or if they are running a special offer for new members which happens from time to time. You should also hold a credit card that doesn't have an annual fee as your "forever" card to build your credit. Perhaps the best way to get a lot of miles is to apply for cards for the bonuses, then cancel them when the annual fee kicks in (if you're too cheap to pay it).

I am partial to AA because it only costs 40,000 miles for off-peak award to Europe (Oct. 15 - May 15) and South America (March to November, I think) so it makes my miles go farther. I would advise your first credit card application to be Citi Visa which gives 75,000 miles with $1500 spend in 6 months; but hurry, the offer could be pulled at any moment. I also avoid Delta because award availability is poor compared to the others, but at the right price I'll fly any airline :).

Keep reading FT and you'll be a pro in no time!

to make a visual here ... this is what I did in the last 30 days in the order of action.


1) Got AA Citi 75K Visa for me
2) Got AA Citi 75K Visa for mom
3) Applied for AA Citi 75K Amex same day and got denied.
4) Got British Airways 100K from Chase
5) Got Continental 50K from Chase (surprised they gave me 2 chase cards in matter of 2 weeks)
6) Got AMEX Gold 75K points (got lucky as most didn't get the offer)
7) Started transferring money to Fidelity ... already got 15K AA miles posted.

Keep in mind, had to spend $2,500 (BA), $1,500 (AA) and $500 on GOLD to get my rewards.

Will Be getting
1) Chase Sapphire 50K points (will apply in 2 months from now)
2) Waiting for good deal on SPG Starwood card
3) Will apply for AA Citi Amex Business 75K card in 1-2 months (hopefully it will be still available)


Follow these guys.
http://thepointsguy.com
http://boardingarea.com

good info IGOr

i'm a newbie still and still trying to figure it out...

i dont have tons of cash and probably can't make the bigger spending min in the short amount of time...without doing the coins

so i'm trying to stick with the cards with free offers after first purchase, although I do wanna go for the citi AA cards....and probably a good amex membership rewards(hopefully that gold preferred card)

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Making good use of stopovers (when permitted) can really stretch one's miles. For example, if the OP's mom one wanted to fly KIN-MIA-NYC-YYZ on AA, with stopovers at MIA and NYC, AA would charge at least 40,000 miles for a Coach redemption, since AA does not permit any stopovers on such a routing. However, the very same AA flights, if booked with BA miles, would cost only 17,500 miles, as BA permits multiple en-route stopovers -- even on partner awards.

On the other hand, AA can be very good for redemptions between Europe and the U.S., as AA does permit a single stopover at the North American "gateway" on such an award. For example, Europe-JFK can be had for as few as 20,000 AA miles; but for the same miles, one can get Europe-JFK (stopover) - Hawaii/California/Alaska, etc.

Stopovers do not have to be for just a few days. The OP's mom, for example, could "stop over" in NYC on her way back from Jamaica for six months, before continuing on to Canada.

In short, it is important to study the details of each program to determine which one offers the best value for any particular award itinerary.

Keep in mind AMEX MR would only transfer to CO OnePass till Sept this year. After that the relationship terminates. SPG transfer to CO/UA is a very POOR 2:1 ration. You instantly lose 50% and then some value on your SPG pts transfer to CO versus other airlines which is at a 1:1 ratio and a 5K bonus when you transfer 20K lot.
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefer...tner_list.html

Please research the facts before posting because the misinformation would lead the uninitiated to the wrong path.

My bad .... thanks for the link. It shows that the card is still great as you can transfer points 1:1 for many other airlines. Also ... to my knowledge many have special promos where you can get +25% or more for a transfer so it would come to 1:1.25

I know folks here love their SPG cards.

I feel compelled to suggest OP to focus his/her energy on a successful job searching. While credit card rewards are surely tempting, it does not hurt to establish a steady pace and exercise patience -- get started on 1 or 2 good cards (as a new/recent college graduate you probably have only limited credit history) then expand your horizon over time. Study the airline programs (at your leisure) and understand the concept of airline alliance; down the road your job may require you travel therefore you'd have a better idea on which airline(s) would suit you best overall.

OP, I do commend you for thinking of your mother. If she can apply for a credit card on her own let her do that; if not perhaps you can consider adding her as an authorized user on one of your credit cards. However, if your spend on credit cards are limited, you'll want consider the trade-off between a no-fee and fee-based cards for long term usage -- this is, in part, a personal choice so you'd have to determine on your own.

My suggestion is to study the airline programs and airline alliance as stated before. Continental and United Airlines are in a merger and would operate as one airline next year; US airways is a member of Star Alliance (that both Continental and United Airlines belong to).

thanks :)
 

Wow! So many responses :) Thank you everyone for responding! I will definitely be researching everything and paying attention to the forum to learn from you wiser, more experienced members ;)

I see that I will have to pick and choose what works for me and my situation and look forward to learning more!

(And yes, I'm definitely going to ramp up my job search! lol)