Where Do I Start?
 

Hello, everyone! I am a new member and all of this information about miles and rewards is pretty overwhelming. I'm a senior in high school, and I love to travel and want to do more.

My problem is that I don't know where the best place to start getting miles is. Should I get a credit card for the bonus? Is there a better way to start wracking(racking?) up miles?

My ultimate goal is a reward flight to either Europe or South America.

Thanks a lot. I hope this is in the right forum.

If you can get 1 credit card to start building your credit that's be fine I think. Most likely without a credit history and full time job it might be tough. Might want to look into a prepaid card that will help build credit.

You should probably also sign up for all the major programs and start getting miles into them however you can (promotions, shopping portals, etc) in addition to actual flights/hotel stays.

Sign up for an award wallet account.

Then sign up for airline, hotel, and car rental programs. Start with the ones you use, plan to use, or have generous signup bonuses.

Then enter your account numbers into the award wallet account. This will help with easy tracking of accounts and mileage balances.

If you travel, that is frequently and not just on awards, sign up for all bonuses with the programs you use. Consider signing up for credit cards that give bonuses with your spending / staying / flying patterns. For example, Gold Amex gives 3x points on airfare, Chase Sapphire offers 2x on all travel, SPG Business Amex gives points for stays at Starwood and cash back at Hyatt and Marriott.

Stay on top of bonus offers and max out the ones that make sense to you. Repeat - earn and burn, enjoy.

Also sign up for all the free programs like MyPoints and E-miles and E-rewards once you have Frequent Flyer numbers. Check out freefrequentflyermiles.com also. Gary has new things all the time for free miles and read FT and all the blogs for info. You can get a lot of miles for free, just lot's of shoeleather.


JudyJFLA

Swagbucks can be pretty useful for hotel and Southwest Airlines GCs. While SWA won't get you directly to Europe, it could get you to a better airport for a cheap flight, or the gift cards could be traded for something on a airline with better options.

Keep an eye on the S.P.A.M. subfolder here. They got me 5K Priority Club points (good for a Holiday Inn point break free night) a few weeks ago using a loophole with a My Coke Rewards program game.

The OP is in high school.

IMHO, much of the advice given so far is bad. Fine for an adult with a steady job and good credit. Not for someone in their situation.

My advice would be: read up, educate yourself, learn what you can now. Don't jump in too soon. Get a job, slowly start working on establishing good credit before you go to try and exploit it.

Life is long and you have plenty of time. If you jump on a bunch of credit card applications now, you're probably going to only damage your credit and you'll then be starting off in the hole. There's no hurry, be patient (I know, try telling that to a 17 year old...).

There is plenty you can do to start that does not involve your credit. search through the airline forums, look for the threads like the one that gets 500 AA miles for likeing them and filling out a shrt survey on FB. or the united backstager dela that gets you 1000 UA miles for signing up and linking your twitter, foursquare,FB account. then even more for a few tweets. download a toolbar from aa, and hook it up to your account, ask you parents if they purchase online to gothrough the shopping portal linked to your account, or just set it up on thier computer with their permission with the toolbar that will automaticaly register it to your AA account, ask you grandparents if they shop on line and if you can add the toolbar to their computer so you can get miles, you can explain it costs them nothing extra and will reward you for purchases they would already make. get a topguest account and start doing "checkins" at hotels near you, Priority Club converts to many airlines at 10k to 2k i think. many ways to nicle and dime the poits system until you have a job and established credit.

Signing up for free programs and promos is a good start. If OP has some cash banked from summer jobs/pt work, he could open a checking account and get a points earning debit card like alaska air or delta (i know I had a debit card when i was a senior).

I would also sign up for a secure credit card to start building some credit.

So many responses! Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply.

Obviously I can't go sign up for five credit cards. Student loans incoming! But is it a bad idea to sign up for one card? I'm not sure if they would accept my application or not, but I have had a couple of offers sent to me.

I do have a debit card. Can you get a points card through any bank or would I need to change banks?

Also, I tried to check my credit score and nothing came up, but I have been making payments on a car for a year. Shouldn't that count for something?

Sundownerz:

As a scout leader I have dozens of young adults ready to get out in the real world. You will find that I have been dragging them around the globe and under the ocean, so now they all want to travel like that after they turn 18. Not too hard to do.

First question: where is your home city or where is you college city going to be? That will determine what airlines are going to be most strategic.

Second question: do your parents have the desire or ability to cosign for your credit cards? Until you are 21 they will have to do that unless you actually have income.

Third question: who is headed to South America or Europe with you? Best that you do not go it alone at your age.

Fourth question: have you a passport? You need one and they cost money.

i may be in the minority here, but i would focus all your energy on limiting the amount of student loans you take and less energy on collecting some points. you state student loans incoming like its no big deal, many people also think making their min payments on a credit card and paying alot of interest is no big deal, its beacuse of the general populations attitiudes like this that the banks are so profitable and they want to entice new customers with these great sign up bonuses. many of us here are able to ake advantage becasue we have steered clear of making interst payments. you might be better off as a student to focus on limiting what you spend, finding part time work, and using some of that cash to both take fewer loans and pay for cheap tickets to your desired destination.

Hope you are applying for Scholarships.... But ask your parents for advice about banking advice. We don't need to know where your college is, but maybe there is a major bank in your town like a Chase, Bank of America, or Citi. They have good debit cards and credit cards to check into. Most of these credit cards with big bonuses (not much this year), have you spending 3-5k in a few months. You'll be broke on a college budget.
Try applying for a Southwest card first.

Please don't misunderstand my intentions! I don't expect much in the way of student loans. I'm more worried about being able to get them if something unexpected happens. And I really don't have the intention of collecting a bunch of debt on a card if I do get one. My idea if I got a card was to get my parents to use it when they needed to buy something (my dad and step-mom are building a new house soon for example). The only thing I could really afford to use a card for would be living expenses that I could immediately pay back.

There isn't. I live in a small town. My mom and step-dad are both loan officers at the same regional bank so my account is with them anyway. I guess that may change when I move away and don't have easy access to said bank anymore.

Edit: Sorry, didn't mean to double post! I wasn't thinking. :o

Sorry, I meant, a major bank in your college town. But be aware of how much you need to keep in the bank and all your spending on the credit card when it's time. Like I said above, I think the SW credit card would be a good one for your location (you said MCI). Also, I think someone mentioned above, Southwest is cheaper fly out of and get to a destination and to fly to Europe or South America like you said.

glad to hear i just like to add caution becasue many people come her and ask questions and then go head in and get into trouble, i ask these questions not to judge, but to make sure you are thinking about the whole picture not just free travel.

Understood and an admirable attitude. The major issue arises when you have a credit card in hand, a short-term goal (gosh, that girl in Economics class is cute!), and lose sight of your plan (maybe she'd be interested if I could get tickets to that hot concert). Suddenly, you find yourself $500 in the hole.

And the strange thing is that many young people facing that situation (and plenty of older ones, too) decide that double or nothing is the right strategy rather than paying off the balance. Of course, the financial institutions make it simple (you don't have to pay off the outstanding balance, just a $20 minimum payment), and they know once you've tasted buying without having to pay in full immediately, you'll do it again.

Giving your folks the card may work but keep in mind it's a two-way street. Any debts they run up are yours--great if they pay them off since it's a benefit to your credit history; not so great if they don't since your name is on the card. And the chances of the card not being paid off? Well, I don't want to be a downer, but I've seen enough marriages go into the toilet over the building of a new house. And then, everybody's more concerned about themselves rather than keeping your credit squeaky clean.

As others have mentioned, many of the folks here get great credit card offers because of a long credit history and a favorable place in life. From the banks' point of view, it makes a lot of sense to give the best offers to those with those qualifications.

I'd stay on a risk-averse path now. There are plenty of credit cards aimed at folks in just your situation which will give you an opportunity to build a credit history (although not much of a miles/points balance). Look seriously at a semester or year abroad program through your university. A friend's daughter did this, had a spectacular time, and was able to spend weekends traveling a bit of Europe while having a home base at the University of Stirling in Scotland. When I was in Dublin a week ago, I ran into some American grad students who were studying in Spain and taking cheap Ryanair flights to various European cities.

Take advantage of your youth. Money may not be plentiful, but your willingness to fly coach, sleep on a friend's (or a friend of a friend's) floor, and find cheap entertainment options (near every school in nearly every country, there's a bar or restaurant or club that will understand a college student's budget and build its business by offering good food and drinks at a relatively cheap price) will help you stretch your budget. Believe me, once you get more seriously into the kind of travel we like to do here, you won't be happy unless you're at least flying business class and staying in nice hotels. It's hard going back!

Look at FT as an online university you'll attend for the next four years. Learn how to get the cheap, easy miles (500 here, a thousand there, occasionally a bigger score will come along). Maybe if you really can remain disciplined enough to keep your credit spending under control, get a first-year fee waived, miles for first spend card although I'd wait until you get a much better idea of what program you'll first concentrate on (with your somewhat limited ability to get credit, you will have to focus on one program) and whether a two-card parlay (a United card and a Chase Sapphire Preferred that offers points that can be converted to UA miles) might work better.

I know. It's a bit frustrating being told to wait. And some others probably will tell you you don't have to. But, you can either take a long time to build a credit history that will benefit you in many ways (buying a house, starting and funding a business, even funding education sound a lot less exciting than travel, but by the time you're 25, may be much more important) or take some steps that may ruin your credit and that may take a whole lot more than 10 years to overcome.

So I just looked at SW's card. Could someone explain to me what makes it a better card for me than US Airways' card or the sapphire preferred card? I have been looking at the US card and I see the sapphire preferred mentioned a lot, but I don't really know what makes any one card "better".

Not to burst your bubble, you are highly unlikely to get any cards with meaningful bonus awards at your age - so forget about a trip to Europe using award miles anytime soon. Actually, you even thinking it is possible shows you are completely naive - about the last person who should get a credit card in their hands...

However, if you do get a card with a few thousand limit, and $1,000 cash to recycle every month, you might be able to slowly churn miles using Amazon Payments at $1K/month/12,000/yr. By the time you graduate college, you'll have enough for a coach ticket...

As a 54-y.o. old fart, I'd say the most important thing is not to get roped into paying 18% interest on a credit card balance. Regardless of anything else, that will eat you alive.

Money means little to me now. I could take 10 trips to Europe financially, but I cannot get away. Time and availability is everything.

Looking back 35 years and talking to my 19 y.o. self, I'd say "What you have now is time. Burn it. You don't have a job, or a spouse, or responsibilities, or monthly payments, or ailing parents to hold you back. DO STUFF."

Travel cheap. You can do it while your body is limber and you can sleep on overnight trains and ferries without pain and you can get drunk and be up at 6 am with vigor and you can live on bread and cheese and salami and beer and wine. Sleep in train stations, or on the beach on a Greek island. You are free.

You have fewer boundaries than I. Take advantage.

What's "better" is in the eye of the beholder, and will be different for different people based on both their tastes and circumstances.

Be careful in calibrating your expectations based on what you see here (and anywhere on the intertoobs, of course). You will see many people here and on blogs who brag about constantly flying first class to exotic destinations, staying in 5 star hotels, etc. To the extent those things are true, they are generally not easily available to someone "just starting out".

For example, some people are focused on flying in premium cabins to exotic international destinations. Nothing wrong with that (!) but also not very practical for everyone - especially for someone in your situation. Great for someone who applys for dozens of credit cards every year (and who has a credit score, income, and the knowledge of how to play the game and when to stop playing) and who can get away with it. But probably not for you.

My advice is to just read up and learn what you can, take it slow, and you will eventually figure out what's best for you. Be careful - if you're not, you can hurt yourself with this stuff.

Ruining my credit is definitely something I want to avoid :P. That's why I'm here asking the veterans! I will be studying abroad in the next couple of years. It's one of the things I look forward to most. However, I am hoping to do more than one semester outside of the country and I thought reward travel might be a good way to do it.

So I can't get a card like that and I do what you are saying. What do you mean by Amazon payments and that taking four years assumes that it would be the only way to get points? Aren't there other good ways to get points?

And you certainly aren't bursting any bubbles. I came here pretty skeptical because of my age. My hope has been that someone else around their college years has played the game and could give me some advice. Maybe not, though!

Remember that with your age, your parents will need to co-sign for you. You have not mentioned a job so I assume you don't have any reportable income. You also state you want to spend MORE than one semester abroad. That gets costly. You will want to travel and see things abroad that will require you to spend money for "normal" housing and also for housing when you travel.

As for your parents using your card when they build their house, that will probably, for the most part, not work. Building a house means spending thousands, or tens of thousand dollars at a time. Because of your lack of income, you will probably have a very low credit limit that would not cover house building expenses.

As others have said, reward cards tend to require very good credit - and if I recall correctly, you don't have any significant credit history that has been reported to the credit agencies. Your best bet is to, in the short term, change your banking such that you can get a rewards earning debit card. After probably 6 months with that bank AND their debit card, apply for one of the reward cards WITH that bank. Don't worry so much about what miles you earn but about building your credit rating.

This is exactly how I feel. I don't require much and there is so much in this world to see.
I am happy to go slow and I have been reading this forum and frugal travel guy for a couple of weeks now.
Well yes I do want to spend more than one semester abroad and yes it will be expensive, but I don't mean that I want to spend multiple semesters abroad. Also, depending on what school I go to, it shouldn't cost me that much more to stay abroad compared to on campus. After my one semester studying I meant backpacking somewhere with my cousins or a couple of friends.
And if it makes a difference I do have a part time job. I make anywhere from 350-550 a month during the school year and up to 1000 a month in the summer. Also I mentioned earlier that I have a 2-year loan with a bank. It is a 3000 dollar loan and I have paid half of it back. Should that not show up on my credit score?

You can - and should, actually get a credit card if you are 18 years old. My son was in your exact situation a couple of years ago, ready to go to college, a part time summer job but not much else in terms of income. He had a savings account since he was a small child, on his 18th b'day we got him a checking account, and a student credit card from Discover card.

The Discover card has no annual fee, $500 credit limit, they actually give you a bonus for paying on time. I also put him as an authorized user on my United card (for 5000 miles of course). He has been using the Discover card and paying it off every month for about 2 years now, his credit score on Creditkarma is in the 720 range and he is getting ready to apply for his own Visa card in the near future. My point is, start slowly and deliberately, in 2 or 3 years you can start trying your luck at one of the bonus cards - it is a marathon, not a sprint.

On the bright side of the passport renewal thing, at least your next one is good for ten years instead of only five years.

Thank God! I only had the stupid thing for two years. It's a money grab!

When each of our three children entered junior high, we opened a Chase Freedom account and set the credit limit at $1000 - I was the primary card holder and they were an authorized user. They used the card for their monthly expenses, paying it off in full every month, and NEVER, NEVER, NEVER carried a balance. As they each turned 18, you could request a form to fill out and sign from Chase which would allow them to become a joint primary account owner. They continue to use the card while in college, and as they graduate they can then request from Chase to become the sole primary account holder. Our oldest found his Freedom card invaluable as he traveled around the country for job interviews after graduation. With the Freedom card your UR points will continue to acrue and will never expire, and you can get a Sapphire Preferred card later on for more options.

I'd raise the coin-on-a-string bar easily to at least 24k a year. But it takes focus and effort. The trick is to design a steady miles flow with minimal resource consumption all the while manufacturing a good credit rating. You have to buy into the concept that the only time you borrow money is to make money.

Right now see if the folks can get you on an AMEX (with your own account number and "customer since" date). Don't even touch your card - let your folks activate it, make a charge on it, then let it build some pseudo credit history while locked in a vault.

I agree that Sapphire is likely where you want to end up, BTW, but not as the first step after you get that AMEX in play.

Do NOT get a credit card. The best part of travel isn't the fancy flights. It's going places. You're young, get a job, save up, get the cheapest possible flight to Europe and go backpacking.

The anal retentive travel obsession you see here is largely fueled by most of us who are stuck with it for work. Being stuck at hotels and on places when everyone else is living their life isn't as glamorous as it seems.

ADK: I have had a Citi AA card since 1989. Can I put my son on there and have him get the credit history, even though he was born in 1997?

Or is this an Amex thing only? If so, same question for them.

More like DO NOT use a credit card. Gotta get a leg up on developing a credit history, though. Your miles accumulation can come from other non credit card opportunities.

Unlike most of the gang here I just travel the world for the heck of it and participate in 50+ frequent flyer programs. While alot of folks here get miles for status or to travel, I am more in the game just to run the casino. There are a few of us cardcounter types here.

You do need a job for job history and you do need credit for credit history, but more than that you need to learn how to be independent and crafty, not young and stupid.

Many of us can teach you to fish, but you will drown in the water if you do not pay attention.

AMEX carries the "member since" over to the next cardholder. That is its advantage. My son has been on my AMEX cards since age 7 and has had a checking account since then as well. Put your son on the AMEX first since they are each assigned their own number and record.

For AA you want to get an AA debit card account with your son at
myufbdirect. When he is 18 you can get him nonAMEX nofee cards by guaranteeing payment. Get the cards, build the credit, but let the cards rot in the vault for the most part.

Our kids never abused their CC - they would only charge a few minor things every month (eating with friends, movie tickets, ...). Once you hit 18 you are able to get your annual free credit report from the three agencies. They would be listed as authorized user on the Freedom account back to the date they got it at 13. After they turned 18 and filled out the form from Chase to become joint primary owner, the entry in each credit report changed from "authorized user" to "primary owner", but the original opening date remained. I would think Amex, Citi, and the others would have similar procedures.

We tried to get our kids a checking account early on with their SS as the primary, but the banks around here wouldn't let them open one until they were at least 16.

Very timely information. I just got my 17 year old daughter a Chase high school checking account (no fee). I added my 14 year old son as an AU on my new United CC. Now maybe I'll put both of them on the Amex card and their credit history will pre-date their conception by more than a decade!

Sundownerz, I started my travel as a college freshman. I echo toomanybook's words about capitalizing on the time you have! I will venture a guess that you're hoping to see as many places and live as many experiences as possible.... that's the perfect formula for mileage running in its purest form: planning travel based on where deals are found.

Programs: Learn the alliances, and unlike the advice of an earlier poster to sign up for every program, I suggest you pick a couple and focus on them. Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan allows you to pool miles flown on American, Delta, and Alaska. A United or US Airways account can be used for travel on both. United lets you redeem for one way flights, so all else equal, a United account will reap rewards sooner than US Airways. Those 2 programs, United and Alaska, will cover the lion's share of flights in the US. If you fly Southwest, then jump into Rapid Rewards, but understand that because they credit based on dollars spent, you will have to fly many many cheap tickets before you see rewards. By and large, Southwest will probably be one of the less generous reward options for you.

Credit Cards: As for credit cards, I would suggest you ignore all the credit card talk-- while you might end up with 1 or 2 as backups, follow your parents' guidance for building your credit history, and be very careful with your choices. As a traveler, a credit card is handy for renting cars (since most agencies accept credit not debit cards), plus the chargeback protection that credit cards offer in cases of hotel/airline ticket mishaps etc. But this is the extent of thought I suggest you give to credit cards. Now, on to the traveling part!

Multimodal: Understand how intermodal connections work-- there may be times when the cheapest travel leaves a gap in your trip (say, a cheap flight into Ft Lauderdale but you want to see Miami (answer: Tri Rail train!); a cheap flight into Newark then out of JFK). If you become comfortable with connections like this, from air to train to bus, you'll have more flexibility.

Train/Bus: Speaking of intermodal, Amtrak Guest Rewards has award levels that are very competitive: Kansas City to Chicago to San Antonio to El Paso on a coach reward for 5500 miles (as in, 20% of what you need for an award flight). Similarly, Megabus has promotional fares of $1 or Free for its services that extend from KC as far as New York and Boston. With time (which you have!) and planning, you can score some of these. not that you should take the bus 3 days to Boston, but if you find a good price to Providence, then you can hit Boston and New York for a few bucks extra.

Cars: Rental cars can be either a convenient luxury or a necessity, and the biggest hirdle is finding a way to rent when you're under 25. Solution: USAA membership for free allows 18+ to rent from Hertz at competitive prices. Problem solved! Sign up at usaa.com

Evaluating offers: Marketing folks always have something to sell, but it's your responsibility to determine what is best for you. I remember reading an article on how to early free travel with "ordinary purchases you'd make anyway"-- including buying an SUV with cash, and refinancing a $400,000 home. Those aren't very ordinary for me (even as a working professional!) and I doubt they're ordinary for you. Be careful!

Planned travel: This is one of the best opportunities to take steps toward boosting mileage. If you need to fly to/from college, explore ways to maximize mileage..... but always keep an eye on the baseline cost. I've seen people create trips where the baseline ticket is $200, but they add in stops etc and increase mileage by 50% for a price of $300. On a cost per mile basis, they're exactly where they started. I suggest learn the nuances of pricing and fare rules, then learn how to stretch the fare.

Unplanned travel: Stay flexible and watch trends in the airline marketplace, then travel to where the low fares are. If Spirit starts new flights from Kansas City to Vegas, then $10 fares will most likely follow. If you're lucky, you may even see match by some majors, then you can work toward earning mileage for future travel. But keep your eye on the baseline cost; beware of opting for a $50 UA flight over a $10 Spirit flight in order to earn 500 miles.

Study abroad: As an incoming freshman, you have a great opportunity to plan study abroad once or twice during your school career. What better way to explore Europe than to have a homebase there for a semester, with Ryanair-type weekend trips. Even exchanges are available so you continue to pay tuition of your home school (with in-state discount, scholarships/grants etc applied), only that you're physically in another continent!

I hope this offers insight from someone who has been in very similar shoes!

Wow, thanks a lot. This is exactly what I was after. Is there a way to just find the cheapest place to fly to from a specific airport without searching every airport I can think of? The same question for bus and train? I'm really not very picky about where I go. I'm young and really haven't seen much of anything yet.

my two cents...start with one card....and hopefully it be a free amex..start building your credit history...if its a free card this one amex will stay on your credit report forever