Am interested in getting a credit card which will earn me frequent flyer miles. Since I will be paying my daughter's college tuition with it, I can expect to charge about $40,000 a year on it. Am considering Citibank's AAdvantage Gold Mastercard which costs $50/year but gives a 5000 mile for signing up. Are there better choices? Would appreciate input. Thanks.

David

I'm not an expert, but I assume the first questions they would ask would be:

1. What airline do you want mileage on?
2. If you don't have a favorite airline, what airlines could you use?
3. Do you want to fly domestic or international?
4. Would your daughter's college accept Amex?

With that information some of the experts here can give you some good advice. (I use the Citibank card and get AA miles.) Good luck!

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Middle_Seat

If your daughters university will accept it I am a big fan of Diners Club because of the ability to transfer the points/miles into numerous programs. And this is the third year in a row that that BA has offered 2:1 conversion during the summer months. That would mean $40,000 tuition alone would get you a free Club World ticket from the US to Europe.

Starwood American Express is tough to beat. $20K in spend = 25K FF miles. No annual fee for the 1st year, only $30 after that.

Starpoints transfer to almost every major airline.


http://www66.americanexpress.com/car...6193543343/0/n

I also think that the Starwood/Amex card is the best deal going right now.

For Visa/Mastercard, the Amtrak rewards card from MBNA is also a very good card. (No annual fee, 1 pt per dollar, transfer to airlines 1:1 in 5k blocks.)

-David

Ditto on the Starwood Amex - try this link for a 4000 Starpoint bonus upon first use (it is a new offer, and the link listed above doesn't have this benefit). That can be used for a full weekend at some Starwoods - As mentioned, points can convert to many airlines, but the hotel awards are often worth more than the flights might be. Good flexibility.

http://www66.americanexpress.com/car...6221212937/0/n



[This message has been edited by VolleyballFerd (edited 05-06-2002).]

I did the Citibank one that's linked to AMR, just like you did. They were giving out 10,000 miles for signing up and after the first year, when I generated a ton of charges due to business travel, I asked them to waive the $50 fee and they did. Even if they didn't, the 10,000 miles was worth $200, so that pays for four years of that fee.

I've had both the Starwood Amex and the Diners cards for years and they both have their merits - otherwise I wouldn't have kept them for so long. Another card that you may want to consider is the Southwest Visa thru First USA, for every $16K in charges you get TWO 1-way Rapid Rewards certificates that can be used with absolutely NO capacity controls - if there is an empty seat on the plane it's yours (there are a few blackout days). The certificates are totally transferrable so anyone can use them - heck, although I'm not necessarily endorsing it they can bring up to about $185 each on ebay! Depending on where you live and where your daughter goes to school perhaps she could use the certs to fly home to visit...

Do not get the Citibank Aadvantage card. The customer service is BAD. I booked a cruise and the agent put the ENTIRE amount of the cruise on the credit card WITHOUT asking me. I wanted to just put down the deposit because the cruise isn't till january,2003. I called the cb to dispute the charge and they would not put the amount in dispute. So now I have been trying to get a refund on my OWN thru the agent and NCL cruise line. The people at CB will not help you at all. DO not get the card. You'll be sorry.

i hadn't considered the starwood before because i rarely stay in hotels, but it sounds pretty good, do you have to have 20K before you can do any transfers or can you transfer smaller amounts?

You can transfer smaller amounts - 2500 points or more for general Starwood members and lower limits for elite Starwood members. The 5K mile bonus kicks in only on transfer of 20K points.

I think that there are many reasons to go with the Starwood card.
One of my favorites is the following conversion:

1. 40K *wd = 50K airline 1 european RT/ 2 Domestic RT (you get 1.25 per $)

and those 50K CO/DL = 100K Hilton (If needed) That is equal to 6 nights in HI or non-US hotels.

If you can wait until 60K:
60K *wd = 5 nights at a class 3 hotel and 50K airline miles. (WOW)

Starwood gets you hotel stays, a 1.25 per point conversion to airlines, and even the possibility of redeeming on Hilton.

DC will let you move them to *wd too but at a .6 per $ rate. (If you frequent BA, that DC deal of 2 points per $ may just be worth it.)

One possible downside is if you attempt to charge the total amount in one lump sum beware of your credit limit. I think Amex is stingy with the amount they initially give. I used the Green card for mine once but Amex wanted to make sure that I had the money before they would allow the transaction.

my 2c
BSL

I had an American Express Delta Skymiles charge and found many places did not accept American Express only visa or mastercard, so I discontinued it for that reason...

I find that Amex is acceptable at many more places now than in the past - but it is still good to have a mileage earning Visa or MC for those places that don't accept Amex.

If your daughter's college accepts only Visa/MC, and you live closer to EWR than LGA or JFK, consider the Chase CO Visa. Annual Fee: $45, bonus miles for sign-up, more domestic destinations out of EWR with CO.

Otherwise, AA's miles are more versitile as they can be used with more partner airlines.

MHO

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On the road, In the air,
I enjoy travel, From here to there.