Beginner to Frequent Flyer Programs; Need NOOB Advice!! HELP!!!!! Please Read...
 

:)
First off, Hello to all!

I am a 22 year old hard worker who recently discovered my love for travel. I went on my very first trip to San Diego last summer and had so much fun! I am planning on going to 2-3 trips this year.... Orlando, San Diego, and Vegas! As you can tell, I don't have much bills at the moment. I plan on moving out and getting my own place next year (house) so I would like to get a lot of traveling out of my system for the time being...


Here is my situation...

With the exception of the 3 trips I have planned but unscheduled this year, I plan on going somewhere atleast once per year. This is not business related travel either. I have done research into the various Travel Reward programs, but I am overwhelmed with choices and options. From my research, there are Airline based cards and Bank Based cards both with thier pro's and con's. I am a victim of the Frontier Airlines marketing campaign too, so I only plan on flying on Frontier Airlines (I live in Denver, + hard to resist the animals! : ) ).

I went to frontier airlines website (frontierairlines.com) and checked their cards and I also shopped the mastercard.com , and visa.com website.

My question is this; Are there any great reward cards/programs for a one-time annual flyer? I mean, if possible I would not like my points to expire. I also don't care about APR because I am able to pay my balance off in full every month. I am using a US Bank Cash Rewards card at the moment to pay off all bills in full every month, then I pay off the card full with cash [again, I' m cheap and I live at home].

I am just confused and I found this forum googling. I tryed searching, but I am having a hard time finding someone in my exact situation, all I see is APR this and APR that.

Tips will be taken thankfully!

Welcome to Flyertalk legend1011!

I would look into the SPG Amex and see if you can convert SPG points to Frontier miles/points. (they have arrangements with most airlines and the points are transferable on a 1:! ration except a couple that i know of, CO/UA). Note that with SPG you get a 5000miles bonus when you transfer 20,000SPG points. Also SPG points can be used @ their hotels and transfered to other hotels as well.(you might want to consider that as your return will be higher in most cases but not all). In essence SPG points are more flexibile than airline branded miles. I politely suggest you do some surfing on this board as there are threads with ALOT of info on credit cards etc. That said the search function is your friend:)
GL

welcome to FT :)

american express starwood card = commonly regarded as best (best airline transfers, and best hotel award program)

http://flyertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=390
credit card forum

"membership rewards" forum is actually pretty much all things amex related
then "diners club" and "other"

Even if you get the pretty good sign up bonus for a credit card offer it might take you a few years to actually redeem enough miles to be able to redeem them. I would advise you to concentrate on the lowest price for the few trips you do. I really don't think it would be worth it for you to spend more to be loyal to a particular airline.

I agree with "myfrogger" - in the situation you describe, shop for the best deal that you can get and don't worry about points. Be flexible about travel dates and look for packages that include the flight and hotel.

I've never used them, but, for example, www.site59.com seems to have good deals for short last minute trips.

BTW, when your credit card "spend" grows, I'm with the Starwood Amex fans.

Welcome to FT!

welcome to FT!

agree with Dave99; AMEX Starwood is probably the best option option once you spend a bit more on your card.
Keep it simple and focussed and study all "deals" before signing up to anything; loads of offers out there, and quite a few are nowhere near as good as they seem at a first glance.

Legend 1011, I am kinda/sorta in the same boat/plane as you . I do not fly much anymore,but still want my miles. :) I discovered this board AFTER I stopped flying :rolleyes: , but as almost everyone here has already said, get the Starwood card from AMEX.
And by all means read ,read, read !! There is a ton of infomation here on almost every conceivable facet pertaining to travel.
Good Luck.
P.S. I really loved those L-1011's

Unless something has changed recently, the SPG Amex doesn't allow transfers to Frontier Early Rewards. Thus, while it's a great card, I don't think it's best for the OP in this situation.


If I were the OP, I'd consider the Frontier Mastercard. The World Card has a 12,500 sign on bonus, and free domestic flights start at 15,000 miles. So with the limited travel the OP does plus some spending on the card, he/she could have enough for a free flight within a year. This card does have a $49 annual fee, which is something to consider. In my opinion, $49 is well spent for the 12,500 free starter miles; there is a lower version of the card without an annual fee, but that card isn't as generous with the starter points or earnings ratio.

I would say go with a cash back card
 

I am in a similar situation where I don't spend enough per year to justify the SPG AMEX Annual fee which is 30 bucks.

Someone who spends say 5-10,000 a year on a credit card doesn't earn enough to justify the annual fee he or she might pay on the credit card.

I think the OP would be best to go with the Citibank dividend reward card or maybe the Citibank ATT Universal Rewards Card to earn thank you points.

If the OP plans on doing any international travel I would suggest the Capital One No Hassle Cash card because there is no currency exchange fee.

i would STRONGLY recommend going with miles. (whatever they might be) i REALLY regret not doing it sooner, and $30 is basically free.. its $2.50 a month..

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry7130e/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

Unless and until you plan to charge a large amount every year to a credit card, I would avoid any card which charges an annual fee. The relentless annual fee will whittle down the value of the rewards you ultimately earn. If you have good credit, the only exception that I would consider is to take advantage of the better introductory offers from the airline cards. United recently offered their Mileage Plus Visa card with the annual fee waived for the first year, and 25,000 bonus miles after you charge $250.00 to the card. USAirways offers a similar deal for their card. I would consider signing up for one of these cards, and then cancelling within one year, to avoid the annual fee. Otherwise, I would just recommend getting a good no-annual-fee cash rebate card, and using the rebates to purchase the least expensive air travel available. (This also enables you to take advantage of Priceline and Hotwire for your air travel, if you wish.)

I think you will find helpful the How to Begin and Credit Card sections of my website below. Plan to spend at least an hour on these, before you go on to all of the other sections containing a very large number of ways to earn free or very cheap miles.

And do expected to get as addicted as the rest of us to this stuff.

Here's the website, a Must Read for all FTers, seasoned or beginners::)
http://www.freefrequentflyermiles.com/index.htm

:D welcome to FT.

I recommend one thing when collecting miles:

SAVE EVERYTHING having to do with any promotion, offer, special, hotel, car rental, and anything involving any flight until you see all your miles post to your account for that instance. You won't really have to save all your credit card receipts but it's a good practice to at least hold on to those at first until you see when and how the miles from CC's add up into your account. But everything else is a must! yup, Save it ALL! Tthe reason for this is because sometimes --no wait-- many times, the entire mileage game is handled a lot like a company's rebate program! They tend to 'misplace' things in their computer systems and so it's up to the savvy customer to prove they should get what they thought they should get. Therefore, I suggest you trust nothing or no one--without taking names and ID numbers, in the business of airlines because it always changes. your letter writing skills will be honed and this could be good in life skills! Trust only yourself and the knowledge you acquire while sifting thru the many valuable threads in FT. While many people here really know their stuff, you will assess what works for you as your mileage and point addiction festers within your very soul! Save your soul too, mate!

Enjoy and good luck!
:)MM