Howdy --

I'm a complete newbie when it comes to the world of frequent flier points. I have an AMEX rewards account, and I really like their system so far (although I have yet to use it). I can spend 20k points and fly anywhere in the US with delta. I get 1 mile per dollar. I use my card for purchases for my job, so I'd like to find a different credit so I can seperate my expenses... Preferably a VISA so it will be accepted anywhere.

So here are my questions:

1) Can I put miles from different programs, into any central pool to spend? (ie: my rewards points, and my new program whatever it is)

2) Is there a place that sells flights/car rentals/etc than the airlines program?

3) What is the best deal going on right now? I would rather not pay a annual fee.

4) whats the best place for me to look to find this info?

Thanks!

You should use the "search" option and you will probably find the answers to your questions. As far as good affinity credit cards without an annual fee, the Hilton HHonors Signature Visa gives you 2 points/dollar and I think you get 10,000 with your first purchase. No annual fee, of course.

believe it or not, I have been reading through these forums The problem is I'm VERY unfamiliar with the lingo. Most of what I read is greek to me. But, I will continue reading eventually I'll figure it out. Thanks for the suggestion on the hilton card.

I actually have two AmEx rewards cards. One is the green charge card that I use just for personal use and the other is a membership rewards credit card that I use strictly for business. They both accrue points in one central membership rewards account so I am earning alot monthly.

Call AmEx and see if they can do the same for you.

Cheers,

Vanessa

I could get two AMEX cards -- but the problem is that some places don't take amex, so I'd rathat have one card that I KNOW all my business charges will be on. Otherwise I'd do that in a heartbeat.

I looked at the HHonors visa signature card, but I am not sure about my ability to transfer its points into airline miles.. it says that for 10,000 hilton points, I get 1,500 airline miles. Is that physical miles, or is that mile points (ie: 25,000 to fly domesticly)?

Thanks for the help! I appreciate it.

I suggest you start at my web site below. It is written in plain language. My intent is to make it accessable to everyone. You might start in the How to Begin section.

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Free Frequent Flyer Miles

Gary's site is excellent, IMHO. Keep in mind it is also encyclopedic. You will not be able to digest everything on there in one sitting, or even two. The same goes for all the gems of info on FlyerTalk. It takes time to get a handle on it all.

It would help if we understood a few things about your travel habits and goals. For example, are you a frequent business traveller looking to earn status and miles for vacation travel? That describes quite a few people here, probably the largest camp, adn I'll call it "Type A".

Or, are you more like me (and pgary and singlemalt) in that you are an avid recreational traveller who doesn't travel extensively for business but likes getting free travel whenever possible? This "Type B" is generally the minority camp around FT, and our goals require a different strategy.

If you are Type B as I suspect, then you might find my strategy helpful. I focus all my energy on Hilton HHonors. I have an HH Amex and Visa, both fee free with top credit card perks. They earn 3 and 2 points per $ respectively, 5 and 3 at HHonors properties.

The points are redeemable at Hilton family, Hampton, Doubletree, Embassy, Conrad International, and Scandic hotels worldwide. They are also redeemable directly for air travel, which is much more advantageous than transferring HH points to miles (yes, they transfer to regular Frequent Flyer miles, not some other scheme), and vacation packages.

HHonors is also a good "bucket" for putting other points into. You can transfer from many frequent flyer plans, Amtrak, Diners Club, MyPoints and even MembershipRewards, all at reasonable rates (as opposed to transferring HH to FF, which is just not an advantageous rate of exchange). This "bucket" feature really gives HHonors an edge to me over other programs. Just today, I initiated another transfer that will neet me 40,000 points from regular holiday travel (flights over Thanksgiving and Christmas).

I should mention that HHonors is the only program I know of that allows you and your significant other to have a joint account. So you can combine balances from two FF accounts into one HH account.

There are other programs you might consider, namely the Starwood Preferred Guest Amex, which has a low annual fee. Starwood does not transfer IN, but they transfer out to FF programs at a very advantageous rate.

SPG doesn't fit my needs because:

But SPG could be good fro you if you are primarily interested in earning free flights.

There are many posts in MilesBuzz, Hilton forum, and Starwood forum that will be helpful to you. Search, research, and post your questions, and you'll be sure to get some good answers.

By the way, I consistently yield 8% or more in rewards based upon the value of my rewards against the amount spent on my credit cards. You can read more about that and my strategy as well as some helpful HHonors tips in these threads:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum57/HTML/006854.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum57/HTML/006687.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum57/HTML/006145.html

Thanks to Both pgary and Rut Dog. I read through parts of your site pgary, and like Rut Dog said, theres a lot to digest but it definitely helps put things into perspective, and explains a lot. I am most definitely a Type B. I do not do a lot of traveling.. but I do a decent amount of buying. But when I do travel, I would like discounted/free travel. I probably travel 1-3 times a year on trips where I need to purchase airfair or hotel accomodations.

I looked through the HHonors site (www.hhonorscard.com).. and the only info I found about airline miles were trasnfering into an air program for FF miles.. There are other ways to use your Points for air travel? Can you tell me how I can find those ways? Because the 10,000 points for 1,500 miles is not advantageous at all.

It seems to me that most of the benefits from rewards would be in flying. for 20k I can get a round trip ticket anywhere in the US.. generally costing anywhere from 200-500, OR I can get a hotel room, costing around 150-250. Am I wrong in that thinking?

Thanks again for the help folks!

mucknet, Hilton HHonors is a loyalty program for the Hilton brands similar to a frequent flyer program for an airline. The site you checked out is simply for the card, a marketing offshoot of the program.

www.HHonors.com is the website you want to for all the details of the program, including how to redeem for all the good stuff (not for airline miles). So now you get to spend a few hours perusing another website.

Be sure to check out the links I posted above, too. They contain some of the answers your looking for. And the Hilton forum is very valuable, too.

And for Starwood, see www.SPG.com and the Starwood forum.

[This message has been edited by Rut Dog (edited 02-25-2003).]

Trust Rut Dog. He's provided wonderful advice about the HH program and is a kind guide to newbies . I believe you can view point levels to redeems airline awards online as well at www.hhonors.com.

Of course if you want free flights, you might want to snoop around the airline of your choice and see what kind of credit card promotions they currently have. Spending on a credit card that rewards 1 mile/$ and occasional double mile promotions may get you to an air reward slightly faster than spending soley on HH cards. The United, AA business mastercard, Alaska, and Delta cards all seem to be good deals.