I'm new to all this, and am looking for some friendly advice from mileage uers.
I'm thinking of replacing my primary credit card with one that offers free miles.

My wife and I don't travel a ton, but we would like to start going on a couple of domestic and international trips a year.

Is my thinking correct in that getting a credit card that earns miles, we will be able to do this??? Is it as legit as it sounds?

United offers 20,000 miles just to sign up. The only down side to this that I can see is the high rate (14.94%) and annual fee ($60). Am I missing something???

Also, could any of you tell me what the true downside is to using free miles earned on your credit card to travel? Is it more difficult to get tickets?

For example:

My wife and I want to revist Scotland, but we don't want to pay the $1700 for airfare that we did the first time around. Denver to Scotland is about 5,000 miles. So my wife and I would use 10,000 of our miles to get their and pay nothing? or just taxes? Is this a viable way of going about this???

Please help. I'm new to this idea and it all just sounds too good to be true.

Calzone,

First, welcome to FT.

There is a lot to learn and this website and the people here are a great resource.

First, distance traveled does not determine the miles you have to pay. While it may only be 5,000 air miles from Denver to Scotland, that is not how the "mileage cost" is calculated. Each airline is different... but you can expect such a trip to cost over 30,000 miles (depending on airline and type of ticket).

You first need to decide on which airline you want to focus on... and then work all your miles toward that airline. So, your plan to focus on United (which makes sense since you are in Denver) would mean that would be the right card for you. BUT, you need to decide if the cost and interest rate makes sense for you. For people that carry a balance, the high interest rate might eat up any rewards of the miles.

Make sure you also check out the United Board... so real friendly people there... and make sure you take any chance you can to meet FTers... especially those in Colorado.

Welcome again!!!

William

Thanks for the input!

So, I'm starting to see the light regarding actual miles versus the miles earned on the credit card, however I'm wondering how easy it is to use the miles.

Do they make it difficult to actually cash in and use your earned miles - or is that relatively easy?

Thanks again!

When I've tried to look for awards I've been pretty successful. Sometimes it takes a little flexibility (+/- 1 day), but I haven't had any problems. Then again I haven't tried booking something like SFO-CDG for Valentine's Day the day before Valentine's Day. There have been instances though where people have been able to get what would seem like difficult awards using miles. IIRC auh2o was able to get a Business Class award on UA from LAX-IND the weekend of the Indy 500 without much advance notice.

[This message has been edited by kluau88 (edited 06-03-2003).]

What do you mean by "awards"?

Does getting awards actually mean getting tickets for your cashed in earned miles?

Yes.

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Vasant

Welcome to our support group for our addiction to miles. Two suggestions:

1. Take a look at the How to Begin page of my web site below.

2. When you get to the point of obtaining a credit card, spend an hour or so studying and comparing the offers listed on the Credit Card page of that site.

Enjoy.

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Free Frequent Flyer Miles

If you are a member of the United Mileage Plus program, log in to the Mileage Plus portion of ual.com. You should see a link for "award travel" in the left-hand column. That link will take you to a screen where you can enter some dates and cities and see what a "saver" award will get you. You can find out from that how easy/difficult it is to get awards for various places/various times of year.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

I have had a mileage based card for years. The miles earned on this card have enabled my family of three to visit places like Alaska (3 times), Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Europe (3 times), Canada (3 times) and Chile. The mileage earned from the card supplements that earned from flying. Today, you can charge just about everything on your card. We have 2 cards: an AA Mastercard and a Starwood AMEX card. The Starwood card is great because you can convert points into almost any airline program and you receive a 5000 mile bonus for each 20000 converted. The Mastercard is necessary since there are a few places that do not accept AMEX.

Over the years, it has gotten more difficult to get award tickets, more so for business and first class than economy. It is important to book your travel as far out as posible. You can do this up to 335 days in advance.

If you like to travel, you will not regret getting a mileage earning card.

aceflyer2 made a great point regaring the Starwood Amex card. However it must also be noted that Starpoints can be pretty valuable given that they can be redeemed pretty much without any capacity controls or blackout dates. It's for this reason SPG has probably won numerous Freddies the last 4 years. Given how easy it is to redeem Starpoints, many might be reluctant to transfer them to airline miles which are pretty easily obtainable given people's travel schedules and the status bonuses associated with flying.

As a relative recent convert to the Religion of "Frequent Flyer Miles" the best suggestion on how to start is to read as much of FlyerTalk as you can. The amount of information available on this board is simply amazing. Most People are genuinely happy to help out with any questions that you may have. (Notice I said Most )

Enjoy the addiction to miles.

If the interest rate is an issue, look elsewhere. It doesn't make financial sense to use a FF credit card and carry a balance. You'll pay way more in interest than you'll ever get back in trips.

If the annual fee is an issue, you may be interested in the Hilton HHonors Amex and Visa, and the Amtrak Guest Rewards Visa. Amtrak points can transfer to other programs, but only 20,000 a year.

You should also look at the Starwood Preferred Guest Amex. It has a moderate fee, and can get you free hotel stays at Sheratons and their sister hotels, and also can get you free flights.

All this information is pretty readily available at Gary's site and from the card issuer's directly, as well as on the airline's sites. You will do well if you spend some hours studying those sites.

And you'll probably find some pointers that we've all overlooked!

Thanks everyone!

I'm on my way to sharing in your addiction.

It "costs" about 25,000 miles for a domestic round trip, 50K to Europe, and 80K to Europe in business class. There are only a couple of award seats on every flight, and some flights have none, so it can be difficult to redeem awards. When you consider these difficulties, the awards are worth less than they otherwise might be. If you fly alot and achieve elite status on an airline, the value of the awards increases because you can redeem awards for first class travel at attractive rates.

Also, you will hear a lot about it being difficult to get an award seat. If you are flexible, you will have a greater chance. Don't take no for a final answer. If you try in March for a flight in July, you may find that none are available. But it is possible that a couple will open up in late June - so continually check. Also, United miles can be used for Delta flights - so if United has no award seats, try for Delta.

And - even if you get a United Visa, get a Delta Amex too - and get 10,000 Delta bonus miles even if you cancel the card after a few months.