Hi Everyone,

I recently joined a company (it’s a small one!) doesn’t have any restrictions on which airline we travel and put emphasis on buying cheaper tickets. We do need to travel 2-3 times a month.

I am planning to get a miles card and it seems most of the frequent flyer programs has some sort of annual fee and are tied to certain airline program (Nothing new here as we know). Are there any good frequent flyer/ miles card out there that rewards you for flying with any airlines and still provide you all the free access (concierge, lounge, etc..).

Thanks in advance for all your responses!

Thanks,
Vmaliwal

Amex Platinum earns you MR for every purchase and has lounge access with many airlines, but it's far from free. See the credit card forum.

Welcome to Flyertalk!

Most credit cards are airline-specific, with your points going directly into your account with that airline. Amex (the regular non-co-branded one) is an exception, if you join their Membership Rewards program, the points can later be transferred to a variety of programs. It does have a fee, on the high side.

A good alternative may be the SPG Amex, which earns Starwood hotel points. These can be transferred to many airlines, at 1:1, or 1:1.25 if you move 20K at once. You may find that the points are even more valuable for hotel stays. And the fee ($35?) is lower than many airline cards. It's a favorite of many of us here. Having the card gets you Starwood "Preferred" status, and if you spend $30K/year, you get Gold status.

I'm not aware of any airline credit cards here in the US that give you airline status just for having the card.

Welcome to FT!

I'd spend a little more time figuring out which airline you want to fly and less time worrying about the CC you'll use. No airline CC is going to provide lounge access and concierge service.

Your first goal should always be status, then simply pick a card that offers miles with your preferred carrier.

The fee for SPG amex is free for the first year and then $45 annually (which is lower than most airline cards such as Delta, AA, UA).

As far as airline status, I believe that AMEX Centurion does give you status on some airlines, but you have to have at least $250k annual spend on AMEX platinum b/4 you can get Centurion, AND the annual fee is exorbitant at $2500 (plus there's a $5k initiation fee).

True, but you don't have to go that far. As noted in post #2, you get status with Platinum too. (It has to be "real" AmEx Platinum, not one of the platinum-colored affinity cards AmEx Corp. issues for Hilton, etc.)

Citi Premier Pass elite is another option that might interest you. 1 point per dollar spent on the money you spend plus you get 1 point per mile flown for all tickets that you charge to the card.


Halothane

Not exactly correct. The Delta Reserve card gives you CRC access (not membership), and the AMEX Platinum also gives lounge access.

so the plus of the Starwood AmEx card is that you can convert at a 1+ rate for some airlines? (I'm not interested in hotels so I think that's the appeal for me)
and the Citi Premier Pass gets you 1 pt per $ spent AND and additional pt per mile flown on tix charged to that card?

Am I understanding both of these correctly? They sound like winners to me!
Have I understood these correctly?
Thanks, alief

Yes and no.

The value of Starwood points is quiet significant. Especially the cash+points function ^

It keeps you flexible yes, but in general you are better off with a regular airline credit card if you plan to roll your points over anyways.

Reason is the big enrollment bonus for the airline cards (25K for AA is an example) that the SPG doesnt have in this high numbers.

AMEX Platinum is good for lounges but VERY expensive. Too expensive just for a CC in my understanding but YMMV