I just got approved for the citibank AAdvantage card and have pretty much decided to cancel my amex preferred rewards gold. I got it for free for the first year and used it for about 12,000 in purchases getting me somewhere around 18,000 miles, but at 130$ a year I don't think I can justify keeping it. I did a search in the archives and found a card poll and found out almost everyone carries an amex charge and I just wanted to find out if I was missing some reason that I should pay the 130$ and keep it. I am a full time college student so about the most I will charge on it a year is 15,000 or so, which is why in my opinion the AAdvantage world card made more sense at only 50$ a year, plus lately amex's customer service is leaving something to be desired.

I doubt you should even pay $50/year to get a mileage card.

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Look into the Starwood AMEX. Go to Starwood board.

One of the issues with the Starwood card is that it is AMEX and not accepted everywhere. For e.g. I can pay my rent with a visa or a mastercard only - thats about 12000 miles a year!

Yeah, I can't get by with the AmEx only. It's also my personal preference not to pay an annual fee at all. Hilton has no-fee Amex and Visa, so that pretty much covers all my expenses. I like having the Amex, though, not only because you can use it at Costco but because it overs 50% more points on everyday purchases than the HHonors Visa. For no fee, that suits my needs perfectly.

Don't forget MBNA Amtrak MasterCard is free to earn 1:1 united miles. Someone said AA mileage credit card is free too.

Don't pay a fee for that card. You can get it for free for 6 months, with a 10,000 mile bonus. Then either pay a fee for one of the better bonus offers for the AAdvantage card if they will let you, or cancel it and get one of the other free cards.

Full info on all of this on the Credit Card page of my web site below.

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But if you charge a lot at places that take AMEX, I would definately suggest the Starwood card. Besides, $30 isn't too bad for an annual fee IMO.

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No thanks, I'm just lurking. Call me the Lurker!

Which is why, as many people said, even $50 a year is simply not worth it in your circumstance.

Fee Free cards I'd recommend:

1) Amtrak MC - transfer and fly on Midwest, Frontier, AA, CO, NW, DL, UA, US, and any *A (Star Alliance).

2) Hilton HHonors Visa, Amex - use points for hotel or flight rewards, among others.

And don't forget iDine!

But please remember: DON'T DROWN IN DEBT. Or at least wait until you have a full time job.

If I pay 50$ a year for AAdvantage card and earn enough in 2 years to get at least one flight, wouldn't that still be worth me paying the annual fee because I could use these points for a ticket that is say an emergency ticket with only like 7 days advanced notice, as long as they will let me use my awards for a flight with that short of notice, since it would cost me 100$ in annual fees but the price of a ticket that short in advance could cost up to 700$ or more? Or if you figure that the place I usually fly to costs 287 dollars but I get enough in 2 years (100$) to fly there wouldn't that still be worth it? Please correct me if I am wrong, because I am still new to this FF stuff and may be going about it all wrong:-)

1. It is rare that you can get a ticket on short notice with miles.

2. If you wait for a sale, you can usually get a ticket to most places in the U.S. on Southwest or one of the other discount carriers for $200 or less. Still worth it, but why not use a free card instead?


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Gary, I couldn't disagree more.

I find that it's somewhat easy to get awards booking far in advance or at the last minute and that the difficulty is in securing awards in between.

I've never failed to secure an award the day before a flight. (Fortunately, none of the flights I wanted were sold out.)

Airlines release seats to award inventory over time. One of the final dumps is generally right at the last minute when it's clear that lots of seats won't sell anyway.

Had no problem a couple months ago booking C of F IAD-LAX-AKL-CHC-SYD-LAX-IAD with only 30 hours notice...

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View from the Wing: A blog about Free Miles and Free Markets

so my thinking is not really that wrong? I assume also that if I can get enough for an international flight in 2-3 years, which would cost 150 in annual fees, but if I bought the ticket would cost 750-800 min then also it would be worth while? My mom books tickets usually 2 weeks or less in advance and uses pts to do so and has never had a problem, thus my thinking that if I pay 100 dollars in annual fees but get a ticket a week, or like Gleff said 1 to 2 days in advance, valued easily at 6-700 dollars then the annual fee would easily justify itself? Am I wrong or does this make sense?

I'm impressed.

Question: Did they charge you a fee for last minute ticketing? And could you have gone to the airport to pick up a paper ticket, or was an e-ticket required?

Thanks.

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