Credit Cards
 

Does anyone know of a credit card that does not charge an annual fee that offers airline miles?

Thanks
Tony

United has a card, with no fee, that offers 1 mile for every $2 spent.

Is that good? How do these miles work? Are they mile for mile, i.e. if I want to fly to a destination 1500 miles away, do I need 1500 miles racked up...?

Thanks
Tony

american express also has a card that gives you one mile per two dollars on Delta. No annual fee.

The credit card business is competitive enough that you sometimes can get the fee waived. Pick the card that suits your needs, then call the issuing bank and tell them that you're interested in using their card as your primary credit card, but only if they agree to waive the fee. The worst that can happen is they say no.

Tony,

You generally need 25,000 miles for a free coach ticket. Check the United and Credit Card section. There is a United card with 20,000 miles to start for $60/yr.

Tony

Nope, to get a round trip ticket you usually need to have 25,000 miles for the 48 states. Visit the airline's websites and check to see what their reward amounts are, Europe and Asia would be even more miles.

Welcome to FlyerTalk http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif It looks like you need to do some research. If you look at any of the airline's web sites, you'll see sections covering how many miles are needed for various regions, be it coach, business, or first. Do you fly with a particular airline now, or are you looking at selecting an airline? You'll likely want a card that will accumulate miles, or allow miles to be transferred, into your airline account.

With the "fee" cards, you get 1 mile for each dollar spent. With the "free" cards, less. There are some good promos out there for some of the airlines, as pointed out above. I got 10,000 miles when I signed up for AA's card last year, but I fly AA. This wouldn't make sense unless you plan to fly them (or the UA promo unless you intend to fly with them).

The Starwood American Express has no fee the first year, $30 thereafter. Earn 1 SPG point per dollar spent, redeem for Starwood hotel stays or convert 1:1 into most airline miles. Get 5000 bonus miles when converting 20,000 SPG points into miles. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gif

http://www66.americanexpress.com/cards/Fmacfservlet?csi=6/11247/b/52/0/196191217500/0/n -- or --

https://www66.americanexpress.com/cards/Applyfservlet?csi=6/12874/b/57/25843 49830/258120959176/0/n

The Amtrak Mastercard has no fee. Earn 1 Amtrak point per dollar spent, redeem for Amtrak travel or merchandise or convert 1:1 into United, Continental, or Midwest miles or 1:1 into Hilton HHonors.

http://www.amtrakguestrewards.com/index.cfm?category=earn&loc=creditcardstan dardearningdetail.html


[This message has been edited by gleff (edited Jan 05, 2004).]

Take a look at the Free Cards section of the Credit Cards page of my web site below. Also, be sure to look at the fee cards section. There are some very good deals there. For example, it appears that you can still get 20,000 United Airlines miles for $60.

The page is a bit out of date, since I have been travelling in a warm place. I will delete the expired offers within a week or two.

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Free Frequent Flyer Miles

Frontier has a no-fee card program as well.

There are basically three kinds of cards that earn award travel.

One kind is linked to one airline or hotel program. Most of these earn one airline mile per $ spent (hotel point credits vary) and charge an annual fee. A few exceptions, no fee but a lower earning rate, were mentioned in prior posts. If you charge a lot, a fee is worth it. An advantage of these cards is that miles/points can be used for awards that can be prohibitively expenive to pay for, such as overseas travel in business or first class. Most of these are MC/Visa, with a few AmEx Optimas (e.g., Delta's card).

Another kind earns credits that can be converted directly to airline/hotel points. These include some AmEx and Diner's cards. Starwood AmEx is the no-fee leader here. It offers a 25% mileage bonus if you convert 20K points to the same program at the same time. Biggest drawback is low acceptability versus MC/Visa. Most people who have one of these get an MC/Visa as well. Before you get one, make sure its convertibility includes your desired airline(s).

The third kind accumulates credits in its own program which must be redeemed directly through their own agency. Biggest drawback is that awards are effectively limited to inexpensive economy tickets. If your travel qualifies for these, you can get tickets for fewer charged $ with one of these cards than with an airline program. (And these tickets, since the credit card company pays the airline for them, usually earn miles.) If you want any other kind of award, forget them. Upgrades and such are either unavailable or absurdly expensive, and you can't combine miles earned through flights or hotel stays with "miles" earned for charging on the card.

So, first you have to decide which general kind of card you want. Then the pros and cons of specific cards within the category matter.

Pretty much almost all the major mileage earning credit offer the no-fee version of the fee-based mileage earning card, but at a ratio of earning one mile for every $2 rather than one.

Examples that I am sure offer the no-fee version include: BankOne's United Mileage Plus card and British Airways visa, US Bank's WP visa, Chase's One Pass credit card, and Amex Delta Skymiles card. I am sure there are others, but these are the ones that I have personal experience with.

Also, don't forget about the MBNA Amtrak Rewards card that offer a one-to-one redemption value on UA Mileage Plus miles and CO Onepass miles with no annual fee. IMO, this is probably the best mileage earning credit card that does not charge an annual fee. Further, you have a choice between two airlines from which to choose.

CitiBank Bronze AAdvantage
US Bank NW Visa
AMEX Delta Options

All with no annual fee; all only earn 1 mile per $2 purchased.

check www.bankrate.com good starting point. http://www.bankrate.com/brm/rate/cc_...s=25&cc_freq=1 try this link, hope it helps