Updated 6/8/06

My passion is travel, so I thought it would be beneficial to start a thread to serve a central place to learn, question, and speculate about credit cards and finance related to travel. There are some threads about the best cards to use abroad, which I touch on a bit here, but fewer with ideas on how to get abroad (for free.) FlyerTalk.com is a good resource as well, but they are not as financially saavy. There, it is all about an allegiance to a specific airline. Here, I hope it is more of an focus on smart spending.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Noteworthy Travel Reward Credit Cards ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here are some cards to get you on your next trip for free or cheap.

NOTES: Miles vs. Points- The term 'miles' is generally reserved for airline-affiliated programs. If you travel on, and carry the credit card of, the same airline or its partners, all of your purchase and flight miles are pooled into one frequent flier account. This will help when it comes to redeeming since all of your rewards are in one place.

While points can be similar to miles, the term 'points' is generally reserved for cards not affiliated with a specific airline. Points cards are generally the any-airline, any-seat, any-day type cards. The issuing banks generally just pay a travel agency to book reward tickets for their clients once they have enough points. The underlying problem with these cards is that you cannot pool your points with your frequent flier miles.

The Bad: 10,000 ThankYou points + 15,000 Delta SkyMiles does not equal 25,000 points, or enough for that free domestic ticket.
The Good: 25,000 ThankYou points + 25,000 Delta SkyMiles does equal a free domestic ticket on either program (really nice if one offers a better schedule, or if there are no seats available in one program)


<font color=white style="background-color: #3E3E3E;">NEW! Blue Sky from AmEx (Thanks amhidogha!)
Think of this as more of a 1.3% cash rewards card rather than a travel card. That's because unlike most travel credit cards, with Blue Sky, you can redeem points for discounts towards any travel purchase, bought anywhere! You don't have to book travel with a specific travel agency or a specific company. Just book your air travel, car rental, tour, or hotel stay however you'd like. Pay for the purchase using this card and after the charge has posted, simply redeem your points and AMEX will credit your account. You earn 1 point for every $ spent, and you can redeem 7,500 points as a $100 statement credit (or anything in multiples of $100.) As long as you occasionally travel, this program works very much like a cash reward card, but, unlike the standard 1% Cash Back, you will earn a respectable 1.3%. Many airline affiliated cards will beat 1.3% back, but you'll have a greater number of points to earn to reach a reward, plus you are limited to specific flights, airlines, etc. It's pretty simple and rewarding!


Airline-Affiliated Credit Card List
The linked site is great to compare the annual fee, bonus miles, and earning rates for each credit card. Airline cards often come with a hefty annual fee, so unless they give you elite qualifying miles, want to upgrade, or additional perks beyond the miles, I'd keep looking. They are often good cards, but look at Starwood's card before you get one.

Starwood Preferred Guest AmEx (Thanks Cbass98)
This is an excellent card now famous in the travel community. Its my only 5 smiley in any of my threads. You earn 1 point per dollar spent, but you can exchange 20,000 points into 25,000 frequent flier miles into many airline frequent flier programs. That means you are actually earning a whopping 1.25 frequent flier miles per dollar spent with a low $30 annual fee (waived for the first year). Plus you now earn an excellent 6,000 bonus points on your first purchase, and up to an additional 6,000 by staying at Starwood properties. This is beter than most airline-affiliated cards, becuase you can transfer points into just about any mileage program. Do a bit of research before you do the transfer and find the airline offering a reward requiring the least amount of miles, fewest connections, and best schedule. (You can't do this very well with an airline specific card.) This is a great pick! There is a new FW thread discussing this card in detaill. Check it out!

Norwegian Cruise Line MasterCard (Thanks slimcustomer)
Its really an excellent card if you are looking to take a cruise in the future. You earn a whopping 3% on all purchases toward a stateroom upgrade, or free cruise. Points expire in 3 years and the maximum is $1,000 in savings per year, but some have gotten multiple cards. Maybe there's more to it, but until I hear otherwise, I think this is really a great card!

PremierPass MC from Citi (Non-Elite)
This no annual-fee card will give you 1 ThankYou point per dollar spent and 1 point for every 3 miles you fly. Also, you'll earn 5,000 bonus points with your first purchase. It is an interesting idea, but rarely your best choice.

PremierPass ELITE MC from Citi
This elite card still gives you 1 point per dollar spent, but unlike the non-elite, you'll also get one point per mile flown. Sure, the $75 fee is a drag, but on your next flight, just think... you'll be earning frequent flier miles AND ThankYou points at the same time toward your next trip! This benefit is probably enough to offset the annual fee associated with this card as long as you travel several times a year. The points are also good for gift cards and merchandise. Card is part of ThankYou. Get this card if you travel several times a year on various airlines, and need to travel at peak times. There is a 15,000 point bonus for signing up.

Chase Rewards Plus MasterCard OR Visa
This is a good card especially for those who don't travel all that often. While it isn't specifically a travel card, travel is still one of the rewards options. You earn an excellent 5 points per dollar spent at gas stations, supermarkets, and drug stores. You'll earn 1 point everywhere else. The Mastercard isn't mentioned on Chase's website, but follow the link to a FW thread with info on how to apply and obtain a $50 signing bonus. There is no bonus for Visa. Those who don't travel much, want to keep things simple, and want the flexibility of various rewards options beyond airline tickets will like this card.

Capital One Go Miles
This card is noteworthy because it is so bad. You earn 1.25 points per dollar spent, but the amount of points it takes to get a ticket is atrocious. It's good do have a Capital One card for purchases while abroad (it doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee) but until you're abroad, you'll be better off with other cards.

WorldPoints MasterCard from MBNA OR Visa Signature OR American Express
This card earns a standard 1 point per dollar spent, with exception of the AMEX. Thru Jan of 2007, you'll earn double points on restaurant and travel purchases with the AMEX only. When BofA takes over MBNA, lets hope that they give us some added benefits and don't devalue the points.

Foreign Currency Surcharges- "Many Banks are charging exorbitant fees when travelers use their credit cards overseas" is the first article featured in the January 2006 issue of the magazine. It explains the fees plainly and has an excellent table of the top credit cards to use while overseas..... Capital One takes the cake with no fee for purchase in a foreign currency. The article is available here online, but unfortunatly it does not include the comparison table. Nor is it verbatum of whats in the magazine. You may consider buying the magazine if you can still find it. I don't want to scan it because of copywrite issues, but it is well worth the $4.50 price tag. There is a lot more there than what can be found online.

Cards and Foreign currency charges (from Conde' Nast Traveler) adapted and abbreviated

* American Express- 2% CC
* Bank of America- 3% CC, 3% debit
* Capital One- none CC
* Citibank- 3% CC, 1% debit
* Diners Club 3%, 2% for corporate cardholders
* HSBC 1%* CC, 1% debit
* Chase 3%* CC, 3.5% debit
* MBNA- 3%* CC (although I just checked my terms and conditions, and I am not charged at all, double check pls.)
* Providian 1%* CC
* Wells Fargo 3% CC, 3% debit

*Plus these marked cards charge the fee even if the overseas purchase is charged in U.S. Dollars
Conde' Nast Traveler (US Edition) February 2006, Pg 60-62, author Wendy Perrin.


The magazine article also includes fees for an ATM withdrawl overseas

Travel Rewards Credit Cards- "I wanted to earn more frequent-flier miles. I wanted greater seat availability when trying to redeem them. But I didn't want to spend more time on the planes. The solution? A credit card makeover" is also an excellent article which deluges into the world of travel-rewards credit cards. While the tendancy on FW is that cash rewards are often better, depending on how you redeem your miles or points, travel reward credit cards may be the most rewarding for saavy travelers.

The article is published in the March issue of the magazine and is not online yet. It breaks down the different types of FFGuru's (frequent flier Guru's) into several types such as those looking to obtain elite status, upgrade, or get a free companion ticket." Just to summarize.... If you are earning just 1 point/mile per dollar spent, you should reconsider your card of choice based on the list in the article. Beware of cards offering miles that aren't really miles. The author couldn't find anything good to say about Capital One's card in terms of mileage earning potential, and she is much more diplomatic than I. (Stay away from Cap One until you are actually abroad). The starwood Preferred Guest American Express is a top pick for most of the categories. Starwood is the parent company of Sheraton, Westin, and W hotels but the rewards expand far beyond hotel stays. You can transfer 20,000 Starwood points for 25,000 frequent flier miles in many airline frequent flier programs. Plus, its low $20 annual fee even more attractive.

A Flyer's Wish List (From Conde' Nast Traveler) adapted and abbreviated

* Free Coach Seats- Consider the Starwood Preferred Guest AMEX (1.25 miles/$), or an airline-affiliated card (up to 2 miles/dollar)
* Schedule and Route Flexibility- Starwood Preferred is excellent as well, and Diners Club may be an option too
* Free Upgrades- Look for cards which offer elite qualifying miles (Such as the cards from Delta, United, and US Airways) or Starwood.
* Free Companion- Platinum AMEX, or the BA Visa are great because they offer 2 premium-class tickets for the price of one full fare ticket.

Conde' Nast Traveler (US Edition) March 2006, Pg 62-64, author Wendy Perrin.

Many people on FW love to discount the benefits of a travel rewards credit card but miles can be very valuable. Don't forget that 1 mile/point rarely equals only 1 cent.

First you need to find out how much money the card will save you by giving you a free ticket.

1) Pick a travel rewards credit card.
2) Look in the reward section of their website and choose a reward to serve as your goal (free domestic ticket, Hawaii, Europe etc.)
3) Estimate the cash value of that reward ticket. Call a travel agency or search a site like Orbitz to find out the price. Try to simulate the conditions of the time you would like to travel. (ie how much in advance will you book, are you traveling during a peak time, which day of the week etc)

-If thats too much work (or too confusing), use your last vacation for the example.


4) Take the cash value of the ticket, subtract the annual fee for the credit card for however many years it will take you to get the free ticket.
5) >>>> That is how much cash the card will be saving you.

Now you have to figure out how much money you have to spend on the credit card to get enough miles for your reward.

6) Take the number of miles your example reward requires, and subtract any bonus miles you'll earn, such as those you'll earn for signing up, staying at partner hotels, (and if you are getting an airline-affiliated card, the miles you will earn for traveling on that airline on non-reward tickets.)
7) Divide that number the amount of miles you get per dollar.
8) >>>> That is how much money you must spend to get the reward.

You are just about there!

9) Divide your answer to number 8) by your answer to number 5)
10) >>>> That's it! That is the percentage you are getting back on the money you spent on your miles credit card. Now that you are able to compare apples to apples (so to speak) compare that percentage to that of your most rewarding card currently in your wallet.

Don't forget that while your airline-affiliated cards will often give you the greatest percentage back per dollar spent, they often have the most restrictions on rewards tickets. If you want your free ticket during peak travel periods, you'll probably want to stick with a bank travel credit card (not associated with a specific airline.) Bank travel cards don't earn miles per-say, nor can you combine them with your frqequent flier miles on a specific airline, but they don't come with blackout dates, capacity restrictions etc. Some examples of these type cards are Citi's PremierPass, MBNA's WorldPoints, Chase's Rewards Plus, and Discover's Miles Card.

I share your passion for travel, especially on a shoestring budget. Thanks for putting all of this in one place...its a fantastic resource.

edit: Nice update, I wish I could give you another +2

I thought some of the MBNA cards only charge 1% for foreign currency charges.

didYOUsearch said:SweetCash said:I thought some of the MBNA cards only charge 1% for foreign currency charges.yes , their cobrand cards. its in the linked thread.

So if you have a 1% Cash Back on top of that, I think you pretty much break even.

Citi Premier pass gives you 1% on travel and 1 point for every mile you fly, so if you buy a $300 ticket from chicago to san diego you get 300 points plus 3500 points for the miles! you will need equal purchase points befor you can redeem mile points. it also has a $75 annual fee and offers 15000 bonus points after first purchase. You can redeem points for GC through Thank You Network

Text

That bankrate article was posted in 2001. It is no longer correct.

Capital one is the best card for foreign purchases, but if you don't want to apply with them, you may consider a Citibank or HSBC debit card.

Both Citi and HSBC charge only 1% for debit card purchases. As for ATM withdrawls using the same card, Citibank charges only 1% at Citi, Barklay, BNP, and Deutsche ATM's (all common in Europe.) HSBC is more common in Asia from what I understand, but they still only charge 1% at their own ATM's. Both banks charge the same for out-of-network ATM's.... $1.50 plus 1%.

FFGuru said:That bankrate article was posted in 2001. It is no longer correct.

Capital one is the best card for foreign purchases, but if you don't want to apply with them, you may consider a Citibank or HSBC debit card.

excellent thread, but I do have to disagree with you there FFguru. the cobrand MBNA cards offer rewards which can fully offset the 1% fee (1.5% and 2% Fidelity cards). Also, credit union cards (penfed example) pay more rewards than the transaction fee.

I am guessing NO, you do not get 5% back on grocery/gas purchases in foreign transactions. Saw your post and needing to call Citibank on my Diamond Preferred Rewards card, so I asked the rep for you. The rep said the 5% is only good for domestic transactions. Hope that helps. Though, she also aid the 5% rebate on my DPR card is on going and is not a one year promo like stated on their site or other fat wallet posters. I am a bit skeptical on her response and will have to dig up my card agreement.

Called the Thank you redemption rep, my account do earn 5 points for each dollar spent at Grocery stores and gas station. This is a on-going deal until Citi changes or eliminates the program. Its not a 12 months limited bonus.

Above mentioned transcation charges were not there 2 yrs ago...now if u use u'r CC in another country you will pay conversion fees. Good posting and thanks for all the info.

didYOUsearch said:the cobrand MBNA cards offer rewards which can fully offset the 1% fee (1.5% and 2% Fidelity cards). Also, credit union cards (penfed example) pay more rewards than the transaction fee.
I actually recently received an offer from MBNA in the mail for the Fidelity 1.5% card. They said that new accounts established after some date (can't remember exactly, April 30 or so) would have a 3% forex fee attached. They didn't say (obviously) whether they would try to convert existing cards to the 3% rate also.

fogcitysearch said:Saw your post and needing to call Citibank on my Diamond Preferred Rewards card, so I asked the rep for you. The rep said the 5% is only good for domestic transactions.
What the rep told you is wrong. I have used both a Diamond Pref and a PremierPass Elite card overseas and earned bonus points on gas (BP, Tesco, etc.) and groceries (Sainsbury's, Tesco). I've also gotten bonus points on the PP Elite on the Paris Metro but not the London Tube.