testarc said:Anyone has "United Airlines Platinum Class Visa Signature" card? Is the "free Companion fare" good for anywhere in the world?
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I looked at this as well, but it looks like you only get the free companion on aniversary which would mean, you'd have to pay the $140 annual fee twice, so it would be $280.00 -- plus calling customer service, they said that unless it's a "WORLD" travel type of card, the voucher would only be good for domestic flights
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I was thinking about the Bank Of America Alaska Airlines card, info here, when you apply, you get an $50.00 companion fare ticket, and the card caries a $75.00 annual fee, so the total for that ticket would be $125.00 -- I know that this voucher is actually good to Mexico/Canada, so for our upcoming vacation next year, I plan to apply for the card, then use the voucher to get the second ticket for about $125.

XtremeDwayne said:
The way I understand this, if I have 12,500 purchase points, I can then redeem 12,500 flight points, which would be 25K and enough for a domestic flight... right?

Hmmm... AMEX Delta, AMEX starwood, citi pp elite... eeny meeny miney moe.

EDIT: Actually, I'm really leaning towards the AMEX Delta right now, getting 15K bonus points, and cancelling/switching after a year to avoid the fee (unless they waive the fee).
RE: Citi PP, that's correct. The way to think about the card is that you essentially get a minimum of 2% back on most purchases (assuming you fly enough so flight points > purchase points) and 4% back on groceries/gas/drug stores. This is if you just redeem for gift certificates at Target and stuff like that. In addition, when you redeem for flights, it's possible to get an additional multiplier on top of that. Say you get a $350 ticket using 25k points. Then you're really getting back 2.8% on regular purchases, 5.6% on groceries/etc. I personally value SPG points at 1.9 cents each. So it's close to a toss-up between SPG and PP Elite. Depends on how much you spend and how much you fly. Regarding annual fees, Citi wouldn't waive mine but they did give me 5k ThankYou points which were matched with 5k flight points = $100 which more than offset the fee.

If you get the AMEX Delta, only get it for the bonus points. Don't actually use it. I didn't even use mine when they gave me a targeted triple points offer. First, in case you're not aware, Delta isn't in the best financial shape, so it's not that wise to accumulate too many points there now. Second, historically Delta (and all of the Skyteam airlines) are very stingy when it comes to redemption. Points aren't any good if you can't use 'em. Third, this situation is probably getting worse since AMEX is absolutely flooding the market with Delta miles. They bought a ton at a very cheap price so have been running double miles promos (and some straight giveaways) for basically a year straight. You might consider Alaska as a decent place to park the miles you earn from your Delta flights as they have a nice set of airline partners (AA, Delta, NW, Continental, BA, Cathay).

FFGuru said: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."The number of miles required by the Cardholder for travel redemption will depend on the cost of the itinerary chosen by the Cardholder at the time of redemption. The mileage requirement is as follows: 15,000 miles are required for tickets up to $150; 35,000 miles are required for tickets from $150.01 up to $350; 60,000 miles are required for tickets from $350.01 up to $600. For tickets over $600 in value, the required number of miles will be determined by multiplying the cost of the ticket times 100 (ex. $768 ticket requires 76,800 miles)"

As above redemption schedule equates to a 1.25% return on spending (which is not that bad), you are saying that Capital One overvalues the $ value of their ticket rewards ?


If so, might be worth the $39 annual fee for below :
Capital One No Hassle MilesSM Ultra Rewards
# Earn 2 miles for each dollar spent*
# $39 annual membership fee

FFGuru said:

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.


One thing that I think should be mentioned about Citi cards is that if you have more than one of them (for example, Citi PP and AT&T Universal Rewards Card) you can have the ThankYou Network link the two accounts into one "pool" of points. The benefit of that is that you can get points faster. For example, since AT&T Universal card gets 5x points for gas/groceries/drug stores, you will accumulate the points faster than if you just had a Citi PP and used it for those purchases.
So ideally, you could have Citi PP (Elite) for buying tickets, AT&T Universal Rewards for everyday gas/shopping, MTVu (if you get it as a student) or Professional (if not a student anymore) for dining out and other random stuff. Of course, from what I've read so far it might be difficult to get more than 2-3 cards for most people, but even PP/AT&T card combo should make it more worthwhile, so far it works for me
Hopefully this helps someone.

defjukie said:this is quite strange...


I just called the number on the back of my Charles Schwab credit card (issued by MBNA), and they told me there was currently NO FEE associated with Foreign transactions.
The CSR advised me that a fee might be added to the account "next time my account is reviewed" but could not tell me when that would be. The fee would be 3% when they add it.

I'm a little skeptical, and plan on calling back to confirm. Just thought it was interesting to note.

I've been living abroad and using the MBNA Charles Schwab card for my every day purchases. I am getting charged 1% foreign transaction fees. I get the 1% Cash Back so I break even. I still like this card because of the ability to see pending transactions and so far i've had great service with them

defjukie said:well, I called back and confirmed that there is NO FEE for int'l transactions on my account (even checked my gf's too, hers is the same).

Don't know if it's some kind of promo or what (I got my card in April/May of '05), but I'll take it.

The 2nd time I called, the CSR even said "No Int'l transaction fee is one of the benefits of this card".

Um, what card do you and your gf have?

Hey folks, have not read all the posts before this but apparently there's a new card in town - the AMEX Blue Sky. 1 point per $ spent on all purchases. Redeem 7500 points towards a $100 credit towards travel-related purchases.
Pros:
1) Eff. 1.33% CashBack on ALL purchases, better than 1% on most cards (except purchase-specific cards - gas, groc etc.)
2) No min. annual purchase limit (unlike, say, the Blue Cash) for higher CashBack percentages
3) Redeem anytime every 7500 points unlike once-a-year redemption like some cards.
4) Redemption not tied to a specific vendor/product
Cons:
Can only be redeemed towards travel-related credits.

Seems good so far. Any feedback? Thanks!

amhidogha said:Can only be redeemed towards travel-related credits.Gasoline is travel-related, can I redeem for that or a gasoline GC ?

FFGuru said:Alcibiades said: If so, might be worth the $39 annual fee for below :
Capital One No Hassle MilesSM Ultra Rewards
# Earn 2 miles for each dollar spent*
# $39 annual membership fee
They key is "up to." At the very best you can earn 1.25%. Most of the time you are earning much much less because of the tier set up. Plus, 1.25% isn't really that great when it comes to frequent flier cards.
IF (and I doubt it) Capital One doesnt "over-value" their redemption plane tickets, paying $39 per year to earn at best 2.50% might be reasonable. No one here seems to have GoMiles, so hard to learn how bad it sucks or not.

FFGuru said:havaloc said:The Blue Sky is a great choice. No annual fee, plus all the usual AMEX perks such as the warranty extension.

My strategy: Chase 5% card for the 3 categories, Blue Sky for everything else.

As for the con, nearly everyone needs a hotel room or a rental car once in a while.

So how do you redeem your points with Blue Sky? From the sounds of the website, you just apply points towards the purchase of travel items. So you can buy your tickets/rooms from any vendor? Any website? Please share more. It sounds interesting.

No offense, but just curious question here. If you are just getting reimbursed dollar for dollar for a 1.33% rebate, why not use a 1.5% or 2.0% Cash Back card then apply that cash towards your travel bill or whatever you want?

That's what I generally never understood about FF CCs. Generally you spend $25,000 and get 25,000 miles and convert that to 1 domestic ticket, right? Well I can get $500 cash for that $25,000 and 95%+ of the domestic tickets I buy are $200~$300. Then the annual fee usually associated with these types of cards only worsen the deal.

Can anyone translate these cards to an effective Cash Back greater than 2%? Does it have to be first class tickets and expensive hotels that I wouldn't use to beat 2%?