Question
I'm moving into a new house and have lots of repairs and purchases coming up, so I want to make sure I have a good mileage credit card. Up until this point I've never had one, mostly because I was paranoid about keeping the number of credit cards I had down before I applied for my first home loan.
Anyhow... I've got miles spread out all over the place (from before I found flyertalk and had absolutly no idea what I was doing).
NWA 1,400
US Air 6,800
UA 10,000
Delta 14,000
Air Tran 18 credits (enough for a free flight +2)
I live in Atlanta and now fly Delta (or AirTran) the most often, so I was leaning toward the Delta card, however I'm disapointed with the 10,000 mile bonus. Would it make more sense to go with a UA card (and its 20,000 mile bonus) to try and save those stranded miles? I wouldn't get the bonuses for when I purchase Delta tickets, but the extra 10,000 miles + the 10,000 orpahan miles could help. I of course would have to pay close attention so that I didn't end up with more orpan miles when I was done with UA.
I was also considering the SPG card because of the bonuses when converting points into miles and the abality to use the points for both hotels and flights. I'm not quite a big spender yet, so I'm not sure if I'd rack up enough points to make those bonuses compensate for what UA would give me. I think it would about be a push between SPG and Delta.
I'd guess my average (non business... since that goes on my corp amex) charges will be about $15,000 this year. About $1,000 of that on Delta tickets, $500 on AirTran and $0 on UA. I will have a few nights at a Starwood hotel, but I don't expect too many.
I think I want to use my milage to go to Western Europe (though there's lots of other parts of the world also on my "to do" list). I would want to wait for a Skysaver (or similar) cheap miles ticket. I'm low enough on the totem pole at work that I can't get time off for the peak vacation time anyhow, but non-peak times are not a problem.
I'd appreciate any thoughts you might have.
Answer
You can't go wrong with Amex SPG, unless you really want to fly UA (and even then you just have to transfer to Air Canada or something).
I just redeemed 4 nights in Germany and Hungary for 28K points. Rate per night was over $250 so I'm getting over 3.5% back. All hotels were highly rated on tripdvisor too.
Added: getting (and using) the Amex SPG shouldn't prevent you from also getting the UA card, strictly for the signup bonus of course.
Answer
I had 2 cards that I used regularly. One is the UA Visa card for personal; and, the Starwood Amex card for business. The Starwood card converts 20,000 miles into 25,000 airline miles in most programs, effectively giving you 1.25 miles per dollar spent.
But back to your question. I too had some orphan miles that we're liberated :D by signing up for the various credit card offers that are out there. Some of these offers are 'free' for the first year (you can cancel with no charge).
Recently, I took advantage of such offers to sign up for a USAir, American, United Airlines and Starwood Amex credit card. Yes, I said United and Starwood. Now I have 2 accounts listing my mileage plus #. I earned lots of bonus miles and points in opening these accounts. :cool:
So there's an easy way to rescue your orphan miles with just a little bit of effort.
Check out these 2 threads in MilesBuzz.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=457077
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=311566 Post #1 should keep you busy for a while. ;)
Let's not forget http://www.freefrequentflyermiles.com/index.htm
and http://blogs.flyertalk.com/blogs/viewwing/
Don't read these all at one time. It'll make you dizzy. :cool:
Edited to add the following from the June issue of InsideFlyer.
Check out www.choicehotels.com
Apply for their Visa card by August 31, 2006. Make a purchase before November 1, 2006 and earn 24,000 points. That's enough for 3 free nights. The card has no annual fee. At least you'll have someplace to stay when you get there. :D
Answer
NWA 1,400
US Air 6,800
UA 10,000
Delta 14,000
Air Tran 18 credits (enough for a free flight +2)
I live in Atlanta and now fly Delta (or AirTran) the most often, so I was leaning toward the Delta card, however I'm disapointed with the 10,000 mile bonus. Would it make more sense to go with a UA card (and its 20,000 mile bonus) to try and save those stranded miles? I wouldn't get the bonuses for when I purchase Delta tickets, but the extra 10,000 miles + the 10,000 orpahan miles could help. I of course would have to pay close attention so that I didn't end up with more orpan miles when I was done with UA. .
The current best offer for the Delta card is 17,500 miles for first purchase, plus 2,500 more miles for adding an additional card member, with no annual fee for the first year. Then the best Starwood offer gives you 6,000 points for first purchase, also free for one year, leaving only $14,000 in purchases on it needed for 21,000 Starpoints, which will give you 26,000 Delta miles. There is your 60,000 miles needed for a cattle class ticket to Europe.
Answer
Thanks to everyone for their advice. I've gone with the Delta card for now, and will add the *wood card in the future.
The delta promo for double points this summer, and double points on everyday items, plus the initial bonus (15,000 vs 5,000 for *wood) made me make the decision. I've ruled out the United card because it didn't have the double points, I wasn't going to fly UA, and the award "costs" may be going up. I guess it is time to get some magazines!
Answer
MCI,
I see that you have 10,000 UA miles. When you add the sign up bonus to your account, you should have enough banked for a free domestic ticket.
Answer
Here is a Thought..
Since you have so many miles spread out.
To me this is strictly My opinion
why dont you get a reward card that let you earns miles that can be used on ANY airlines.
I know Chase has a card or 2 like that and I am sure there are other cards out there like that