Best Reward Credit Cards

Ryn · Post by **Ryn** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 8:51 am

I know in the past there has been discussion about the above. I cannot seem to find the it doing a search. Can someone please help? We currently have Midwest Airlines which has switched to Frontier. Not happy with their program. They are requiring us to use 90K miles for two people to fly from MKE to DEN 7 months out. We're also looking for something more flexible. Thanks.

Gigi · Post by **Gigi** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 9:46 am

We really like the Capital One Venture - 2 points for each $ spent. Have not used it yet for travel but it seems to get great reviews.

northerngal · Post by **northerngal** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 1:42 pm

WE have Capital One and it's paying for both our flights and villa. We love it as there are not many restrictions.

Tracy in WI · Post by **Tracy in WI** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 1:47 pm

We ended up with the Amex Cash Back card - up to 5% back on some purchases. We also have the Frontier card and keep it as a back up when AMex is not accepted.

Ryn · Post by **Ryn** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 1:52 pm

Northerngal, can you tell me which Capital One card you have?

I'm torn between getting a card that provides rewards for airfare and one that just gives cash back. Our experience with Midwest Airlines was that we could never get a flight even with being very flexible on dates. Not many seats were given for the reward program...

Thanks everyone!

Tracy in WI · Post by **Tracy in WI** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 2:43 pm

Ryn -

Have you tried booking flights now that it is Frontier? We had about 100,000 miles saved up couldn't find a flight to Boston from Madison when they were Midwest. Once the change came through, we were able to pick and choose between flights on Frontier.

Ryn · Post by **Ryn** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 3:28 pm

Tracy:

We were looking at MKE to DEN for July and did find tickets. However, they do not have any of the regular reward tickets left and move you up to Choice Reward seats which are 45,000 for each round trip ticket. So, that's 90k. Good thing we have 107k saved

We were really hoping that we could get 4 tickets of of this but... That is why we are looking to switch cards to something that is better for us without an annual fee. Again, we were looking at either air points for any airline/no blackout dates or cash back. We figure we could get the cash back and just squirrel it away for future paying tickets, etc.

Sumerwaters · Post by **Sumerwaters** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 3:31 pm

I have had real good luck with American Express Starwood Preferred Guest card. It works like this:
A point for each buck you spend. Your points are in your American Express account. But you can transfer your points to any (almost any) airline.
So you would open a frequent flyer account with an airline (say delta, american, whatever), then you would just transfer the points you need into your airline account. My point transfers have always been 1:1 ratio. Then you would book your flight via your airline account.
The advantages I have found to this is I am not committed to one particular airline, I can search airline sites and find flights for as low as 25,000 miles, I only spend the amount of miles I need for a particular trip, and I get a 5000 bonus from American Express when I make a transfer for airmiles. The only disadvantage I have encountered is it can take about 10 days for the transfer to register.

AquaGirl · Post by **AquaGirl** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 4:05 pm

We have had an American Advantage Citicard for years. Most of our Caribbean travel was on AA because we used to be able to get a morning flight direct to San Juan, then get American Eagle to many of the islands we like to visit. However, it has become much harder to cash in miles than it used to be, the flights we want are always higher mileage, and right now anyway, the flight times are not as good for us. However, we have traveled on many free flights, including a few first class over the years, so I can't complain too much. Citicards fraud detection is excellent, as is their customer service.

We are thinking about changing to a card that has points that can be used on different airlines, plus hotels. Sounds like there are a few I should research.

Bigcheeze · Post by **Bigcheeze** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 8:39 am

We switched from the NW/Delta card to US BANK Flex card. 1Point/$1 spent. The travel is cordianted by Travelocity which gave me 7 carriers to choose from and some 23 flights each way in April to pick from for 35k in points/miles per RT Tix. Plus, better seating options as well

steve · Post by **steve** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 12:57 pm

We have the Capitol one Venture card, 2 points per 1$ spent. This way I can book my cheapest and best flight for us on any airline then tell Cap one to use my points and they pay the bill. No blackouts and it really works well. To figure out your dollars you can spend just take your number of points and move the decimal point 2 places to the left (ie: 100,000 points = $1000) They recently notified me that I could use points on a ticket I bought but had not requested points to be used. I have had American Citibank for many years but they are way to restrictive now.
It is frustrating when the airline claims low miles for a round trip but in reality you almost always have to use double miles.

dctac · Post by **dctac** » Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:10 pm

Good info, I just got a cap venture, I have the starwood (love it & good value) and Marriott Visa (used to be good value) but only use points for rooms as I found transferring to airline miles a bit of work and we like the free room thing.......2 points per buck seems good...... Thanx

Gigi · Post by **Gigi** » Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:15 pm

I also like the "use your own image" feature of the capital one cards. I have my favorite shot of Trunk Bay - gives me incentive to use the card so I can redeem points to get back to my favorite spot.

Diana2 · Post by **Diana2** » Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:30 pm

Gigi wrote:I also like the "use your own image" feature of the capital one cards. I have my favorite shot of Trunk Bay - gives me incentive to use the card so I can redeem points to get back to my favorite spot.

Ditto, Gigi, except my picture is of Salomon Beach

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