I know the topic of credit cards is brought up once every two days, but I looked back and couldnt really find good answers for this. I am about to get a credit card. I am not interested in cash back or any of that, really just air miles. Preferably one that gives me like 25k upfront and then lets me build on from there. I will be paying it off as soon as I spend the money and would like a low interest rate but I know im gonna have to put a 500 dollar limit on it since it is my first card to get anything reasonable. I know that air mileage cards usually have a little higher interest rate too. I'm just looking for something that will get me a round-trip ticket in North America once or twice (twice is a stretch i know) a year. I hear that Chase has a good air miles program but don't know much else about the competition. Any ideas?

[Edited on October 16, 2007 at 12:01 PM. Reason : .]

10/16/2007 11:54:54 AM

http://www.creditcards.com/airline-miles.php

10/16/2007 12:00:38 PM

hmm the top pick is a Capital one card, don't think I would ever use them for anything

10/16/2007 12:02:35 PM

also look out for anual fees. make sure you don't have to pay a minimum for not using it each month, etc... credit cards are trying to make loot so read the fine print and think of your credit score when doing this type of thing. also read reviews to make sure you can actually use the miles you get.

10/16/2007 12:06:33 PM

a lot of the cards im looking at are between $70-85 a year which seems steep

10/16/2007 12:07:51 PM

^ Sadly typical.

10/16/2007 12:25:41 PM

i don't know about getting a couple of free tickets a year if you're only spending $500 a month. I have a Delta AmEx (went platinum for free companion tickets).

For the last 4 months everything except rent, cash for parking when going out on the weekends, and cash for my card for the cafeteria here at work goes on my AmEx. I get double and triple points for various things (like gas, groceries, etc) and still am averaging just 2k points a month. Given that it takes 50k to get the cheapest tickets (you know the ones that are like 11 months in advance), heavy spending still takes a while to get miles.

10/16/2007 12:41:38 PM

American Airlines has a new partnership with NC State. There is a special jumpstart on their points program.

http://ncst.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6291633419
http://aa.com/college

10/16/2007 1:42:16 PM

Quote :

"Given that it takes 50k to get the cheapest tickets (you know the ones that are like 11 months in advance)"

I thought 25,000 was enough for a round-trip ticket?

10/16/2007 1:55:41 PM

^ as long as you don't like to fly, they are good if you like magazines or something

10/16/2007 1:55:56 PM

Quote :

"I thought 25,000 was enough for a round-trip ticket?"

thats the way it is with my card (chase).

10/16/2007 2:00:04 PM

it does not take 50k points to get a free flight on any of the major airlines.

My favorite miles card is the Starwood Amex. $35 fee, waived for the first year, well worth it.

10/16/2007 3:03:53 PM