What's the best credit card for travel rewards?

[Anonymous]

I've decided to switch my daily spending to a credit card, to accumulate some kind of rewards. (I pay it off every month.)

What's the best bang for my buck in terms of travel rewards? Is it an airline specific card? Or is these something offering more flexibility? I currently have an amazon.com credit card, which does offer travel, but I've never used it and don't know what the payback is like. You have to call their "travel specialist" to find out.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Travel rewards are worthless. Points under so much inflation pressure they devalue. Get cash rewards. I think nerd wallet has a good finder. Quicksilver from cap1 looks interesting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Travel rewards are worthless. Points under so much inflation pressure they devalue. Get cash rewards. I think nerd wallet has a good finder. Quicksilver from cap1 looks interesting

Stupid reply.

I did a round trip flight to Europe last year in business for $90 as a sign on bonus to a card. The year before that I did two round trip business flights to Thailand, with stopover in NZ (1 week) and Hawaii (1 week) for about $1,000. In December I'm going to Ecuador with a stop over in buenos aires, first class all legs.

[Anonymous]

We we have 2 hotel chain CCs and we get a lot of free stays. DH flew to Europe (not first class) using points once. Starwood and Hilton. We use the hotel stays more than needed airfare though.

[Anonymous]

I use Marriott Rewards for business, and Chase Sapphire Preferred for personal spending. The Chase Ultimate Rewards mall is great for earning extra points, and they convert to a wide range of hotel and air programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel rewards are worthless. Points under so much inflation pressure they devalue. Get cash rewards. I think nerd wallet has a good finder. Quicksilver from cap1 looks interesting

Stupid reply.

I did a round trip flight to Europe last year in business for $90 as a sign on bonus to a card. The year before that I did two round trip business flights to Thailand, with stopover in NZ (1 week) and Hawaii (1 week) for about $1,000. In December I'm going to Ecuador with a stop over in buenos aires, first class all legs.

So what's the card?

[Anonymous]

chase sapphire is good, depending on what your spending categories area

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel rewards are worthless. Points under so much inflation pressure they devalue. Get cash rewards. I think nerd wallet has a good finder. Quicksilver from cap1 looks interesting

Stupid reply.

I did a round trip flight to Europe last year in business for $90 as a sign on bonus to a card. The year before that I did two round trip business flights to Thailand, with stopover in NZ (1 week) and Hawaii (1 week) for about $1,000. In December I'm going to Ecuador with a stop over in buenos aires, first class all legs.

So what's the card?

It's a combination. You have to play the game. For instance , last year my wife and I each got a BA card with 100k mile bonus just for signing up. That got us 200,000 miles. There was also a special promotion on conversion of miles last year with delta, so I was able to transfer AMEX points and roughy double them. One pass, and the other alliances let you do all sorts of things if you are clever (I.e pool points). Try reading the "above the wing" blog for a starter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel rewards are worthless. Points under so much inflation pressure they devalue. Get cash rewards. I think nerd wallet has a good finder. Quicksilver from cap1 looks interesting

Stupid reply.

I did a round trip flight to Europe last year in business for $90 as a sign on bonus to a card. The year before that I did two round trip business flights to Thailand, with stopover in NZ (1 week) and Hawaii (1 week) for about $1,000. In December I'm going to Ecuador with a stop over in buenos aires, first class all legs.

So what's the card?

It's a combination. You have to play the game. For instance , last year my wife and I each got a BA card with 100k mile bonus just for signing up. That got us 200,000 miles. There was also a special promotion on conversion of miles last year with delta, so I was able to transfer AMEX points and roughy double them. One pass, and the other alliances let you do all sorts of things if you are clever (I.e pool points). Try reading the "above the wing" blog for a starter.

Yeah, yuck. They are credit card churners.

[Anonymous]

if you are only going to get one card I recommend the starwood amex. Low annual fee and you can redeem points for hotel stays or transfer to airlines. If you transfer 20k, you get 5k extra miles. Sign up bonus of 25k or 30k miles if you meet a spending threshold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel rewards are worthless. Points under so much inflation pressure they devalue. Get cash rewards. I think nerd wallet has a good finder. Quicksilver from cap1 looks interesting

Stupid reply.

I did a round trip flight to Europe last year in business for $90 as a sign on bonus to a card. The year before that I did two round trip business flights to Thailand, with stopover in NZ (1 week) and Hawaii (1 week) for about $1,000. In December I'm going to Ecuador with a stop over in buenos aires, first class all legs.

So what's the card?

It's a combination. You have to play the game. For instance , last year my wife and I each got a BA card with 100k mile bonus just for signing up. That got us 200,000 miles. There was also a special promotion on conversion of miles last year with delta, so I was able to transfer AMEX points and roughy double them. One pass, and the other alliances let you do all sorts of things if you are clever (I.e pool points). Try reading the "above the wing" blog for a starter.

Yeah, yuck. They are credit card churners.

Nothing yucky about churning credit cards. DH and I just flew to Paris and stayed at the Park Hyatt (a $1000/night hotel) for free using points and miles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel rewards are worthless. Points under so much inflation pressure they devalue. Get cash rewards. I think nerd wallet has a good finder. Quicksilver from cap1 looks interesting

Stupid reply.

I did a round trip flight to Europe last year in business for $90 as a sign on bonus to a card. The year before that I did two round trip business flights to Thailand, with stopover in NZ (1 week) and Hawaii (1 week) for about $1,000. In December I'm going to Ecuador with a stop over in buenos aires, first class all legs.

You travel solo, do you? Those of us with actual families have more difficulty making these rewards work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel rewards are worthless. Points under so much inflation pressure they devalue. Get cash rewards. I think nerd wallet has a good finder. Quicksilver from cap1 looks interesting

Stupid reply.

I did a round trip flight to Europe last year in business for $90 as a sign on bonus to a card. The year before that I did two round trip business flights to Thailand, with stopover in NZ (1 week) and Hawaii (1 week) for about $1,000. In December I'm going to Ecuador with a stop over in buenos aires, first class all legs.

You travel solo, do you? Those of us with actual families have more difficulty making these rewards work.

No I travel with my spouse. I don't waste a biz class ticket on the kids (<4 yo) since for them an economy seat is basically a lay flat bed. When we travel as a family I usually go all economy or we trade who gets the business seat (I.e I'll take it on the way there, spouse the way back)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel rewards are worthless. Points under so much inflation pressure they devalue. Get cash rewards. I think nerd wallet has a good finder. Quicksilver from cap1 looks interesting

Stupid reply.

I did a round trip flight to Europe last year in business for $90 as a sign on bonus to a card. The year before that I did two round trip business flights to Thailand, with stopover in NZ (1 week) and Hawaii (1 week) for about $1,000. In December I'm going to Ecuador with a stop over in buenos aires, first class all legs.

So what's the card?

It's a combination. You have to play the game. For instance , last year my wife and I each got a BA card with 100k mile bonus just for signing up. That got us 200,000 miles. There was also a special promotion on conversion of miles last year with delta, so I was able to transfer AMEX points and roughy double them. One pass, and the other alliances let you do all sorts of things if you are clever (I.e pool points). Try reading the "above the wing" blog for a starter.

Yeah, yuck. They are credit card churners.

Yes if you have time to shuffle cards and rewards, an don't mind the dings to your credit from churn this is a lucrative hobby.

But if you are young enough that you need credit for houses, cars, etc this can adversely affect your credit and this you'll pay in high rates when you get a real loan (vs credit card)

If you are just looking for one card and simplicity, cash is way to go flight rewards are worth generally less than 1% reward unless you can snag ridiculous promos like PP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel rewards are worthless. Points under so much inflation pressure they devalue. Get cash rewards. I think nerd wallet has a good finder. Quicksilver from cap1 looks interesting

Stupid reply.

I did a round trip flight to Europe last year in business for $90 as a sign on bonus to a card. The year before that I did two round trip business flights to Thailand, with stopover in NZ (1 week) and Hawaii (1 week) for about $1,000. In December I'm going to Ecuador with a stop over in buenos aires, first class all legs.

So what's the card?

It's a combination. You have to play the game. For instance , last year my wife and I each got a BA card with 100k mile bonus just for signing up. That got us 200,000 miles. There was also a special promotion on conversion of miles last year with delta, so I was able to transfer AMEX points and roughy double them. One pass, and the other alliances let you do all sorts of things if you are clever (I.e pool points). Try reading the "above the wing" blog for a starter.

Yeah, yuck. They are credit card churners.

Yes if you have time to shuffle cards and rewards, an don't mind the dings to your credit from churn this is a lucrative hobby.

But if you are young enough that you need credit for houses, cars, etc this can adversely affect your credit and this you'll pay in high rates when you get a real loan (vs credit card)

If you are just looking for one card and simplicity, cash is way to go flight rewards are worth generally less than 1% reward unless you can snag ridiculous promos like PP

+1 agree