best credit card for airline miles

[absolu7]

i know all these cards are usuall 50$ or more per year, but im just curious where can i get the most miles for signing up and for every purchase maybe 2 miles for every dollar instead of one? is that even possible?

 

[kranky]

I personally think it's better to get a card with cash rebates, then you can use the money for whatever you want.

But if you really want to accumulate frequent flier miles, the CapitalOne No Hassle Miles card gives you one mile per dollar charged. No annual fee. You can choose any flight, any airline you want, and it costs you 8,000 miles per $100 the ticket costs. That's equivalent to a 1.25% cash rebate. You get 10,000 bonus miles after the first year. You can earn a max of 10,000 miles per month, and a max of 75,000 miles per year.

Do you have well-established credit?

 

[Spike]

I use the Alaska Airline B of A signature visa. It's $75 a year and you get an annual bonus of 2k miles. There is no real credit limit, no mileage limit, and the miles are good on Alaska, Continental, American, Hawaiian, British, Northwest, and a few others. You get 1 mile per $1 spent unless it's on alaskaair.com then you get 2 miles per $1 for tickets. Also you get a $50 companion fare every year. Basically buy one full-price ticket anywhere and get a second on the same flight for $50 + tax and fees (ends up being about $60-75 total for the second ticket).

This card works great for me as Alaska is headquarted in Seattle so I can go anywhere using them, especially now that they have flights to New York, Miami, Boston, DC, and a few other east coast destinations. If Alaska does not go there I use American or Northwest and still collect Alaska miles. Redemption is 20,000 miles for free domestict round trip on alaska or 25,000 for free domestic on any of the other domestic airlines.

If you are in the northwest I reccomend this card, otherwise there are alot of others to check out. Another great card is the REI card, and that does not even have a yearly fee

-spike

 

[absolu7]

hmm spending 8 grand only to get 100 back? yea i heard about that capital one, seems like the best one out of all of them though.

 

[AdamSnow]

I use my mastercard. Get 1 airmile for every $5 I spend or something like that I think...

I dont keep track...

 

[OulOat]

Originally posted by: absolu7
hmm spending 8 grand only to get 100 back? yea i heard about that capital one, seems like the best one out of all of them though.

The ratio for miles:ticket cost depends. For me it's 90:$1. My dad has recieved an offer for a double points no hassle miles card, but the ratio was 150:$1 (translate to 75:$1 removing the double points). There are some fine print, like points expire after 5 years. I think you can also cash out your miles for money, then the ratio is 100:$1 (1% of your spending total).