Unfortunately, you’re about a decade late for the airline credit card game. I used to milk loyalty credit cards for all they were worth, but, sadly, the great sign-on bonuses (e.g. 100,000 miles) have largely dried up. Complicating the issue is that when they started offering those great sign-on bonuses, they also greatly increased the number of miles needed to get a free flight increased. It still may be worth it for you, depending on where you’re flying to, but it may not be the best bang for your buck.
7 years ago, when I was able to pay my kids’ college tuition via credit card (and spending $50,000 per YEAR just on that), I was able to earn enough miles in 2 years to get my family of 4 to Hawaii in First Class on miles. I couldn’t do that again today, not just because I’m not spending that amount of money (shwew!) but because RT flights used to cost 1/2 the miles that they do now.
So unless you can snag a really good sign-on bonus, I echo the advice to find the best sign-on bonus that is out there on a general travel card such as Chase Sapphire. If your credit can handle it, wait 6 months and then sign up for a different card with a great sign-on bonus.
If your spouse has good credit, have him/her do the same, but time them so that your spending will trigger all the bonuses, because most of them are tied to minimum spend.
I recommend Chase Sapphire for travel no matter what (for many reasons), but to me there are 3 great advantages:
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It has great consumer protection and great travel protection, such as primary on car rentals.
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Chase allows you to transfer their points between spouses living in the same household. So if you can snag two 60,000 mile bonuses, you’ll have 120,000 points to spend next year.
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If you use their online travel site to book your flights, you can pick any itinerary and any combination of airlines that you like. Sometimes Delta has a great flight out and American has a great flight returning home.
Other advice:
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Don’t shy away from annual fees. Most of the better cards charge $95 or more, but often they’ll give you perks in exchange.
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If you can still snag a great sign-on bonus for an airline, here’s a trick for booking with points; Airlines often change flights after you’ve booked them, especially if you book 6 or 9 months in advance. Sometimes, it’s just minutes difference, but just as often it’s so significant a change that the airline will allow you to re-book on another flight (through the same airports) for no additional cost.
If I have flexibility in my schedule, I’ll book the cheapest flight available, but I make sure it’s through one of their major hubs. Then I’ll wait for the inevitable email notifying me that my flight has changed. At that time, if it’s more than an hour or two, I’ll call them, armed with my preferred itinerary, and ask to switch to that flight. They usually allow it, as long as it through the same airports. And when you pay with miles, they never ask you for the difference between what you paid and what the new flight is worth.
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Book everyone together if you can! Why? Because if the airline does change your flights around, you’ll all be moved together. If you don’t book under the same itinerary, it’s a much harder process because they might not move you all to the same flight, let alone together.
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Don’t forget hotel rewards to defray the cost of your trip. My spouse and I both hold a Marriott Bonvoy AND an AMEX Bonvoy credit card because they give you one free night in category 1-5 after year 1, for an annual fee of $95 each. 4 nights in a Marriott hotel for $400 isn’t the best deal, but it’s not the worst either, and if you stay in major cities, you can come out well ahead of the game My husband just booked Marriott Philadelphia for the Army/Navy game using two of the certificates, and he saved himself $500 AFTER the annual fees.
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Even if the airline perks aren’t what they used to be, it often pays to hold one if you travel more than once on any given airline, or if more than one of you will be flying. We just flew Delta to California, and my husband will be traveling to Philadelphia in a few weeks. Paying the $95 for the SkyMiles gold card made good sense because we always check a bag, which now costs $30 each way, but is free for card holders. 6 x $30 = $180. No brainer.