Would love some help from the brain trust. My wife and I, US residents, are interested in travel (at this time, thinking Europe) and were curious about others’ experiences with airline credit cards as a means of lowering airfare.
We are currently without a credit card of any sort, though we have very good credit. So, assuming we were going to get one for emergencies, with the understanding that we would, barring existential crisis, pay off any balances before the end of the month, what would people recommend?
I have mentioned in other threads that I have done what you describe for three years worth of free travel several times a year with no end in sight. I just use the “chew and screw” approach. You take the introductory offer for points and then cancel the second they try to charge you an annual fee. Half the time, they waive the annual fee and sometimes they will even give you more just for sticking around. Repeat as necessary. Chase bank is the only one that is a semi-hardass about the practice and even they can be dealt with easily. The rest of banks just let you switch between cards and rack up more and more points just for every day spending and they are always inventing new ones to sign up for.
Like you note, the key to this whole thing is to never carry a balance and maintain an excellent score. There is not a thing in the world they can do to hurt you once you have that leverage and most of them will continue to give you free things indefinitely.
If you want a specific card recommendation, I got a Barkley rewards Mastercard a few months ago that paid out $500 towards any travel expenses charged to it once you spend $2000 in 3 months. It also gives 2x points for every dollar spent and much more for certain categories of expenses. It has an annual fee but is still a good deal if you charge more than $5000 a year on it. I already cashed out the rewards and it worked just as advertised. It paid for a hotel and airport parking plus some other travel expenses with no hassle. I am about to cancel it because I don’t pay annual fees as a personal policy but it is a good card and one of the better deals I have seen because the rewards are flexible and cash equivalent.
I also have a Southwest Airlines rewards card that is good for at least two round-trip plane tickets anywhere in the U.S. (I got 3 1/2 by shopping wisely). I believe those are still offered. AirTran (also owned by Southwest has a similar deal and the points are transferable between the airlines). I have that one too and haven’t used those tickets yet.
It is easy to research the best current deals. There are whole websites devoted to it. I like forums like www.slickdeals.net because they can let you know when rare and valuable deals pop up. Pro-tip - Do not ever sign up for a card that offers less than 50,000 bonus miles or the equivalent of free $400 in rewards. Lesser ones are common but you screw yourself out of the better deals that pop up all the time if you already signed up for a lesser offer.
Sign up for as many as you want staggered a little over time, don’t carry a balance and then cancel the card as soon as they try to charge you anything (almost never before the first year is over). Contrary to popular belief, it will not hurt you credit score in the medium or long-term at all and may even help it. Each new card only causes a temporary dip of a handful of points for the first couple of months and then you score bounces right back. I have repeated the experiment many times personally with the same results.