What's a good credit card/airline program to earn miles towards interview flights?

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Pusheen

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Hi all,

Any recommendations for a good way to build up airline miles for all those pesky interview flights?

Delta Skymiles looks promising, since they give you 30k miles after a few months of spending. Did you guys do something like that or just look for cheap flights on kayak/expedia?

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Would take a look at Southwest Rapid Rewards. If you pay for your secondaries/primaries with it ($1,000? not sure. first 3 months of opening your card), you get 25k-50k points which ends up being 1-2 round trip flights across country.
 
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I can only offer not United. Their mileage program is BS.
 
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United Mileage Plus Explorer
Chase Sapphire
BA Visa - was a lot better before the Avios got devalued for short term flights
Southwest Rapid Rewards - Get 2 of them when they're at a 50k sign up bonus and you're almost at a companion pass
Citi AAdvantage - My friends tell me you can indefinitely churn this card once you get it upgraded to world elite, but I haven't tried that yet

Be careful about CC churning if you're going to be applying for loans soon. Your credit score might take a hit in the short term, but long term it will actually boost your score.
 
I'm pretty curious what everyone thinks of this question too!

I was gonna go with Bank of America's travel credit card. 1.5X points for every dollar spent. If you spend I think $2k in your first 3 months, you get a bonus of 20,000 points which is good for a $200 that you can use for any travel expenses (so you can book with any airlines and using any travel websites I think). No annual fee and I think 0% APR for the first 12 months.

I don't like using airline credit cards because I want some flexibility on which airlines to take, I don't know how much I'll really be traveling during and after the application cycle, and I don't want to pay for the annual fees. And I want a Visa credit card because I know AmEx isn't accepted everywhere.
 
I love my Skymiles card. American Express has treated me very well. If ever there is a problem, they bend over backwards to fix it for you.
Not to mention the overnight card delivery if you frequently misplace/lose the card (as do I :))

ALSO- They have a companion certificate on the anniversary of your card (at least for the platinum one)... Basically a BOGO plane ticket, anywhere in the continental US... think of it as a treat for getting into med school :)
 
Do NOT get United MileagePlus Visa. I have been a member for 10+ years and they suck. Friends and family have had the card for even longer, and regularly rack up seven digits annually (it's a business card), and they STILL SUCK. Plus, I freaking hate United.
 
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United Mileage Plus Explorer
Chase Sapphire
BA Visa - was a lot better before the Avios got devalued for short term flights
Southwest Rapid Rewards - Get 2 of them when they're at a 50k sign up bonus and you're almost at a companion pass
Citi AAdvantage - My friends tell me you can indefinitely churn this card once you get it upgraded to world elite, but I haven't tried that yet

Be careful about CC churning if you're going to be applying for loans soon. Your credit score might take a hit in the short term, but long term it will actually boost your score.

Pray tell, what is credit card churning? Sounds ominous and exciting....
 
Southwest! I used them all through undergrad and ended up with a couple free flights :)
 
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Pray tell, what is credit card churning? Sounds ominous and exciting....

Essentially, it's when you register for a CC, get the sign up bonus, and then cancel the card before the annual fee hits. It's ominous by virtue of the fact that you can really screw yourself over if you don't do it right (for the love of god pay all of your bills in full, on time, if you're going to do this) and exciting by virtue of all of the free flying you get to do. I haven't paid for a flight this app cycle thanks to churning.
 
I love my Amex premier rewards gold card. 50k point sign up bonus (worth at least $500) and you earn 3x points on flights and 2x on hotels/gas. Points don't have to be used on airfare either could be used towards uber and such.

Also Free $100 airline credit yearly for in flight purchases, luggage fees, etc.
 
United Mileage Plus Explorer
Chase Sapphire
BA Visa - was a lot better before the Avios got devalued for short term flights
Southwest Rapid Rewards - Get 2 of them when they're at a 50k sign up bonus and you're almost at a companion pass
Citi AAdvantage - My friends tell me you can indefinitely churn this card once you get it upgraded to world elite, but I haven't tried that yet

Be careful about CC churning if you're going to be applying for loans soon. Your credit score might take a hit in the short term, but long term it will actually boost your score.

Pray tell, what is credit card churning? Sounds ominous and exciting....

I agree about the Southwest Rapid Rewards cards. If you live near a southwest airport, they are probably the best bet when you consider airfare, plus no bag fees, plus rewards.

Regarding credit card churning, as someone who has done it (10+ cards within a year), it is very lucrative, but should not be done lightly. It is a little scary how much credit people will give you before they cut you off. At one point a couple of years ago, I could have re-bought my condo and two new cars. Now, I have a fair amount of assets, job and other income streams, but still... Also, while you are churning the cards, it will be much more difficult to get other credit such as home equity loans, car loans, etc, which is something to seriously consider.

Also, it requires a certain level of precision. It isn't exactly hard to do, but it needs to be done correctly or you can end up in a world of hurt. Personally, I don't think I would have the discipline to do it myself. I have someone who hands me credit cards and takes away cards and tells me exactly what gets put on each one. Then I have a calendar for the exact day that different cards need to be cancelled, etc. It takes a fair bit of organization... On the flip side, we are flying to China this Spring and Europe later in the year and didn't pay a dime...
 
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Hi all,

Any recommendations for a good way to build up airline miles for all those pesky interview flights?

Delta Skymiles looks promising, since they give you 30k miles after a few months of spending. Did you guys do something like that or just look for cheap flights on kayak/expedia?
CapitalOne Venture gives you 400$ if you spend 3000$ in the first three months. For skymiles it depends on what airport you live close to and what airlines fly their a lot. For example if you live in Dallas where AA has it's hub you won't want the United skymiles program
 
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Thanks for the responses, guys!
Does 1 point in these cases=1 mile?
 
Southwest for the win
 
I'm pretty curious what everyone thinks of this question too!

I was gonna go with Bank of America's travel credit card. 1.5X points for every dollar spent. If you spend I think $2k in your first 3 months, you get a bonus of 20,000 points which is good for a $200 that you can use for any travel expenses (so you can book with any airlines and using any travel websites I think). No annual fee and I think 0% APR for the first 12 months.

I don't like using airline credit cards because I want some flexibility on which airlines to take, I don't know how much I'll really be traveling during and after the application cycle, and I don't want to pay for the annual fees. And I want a Visa credit card because I know AmEx isn't accepted everywhere.


I got the Bank of America travel credit card and it's been great! I spent the $2000 in the first 3 months and now have points worth of $200 that can be used for airplane tickets, hotels, train/bus tickets, and other things. And these points can be used for things you have purchased in the past, it'll just give you credit for it even if you've already paid it off on your credit card bill. Plus I have additional points because you do get at least 1.5x points for every dollar spent (this can be more if you are Bank of America Preferred Rewards member or if you book flights through a Bank of America travel search engine). I've been using the card for everything to make more points and even convinced my mom and uncle to get these cards for purchasing their own travel tickets. Just make sure you mention the promotion when signing up so that you do get the 20,000 points after spending $2k.

I also signed up for the American Airlines Advantage program... it doesn't have any fee and will hopefully eventually add up to giving me some points that I can use.
 
If you want an airline specific card then Southwest is absolutely your best choice...if you live near Southwest airports. Otherwise it would be best to get a non-airline specific card.
 
Chase Sapphire Preferred, hands down. 50K bonus points if you spend 4k in the first 3 months (I put all interview and living expenses on the card and spent 4K easily enough.) 50K points = $625 in travel if you book through their site. 2x points for restaurants and travel. Plus everyone remarks at how heavy and fancy the card feels ;)
 
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Alaska Airlines. Save those miles for free flights to Hawaii and Bora Bora when you're a doc. Plus they have buy any domestic flight get a companion fare for 99$ which includes Hawaii. Great if you have family. This is more for thinking ahead when you're an attending but looking back if I would have had one of these on my interview trail and throughout med school and residency I'd have gotten like 4 free trips...
 
I love my Skymiles card. American Express has treated me very well. If ever there is a problem, they bend over backwards to fix it for you.
Not to mention the overnight card delivery if you frequently misplace/lose the card (as do I :))

+1
I love my Delta Gold Skymiles card and have had great experiences dealing with American Express for fraud on my account. You get 30,000 bonus miles if you spend $1000 in the first month. I used miles on all my interview flights!

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Do NOT get United MileagePlus Visa. I have been a member for 10+ years and they suck. Friends and family have had the card for even longer, and regularly rack up seven digits annually (it's a business card), and they STILL SUCK. Plus, I freaking hate United.

United's rewards program is hot garbage. I have over 170,000 miles on my personal account, many of them earned when Continental was still its own thing, with its own OnePass program (so before United Continental merger and the United—as it's known as now—takeover) and I can't even get a one way first-class ticket to Japan (190k miles) using solely the miles I have. The only options available to me are 170k business-class mixed cabin; I'm not even given business class for the whole trip–for one leg I'm in economy and the other I'm in business-class, or 170k business-class. And this is one way. For the trip back I'd have to pay full price for the ticket. I could get business saver tickets (basically a cheaper fare if you're willing to be flexible with your travel dates and times for 75k miles each, but most of them have like 12 hour layovers.)

These 170k+ miles were all accumulated over the past 15 or so years. Granted, I only flew no more often than twice a year to Asia up until 2007 (and after then less than once a year because of school), but still, the only other airline I've ever used for international flights is EVA Air (which is in the same airline partnership–Star Alliance–so AFAIK the miles I earned with them count toward my United miles balance), and that would be one of those 2 visits, tops, and I stopped using them (because of rather inconvenient flight times from my area, while only departing from a small number of air ports, as well as being about 30% more expensive). Everything else was Continental. That should count for some loyalty, should it not? These ****ing miles are worth less than Reichmarks.

The following applies only to my own personal gripe with flying to Asia, though I'm sure it holds true for flights using other Star Alliance airlines.

Apparently I can use my miles on other Star Alliance flights so maybe these miles might be worth something on EVA Air. But according to my mom, who's used the United points to upgrade before on EVA, you're given a lower priority compared to other customers that are using EVA-awarded mileage points. In addition, there's a waitlist for people who want to use awards miles for business and first seats, and if you're using non-EVA miles to get them, you don't get to be put on the waitlist. So, in her words, "You have to call [EVA] every day to see if there's an empty seat no one has claimed yet. Good luck."
 
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United's rewards program is hot garbage. I have over 170,000 miles on my personal account, many of them earned when Continental was still its own thing, with its own OnePass program (so before United Continental merger and the United—as it's known as now—takeover) and I can't even get a one way first-class ticket to Japan (190k miles) using solely the miles I have. The only options available to me are 170k business-class mixed cabin; I'm not even given business class for the whole trip–for one leg I'm in economy and the other I'm in business-class, or 170k business-class. And this is one way. For the trip back I'd have to pay full price for the ticket. I could get business saver tickets (basically a cheaper fare if you're willing to be flexible with your travel dates and times for 75k miles each, but most of them have like 12 hour layovers.)

These 170k+ miles were all accumulated over the past 15 or so years. Granted, I only flew no more often than twice a year to Asia up until 2007 (and after then less than once a year because of school), but still, the only other airline I've ever used for international flights is EVA Air (which is in the same airline partnership–Star Alliance–so AFAIK the miles I earned with them count toward my United miles balance), and that would be one of those 2 visits, tops, and I stopped using them (because of rather inconvenient flight times from my area, while only departing from a small number of air ports, as well as being about 30% more expensive). Everything else was Continental. That should count for some loyalty, should it not? These ****ing miles are worth less than Reichmarks.

The following applies only to my own personal gripe with flying to Asia, though I'm sure it holds true for flights using other Star Alliance airlines.

Apparently I can use my miles on other Star Alliance flights so maybe these miles might be worth something on EVA Air. But according to my mom, who's used the United points to upgrade before on EVA, you're given a lower priority compared to other customers that are using EVA-awarded mileage points. In addition, there's a waitlist for people who want to use awards miles for business and first seats, and if you're using non-EVA miles to get them, you don't get to be put on the waitlist. So, in her words, "You have to call [EVA] every day to see if there's an empty seat no one has claimed yet. Good luck."


Yeah. United sucks. They even suck when you just buy tickets outright. I just really, really hate United. I was flown United (MSTP interview paid for it), and tjere was such a cluster F where 2/3 of the cabin had to forcibly gate-check their carry-on. I was in "Group A boarding, so there's no way you fill up those bins that early, but I had to hustle to repack all those expensive, delicate items in my ONE CARRYON BAG and stuff some random plastic bag with my phone, laptop, etc, etc.

And then there's that time I missed my flight over some other BS baggage issue (Note: I always fly with only one carry-on bag which is so small it satisfies the most stringent carryon size requirements [I'm looking at you, RyanAir]).

And every time I've had to check my luggage, they've lost it, or damaged it, or some other thing has occurred. I don't even understand how an airline can be so, so terrible.

I HATE UNITED.

From now on, I think I'm going to pull the diva move and just refuse to fly united, even if the tickets are purchased for me by another company. Yeah, it's that bad.
*end rant*

EDIT: Indeed, the miles are garbage, too. I have 400,000+miles and they're pretty useless. I guess I can do a few domestic flights here and there, but those tickets are $100-200 each anyway, so it doesn't amount to much in terms of savings. From here on out, I'm flying Southwest all the way.
 
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I've used the Bank of America and American Advantage cards. I don't recommend either very highly. I think I've gotten one free flight off of the BoA card in the 6-8 years I've had it due to points expiring at weird times. I've gotten a lot more out of AAdvantage, but you need to pay an $80 fee to redeem your miles so nothing is really free. There'a also an annual fee that kicks in after the first year.

I plan to switch to the Barclaycard in a few months when I cancel AAdvantage. It doesn't give you miles, it just gives you money to apply towards purchases, but it seems like the best deal IMHO. I know people who have said good things about Delta Skymiles, too. There isn't much Southwest in my area, but that's great if it works for you.
 
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