Frequent Flyer miles Credit card for Interviews!

[titanjones]

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So a friend of mine told me to get a credit card that gives you frequent flyer miles since ill be doing alot of flying.

Have any of you guys heard of people doing this? What is a good card to get?

 

[165808]

So a friend of mine told me to get a credit card that gives you frequent flyer miles since ill be doing alot of flying.

Have any of you guys heard of people doing this? What is a good card to get?

I'm quite partial to my Capital One No Hassle Miles card. I've had it for a few years now, and it's super easy to redeem the miles. You can do it online through their site or buy any ticket on your own, then have them credit your account for the cost, depending on how much it was and how many miles you have (really easy breakdown on their site). Haven't had any trouble with it yet!!

 

[normansatx]

Depends on where you are interviewing and what airlines you prefer.
I got a Southwest Airlines Rapid Reward Visa. It gives you 8 credits for just signing up, more for balance transfers, and one credit for each $1200 you spend. You need 16 credits to get a free roundtrip anywhere SW flies. It is fairly easy to book through www.southwest.com when you have a rapid rewards account. You get one credit for each one way flight you fly, plus can get points from rental cars, hotels, etc that SW has partnerships with. You can read about it at the site I put above. I already have one free roundtrip ticket and am only like 6 credits away from another, all just from the credit card. The interest rate may be a little steep, but they all are, and you keep it payed off it does'nt build up. I have been really happy with it!
If you are flying to areas that dont have Southwest or are one those that don't like Southwest then this may not be for you. They, for instance, fly into Providence RI if you want to go to Boston, etc. I would definitely check route maps of the airline that your credit card gets mile for before you sign up for it.

 

[winchester1615]

I love my citibank AAdvantage mastercard that gives me miles on American Airlines. American flies everywhere and I get one mile for every dollar I spend directly added to my American advantage account. They also periodically have deals to get more miles (i.e. I got 2000 miles for signing up for netflix). FYI, a domestic round trip ticket usually costs 25,000 miles, although American is having a special right now where some tickets are only 15,000 miles. The only down side is the card has an annual fee (I think it's like $50).

 

[icare4u]

Second here on the Capital One No Hassle Miles rewards. So easy to use, you can use it with any airline. Actually, it's my parents' card. They (We) pay EVERYTHING with it knowing I'm going to be flying a lot. They already bought two tickets for me and my fiance to Hawaii for honeymoon (wedding in March!!!), and there is still more to go onto interviews. Every dollar you spend for purchases is one mile. They call it miles, but it's not really miles. If you have a flight that costs $250.00, it's going to take 25,000 miles to buy it. It took $25,000 worth of charges to get that 25,000 miles. But when you think about it, if you pay all of your bills, utilities, groceries, plus purchases, it adds up in a hurry. You can even pay your tuition with a credit card.

 

[gng930]

Second here on the Capital One No Hassle Miles rewards. So easy to use, you can use it with any airline. Actually, it's my parents' card. They (We) pay EVERYTHING with it knowing I'm going to be flying a lot. They already bought two tickets for me and my fiance to Hawaii for honeymoon (wedding in March!!!), and there is still more to go onto interviews. Every dollar you spend for purchases is one mile. They call it miles, but it's not really miles. If you have a flight that costs $250.00, it's going to take 25,000 miles to buy it. It took $25,000 worth of charges to get that 25,000 miles. But when you think about it, if you pay all of your bills, utilities, groceries, plus purchases, it adds up in a hurry. You can even pay your tuition with a credit card.

Sounds like you're basically getting 1% cashback. If that's the case, there are tons of credit cards out there that give you back more. Citibank Driver's Edge gives you 6% on gas and groceries, 1% on any other purchase. The catch? It's not directly redeemable for cash, but several things including gift certificates to major chains (Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Circuit City, Macy's, Target, etc.). If you're willing to wait until you get to the $100 mark, you'll get the full 6% back. I, myself, accumulated more than $150 in rewards in one year off gas and groceries alone.

 

[165808]

Sounds like you're basically getting 1% cashback. If that's the case, there are tons of credit cards out there that give you back more. Citibank Driver's Edge gives you 6% on gas and groceries, 1% on any other purchase. The catch? It's not directly redeemable for cash, but several things including gift certificates to major chains (Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Circuit City, Macy's, Target, etc.). If you're willing to wait until you get to the $100 mark, you'll get the full 6% back. I, myself, accumulated more than $150 in rewards in one year off gas and groceries alone.

The Capital One thing is also redeemable for cash back, statement credits, travel, shopping, gift cards and charity donations, if you're so inclined. You get either 1.25 or 2 points per dollar charged to the card, depending on if you buy at select merchants or some BS like that.

I didn't have it before, but here's the point breakdown for the various ticket prices:

15,000 points for tickets up to $150
25,000 points for tickets $150-300
60,000 points for tickets $300-600
Ticket price x100 for tickets > $600

That's probably way too much information 😳

Anyway, it's a really flexible credit card to work with. My husband and I charge absolutely everything to it that we can, and pay the balance off at the end of the month (NEVER keeping a balance is the key).

We also have the American Airlines Citibank card (for each of us), but it does have a yearly fee. My father-in-law calls every year and threatens to cancel his card if they don't waive the fee, and it's been easily waived for as long as he's had the card 🙂 We only have it because we totally milked it for all the point bonuses we could, and now we're going to cancel it, because Capital One is way better.

I think Capital One should pay me for my endorsement....

 

[titanjones]

You guys have been so great! thanks for the info. I hope others find this thread helpful.

 

[missmod]

Citibank Premier Pass is a great card if you don't fly a specific airline...

You get 1 point for each dollar that you spend, plus 1/3 point for each mile that you fly as long as you buy the ticket on that credit card. (There is one that you pay a monthly fee of $75 for where you get 1 point for each mile). You then redeem your points for airline tickets (you book through expedia I think) or other cash or gift card rewards. Pretty sweet because it works on any airline, so even though your rewards may not be as great, you aren't limited in the kinds of tickets you buy.

I got this card the day I realized that not only would I be interviewing this season, but I would be traveling to Africa and China next year 😀

 

[ResidentMD]

bump. any more inputs?

 

[Rogue Synapse]

If you're lucky enough to have USAA, their World Mastercard is incredible for everything.

 

[artificialtears]

If you're lucky enough, get American Express Gold card. At times, they'll have special offer where they give you extra bonus points within the first few months of using the card (50,000 points). I did that, and I had enough points to redeem it for 2 roundtrip tickets (I chose Southwest and Jetblue) and pay for 1 night of hotel 👍

You can either use the points earned to pay for airfare/hotel/car rental that you book through their website or you can transfer your points to airlines' mileage clubs that you're apart of already. Then you can cancel the card after a year's use to avoid the $125 annual fee.


Another option: American Express Blue Travel. Different from the gold card--no annual fee, and you purchase whatever travel stuff you want like you normally do, charge it to the card, then you can ask for them to credit you back. Redeem 75 points for every dollar. They also at times have special offer when you sign up with extra points for the first few months of use (30,000 points). I got another round trip airfare covered by doing this.


Obviously these cards aren't worth it if you don't get the special bonus points deal since they're 1 point for $1 spent otherwise.

 

[thesauce]

The Capital One thing is also redeemable for cash back, statement credits, travel, shopping, gift cards and charity donations, if you're so inclined. You get either 1.25 or 2 points per dollar charged to the card, depending on if you buy at select merchants or some BS like that.

I didn't have it before, but here's the point breakdown for the various ticket prices:

15,000 points for tickets up to $150
25,000 points for tickets $150-300
60,000 points for tickets $300-600
Ticket price x100 for tickets > $600

That's probably way too much information 😳

Anyway, it's a really flexible credit card to work with. My husband and I charge absolutely everything to it that we can, and pay the balance off at the end of the month (NEVER keeping a balance is the key).

We also have the American Airlines Citibank card (for each of us), but it does have a yearly fee. My father-in-law calls every year and threatens to cancel his card if they don't waive the fee, and it's been easily waived for as long as he's had the card 🙂 We only have it because we totally milked it for all the point bonuses we could, and now we're going to cancel it, because Capital One is way better.

I think Capital One should pay me for my endorsement....

I have the schwab invest-first card. It gives 2% cash back on everything (yes, I use it for tuition too).

I considered getting an airline miles card, but after doing the calculations, I found that the best airline miles cards under the best scenario give you about the same amount back, but you HAVE to use it for flights.

Let's say Capital One offers the deal of 60,000 points for tickets $300-600 and you get the best rate of 2 points back per dollar spent (which is only true in very specific instances): you must spend $30,000 on the card for a $300-600 plane ticket.

As for schwab invest-first: $30,000*2% cash back = $600 cash plus your cash accrues at least 1% interest until you use it.

There are other cards that give higher rates for things like eating out, gas, etc., but most of them give something like 3-5% back on those very specific things and 1% back on everything else. I really didn't want the extra hassle of carrying around all the extra cards and deciding which one to use in which specific circumstance. Besides that, those cards usually have limits of something like "up to $100 in purchases per month are eligible for cash back."

 

[sylvanthus]

Bump, now that the economy is in the ****ter, any new updates on good methods to getting frequent flyer miles for residency interview season?

 

[the alchemist]

Bump, now that the economy is in the ****ter, any new updates on good methods to getting frequent flyer miles for residency interview season?

i got a united mileage plus card b/c i was close to a free ticket anyways and i got 2 free tix (50,000 points) for signing up for 1 yr w/ no annual fee (its $95/yr but i can either cancel the card when 1 yr is up or pay that and get 5000 mile bonus). so right now i have 3 free tickets and will use it to rack up all my interview expenses (hotel, airfare, etc). i also got a $50 voucher (which i'm gonna use toward baggage fees)

my friend did the same w/ southwest (from cali) last year and got a few free tickets out it.

 

[sylvanthus]

i got a united mileage plus card b/c i was close to a free ticket anyways and i got 2 free tix for signing up for 1 yr w/ no annual fee (its $95/yr but i can either cancel the card when 1 yr is up or pay that and get 5000 mile bonus). so right now i have 3 free tickets and will use it to rack up all my interview expenses (hotel, airfare, etc).

my friend did the same w/ southwest (from cali) last year and got a few free tickets out it.

Ahh so directly from the airline seems the way to go eh?

 

[the alchemist]

Ahh so directly from the airline seems the way to go eh?

i guess it depends on the parameters of how u rack up freq flyer points and which u can rack them up on faster to get a free ticket. the credit card i was using then and the united card r the same in terms of how many dollars spent = point so i opted to just use the united card from that point on and have put my large expenses on it. if u can find a card that gives u way more points per dollar and their limit to get a free ticket isn't high, i'd say go for it. like i said, i know ppl who did it with the sw airline card (they don't need as many pts to get a free ticket i think was what i was told)

 

[digitlnoize]

Just got a "Chase United Milage Plus Explorer Card" which pretty much nets you a free flight by signing up. I get 25,000 miles after my first card use + 5000 miles for adding my wife as an "authorized user" + 10,000 miles if you spend >25,000 on the card each year (probably won't happen lol) = 30k-40k miles.

Also get a $50 credit after first use, first checked bag free on United and Continental, early boarding, two passes to the "United Club" airport lounges, no fee for the first year, and some other stuff.

Sounded pretty good to me...

The link is here, if anyone wants it: https://www.theexplorercard.com/MPConsumer40kAFW.aspx