Whats the best Credit card for airmiles? - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Stormchaser · 05-20-2008, 04:57 PM

For all you people collecting airmiles: What is the best Credit card to do this with?

rubecube · 05-20-2008, 05:09 PM

BMO Mastercard.

photon · 05-20-2008, 05:19 PM

https://www212.americanexpress.com/d...00cef4ad94RCRD

That's the one we have.

Deelow · 05-20-2008, 05:29 PM

I have found the RBC Avion card to be a rip, at least for the amount that I use it. $120 a year in fees plus higher interest rate has had very little payoff even though I use it regularly. I have hardly made that up in miles.

czure32 · 05-20-2008, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fotze

None apparently, the cash back ones pay out better plus you are not limited to buying flights with the cash. Also consider airmile inflation, costs more these days to fly anywhere and that certainly ain't going down.

+1
in a previous job I used to work for mastercard, and talking to people about their cards, which eventually usually comes back to "airmiles", its really astonishing how many people collect them but never use them, or have plans to use them.
I find a cash back reward to be more tangible personally than collecting imaginary points that I may or may not ever use.

As fotze says, with a cash back reward, youre not just limited to flights either, and while cards are starting to get better as far as flight restrictions go, theres no restriction on what you can do when your account is credited with "x dollars" or in the case of some cards where a cheque is actually mailed out instead of a credit to the account

Sylvanfan · 05-20-2008, 05:49 PM

I've had the CIBC Aerogold Visa for years and when it expires in August I'm not renewing it. Annual fee is high, interest rates are high, and I don't know where the hell I'm going to go to use up the miles I have. Chances are if I want to go there....someone else already has those seats booked! I used those miles for a flight to Hawaii in January, and I ended up spending about $600 by the time I paid all the airport fees, an overnight hotel in LA, cab ride in LA and a rental car in Vancouver to avoid a hotel there. I could have bought direct flights for about $1200 for my wife and I. So for 80,000 points I saved 600 bucks, not to mention lost 2 days that I could have been working or on vacation still. IMO not worth it at all. I'll probably trade in my remaining miles for overpriced crap that they offer.

I-Hate-Hulse · 05-20-2008, 05:57 PM

After decade collecting Aeroplan and Air Miles, I've given up on both of them. I've got enough miles for trips around the world on both plans but the #$@# availablity of seats greatly limits the opportunity to use them.

So I switched to cashback. I was lucky enough to get one of the AMEX 2% cashback cards with no fees, which by my calcs, should return to me about $1,200 a year given the business expenses I can throw at it. Screw the miles I never use.

Dan02 · 05-20-2008, 05:59 PM

Don't alot of cashback cards have a certain limit per year though?

Draug · 05-20-2008, 05:59 PM

My card of choice is the CIBC Dividend Platinum.

It has 2% cash back on all purchases, with a purchase limit of $50K I think. On the years I hit that, I use my PC Financial MC to get PC points for grocerys, which equate to 1% cash back. I run everything I can through the VISA. The interest is high, and the annual fee is $70 for the primary card holder and $35 for the additional card holder.

The insurance on it is great too, because its considered a 'Gold Card'. I smoked a deer in a rental SUV a few years ago, and they took care of $5500 damages without question.

Sylvanfan · 05-20-2008, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fotze

Cancel it now. They renew it automatically. I've sworn to cancel it every year but never get around to it.

Since it expires in about 2 and a half months, thats not a bad idea, since they'll send me a new one about a month before this one is dead.

Of all the cash back cards, what are the best ones that folks reccommend? I personally like having a credit card because it is pretty convenient, especially for someone like me who tends to go over the Canada/US border to shop frequently, and will be using online shipping a lot more in the coming years.

Stormchaser · 05-20-2008, 06:08 PM

Ok....so color me really confused.

So what you guys are saying is that even when you do accumulate enough miles for a trip you can't even redeem them because it puts you in lower priority for seating or something?

I'm going to be spending a lot of money on a new boiler system for my home and renovations and was thinking that I could put it all on a card like this.

photon · 05-20-2008, 07:01 PM

Switching to a cash back card has always been on my list of things to do, but we seem to always get good use out of the airmiles so I've never done it.

Winsor_Pilates · 05-20-2008, 07:23 PM

I have the bmo gold mastercard, and will cancel it soon. The good thing about this card was that it lets you take any westjet flight for a max 1600 airmiles.

That's a good saving of airmiles but their contract with Westjet has been cancelled and this is no longer offered to people who sign up. I have to book a trip by July 31 to use that offer and then I am going to cancel the card.
Right now, I need 160 more airmiles and then I'm booking a trip to either NY or Montreal.

Buff · 05-20-2008, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stormchaser

Ok....so color me really confused.

So what you guys are saying is that even when you do accumulate enough miles for a trip you can't even redeem them because it puts you in lower priority for seating or something?

I'm going to be spending a lot of money on a new boiler system for my home and renovations and was thinking that I could put it all on a card like this.

Depends on where you're going I guess. Went to Hawaii once, and Vegas twice using Airmiles. Never had a problem any time. The 2nd time I went to Vegas was for work and my flight was booked and paid for by work but my wife was able to use airmiles to get on the exact same flight to and from Vegas and she booked the flight about 3-4 weeks in advance.

For the other trip to Vegas and to Hawaii, we were meeting friends and we used airmiles and requested to arrive and depart on certain days and times and we got what we needed.

I'm not saying that fotze and the others are lying to you about the difficulty of getting flights you need/want (well maybe fotze is

) but getting crap flights isn't always the case with airmiles.

Stormchaser · 05-20-2008, 11:21 PM

Thanks for all the replies. Anyone else find it hard/easy to redeem these flights?

Just to fill you all in.....i'm planning on buying a new hot water heating system and I would like to pay for it all on this card. So if I drop about 10K on the card I would like to think I would get a whole crap load of airmiles........but then again maybe a cash back thing would be better......

btw- I would pay off the airmiles card right aways so I wouldn't really keep any balance on it.

Winsor_Pilates · 05-20-2008, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stormchaser

Thanks for all the replies. Anyone else find it hard/easy to redeem these flights?

Just to fill you all in.....i'm planning on buying a new hot water heating system and I would like to pay for it all on this card. So if I drop about 10K on the card I would like to think I would get a whole crap load of airmiles........but then again maybe a cash back thing would be better......

btw- I would pay off the airmiles card right aways so I wouldn't really keep any balance on it.

Even with a gold card like mine, you will only get 1 airmile per dollar, which is only 666 airmiles. Not that much really. I think you will get more out of another type of card.

I-Hate-Hulse · 05-20-2008, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stormchaser

Thanks for all the replies. Anyone else find it hard/easy to redeem these flights?

Just to fill you all in.....i'm planning on buying a new hot water heating system and I would like to pay for it all on this card. So if I drop about 10K on the card I would like to think I would get a whole crap load of airmiles........but then again maybe a cash back thing would be better......

btw- I would pay off the airmiles card right aways so I wouldn't really keep any balance on it.

Assuming you got a BMO Mosaik Gold Air Miles Card, that $10K is worth 666 Air Miles (not Aeroplan miles).

It takes 7,800 to go to London England on Air Miles.

Conversely a 2% card (with no fee) @ 10K is worth $200.

I know what I'd rather have. If you thought you were going to get a crapload of Air Miles, you need to do some more research.

It's too bad AMEX pulled the plug on new subscribers for this AMEX Gold 2% Cashback. It's a great deal, with no fee and no upper limit on how much cashback you can get. (ie spend $100,000 and get $2,000 back, although it's only 2% after the first $5,000 spent)

Dan02 · 05-21-2008, 06:47 AM

Speaking of airmiles and the fun they are, they double billed me for a hotel stay coming up next month and now all they've been giving me all morning is the it's not our fault and finger pointing back and forth....

So in terms of dealing with less BS, cashback cards are definately the way to go.

The Ditch · 05-21-2008, 06:56 AM

On a positive note about airmiles. I don't collect them (so I thought) and I don't use them but after a suggestion by my friend I phoned airmiles because I have a BMO mastercard, it turns out I had enough points to fly us down to palm springs round trip for Coachella and we had absolutely no problems with anything at any point.

Eric Vail · 05-21-2008, 07:47 AM

I have had good luck with my CIBC Gold Aeroplan Card. You get a bonus of something like 5000 miles to start, and then a little better than a point per dollar spent after that. I put all my expenses on my card and pay it off every month, so I don't even know if it has a good interest rate or not.

For 25000 points, which can easily be accumulated in a year, you can fly anywhere in continental USA or Canada. The trick is you have to book ahead. I have flown to Florida a few summers ago, last summer to the maritimes with my family, and now we are headed to Florida again next Christmas. All we have to pay is the taxes.

If you are a last minute kind of person, aeroplan will just frustrate you. You have to be able to plan your travel well in advance to get good value from them.