Airline Miles Credit Cards Survey and Study 2010

Airline credit cards are used judiciously by savvy frequent fliers to earn miles and get free air tickets. Depending on where someone lives, where they fly and which airlines are available at their city airports. For most frequent fliers getting an airline credit card is a matter of choosing the card of the airline that he or she flies most frequently.

However, airline credit cards faces more competition from regular credit cards that offer reward programs that are not affiliated to any particular airline. This study attempts to look at all the available airline credit cards and reward programs in the market and do a comparison study. We also hope to suggest some of the better cards available.

Best Airline Credit Cards

For folks who are members of multiple frequent flier programs or those who make use of airline alliances to get the best redemption rates, nothing beats the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card because the starwood program allows you to transfer points into miles (mostly on a one to one basis) for over 30 airline partners. They essentially have the most airline partners for any reward program. What is even more impressive is that you will get 5,000 bonus miles when you transfer 20,000 points to miles! If that is too much of a hassle, you can always book your flights directly with Starwood with their StarFlight program (click on the SPG Flight Chart to see the point exchange ratio. Most frequent fliers I know have this card.

Another card for those with memberships in a few frequent flier program is the American Express Premier Gold Card. Like most American Express charge cards, the reward program is the Membership Rewards and you get a whole host of benefits. But the great thing about this version of the card is that you can earn triple points for airline ticket purchases and double points on certain expenses like gasoline etc.

For folks who are members of both United and Continentals' program and want a card where you can transfer points to both, the Chase Sapphire(SM) is the card to get because you can transfer them on a one to one basis. Furthermore, you can earn double points if you book your flights through their online travel system. With no annual fee on this card, you are getting the ability to earn double points without having to pay the annual fee of most typical airline credit cards. You can also redeem points points for airline tickets by buying through their online travel site (using points, cash or a combination of both). They also allow you to book your travel with any travel agent and use your points to pay for them in the next months statement. With no annual fee and the flexibility they have, this is a good airline credit card.

The Citi® Gold/AAdvantage® World MasterCard® is designed for folks who fly American Airlines. You get 30,000 bonus miles if you spend $750 within 3 months. With this card, you also need 5,000 less miles to redeem for tickets.

The JetBlue Business Card from American Express OPEN is one of the better airline credit cards with a very reasonable fee and will appeal to JetBlue TrueBlue frequent flyer members. As part of the perk of being an American Express Business credit card, you get discounts when you use your card to purchase various items from partner merchants.

The Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express is geared towards the frequent Delta flyer who wants to earn additional MQMs to qualify for a higher tier system. Because you can earn an additional 20,000 MQMs if you meet the annual spending requirements, this card will appeal to Delta flyers who do not fly enough to earn platinum status, but yet want the additional MQMs to assure elite status. (see table below)



The Delta Reserve Card will appeal to the true frequent Delta flyer, but actually also to those who do not always fly Delta but would like to get the elite status. That is because if you meet the spending requirements of the car, you will automatically qualify for Elite Silver Status even without flying! (see screen shots below and the medallion table above). You obviously get all the other perks like companion tickets and Delta Lounge access. But the MQMs and Elite Status will matter most to the Delta Skymiles Member (and I'm probably preaching to the choir).



This study is presented as follows :

1. Airline Reward Card Features
2. Airline Credit Card Features
3. Airline Credit Card Comparison Table

Before we begin, here are a couple of articles on getting a better deal from airline cards.

Tips on choosing your card

Airline Reward Credit Card Features

Q&A : I am a member of a foreign carrier frequent flyer program which does not have a US credit card. Is there any way I can still earn miles from a credit card?