| by Mr Credit Card |
The Escape by Discover® Card is one of the best travel rewards card because you can earn double miles, four miles per dollar spent at Amazon.com and also has no foreign transaction fee. Read on to see if this card will work for you.
Reward Formula – First and foremost, this is a travel rewards credit card. The unique feature of this card is that you can earn double miles for every dollar that you spend on the card. You can earn unlimited miles which never expire. Bear in mind that to keep your miles, you have to use your card for 18 consecutive months and cannot have 2 consecutive late payments.
4 Miles Per Dollar At Amazon.com – Another thing to note about this card is that Discovered has teamed up with Amazon whereby you can earn double miles for up to $250 a month in Amazon purchases. That means that you can earn four miles per dollar spent at amazon.com because you would earn double miles normally for other purchases.
No foreign Transaction Fees – Another great feature of this card is that since November 2011, Discover no longer charges any foreign transaction fee. Discover is accepted whereby Diners Club is accepted (most of Europe and most places in the world), in China and Japan.
How to Redeem Miles? – This is how the rewards work. You are supposed to use the card to book any travel items, whether it be airline tickets, hotels etc. You then have to submit this expense within 90 days to Discover. Basically, 10,000 miles is worth $100 in value. Hence, unlike the reward program of the past, you have the flexibility to book any ticket with any travel agent, online or off-line. It frees you up to find the best deal for yourself. I think this is a much better deal than many frequent flier programs because you are not restricted in any way that you book your travels.
Exchange Miles for Gift Cards – Those who are familiar with Discover know that they have the most comprehensive gift card partners (over 90 partners and now approaching 100). What is impressive about the program is that you can get more value than the number of miles you have. For example, many gift card merchants will accept 2,000 miles for a $25 gift card! Some merchants like Celebrity cruise will double the value of your gift card!
ShopDiscover.com – Discover also has a program called shopdiscover.com with about 100 retailer partners. With other Discover Cards, you can get 5% to 20% cash back bonus is you shop through these sites from shopdiscover.com. With the Escape Card, rather than earning cash rebates or discounts, you will earn additional double miles for every dollar that you spend.
Fees and Rates – The annual fee for this card is $60, which is actually a bargain considering that you can earn double miles for all purchases. Most airline credit cards charge an annual fee anywhere from $50 to $85 and you can only earn double miles if you book their airline ticket.
Verdict – In the past, most credit card reward programs required you to have a set points to redeem for a specific flight in a sector. For example, you typically need 25,000 miles or points to get a free economy class return ticket within continental USA. With this system, it came with a lot of restrictions like having to book three weeks in advance, having to stay a Saturday night for example. Now, most programs have moved away from this system and instead, they let you use points with more flexibility. But you still have to book your tickets through them. For example, witi Citi, you need to use expedia.com. With Capital One, World Points and Membership Rewards, you still have to use their in-house travel agent. This could sometimes cause problems because different travel agents are given a set amount of seats and tickets by airlines and hotels. So a seat may be available elsewhere but not with the credit card issuers travel agent!
The Escape Card solves this problem because you can book with whoever you want. It leaves you to find the best bargain and itinerary for yourself. Plus, you get to earn double miles for every purchase, which hardly any card offers.
If you are someone who is sick of all the restrictions placed by frequent flier programs or credit card programs and like the flexibility to finding the best travel deals for yourself, then I would highly recommend the Escape by Discover® Card. Furthermore, the fact that it has no foreign transaction fee and the miles you can earn from shopping at Amazon.com makes this card even more attractive.
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June 19th, 2009 at 08:31
It’s now June and we just went through credit card companies raising base interest rates (when their money is next to nothing…check your saving statements and fed rates) plus the affinity benefits have chunks removed. No longer does Citi Aadvantage give 2 points spent on AA but one one…the same as any purchase. American Express is lopping credit limits without hesitation and benfits are reduced also in programs. You are right here, that their (AMEX’s) saving grace remains only Costo and Starwood cards. The President Continental Card (annual $375, but includes the $400 CO Club fee and the card place many CO advantages therefore it is also better that the AMEX premium Delta $450 card. This Escape by Discover card looks to be a winner ! Thanks for the good report.
August 3rd, 2009 at 16:19
This card does not offer collision damage waiver insurance on rental cars outside of the United States. It does offer insurance for US rentals.
August 20th, 2009 at 15:25
I can’t believe they have this card out there. How is it that they can make money on it? I applied for one and I am using it for every purchase.
August 21st, 2009 at 09:12
Mark
enjoy the perks while it is available!
October 16th, 2009 at 01:12
What is the normal charge limitation on this card (e.g., $25,000)? Is this based on what you request and your credit rating?
Once you have accumulated the points, how soon can you use them to obtain airline tickets?
Can you use these points on any airline in US? Europe?
Are there any restrictions on travel outside US?
October 16th, 2009 at 01:23
your limit depends on what limit the card gives you. You can buy any ticket with any travel agent, online or offline and just submit the expense and your points will be used to credit back your statement.
December 7th, 2009 at 11:41
This is a good card, but I think the Capitol One Double Miles card is better. Discover is hard to use and the Capitol One card comes as a Mastercard. I believe it’s only available as a business card though. Either way, I prefer the flexibility of these cards over being locked into a particular airline’s mile program.
December 15th, 2009 at 21:08
I’ve been back and forth on different cards for weeks, and I’m getting closer to pulling the trigger on this one. I don’t like having an annual fee, but I love being reimbursed for expenses rather than having to take the pre-assigned travel rates. Thanks for the review.
September 3rd, 2010 at 20:30
How do you “submit” approved charges? Can it be done online? It seem silly that you have to submit the charges when they were bought with the credit card to begin with. Am I missing something?
October 10th, 2010 at 23:55
I don’t know. I spend $5000 and get 10,000 points and for all that spending they give me a $100 credit? That isn’t enough to fly anywhere. And redeeming 2,000 miles for a $25 gift card…have to spend $1000 to get that many miles. I know there are no restrictions on who you book with, but in terms of dollars spent vs. airline tickets earned, I am not convinced this is the best value.
November 1st, 2010 at 09:14
Lee…sounds typical to me (or more than typical). Do you know of a better one?
November 23rd, 2010 at 12:17
Lee, given your example with every other card I know you’d only get $50 in credit, so I’d say the $100 is better. Unless you’ve discovered an even better value? If so, please do share.
January 24th, 2011 at 18:32
Doesn’t this make this card inferior to other Discover cards for ShopDiscover, since it effectively capped at 4% instead of 5-20%? Or is it double of the others?
January 24th, 2011 at 21:45
But the purpose of this card is to earn points for travel and is slightly different from the other discover cash back cards
January 25th, 2011 at 02:02
OK. So you should use, say, Discover More for ShopDiscover and Escape for everything else?
January 25th, 2011 at 10:11
you could do that..but at the end of the day, it depends on what rebates you want. If it is cash back you are after, then Discover More is the better card. If you want miles/points for free airline tickets, then Escape is better.
January 25th, 2011 at 12:21
OK, whatever, I just meant to maximize rewards. Of course you can always do “whatever you want.”
February 18th, 2011 at 12:22
I am torn between the Capital One Venture (2x points) and the Discover Escape. My concern with the Cap1 card is that I hear their customer service is very bad. My concern with the Discover Escape is that I am not sure it will be excepted widely?
Also, do you know if I can set up some sort of bill pay through either of these cards…like I do with my online banking website. I don’t want to go to each biller’s website and pay…can I just do that through the credit card website?
I just need answers to these questions before I pull the trigger! Thanks!
February 18th, 2011 at 15:50
Discover is known for their customer service (have won a couple of awards – which I cannot remember at the top of my head). You should be able to set up autopay for the Discover Escape as well. I don’t have a capital one card myself but believe this is also available. As far as I’m concerned, I also see Discover being accepted anywhere that Visa and MasterCard are accepted. If customer service is an issue, then Discover Escape should probably be where you should be leaning.
March 13th, 2011 at 20:17
If you have a Discover Card, can you have it switched over or in conjunction with the Discover Escape?
March 20th, 2011 at 13:36
What did you mean by you have to “Submit this expense within 90 days.”?
Don’t you submit it by using the card for the purchase?
March 23rd, 2011 at 16:11
I recently picked up the Escape card as well because I do alot of traveling. Unfortunately, every travel site I went to (Orbitz, travelocity, expedia, etc) doesn’t accept Discover. I ended up using my mastercard. Not sure how to get around this, maybe contacting the airline directly?? Anyway, I still use it for all of my daily purchases so I am accumulating miles, just not on the big purchases such as airline tickets.
March 25th, 2011 at 21:37
To Scott,
You may want to double check all those sites. I just used my Discover More Card on Travelocity to book my honeymoon. Also Orbitz, Expedia, and Travelocity are all listed as 5% partners on Shop Discover.
April 14th, 2011 at 16:37
I have had this card for over a year, and love it. I’ve earned $900 back in travel rebates. It is very easy, once you have the minimum number of points (10,000) you go to the website log in, click redemm points for travel, and it tells you what recent purchases are eligible. I always pick the oldest one. It then gives you a statement credit within like 2 days. Very easy. There are some places that don’t take discover but not many. (Some don’t take Amex either….)