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Miles aren't a scam - you just have to know how to use them, and airlines do change the rules and restrictions from time to time. From my personal experience - even if I haven't had enough miles to pay for a flight in full, I have gotten some heavily subsidized flights that have made travel much more attainable for me.
The miles-affiliated credit cards can be great, but I think they're most beneficial if you pick the airline that you fly on the most often/has the biggest presence in your city. If you live a United-dominated market but you get a Delta credit card, that's probably not going to be as useful to you as the United equivalent.
A few days ago I was gifted 20k American Airlines lines miles. My intention was a multiple flight trip with the first leg being Phoenix to Newark on June 3 and the return leg from Scranton to Phoenix (with a Philadelphia layover). According to American Airlines the entire trip would cost 50k air miles and I was prompted to purchase the remaining 30k air miles for a staggering $885! Given that the cost for the entire trip is much cheaper when booked without air miles, I am left wondering what is the point of air miles?
Air miles work best those who travel all the time, and I mean a lot.
For the rest of us, just get a card that pays you the most cash you can get. that CASH can buy whatever you want and it stacks up nice and fast.
Sure if you are willing to plan, book at 2 seconds after opening, jump through a dozen hoops you can pull it off, but you will be working for those savings..
Mostly CC air mile plans/rewards start off good and then decline in value over time. The idea is to ensure the rewards are valueless to all but the most active customers.
Banks do this, investment firms do this, airlines, and cc providers do this.
I participate in the Alaska Airlines program and I can get a trip to and from Alaska for 25,000 miles. Almost all my miles come from my Alaska Airlines Visa. Over the years I've accumulated over 200,000 miles just for using a credit card that I pay off in full each month. Not a bad deal.
They are when Frontier suddenly shut off my account with about 50k earned miles and offered no recompense. I will never trust any airline program again.
They are when Frontier suddenly shut off my account with about 50k earned miles and offered no recompense. I will never trust any airline program again.
Okay. You don't have to. I'll continue to use them, and earn free flights.
Yes, you have to be careful with those miles. I had an awful experience with Delta, tying to get to Amsterdam last year.
For whatever reason, low level Sky Team redemptions into Amsterdam can be a unicorn hunt. Last time I was searching, London would be 60K (plus the usual 'UK departure taxes'), Paris not that much more, and Amsterdam would be pricing out at like 135K for coach tickets.
What do you mean? Credit cards are the best way to earn miles actually. You can earn way more miles through your everyday spending than you ever will by just flying.
The credit cards I was referring to where the promotional cards that give you, say, 50,000 miles if you spend $3,000 within 3 months. Or something to that effect. For me, that's not worth it. And even for those cards where you get miles for every dollar you spent (outside of promotions like the one mentioned above), I'd prefer my rewards points go towards other things. But that's me.
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