Airline Mileage Credit Card: What Features To Look For
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Airlines face much tougher competition when it comes to getting a loyal following of credit card users than more traditional banks do. With this in mind, many of them have great options and these are the following features that should be looked at and particular close attention paid to interest rates and annual card fees.
Annual Fee: Most airline credit cards charge an annual fee, ranging from about $40 per year, up to $300 per year. Decide which card you can comfortably afford, and the amount of traveling done to recoup some of your charges.
Single or multiple airlines: Some airline credit cards only earn points for that specific airline. Some are part of a major code-sharing alliance, where you will earn points on your loyalty program if you fly with another code-share partner that is part of the same alliance. Once again, determine if you would be better off flying with a major group, or if you know you will never want to use another airline.
Perks: Some airline credit card loyalty programs give additional signing up bonuses, such as free points/miles, free or reduced price companion airfares, free upgrades. Depending on your circumstances, this could be a great bonus.
Bonus Miles: Some airline loyalty programs give bonus miles, anniversary bonus miles and general bonuses if you spend certain amounts on your airline credit card. For those who do a lot of traveling, this can be a huge benefit. Some programs even give double miles if you buy the airfare with their credit card!
Interest rates: This is an extremely important factor to looking for an airline credit card. Try and get one that has most, if not all, of the features you require, but beware of the APR rate. A too high rate and your interest alone would be paying for your “free” tickets. A lot of credit cards have incentive offers for example, 12 month interest free, 0% interest free balance transfers for 6 to 12 months.
Just a note of caution. If you cannot afford to keep up your monthly repayments on your credit card, it will be canceled and you will lose all your loyalty points/miles on that airline credit card. Therefore it is extremely important to get the card that you can afford to pay the annual fee as well as the interest rate combined with your monthly repayment plan. This airline credit card works exactly on the same principle as a normal credit card, except you have the added danger of losing your loyalty points if you default.
So therefore, the best advice I can give you in trying to find the best airline credit card would be to sit down with as many options as possible and determine firstly what are your needs, how often do you fly with these airlines, what are you prepared to spend per year on this card, and then to choose wisely. Making the correct choice can be extremely rewarding and you will thank yourself in the end!
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