Quote:
Originally Posted by BornToPun
Thanks JL. I'm traveling out of MSP, but my destinations will range widely within the country-can't name any with confidence.
I may have overstated how important first class and same day bookings are. My main point is that convenience/quality of free flights/stays is more important than # of stays.
Thanks much for your help.
With regards to airlines and miles, it may be helpful to see where you can go (nonstop) from MSP, and who flies there:
LINK
FYI, every airport has a wiki page with all airlines and their destinations listed. Very cool to use. Based on that page, you can see that if you want easy, connection-free travel, your best bet is Delta, which is tough because Delta is probably the worst with award availability. The positive side about Delta is that you can get high tier status on delta just by spending on their credit cards (
link). They also have a relationship with Starwood w/ some reciprocal benefits.
I'm trying to think if I had to pick one card what it would be. I'd probably rotate yearly (to avoid annual fees) between the chase sapphire preferred (2.14x on all travel), the amex premier rewards gold (3x airfare, 2x gas and groceries, 1x everything else), barclays arrival (2x on everything). The Hilton surpass or reserve are good for HHonors gold, which is pretty much the best status you can get through a credit card, and there are Hiltons everywhere. But they're points are worth a lot less these days.
Ultimately, what you'll find out is that the earn rate of any particular credit card is not that spectacular, and you're better off bouncing from signup bonus to signup bonus. I've mentioned this earlier itt but for example:
Most airlines charge 12,500 miles for a domestic one way. Most cards earn 1pt/$. That's $12,500 in spending for a single one way (that may be between $100 and $350 or so, typically).
Compare this with a signup bonus of 50,000 miles after 2k in spending in the first 90 days. That's ~4 domestic one ways after spending $2k. That's 25x better return than "normal spend".
I understand the preference to have one card and not worry about it, but it's tough to talk about "maximizing" if you're going with that strategy.