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Best Airline Rewards Credit Cards

I read through some comments on various sites and they seem to echo the same thing: prices are identical between UR and sites like Kayak or Expedia.
 
FYI: most third party sellers of airfare work on an agency basis. Under this model, they never take possession of the inventory and have no pricing power over it. That said, actually determining the price for a ticket is very complex and some might be better than others at finding the cheapest combination of valid variables (and I don't just mean the variables that you actually see when booking).

I think you are more likely to see variation on the hotel side or even the car rental side.
 
Ok so I have used the Barclay USair card for 2.5 years now - got a free trip to Paris for 2, free trip to Cancun for 2, and a few hundred dollars in savings on a couple companion pass trips (we both got the card to maximize the bonus).

I think I'm ready to ready to retire it because I'm not really looking to travel that much in the next few years like we were before so just looking for something that maximizes traditional benefits on cash back and/or maybe giftcards (practical ones).

Currently I also have an AMEX Blue Cash Preferred that gets this:
6x - Groceries
3x - Gas
1x - everything else

I use this for gas/groceries - correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think I'll beat that anymore

What cards could I look into to replace the Barclays to just get more cash back (could look into general travel for hotel/flight points I guess)?

Or am I over thinking this and I already have a pretty good deal which I should keep rolling with?
 
Get the Citi Double Cash card and use it for everything but gas and groceries. 2% cash back on every purchase
 
In case anyone is credit card shopping....

Southwest is offering their 50k bonus again. If you go through Chase, the 50k counts towards A list. If you run a business, you can get the business and personal cards which, as soon as you hit your minimums, gives you the 110k miles for Companion Pass. Plus, it's good for the rest of the calendar plus then next, so basically if you get 2 cards, tie them both to your rewards account, in a couple months you'll have free companion tickets from then until Dec 31st 2016.

It's a great deal if you fly Southwest a decent amount.
 
Steer clear of spending on a Delta Amex, and you might even consider canceling it when the annual fee comes up. The SkyMiles program has made a lot of unfriendly changes and I wouldn't be surprised to see award redemption prices going up significantly.

I signed up for the Barclays US Air card in December and got 50k miles for it - I think they're still offering that. I'm switching all of my spend over there.
 
Been slowly building up my credit over the past year with a card from LGFCU. I think its about time to apply for a rewards card. I don't travel an incredible amount but I do fly to 2-3 times a year so maybe that would be worth it?
 
So I have a CSP and quite a few other cards for the rewards programs. The CSP is my only card with an annual fee but I'd like to get the Barclays card to get the sign up bonus. Should I cancel the CSP, or keep it open? I use it as my main 1% card so I clear the annual fee quite easily, but I'm not sure I'd use it much if I had the Barclays card.
 
Are you talking about the Barclays USAir card or the Barclays Arrival Plus?
 
Been slowly building up my credit over the past year with a card from LGFCU. I think its about time to apply for a rewards card. I don't travel an incredible amount but I do fly to 2-3 times a year so maybe that would be worth it?

Maybe; do some math. A cash back card may be better, depending on yearly cash back limits, your spending patterns, etc.

Capital One Venture has worked well for me and the wife based on our spending patterns and travel patterns. In fact, I just booked a flight to ATX using the capitalone card and it was stupid easy.
 
I have a Chase Freedom with no annual fee that I keep at all times and then churn through two or three other cards a year for the bonus. The problem is that my job won't let me use my personal card for work purchases any more and I don't quite spend enough to hit some limits. My credit scores are good because I've never missed a payment on anything in five plus years. I've been able to travel to Brazil, Colombia, and more for nothing more than the airport fee or whatever over the past few years.
 
So I have a CSP and quite a few other cards for the rewards programs. The CSP is my only card with an annual fee but I'd like to get the Barclays card to get the sign up bonus. Should I cancel the CSP, or keep it open? I use it as my main 1% card so I clear the annual fee quite easily, but I'm not sure I'd use it much if I had the Barclays card.

Be careful canceling cards, especially if the limit is high and you've had it for a while. Your debt/credit ratio can go down and negatively impact your credit score. Unless you have a lot of cards, generally having a nice amount of credit you're not using is a good thing, especially if it's old.
 
Be careful canceling cards, especially if the limit is high and you've had it for a while. Your debt/credit ratio can go down and negatively impact your credit score. Unless you have a lot of cards, generally having a nice amount of credit you're not using is a good thing, especially if it's old.

I considered that but I'm not worried. This is a fairly new card and a small percentage of my total available credit.
 
Probably fine then.

Just got both Southwest cards. Sorry Barclays Arrival+, even you can't come close to 2 years of free flights...
 
Been slowly building up my credit over the past year with a card from LGFCU. I think its about time to apply for a rewards card. I don't travel an incredible amount but I do fly to 2-3 times a year so maybe that would be worth it?

Be wary about signing up for any card with an annual fee unless you are really going to use it enough to make the benefits worth it. A lot of them have signup bonuses of 40-50k miles which easily make the fee worth it for the first year, but if you don't spend enough on it to get a free flight (or use other benefits like free checked bags) then you're better off with one of the free cards.
 
Been slowly building up my credit over the past year with a card from LGFCU. I think its about time to apply for a rewards card. I don't travel an incredible amount but I do fly to 2-3 times a year so maybe that would be worth it?

No. Unless you fly regularly, a cash back card makes much more sense.
 
I think it depends. I don't fly regularly, but I like taking big trips, so the dollar amount of my award flight is worth far more than the points would be in straight cash back homie. For example, I flew two people to Rio on award miles (almost all sign up bonus) and the dollar value of that flight was like $1,100 each. I used 75,000 miles, which would be equivalent to $750 if I used the cash back option on the points.

I would never drop $2,000 plus on flights at this stage of my life, so the trip was something I wouldn't have done without the points. If you're using the points/miles on domestic flights then the value isn't as great. All comes down to your plan with the points/miles.
 
I'm in the market for a new card and trying to decide between a cash back card (would probably do Citi Double Points) vs a travel rewards card (would probably do CSP, Cap One Venture, or Delta AmEx).

1. Would the points earned on one of the travel cards tend to get me more or less than the 2% of $ spent on the card that I'd get from the Citi Double Points?

2. If I did a travel card - I'm in ATL, so would be interested in Delta-specific benefits anyway. If the flexibility of CSP isn't as important to me, are there other reasons to do this over a Delta AmEx? I don't fly a ton, but getting Zone 1 boarding on Delta has some value to me, so I might lean toward the Delta AmEx just for that reason.
 
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