Credit card to fly for free all the fucking time?

avatar33

avatar33

e-Hustler
Dec 5, 2009
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Calgary, AB
Who haz it? I'm sick of my BS credit card that gives me nothing but basic travel insurance. What's the best travel credit card for big PPC spenders? I know some of you fuckers are probably flying free all the time with the amount money you spend on buying traffic. Share your knowledge...

Someone told me Chase Sapphire?

I'm open to any US/Canada/Intl credit card...
 


No need for a credit card. Just fly with LukeP airlines.

They accept bitcoin and all altcoins.

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Chase Sapphire/Ink and Amex are both pretty decent b/c both of them have transferrable points to a ton of partners.

Amex Gold (and Platinum I think) offers 2pts/dollar on advertising up to $150,000 I think, and then 1pt/dollar.
 
We use the American Express plum card. You do not get airline points but you do get 1.5% cash back unlimited. We have found it better to get the cash and find a travel deal vs dealing with points and them devaluing them and the blackout dates. With cash you can do whatever/whenever you want.
 
numberone said:
We use the American Express plum card. You do not get airline points but you do get 1.5% cash back unlimited. We have found it better to get the cash and find a travel deal vs dealing with points and them devaluing them and the blackout dates. With cash you can do whatever/whenever you want.
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This is what I use as well. I also have a Capital One card that gives 2% cash back but the lack of any hard credit limits makes the Plum Card easier to work with.
 
numberone said:
We use the American Express plum card. You do not get airline points but you do get 1.5% cash back unlimited. We have found it better to get the cash and find a travel deal vs dealing with points and them devaluing them and the blackout dates. With cash you can do whatever/whenever you want.
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this is ok if you fly domestic and have 3 hours to waste trying to find the cheapest deal for 2 days out... or you know 21 days in advance where you are going.... flying business internationally is about 65k points on star alliance or a 3k+ ticket... 1.5% on 65k is < 3k


i use ink bold business b/c I enjoy star alliance - your best bet is to find an airline you enjoy and use their card.

i also have spg amex for hotels
 
I have most of the popular ones:

Chase Sapphire
Amex Starwoods
Barclay Arrival
Capital One Venture
etc...

For flights the points/miles seem to be better than cashback.. Some of the flights can cost baseline $300 one way and I have found that you can get flights for 17000 points ( which is $170 ) when using miles/points. On cash back I'd have to have $300 one way.

Also, is travel your main thing? Reason I ask is cashback you can be tempted to spend on other things not travel. With this thought in mind, I like getting miles/points because even though I can transfer them around, Im almost forced to use them on travel.. which is what I'd rather do. It keeps me on my goals ( which is to travel ).

Make sure you get a card that allows you to transfer around, like Amex and Sapphire. You don't want to be stuck on a card that only allows you miles on Delta OR just gives you a "credit" back like Barclays. I'd much rather use my points upfront and get the discount ( $300 ticket vs a $170 for same flight ) and not worry about anything, then pay full price with cash/credit and get a credit back ( which means I am still paying full price and using more of my credit reward ).

I pretty much put everything on Amex first if I can and the rest on Sapphire. I'll use the barclay's credit on things like credit back reimbursement on car rentals or something.
 
I'll also throw out the Cap One Venture. It's double points on every damn thing you buy. Sure it's not a flight rewards card, but you can rack up points quick. Use the card to buy your flight on any airline, any time you want. Then just go into your rewards center and select the ticket purchases you want to erase with your points. Easy peasy.
 
So slightly off topic, but presuming you are using personal credit cards for buying PPC/media: What happens if you get stung on the backend?

This is what sketches me out about affiliate marketing on credit. I guess a Ltd company credit card or invoice factoring is the way forward for reducing liability/mitigating cash flow risk?
 
If you give me an hour... I can probably dig up a good credit card offer with travel points.

Hope you don't mind the affiliate link. ;)
 
I use Delta branded Amex

Haven't paid for a flight in over a year. Free first class. Not to mention free open bar and free meals.
 
jonbird said:
So slightly off topic, but presuming you are using personal credit cards for buying PPC/media: What happens if you get stung on the backend?

This is what sketches me out about affiliate marketing on credit. I guess a Ltd company credit card or invoice factoring is the way forward for reducing liability/mitigating cash flow risk?
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Sensible people have the capital to back it up, they just like spending the card company's money instead, and like rewards.
 
Starwood Amex and transfer the miles to the program you need for the flight you want.

Their best transfer partners are US Airways, American, ANA and Alaska (others are good as well if you have a specific use in mind). The nice thing about SPG points is that when you transfer in blocks of 20k miles, you get a 5k mile bonus. So for general spending, you earn more points/$ than most other cards.

US is great for flexible business/first redemptions on some quality carriers such as Cathay Pacific, JAL & Qantas.

American is good for the same (both are oneworld now) and another quality AA partner is Etihad. Easy to get Etihad first class awards with AA points and they have a great product.

Alaska is great for Emirates awards. 90k in F to Asia with a stopover in Dubai on a one way award.

ANA is one of the few remaining options for well priced Star Alliance awards now that United killed their award chart. Have to be careful which airline you choose though or you get hit with $$$ fuel surcharges.
 
jsphfcll said:
this is ok if you fly domestic and have 3 hours to waste trying to find the cheapest deal for 2 days out... or you know 21 days in advance where you are going.... flying business internationally is about 65k points on star alliance or a 3k+ ticket... 1.5% on 65k is < 3k


i use ink bold business b/c I enjoy star alliance - your best bet is to find an airline you enjoy and use their card.

i also have spg amex for hotels
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This is a pretty solid way to go. Ink Bold to build points to transfer to mostly United but a range of partners.

SPG Amex for hotels+few random other Airlines (transfer to Alaska and you can book 1st class to Dubai on Emirates - a $30k ticket for 130k points)

Also if you love United the most they have a 2pt/dollar card that you can mix in to build the United points faster than if you have just Ink bold. It's got a $400/yr fee but you get to waive the close in booking fee and if you spend enough the 2pt/$ balances it out.

Lastly the 2% cash back card from capital one is great for just plain cash back. You don't want to build up to many miles for a number of reasons. Right now for example I've been traveling less and am putting everything on cash back for the most part now as I've got all the points I need until I start using them again.

Also getting cash back and buying tickets with cash instead of points does have a key benefit - it's the only way to build status on the airlines. That's an important thing you've got to factor in sometimes. I've meet a few people that flew United enough earlier in life for work they've got lifetime global services status. They can pretty much buy the cheapest economy ticket for themselves and family on any United flight and be upgraded to the best seats available for free.
 
JetBlue Amex - We ship with it and I use it personally

JetBlue is the bets imo. ie Last flight I took I passed out, didn't wake up until I landed. As Im walking off the plane the servant lady said "I noticed you were asleep during drink service, would you like something to go?"

What other airline does that? JetBlue consistently does stuff like that, they are the best.
 
miketpowell said:
Also if you love United the most they have a 2pt/dollar card that you can mix in to build the United points faster than if you have just Ink bold. It's got a $400/yr fee but you get to waive the close in booking fee and if you spend enough the 2pt/$ balances it out.
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It is actually $1.5 pt/$ (United Club card).

This was my go to card until United devalued their award chart. It is now 130k miles one way to Asia in F on a partner (United F is not real F, imo). Used to be 70k. It is less valuable now in relation to other options. Your miles for further with some other airlines than with United.

Until AA devalues, Asia is 67.5k in F with their program. Alaska is 90k in F on Emirates or less on Cathay.

There is still decent value with UA miles for economy & business class. The gap will probably close between them and the other airlines making UA points more valuable again (in relation to others) in the future. But as it stands right now, UA points are less valuable than others if you value international premium awards on partner airlines.
 
This couldn't come at a more perfect time, I just started looking into this kind of stuff because I have a lot of client advertising budgets on my cards already. I know a lawyer who made a lot of extra money from reward points back. Leaving some money on the table.
 
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