Should I get a Airline Credit Card?
I am flying from the US to Australia in a few months and I was wondering if I should get an Airline Credit Card. I already paid for the Airplane ticket online. Can I get frequent flyer miles for this flight? I’m taking United Airlines.
It depends on the provider. Most airliners right now are cutting perks for frequent flier programs. In fact, once you rack up your miles you can only use them for specific days, nothing for a vacation, usually red eyes on a Tuesday. I would suggest looking into doing a Gas station credit card through Exxon, Shell, BP, etc. You will see more benefit through this, I think.
When you are on your flight, ask the flight attendants for the Mileage Plus pamphlet. They have them onboard the aircraft. Be sure to keep your boarding pass stubs, and you will be able to get credit for your flights!!
Or you can do it online (and get more info) here:
United partners with Chase. You can go to Chase’s website and learn about the credit card, its benefits and annual fees. Also the in-flight magazine advertises for the United Airlines Visa credit card.
It is up to you whether or not you should. Some people do not like credit cards with annual fees. You do earn miles each time you buy something but it seems that it is harder to redeem the miles for free flights since airlines have cut back the number of flights they have each day. Also almost everyone has a frequent flier account because you can earn miles by purchasing flowers on FTD.com or having an internet account. Therefore you can earn mileage without even flying. What is nice about having an airline credit card is that if you do not fly very often but have taken a trip such as from the US to Australia and want to keep those miles, having the credit card keeps your account active. United miles expire after 18 months if your account is not active, meaning you are not adding miles or subtracting miles to the account.
Some people prefer to use a credit card such as the Chase Freedom card which gives you points which can be traded in for money. You earn 5,000 points and receive a $50 check.