Frequent Flyer Programs

I've never flown enough to warrant worrying about Frequent Flyer miles or any of that hubub, but now that we're 2000 miles from most of our families, I expect we'll be flying 2-3 times a year.

Is there any disadvantage to joining these programs?

Depends on how you fly. My son and I have put many miles in over the past few years and signed up for all of them. However, I usually end up getting our tickets off Priceline or other discount flight places. As a result, we rarely fly the same airlines on a regular basis. So, we never really earn enough points to make a difference.

My wife, on the other hand, travels for work and always flies Delta (company preferred), so she has earned enough to get free flights.

If you end up using the same airline, it's worth signing up for. Same applies to hotels and car rentals.

-Rob

Do they cost anything or inundate my mailbox with junk mail? Or is it just kinda like the shoppers cards at most groceries?

If you fly for work.. pick an airline that flies to where you have to go and stick with it. I get 2-3 free flights a year by doing this. Pick a hotel chain and rental car company and stick with them as well.

The benefits of the FF programs is that once you achieve status, they put a multiplier on your miles allowing you to get miles faster.

Example: Silver = miles X 1.25 Gold = miles X 1.5 Etc. etc..

This thread is relevant to my interests. I'm already part of the air, auto, and hotel programs I most frequently use for work, but is it worth getting the airline associated credit card as well? I know that the interest rates are laughably high, but this would be paid off monthly.

Totally do it. After a while those miles do add up. Hello, first class.

Also, see if signing up for your preferred airline's credit card gets you free luggage. In my case, the baggage fees for one or two trips negate the annual fee for the card.

TSA Pre-Check is also nice. You have to pay for it, but it beats waiting in line.

I flew out of Ft. Lauderdale a few weeks ago, and it was fairly packed. Between my flyer status and Pre-Check, I pretty much walked from the curb to the gate, and that was with checking a bag.

In reply to Mitchell:

My wife travels for work, and uses Alaska Air mostly, so we have the CC, rates are slightly higher than normal, but its always paid off each month. We put everything possible on it. Miles do add up over time.

Do it. I spend way too much time in the air and the benefits offered like the seating choices, upgrades, and airport lounges go a long way towards making you feel human when on the road.

Sure, you'll get all kinds of offers via the mail and email. For email, I just filter it to a folder and glance/delete at my leisure. Paper mail will increase, but not a ton.

Regarding the frequent flyer credit cards, as long as you're good with them and pay them off quickly, they can add up quickly. I don't have that kind of discipline (but am getting better). I have one friend who uses an airline card for every purchase (even small ones) and just pays it off every week instead of using his normal checking account. He racks up lots of points which he and his wife use for a nice trip once a year. Just like extreme couponing, if you really watch the cards and rewards programs, you can do all kinds of cool things. But, many of the airlines are limiting the points nowadays where they're not worth nearly as much.

I read the book "Do More, Spend Less" where the guy was even buying hotel rooms that he wouldn't use (at the cheaper hotel of a bigger chain) to earn free rooms at nice resorts. For example, rooms at a Homewood Suites (owned by Hilton) to stay at a Hilton luxury suite in Hawaii.

-Rob

I flew to Germany for free last summer because I had enough saved miles with AA. Definitely worth it

I won't touch the airline affiliated credit cards with their silly annual fee, but if you are going to be flying, sign up and get the miles, no downside...they just want to try to get return customers.

I sign up for all of them, airlines, rental companies, hotels... My company will send me wherever and put me up wherever. I might as well get something out of it for me, it has paid off in a big way over time.

Well, It depends on the annual fee. With the Chase SW car, You at least get 6000 points as well. So I pay all my bills with the card and then typically I end up with 2 free tickets a year and all I have ever paid is the annual fees and the 9/11 fees for the tickets which is like $12.50 a ticket.

So I've been a member of almost all of the programs at one point in time or another. Yeah you will get more junk mail and junk e-mail but I just mass delete them anyways. The problem I've found with most outside of SW is it's pretty darn hard to get a flight unless you fly a lot. As a casual flier, don't expect ever getting much if anything.

Will look further into the card... Current job has me traveling a bit. I'm at 5 round trips so far this year.

Not sure which card my brother is affiliated with, but he cashed in 96,000 or so points. He's going to the Philippines from Montana for $600 round trip. Normally that's a $1,400 flight.

Stay away from the credit cards, but get in the frequent flier programs.

The credit cards are fine, but other credit cards pay you MUCH more to use them. Chase 1.5% cash back on everything for example. Miles credit cards never even get close to 1.5% back once you calculate how much you spend and the value of the flight you got in return. Just get the chase card and use the cash back to buy airline tickets.

The Marriott credit card seems to get closest to the cash back cards if you stay in Marriott's a lot, but then again, you can only redeem your Marriott points for limited rewards. You can redeem a dollar on ANYTHING.

^^ This - miles in general are a rather depreciating "currency" and unless you a) spend a lot and b) fly a lot, you're getting more out of reward cards if you pick the right cashback card. Flying 2-3 times a year is not a lot unless you do it internationally, so with most recent frequent flyer programs you're not getting much in the way of status.

I'm still signed up for a few of them "just in case" but I'm not expecting much in the way of benefits from them anymore.

Appleseed wrote: Not sure which card my brother is affiliated with, but he cashed in 96,000 or so points. He's going to the Philippines from Montana for $600 round trip. Normally that's a $1,400 flight.

This is what I am saying about the cards not giving you nearly 1.5%. He cashed in 96,000 points for an $800 benefit. Assuming he got about 1.5 points per dollar spent on the card (high estimate - most are $1 is 1 point), that means he spent $64,000 through the card to get an $800 benefit (and how much did he spend in annual fee during that time?). Chase 1.5% cash back would have given him $960 in cash back for the same spend, and I believe no annual fee.

Again, That depends on the airline. For AA, Delta, and United the cost/benefit ratio doesn't make sense in most cases.

Really just google the different airlines and their programs and there are enough websites with the exact costs, benefits, etc. It's all out there. Some are better than others but saying 100% that the credit cards are not worth it isn't always right.