Excellent Airline Credit Card Offers Currently Available

By Mike Grasso

One of the most frequent questions I receive is, "which airline credit card should I apply for?" My response is simple: "It depends." Coming from a financial background, I always recommend you consider your unique situation before applying for a credit card. No single card is perfect; low interest rate, free balance transfer, no annual fee, bonus points/miles offers for first use, etc. It is hard to find one card alone that offers all this.

That said, there are some amazing airline credit card offers to be had right now! If you are driven by introductory bonus/miles offers, you need to have a look at some of these deals I've come across. Be sure to read all the terms and conditions before applying for any of these:

• Continental Airlines World MasterCard (Chase). 25,000 miles after first spend - enough for a free domestic U.S. award ticket, free checked bag allowance, earn at least 1 mile per $1 spent and no annual fee the first year.

• JetBlue American Express Card. 20,000 TrueBlue Points after first spend, no blackout dates on award redemption's, earn at least 1 mile per $1 spent, $40 annual fee. Award redemption's start at only 5,000 miles.

• United Airlines Mileage Plus Visa (Chase). 30,000 miles - enough for a free domestic U.S. award ticket - after you spend $250 on the card, Visa signature benefits, earn minimum 1:$1. $60 annual fee.

• Gold Delta SkyMiles Card (American Express). 20,000 miles, $50 cash back your first ticket purchase at Delta.com or nwa.com, earn minimum 1:$1 and no annual fee the first year.

• Starwood American Express Card. 20,000 points after first purchase. This is a great hotel card, with a wonderful selection of properties. Points can be optionally redeemed for airline tickets or converted to airline miles (convert 20,000 points for 25,000 miles!). No annual fee the first year.

10% Off Air Canada Flights When Using AMEX for Payment

Visit www.aircanada.com/seetheworld to receive 10% off your next international flight to Europe, Asia, and South America. Must take advantage of this offer before November 15th for travel between now and December 13, 2008. Valid for select city departures, including San Francisco - and you must use American Express to purchase your ticket.

Starwood Preferred Guest Introduces SPG Flights

Starwood Hotels and Resorts and its award winning hotel loyalty program Starwood Preferred Guest launched yet another enhancement to an already generous program.

Since 1999, SPG members have been able to redeem Starpoints with a no blackout date policy, and not subjected to a policy that limits the number of rooms set aside for redemption. Now, you can use Starpoints for flights, with any carrier, and still no blackout dates. Therefore, you can utilize Starpoints for both your airline reservation and hotel stay. And best of all, in most cases you can still collect frequent flier miles with the airline.

Examples of Starpoints to airline ticket conversion:
10,000 Starpoints allows up to a $150 airline ticket
15,000 Starpoints allows up to a $215 airline ticket
20,000 Starpoints allows up to a $280 airline ticket
25,000 Starpoints allows up to a $345 airline ticket
(there are several higher tiers available as well)

Starwood continues to offer a points-to-miles deal which allows members to convert 20,000 Starpoints to 25,000 frequent flier miles with many airlines (Starwood chips in the extra 5,000). But with capacity controls in place, the airlines have tightened up the number of seats released for award redemption, and simply having enough miles to redeem doesn't guarantee a "free" seat will be offered by the airline. Plus, unlike this new Star Flights program, you don't earn miles when you redeem airline miles.

Therefore, using this new SPG Flights program with Starwood Hotels and Resorts receives 2 thumbs up from inFLIGHTout. This is truly one of the best loyalty programs in the travel industry.



How do you earn some quick Starpoints? The Starwood Preferred Guest card from American Express earns you 10,000 Starpoints after your first purchase, with an option to earn an additional 15,000 points for spending $15,000 during the first six months. Plus you earn 1 point for each dollar purchased on the card.

$15 Off a JetBlue Ticket When Paying With AMEX

JetBlue and American Express have again partnered to offer a discount when you purchase your next round-trip ticket at www.jetblue.com/myvacation and pay with AMEX. The offer is valid for travel through December 17, 2008. You must be a a TrueBlue member (free to sign up) to receive the discount. A few blackout dates apply.

Delta 1,000 Mile Online Booking Bonus Promo

A (temporary) return to the online booking bonus!
Delta Airlines is offering a 1,000 mile SkyMiles Bonus when booking your next round-trip ticket at Delta.com, and pay with your American Express card.

The promotion runs now through December 31st, and you must register before booking travel in order to earn the bonus miles. Click here for more information and to register.

$20 Off Your Next JetBlue Flight When Booking With AMEX

Here's another discount offer from JetBlue. Use your American Express to purchase a ticket at jetblue.com/myvacation
and receive a $20 savings.
-Purchase now through July 31, 2008 for travel June 19 through August 28, 2008.
-You must be a registered Trueblue member (the free frequent flyer program with JetBlue)


Click here for more information

SuperShuttle offers door to door shuttle service to/from local airports.

Here's a coupon for $3.00 off each way, when you use your American Express Card for payment. Book online here, and use code 72MMA

Receive $15 when you take JetBlue and use your American Express card
A great promotion to combine with the recent JetBlue airfare sales out of the SF Bay Area. Book by July 31st.

Travel focused credit cards with up-front perks

Several credit card companies offering first-use bonuses for signing up for their card have been around for a while; United & American have a 20,000 miles sign-up bonus, Delta 17,500 miles, Alaska 15,000 miles, just to name a few. But here are two gosh darn good (great) deals worth really checking out:

For a limited time, American Express is offering a FREE domestic round-trip ticket (25,000 membership reward points) after you are approved and use the Business Gold Rewards card.
No annual fee the first year.

A personal favorite of mine is the AMEX Starwood Preferred card, offering 10,000 Starwood points on approval and 1st purchase. 10,000 points is worth a few nights hotel stay at many Starwood properties throughout the world, with no blackout dates. Or you can transfer these points to airline miles. No annual fee the first year.

Mortgage payments: Charge'm to the credit card

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that American Express has joined in partnership with two leading mortgage companies in the U.S to allow customers to charge their monthly mortgage payments to their credit card. This program has many pros and cons to it. Rebate programs, such as travel, hotel or cashback awards with AMEX could eventually offset the one time $395 fee, but some may find using their credit card to pay their mortgage ends up costing them more in the long run if they arn't paying the credit card off monthly. Regardless, this is an interesting development in how credit cards can be used in the United States.