Airline mileage credit cards are one of the best ways to save on travel over time. They’re great because you usually can get credit for everything you put on the card, and if it’s a travel-specific purchase, then you get even more benefit. People who like to travel a lot should probably all get one airline mileage card and use it for all of their travel purchases, or even all of their purchases in general if possible.
For example, say you are going on a trip and want to buy travel insurance . (This is something that’s highly recommended for all travelers to do anyway because it protects you in case of circumstances beyond your control.) Use your airline credit card to buy the insurance. Then you will get a certain portion back as mileage. In most cases, the cards give you three times as many miles for a travel-related purchase as for an ordinary purchase. So buying travel insurance , airline tickets, lodging or rental cars with a mileage credit card will give you three times as many miles as buying clothing or going out to eat a restaurant will.
Of course, if you can afford to pay the credit card bill off each month you should also make ordinary purchases, including groceries and toiletries, with your airline mileage credit card. While these purchases won’t pay three times the mileage, there tend to be more of them than travel-related purchases, so they will add up eventually.
To compare airline mileage credit cards, check out what the annual fee is, how much mileage they give for each kind of purchase, and what the rewards are. Virtually all of these cards will give airline tickets as mileage credit, but some of them also offer lodging, and others will even give travel packages like an African safari or physical prizes like a new set of golf clubs or wide-screen TV.
