airline cards still worth it? - Credit Card Forum

fffresh · 07-02-2008, 12:14 AM

Who knows maybe I just have bad luck with the cards I've chose but airline cards no longer make sense to me. I needed 37,500 just for a domestic ticket and I'm not even talking a nice one but the bargain tickets. That means I would have to spend 40,000 on my card before I even qualify for one stupid ticket. Even if i had a card that only paid 1% cash back that would give me $400 which is enough to buy a ticket on my own. Then if that card was 1% cash back plus 2% or 3% cashback on some categories I would earn that same amount with even less spending. To make it worse most of these airline cards charge annual fees.

I think they're past their time.

Multi-Purpose · 07-05-2008, 02:28 PM

I feel the same way. I had a bunch of miles on my amex and it would have taken i think around 40,000 miles just to get a crappy ticket with stops. The other big thing you forgot to mention is the points don't cover fees and fuel surcharges which can end up being $50 to $100 per round trip flight. I just bought a ticket from lax to dtw for $396 on a good non-stop flight. that equals 1% cash back on $40k. imagine if I would have used a cash back card that gave more in the other categories i would have only had to spend $25k or $30k to get the same ticket for free. not to mention the annual fee that ALL airline cards seems to charge.

Yep their day is over. yeah they were big in the 90's bec there were no cards that offered cash back like there is today. with the cash back gas credit cards and other ones out there i see no point in actually choosing an airline card.

07-02-2008, 12:14 AM	#1
fffresh Centurion Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: the edge of the world Posts: 227	airline cards still worth it? Who knows maybe I just have bad luck with the cards I've chose but airline cards no longer make sense to me. I needed 37,500 just for a domestic ticket and I'm not even talking a nice one but the bargain tickets. That means I would have to spend 40,000 on my card before I even qualify for one stupid ticket. Even if i had a card that only paid 1% cash back that would give me $400 which is enough to buy a ticket on my own. Then if that card was 1% cash back plus 2% or 3% cashback on some categories I would earn that same amount with even less spending. To make it worse most of these airline cards charge annual fees. I think they're past their time.

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07-05-2008, 02:28 PM	#2
Multi-Purpose Platinum Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Somewhere in So Cal Posts: 76	I feel the same way. I had a bunch of miles on my amex and it would have taken i think around 40,000 miles just to get a crappy ticket with stops. The other big thing you forgot to mention is the points don't cover fees and fuel surcharges which can end up being $50 to $100 per round trip flight. I just bought a ticket from lax to dtw for $396 on a good non-stop flight. that equals 1% cash back on $40k. imagine if I would have used a cash back card that gave more in the other categories i would have only had to spend $25k or $30k to get the same ticket for free. not to mention the annual fee that ALL airline cards seems to charge. Yep their day is over. yeah they were big in the 90's bec there were no cards that offered cash back like there is today. with the cash back gas credit cards and other ones out there i see no point in actually choosing an airline card.