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An effective plan for getting that next free airline ticket
with the help of your airline rewards or frequent flyer credit
card would be to search for all the incentives that have been
designed for definite airlines and their partners, including
those provided by your airline rewards credit card issuer.
Airline credit cards are of two types. One type is where a
card is issued in partnership with a specific airline such
as the Southwest Airlines Signature Visa and the Citi AAdvantage
MasterCard, and the other one is a generic miles card such
as the Chase Value Miles Platinum Visa, where the miles earned
can be used on any airline.
Airline-specific rewards credit cards generally combine special
incentives with their hotel and rental car partners where
you can earn considerable number of miles if you put those
purchases on your credit card. Card members can also add significant
miles on packaged vacation deals and get past that minimum
average of 25,000 mile to earn a free ticket.
Generic airline & frequent flyer credit cards offer
the benefit of being able to use the miles accumulated on
any airline. This works by the bank actually taking the cash
value of your miles (approximately 1 - 2 cents per mile) and
purchasing a discount ticket on any airline you choose. Once
you reach a mileage redemption threshold, say 20,000 miles,
and wish to book a flight, the bank will convert the miles
you have earned into cash value and buy the ticket through
a travel booking agency. The availability of discounted fares
on the dates you wish to travel may be limited, but you have
the advantage of choosing any airline.
You have to fly frequently and charge the tickets on your
airline rewards credit card to earn enough miles to get a
free ticket. Business travelers are able to take advantage
of this facility at no personal cost and tend to be the recipients
of the most free travel awards. Leisure travelers can also
add miles by charging groceries, gasoline and setting up automatic
recurring payments on their card. These daily purchases will
soon add up enough miles for them to avail of a free ticket.
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