May 18

Tips For Best Airline Rewards Credit Card

Credit cards rewarding you with airline miles for a particular air carrier have been around for approximately 20 years. Credit cards then progressed to offering generic rewards points that would allow you to book airline reward travel with almost any airline. One of the only disadvantages to this new type of credit card was that you did not obtain physical miles with an airline company, but rather points that were proprietary to the credit card company.

According to the Wall St. Journal (sub. req.), a new, "third wave" of credit cards that combine actual airlines miles and generic points for airline reward travel are popping up from credit card companies. Examples: programs from American Express and Delta, as well as the newest card from Chase and United Airlines.

The article provides three tips for choosing an airline rewards card, depending on the type of travel you do:

1) Like faraway places? Try miles.
2) Rarely leave the U.S.? Consider cards that earn generic points, good on any airline.
3) Want both in one piece of plastic? See the below chart (click to enlarge):

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