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Why pay hundreds of dollars for a plane ticket if you do not have to? There are many credit cards that offer tons of frequent flyer miles just for signing up (and sometimes meeting a spending threshold). Even after the annual fees that are common in these days, travelers still come out far ahead with these credit cards.

Airline-specific cards

1. American Express Gold Delta Skymiles

This card awards 20,000 bonus miles after your first purchase. You can add up to two additional card holders for an extra bonus of 2500 miles per approved cardholder. The $95 annual fee waived the first year. If you keep your card, you will receive a $99 ticket each year at renewal. The card also provides a Skymile per dollar spent.

* Annual fee: $0 the first year, $95 after

* Mileage Bonus: 20000 to 25000

* Additional benefits: No seat restrictions or blackout dates on Delta or Northwest when using the \”Pay with Miles\” feature, a mil per dollar spent

2. U.S. Airways Premier World MasterCard

This card gives 12,500 miles after your first purchase and 12,500 more miles after spending $750 in the first 90 days as a cardholder, for a total of 25,000 miles. It is enough for one price ticket. The card has several benefits including a free day passes to U.S. Airways the club (exclusive, fancy waiting area), early boarding and two discounted companion ticket per year. The annual fee is $89 and U.S. Airways\’ award travel booking fee is $25, which means that you can get a plane ticket that you might have spent $400 on for only $114.

* Annual fee: $89

* Mileage Bonus: 25 000

* Miles needed for a free domestic ticket: 20 000

* Fees associated with the free tickets: $25 booking fee

* Additional benefits: A free day pass to the U.S. Airways club, early boarding and two discounted companion tickets per year, and a mil per dollar spent

3. United Mileage Plus Visa

This card rewards you with 30,000 miles after you spend $50, which is more than enough for a round trip economy tickets in North America. The card has a $ 60 annual fee. Additional benefits include regular one mil per dollar spent, a seat upgrade certificate and a $25 certificate to a United ticket.

* Annual fee: $60

* Mileage Bonus: 30 000

* Miles needed for a free domestic ticket: 25 000

* Fees associated with the free tickets: $25 handling fee

* Additional Features: One mile per dollar spent, over and upgrade certificates

These are not the only cards worth checking out. Alaska / The Horizon \’s Visa Signature card can get you a free flight in exchange for a $ 75 annual fee. American Express Jet Blue\’s card you get 10 000 True Blue points, with a $40 annual fee. The credit card associated with Continental and American each have a $ 85 annual fee and the price enough miles for free tickets. And Spirit Airlines flies only a few routes in the U.S., but Free Spirit Onyx World Mastercard announces an astounding three free flights if you take flights with fewer than 1250 miles during off-peak times.

Any short-Airline

1. Chase Sapphire Premier

Popular Personal Finance Blog My Money Blog recommends Chase Sapphire Premier credit cards as an easy way to earn frequent flyer miles. If you usually add about $1,000 a month on a credit card, you should have no trouble meeting the demand for this card to spend $3000 in three months to earn 25,000 bonus points, which can be redeemed for a ticket worth as much as $312.50. If you want a more expensive ticket, you only need to pay the difference. The card also offers points equivalent to 1% back on all purchases in addition to several other high-end perks.

* Annual fee: $0 the first year, $85 after

* Mileage bonus: varies

* Miles needed for a free domestic ticket: varies

* Fees associated with the free tickets: no booking fee if done online, $ 20 per phone

* Additional benefits: points worth 1% back on daily expenses

* Total cost for a ticket: as little as $ 0

2. American Express Starwood Preferred Guest

This credit card offers 10 000 Star Points after your first purchase, which can be redeemed for a ticket worth up to $150 The card has no annual fee the first year and a $45 per year fee thereafter. If you prefer, you can redeem your points for a stay.

* Annual fee: $0 the first year, $5 then

* Mileage bonus: varies

* Miles needed for a free domestic ticket: varies

* Fees associated with the free tickets: no booking fee

* Total cost for a ticket: as little as $0

The Bottom Line

No matter which card you choose, be sure to allow 8-12 weeks for mileage to add your frequent flyer account. Sometimes the wait will be shorter, but you have to do some advance planning if you want to use miles for a particular trip. Read the fine print carefully to ensure that you understand the card\’s fees and conditions for earning miles and check the target airline reward ticket policy. Do not be surprised if you still have to pay some small tax and fees, such as $2.50 per flight segment September 11 security fee. And of course, always remember to pay the card balance in full and on time. (For more, check out Credit Card Perks you never knew you had.)

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This article is about the China vacations. You can find some helpful information in it if you are planning your China vacations now. As a Chinese graduate student pursuing my Master’s Degree in the U.S. , I think I can have a better understanding of how to use the America issued debit or credit card in China. 

Lots of traveller have this kind of questions: Can I use America issued debit or credit card ( VISA,Mastercard,American Express,Discover ) in China? How to get cash and make purchases in China?

For most international travellers, they don’t have a Chinese credit card. But the Visa and Mastercard credit cards are accepted at most ATMs (with the VISA or Mastercard logos in them) in China. You can get cash from these ATMs in China using your American VISA or Mastercard credit cards. Some Chinese banks also provide this kind of service and you can get cash (U.S. dollars or Chinese RMB) from your Visa or Mastercard credit cards by asking the tellers in these banks. But the fees are a little bit high and you will need to pay attention to this. For making purchases with the Visa or Mastercard credit cards in China, you will need to find the VISA or Mastercard POS machines. Most international hotels and high grade department stores accept the Visa and Mastercard. Technically, these 2 types of credit cards are accepted in China, but in most places of China, the VISA or Mastercard POS machines are not easy to find. Most Chinese retail merchants do not have these specail POS machines, all they got is the China UnionPay POS machines, which do not accept the Ameria issued VISA or Mastercard. (more info about Beijing airfare and China vacations at Travel2ChinaInfo Dot COM)

For the Discover credit card, it is much more convinient than Visa and Mastercard in China. China UnionPay is now the partner of Discover and they made a deal which enables the Discover cardholders to make purchases and get ATM cash in China. You can get cash in all the China UnionPay ATMs in China. ( Actually, about 99% of the ATMs in China are run by China UnionPay and this makes the Discover credit cards acceptable in almost all the ATMs in China ) Now China UnionPay has 80,000 ATMs and 365,000 retail merchants in China. For getting cash with the Discover credit cards from the ATM, you will need to pay some fees for this service. But if you wanna make purchases with them, there is no any hidden fees for your purchases in China. Pretty cool, right? (more info about Shanghai airfare and China vacations at Travel2ChinaInfo Dot COM)

I used my Discover credit card many times in China. It is always working. No any hidden fees even when you use it in the small cities or towns in China. (you will need to pay a 3% foreign transaction fees for Visa or Mastercard credit cards) Some chinese cashiers do not hear about this Discover credit card before, you can just tell them it is a dual currency China UnionPay card. In China, your Discover credit card is the same as the China UnionPay card in making purchases. No differences at all !

One good thing I find out about getting cash in the Chinese ATMs is that we can use the BOA (Bank Of America) debit cards to get ATM cash for free in China. Now the BOA is the partner of the CCB (China Construction Bank) and they made a deal which enables the BOA debit cardholders to get cash (the Chinese RMB) for free in all the CCB’s ATMs in China. No hidden fees for this service. For instance, if the exchange rate is 1:7 (1 U.S. dollars=7 Chinese RMB), you will get 7 rmb for every dollar in your BOA debit card account. Although BOA claims that the BOA debit cards are accepted in all the ATMs of the CCB, I found that it is not working in some CCB’s ATMs. Some friends of mine got cash successfully from the CCB’s ATMs in some small cities or towns of China. But I failed sometimes in some CCB’s ATMs in Beijing and Shanghai. Maybe this is because of the differences of these ATMs. The CCB’s ATMs are new in the small Chinese cities, but you will probably meet some old ATMs in the big Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai. A lot of people think that the old CCB’s ATMs is not able to provide this kind of service to the BOA debit cardholders.(more info about Lhasa travel, Beijing airfare and Shanghai airfare at Travel2ChinaInfo Dot COM)

For the American Express credit card, it is not widely accepted in China. As I know, you can get cash with the American Express credit card in the Starwood and Ritz Carl Ton’s  international ATMs. The CITI’s ATMs accept this credit card too. Most international hotels and high grade department stores accept this type of credit card in Shanghai and Beijing. But it is not as good as the Visa, Mastercard or Discover in China.

If you wanna make purchases online in China, most Chinese web sites do not accept the Discover credit card. I once bought something with my Chase Visa credit card. But I paid a 3% foreign transaction fees for it.

In summary, if you are planning your China travel, I think you can bring some U.S. dollars in cash. If you need some Chinese RMB, you can get cash with your BOA debit card in most CCB’s ATMs (free currency exchange service). For the shopping in China, the best way to make the purchases is through a Discover credit card (no foreign transaction fees).

By Shane Lee. Date: 05/20/2009.

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