Anyone use a credit card for the sake of airline miles?

[mamalbh]

We are planning on taking a trip to Disney World in a couple of years. We'd have to pay for six of us to fly, it'd be way too hard on us to drive that far.

 

Sooooo....

I've been thinking about paying for everything with a credit card that earns miles, knowing that I MUST pay the full balance every time. I have heard of other families successfully doing this and saving a lot of money on flying. But, I don't know any of them personally to talk to.

 

Has your family done this?

Any advice about doing something like this?

 

I am very disciplined when it comes to credit/loans, so I'm not too worried about accumulating debt. I'm more so wondering if we'll earn enough miles to make it worth while.

[Wheres Toto]

We have a credit card that gets us miles for Continental. One of our local grocery store chains gives us double miles for using it there so we use that credit card everytime we buy groceries. We spend $200-$300 a week on groceries so it adds up fast.

 

The main thing for us is to make sure we pay it off every month.

[chiguirre]

Yes we do this because dh travels so much for work. When he uses the card to buy tickets, he gets double miles. The credit card points assure that he's always a Diamond (or some such) member and get's lots of upgrades or at least bulkhead seating. We usually get about 6 or 8 international tickets per year by combining dh's miles and the credit card miles, so it works for us. BUT, the card fee is pretty high and it wouldn't be worth paying if dh didn't fly so much on one carrier.

[Julie in Austin]

I get Amazon gift certificates, not air miles, but we do put everything (even our electricity bill!) on the card.

 

I would only recommend this if you are 100% sure that you will pay the card off every month.

[Ferdie]

We did this several years ago for a vacation. It worked great. The only downside was that the airlines, American Airlines, only released a certain number of free air mile seats per flight. We had to fly on a specific day due to our work schedules and all the air mile seats were gone. We ended up charging everything on our card and earned enough miles for some 1st class tickets that were available. This wont' be an issue if you are flexible on your dates, but just make sure you have all your seats before you book.

 

The card we used was free for the first year and $80 a year thereafter. My dh cancelled the card after the first year. We get cash back on our bank cc so we are now using that instead.

Edited September 10, 2010 by Ferdie

[runmiarun]

We don't but my best friend does. She is very disciplined about paying it off every month, no matter what. That includes her husband's business expenses. She puts literally everything that she can on the card. After 2 or 3 years of this disciplined approach, she and her husband celebrated their 10 year anniversary over the summer with a free 7 day trip to Key West at the Waldorf Astoria. Everything at the hotel was paid by their points on their credit cards. Their only expenses were food at local restaurants and their gas from coastal GA to Key West.

[lisabelle]

I just got us approved for an Alaska Airlines for this very purpose. At first, it was with the hope that the 50,000 sign-up miles would help with our trip to Maui in February, but the fares were so good right now that I didn't want to wait two weeks until the miles hit and I got my card. We travel enough that it'll be worth it, especially if I *do* use the card for groceries and other things I'd use the debit card for and pay the full balance every month.

 

What I want to know is, I have a mileage number and when the 3 of us fly anywhere, I get miles for *my* flights. But I'm paying for 3 flights. Is there anyway to tie my dh's and ds's flights into my mileage number?

[MaMa2005]

We use only one credit card that HAS to be paid in full at the end of each month. Keeps us out of debt. (Our other card is for emergencies and we haven't used it in ages). We use this CC for all of our purchases and it has paid off well for us. We actually had enough miles to fly 2 adults round-trip to China for the adoption of our son as well as enough miles for our DS's ticket home.

 

Points add up quickly if you use it for all purchases, but this is only a good idea if you know you can pay off the balance at the end of the month. Otherwise, you can get into a heap of trouble.