Any longtime readers of mine can tell you that I’m a big fan of airline credit cards. They offer huge signup bonuses, have great benefits(discounts on paid tickets, cheaper mileage tickets, free luggage shipping, etc, etc.) and the best part is that most of them keep on giving you the bonus every time you get a new card!
I am also an outspoken critic of the scams by the fake airline card companies, that offer “No blackout dates” especially the worst scammer and false advertiser of them all, Capital One. In short, while with a true airline miles card you can get great values like business tickets to Australia worth $9,000 for just 90,000 miles(a value of .10/mile) there so-called miles cards(Like the Capital One card) never can be used for more than .01/mile, and that’s in a best-case scenario, often you’ll get much less than that measly amount. No wonder they have “no blackout dates”…
That being said, the absolute best credit card for big spenders is the Starwood Amex
They offer 3 starpoints/dollar spent at any Starwood hotel chain, and 1 Starpoint per dollar spent everywhere else.
What’s so good about that?
You can transfer 20,000 starpoints for 25,000 real airline miles on almost any airline you could possibly want miles on!
The best part about that (besides for the 25% bonus) is that you can wait until you find an award ticket that you want, and then transfer it to the airline of your desire.
So why haven’t I pushed this card until now???
-1. I never hold onto an airline card for more than 2 months, so this card simply doesn’t fit my needs.
-2. The public signup bonus is just 4,000 miles (Although there is a special link for 6,000 miles, that can’t touch the 25,000 mile airline offers)
-3. To get that 25% bonus you need to transfer 20,000 starpoints, so this is only for spenders!
The annual fee is waived for 1 year, afterwards it is just $30.
The card also comes with great benefits such as
-Amex Best Value Guarantee
-Amex Return Protection.
-Amex Buyer’s Assurance
-Amex Purchase Protection
Read more about those benefits in the terms and conditions of the card…
At any rate here’s the application for 6,000 starpoints at signup:
Starwood Amex Linky
Cute fact:
The SPG Amex also gives 1,000 miles for your first stay at a starwood(see spg.com for a full list of hotel chains) and 500 miles thereafter during the first year, up to 5,000 miles.
When you charge even a soda at the bar of an SPG it counts as a stay…
