I have been traveling for business for 6 years. It took me 5 years to finally bother to sign up for frequent fly miles, even though I have had plenty of co-workers and friends recommend it. I felt like I didn’t want to have to arrange my schedule to fly with a certain airline. That was very, very dumb.
In the last 12 months, I have accumulated 31,368 miles on Delta SkyMiles and 11,316 on American Airlines Aadvantage. .. . for doing nothing more than enrolling and entering my account number when purchasing tickets. That is enough points for a free flight in the continental U.S., Alaska, Canada, Caribbean, and Mexico on Delta (see chart) and a free upgrade (see chart) on American Airlines. Best of all, since I signed up with Delta and American Airlines, I have not had to bend my schedule to fly on these airlines.
I’m kicking myself for all of those years that I flew and did not accumulate frequent flyer miles.
Maybe these cards are really good, but you have to fly on one and the same airline always… It is very inconvenient. I prefer airlines credit cards that can be used universally, on any or most airlines. Plus, some banks can give rewards on other purchases made with the card – it’s great.
I thought it would be inconvenient, but it hasn’t been at all. I can used these two airlines for 90% of my airline travel.
I have also joined Southwest’s Rapid Rewards so that I get points for the other 10% of my airline travel.