2 Types of Air Mile Credit Cards

By Robert Alan

We all love the idea of air miles credit cards. These credit cards allow us to earn mileage points for every flight that we take. The goal, of course, is to use those miles to get a free flight at some point in the future, allowing customers to effectively take an unplanned vacation. However, the majority of people who have an air miles credit card don't actually ever end up getting this free vacation. That's usually because they don't understand the two different types of miles cards that exist and how one might be better than the other for their flying style.

The first kind of miles credit card is a card that is sponsored by a specific airline. This means that you earn miles every time that you use that card to purchase a flight on that specific airline. This is great for people who are committed to flying on the same airline. It's also great for business travelers who work with companies that always fly to and from the same locations. However, airline-sponsored cards hinder people looking for the lowest-priced deal on available flights that they can take. That's because deals differ by airline at any given time so the one that works on your card may not be the one that's offering the best rate. This means that you have to choose between paying a higher rate now in order to get miles on your card or paying the lower rate but not being able to get mileage points.

To resolve this dilemma, many people turn to bank-sponsored miles cards. These credit cards are designed to offer more flexibility in choosing the airlines that you work with. Instead of being saddled to one airline, you can get the best deals on flights and let the mileage accumulate across different airlines (all on one card). This sounds ideal - and for some people it might be - but consumers should be aware that the benefits of bank-sponsored air miles credit cards are often not as extensive as those cards sponsored by the airlines.

Because there are so many different types of cards to choose from, it can be difficult to make a final decision. The first thing that you need to know is that a decision must be made. It defeats the purpose to have more than one air miles credit card because this spreads out your points in separate places and your rewards come in too slowly and are harder to take advantage of. After making a decision about which card type suits you best, you can start to look at more specific details of individual cards that are offered in each category. Interest rates, fees and the other things that are normally reviewed before completing any credit card application should be taken into consideration when choosing an air miles credit card. The decision can be difficult but it's worth taking the time to make it correctly.