Is an Airline/Hotel Credit Card Right for You?

With all the posts I write about signing up for, and churning, mileage credit cards (via the tag What's in YOUR wallet?) you might wonder if it's for you. I did write about how churning works a year ago, though admittedly that was an advanced course. What about the basics of whether you should get one airline or hotel card?

Coincidentally one of my sisters asked me that question this morning. Specifically she asked about Southwest cards. "I know you do a lot of flying/traveling. Have you ever had the Rapid Rewards credit card for Southwest?"

Have I ever had it? Hoo, boy, I've had at least five of them. And I've cycled through over 40 credit cards associated with various airlines and hotels in the past 10-11 years. I'm glad she asked. I'm a pro.

Here are Five Things to know if you're considering a miles-earning credit card:

1) You've got to travel. This may seem like a "duh" statement, but you've got to travel regularly to really get the value of a travel credit card. Some people look at the big signup bonuses and think, "Ooh, a free trip!" But it's hard to collect all the value in one trip. It's easier to maximize your value if you travel at least a few times a year.

2) You've got to want to fly/stay with that brand. Points you earn on a co-branded credit card are locked to that brand, so make sure you pick the right partner. You wouldn't want to sign up for a credit card with, say, Delta Airlines for a huge mileage bonus, if Delta offers few flight choices at your home airport and/or the places you expect to go. For my sister Southwest is a good choice because her oldest son is going away to college, and Southwest offers the best flight options between home and school. If you don't see an alignment between what any brand offers and where/how you want to travel, consider a generic travel card like the Capital One Venture card.

3) If you don't want to be locked to a brand. there are worthy alternatives. One travel oriented card is the Capital One Venture card. You simply charge travel to it from whatever company you want, and apply your Capital One points to reduce or even completely cover the cost. If you're not really into travel there are also 2% cash back cards like the Citi DoubleCash card. With those you earn points that can be applied to any purchase. You can also convert the points to CASH and direct-deposit them to your bank account. Cash is king!

4) You need to meet the spending target. The big value in getting a travel credit card comes from the juicy sign-up bonuses they pretty much all offer. Most require you to meet a spending target to get the bonus, though, and it's not exactly trivial. A typical target is $3,000 in 3 months. Some are lower; some are higher with targets of $4,000, $5,000, or more.

5) Pay if off every month and be mindful of the annual fee. Interest rates run high on most co-branded travel cards. They're doing you a favor with the points, so they're not doing you a favor with the APR. And many points cards charge an annual fee. Typically it's around $100, but some high-feature cards are $250, $500, or substantially more. Beware the very expensive cards; they can make sense for certain frequent flyers but are traps for most others. In my various "What's in YOUR wallet?" blogs I always compare the value I score to the costs I paid and often choose to cancel a card when I don't expect to out-earn its annual fee.

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1. "What's in your wallet?" is a meme from the amusing series of "marauding Vikings" commercials for Capital One credit cards back in the early 2000s.

My Weekend: Games, Hiking, Pool (x2). Oh, and Beer!

That's a description of how I've spend the weekend (so far): games, hiking, pool (x2). Oh, and beer!

Friday afternoon I slid down the dinosaur's tail at the end of the work day and went out to ShaKa Brewing for an afternoon beer. Friday a few things were bothering me at work. I had in mind the internet meme, "Oh, you hate your job? There's a MeetUp for people like you! It's called everybody, and we meet at the bar after work." 😂

This is now the third time I've gone in the space of four weeks. This trip I only had one beer, though. I was feeling tired after that and opted just to go out for dinner with Hawk, who was also feeling tired. After that we came home and played our favorite game, Wingspan— or, as we call it, "Birds".

Saturday morning we took it easy until it was time for lunch. We went out to eat at a local casual favorite where we often eat on the patio, then went to a friend's house for a day of games. There were 10 of us there for the afternoon, so we had two full games going.

Saturday afternoon Hawk got tired of sitting by mid-afternoon so we gave our goodbyes and headed home... to use the pool while the weather was still warm! We did that for an hour of so then took it easy for the rest of the evening. Well, except for the part where we got busy making dinner at home. Mmm, Korean style short ribs! With beer, of course.

Sunday morning we also took it easy a bit but planned a more aggressive outdoors day. After lunch we drove out to Alviso to hike on the baylands. It's a part of the area I've dubbed "The Land that Time (and Silicon Valley) Forgot". After a good hike of 3-4 miles we came back home, changed into our swim clothes, and jumped in the pool.



After being in the pool for a while it was time to relax beside the pool. Here's me with a can of beer (yes, from ShaKa Brewing!) enjoying the shade while Hawk finishes up her laps in the pool.

Sunday evening... well, it's not even Sunday evening yet, but our plan is to take it easy. We're both a bit worn out from hiking in the warm sun and then doing laps (albeit slow laps) in the pool. We'll either scrounge together some food for dinner from the kitchen or maybe get take-out, enjoy the warm evening on the patio, and play another few rounds of Birds.