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What are some great travel credit cards? Or things to consider with re


debjcline
By debjcline,
in

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There is a lot to consider when getting credit cards for travel and I would like to get as much information as possible on things that I might not have considered.

I would like to hear about what cards are great or anything else about travel deals & credit cards.

I have airline cards "United" and "Southwest". I use them for everything and I have accrued several trips etc.

I have thought about getting different cards like the America PRICELINE EXPRESS and Diners.

I have heard Diners is a good one to have if you travel overseas. Is it true? Is it good for other resons as well?

I don't know what advantage there is in having an America PRICELINE EXPRESS. I had heard that if you had an America PRICELINE EXPRESS (gold?) that your auto rental insuance was covered. I called about this and I can't remember exactly what they said, but the "insurance", was not a good deal.

Now that I am bidding for hotels on Priceline, I can see the advantage for possible upgrades etc., in hotels if you have the hotel cards.

I have been mainly staying in Marriott hotels, I will be applying for their card soon.

I would like to be prepared for possible travel to other areas or other hotels and I don't necessarily want to scramble to get cards at the last minute.

However, I also don't think I want to be paying annual fees of rarely used credit cards. Can you right off the annual fees on taxes?

Lot of things to consider. I would like to hear all thoughts. thanks

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Other than at the VERY high end establishments Diners Card is not accepted at all in the UK.

Throughout all of Europe Visa and Mastercard are the cards of choice.

Acceptance of Amex is patchy, some countries accept it without the bat of an eye, some will ask for another card first, but will accept it if pressed, some won't take it at all. Then there are the French, who not only won't take it, but are downright hostile about it!

Having said that Amex are number 1 when it comes to back up if things go wrong for you while travelling.

Personally I carry three cards, Visa for Europe, Mastercard for USA, and Amex for general backup. I don't have enough experience of Asia to offer an opinion, generally I go with the flow, using whichever of the three seems most welcome.

:) Pirate

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just received a promotion from Marriott Visa, this card costs $65 per year, but each year you get a free night stay certificate. Check out the fine print

15,000 Bonus Points after your first purchase using the card.

Receive a Free Night stay certificate upon account opening and each year upon account anniversary.

Earn 5 points for every $1 spent at over 2,600 Marriott locations.

Earn 2 points for every $1 spent on airline, dining and rental car purchases as well as 1 point for every $1 on all other purchases.

Receive 15 nights toward your next Elite membership level in Marriott Rewards every year, enjoy Silver Elite status or better.

2 for 1 Golf coupon upon account opening.

Call 1-800-630-0831 to apply by phone and mention card code 5ZF3.

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I have several cards that earn points & miles.

- Starwood Amex

- Citi AA Visa

- Citi AA Mastercard

- Citi Business AA Mastercard

- Chase Marriott Visa

I've had the AA Visa for a long time. I only got the other 2 AA cards for the signup bonus miles. I got the Marriott card for the 15 nights towards elite status. But I don't use these much.

For everyday spending, I put as much as possible on the Amex. The cool thing about Starwood is that their award program has no capacity controls. If there's a standard room available for sale for cash, then you can get it for points at the standard level. So if you ever travel to popular events, the free stays can be worth a lot. And if you're looking for miles, Starwood points can be transferred to many airlines at 1:1, and if you transfer 20K, there's a 5K bonus, which means you are earning 1.25 miles per dollar spent.

That said, if you regularly travel with one airline or hotel, check out their card. Many offer bonus points for using their card at their brand.

As far as cards to use while travelling, Amex, Diners, and many Visa & MC include car rental insurance. Typically, it's secondary to your own personal insurance, and covers CDW (collision damage) only, not liability. There are also exclusions for certain vehicles (luxury cars, full size pickups & SUV's, large vans), duration (typically rentals of 4 weeks or less), and certain countries. Still, as expensive as CDW can be, you definitely want a card with that benefit if you rent much.

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I have the Delta Amex Plat card. As for car rental insurance from the amex web site: "The Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance Plan provides coverage against theft of or damage to most rental vehicles. Coverage applies for the first 30 days, and is in excess to your other sources of insurance." Last year this alone saved me more than the card fee. But I rented a lot of cars.

I also charge a lot on the card so I get bonus miles for my spending. Most of my travel spending goes on the card. Last year when I was in NY I was charging over $7,000 per month. So I was getting around 10,000 miles or so per month. The bonus miles also helped me make Plat on Delta so more free upgrades.

But for people with low CC spending its not worth the fee.

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I really like my 'Capital One No Hassle' Mastercard. Miles are very easy to redeem. I was able to book a round trip flight from the East Coast to Hawaii. I booked the trip on my own, finding the best deal I could. It had to be charged on the Mastercard, of course, and within a month the price of the fare was creditted back to my account. I was free to book on any airline. There is a $19/yr. fee, but I think it is well worth it. I don't travel for business so don't rack up thousands of miles at a time. I think the points can also be redeemed for merchandise, but not sure just how that works.

I've had no end of hassles trying to redeem Delta FF miles.

Mastercard is pretty universally accepted.

JCB

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Diners Club cards are now accepted everywhere Mastercard is accepted, since they now carry the Mastercard logo. They have a great card at a fairly resonable yearly rate: $80.

However, I use the Gold Card from America PRICELINE EXPRESS which is great for issues that arise when travelling or booking rooms. However, I have had problems with Priceline and they have been very little help. If you are just getting one of these cards, go with the Diners Club!

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  • 3 months later...

Just an update on the Starwood America PRICELINE EXPRESS Card as the deal just got a little better....

10,000 Starpoints after your first purchase plus...

and additional 15,000 points if you spend $15K in the first 6 months

Since you also earn 1 point for every dollar spent, if you can meet the 6 months spend bonus, you're looking at 40,000 starwood points... this is enough for multiple nites at the higher end categories or over a week at the lower end categories.

What's great about the Starwood program is that they don't have blackout dates... if there is a standard room available to be booked (via their website) then you can also book it via points. While my hotel rooms are still booked thru priceline/hotwire, there are times (during high demand or seeking more than double occupancy) where these Starwood Points can come in handy.

Starwood also has a "Cash and Points" option at some properties. For example, when we were in Germany we stayed at the The Dom (a Le Meridien hotel, part of Starwood) for $60/nite + 4K points... a great deal for one of the nicest hotels in the area and adjacent to the Dom itself.

The card is still free for the first year

Starwood America PRICELINE EXPRESS Card

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Your personal car insurance should cover you when you rent a car, though possibly not if the rental is for business reasons. Many higher end cards provide a secondary insurance on the car in that they cover what your primary (personal) insurance does not, such as a deductible. I actually did have a minor accident one time in a rental car and the credit card insurance reimbursed me for my $500 deductible on damage to the rental car. Having the right card, I suppose, might cover you even on a business rental, though. There is usually no extra fee for this coverage.

I recently got a Spirit airlines card despite the fact that I have too many cards already. If you make a purchase every month, you are automatically enrolled in their $9 fare club and get full mileage on all your flights. Normally people who don't fly with them a lot only get 50% mileage. There have been other threads on Spirit. They have some ridiculously low fares if you are flexible and keep an eye on their sales which change every few days. Being from San Fran is not as good as being from LA and Vegas and traveling to Florida a lot like we do, but if you can get yourself to Florida, Spirit can get you all over the Caribbean, Central and even South America for ridiculously low prices. We got round trip fares out the door to Guatemala from LA for $181, Ft. Lauderdale to Cancun for $144, Fort Lauderdale to San Juan for $92 and Fort Lauderdale to Vegas for $68!! Round trip, taxes included! Most of the cost of these tickets was taxes and fees, actually. Having their card means all those flights accrue full mileage toward free flights with no blackouts, too. They waive the annual fee for a year and give you 15,000 miles for signing up, too.

If you are able to book it fast, you can get from San Fran to Ft. Lauderdale on Skybus for $81 R/T out the door when they open their booking dates. You only have a matter of hours to get that rate, though.

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