A guide to getting a credit card with air miles

What You Need to Know

Make effective use of introductory offers.
Sign up to an airline's own credit card if you travel with them on a regular basis.
As with all credit cards, failing to keep up with payment schedules can have an adverse effect on your credit rating.

Approval criteria

While approval criteria for credit cards offering air mile rewards vary between lenders, as a rule, such products are not geared towards the lower end of the market, with prospective customers likely to have to prove themselves as reliable borrowers before being approved.

For instance, some products will ask that applicants be homeowners, employed and at least 23 years of age. Additionally, lenders also look unfavourably on applicants with recent credit defaults, whether on a mortgage or even on another credit card. As such, it pays to read up on your credit rating before applying for an air miles credit card as being turned down can affect your score.

Introductory Offers

As with credit cards in general, lenders offering credit card air miles like to attract new customers with a variety of introductory offers.

While some caution should be exercised and you shouldn't sign up to a product on the basis of an introductory bonus alone, they nevertheless can offer excellent value. For instance, some credit cards offer free short-haul flights to new customers, or at the very least significant discounts or several hundred miles to get you started.

So, it pays to shop around and look into the introductory benefits on offer, as well as the normal considerations such as rates and fees.

Compare additional rewards and benefits

As well as looking at the small print to check for rates, fees and charges of a credit card, it's also worth seeing if a product offers any other advantages.

While getting free or discounted flights is likely to be the main reason for someone choosing a credit card offering air miles, these extra bonuses can also be tempting. For instance, some cards offer discounts on a wider range of travel services, including hotels and car hire. Do your research and your calculations to see if the extra benefits outweigh any extra costs.

Bank or airline-branded card?

A wide range of airlines, from long-established flag flyers to relatively new low-cost carriers, offer their own credit cards. The main advantage of these is that they tend to offer the best discounts on flights and the best rate of air mile returns, though of course only on the specific carrier or within a certain airline alliance. As such, these can work best if you have a particular loyalty to an airline or tend to fly the same routes on a regular basis.

However, banks and other lenders also offer non-airline-affiliated credit cards providing air miles. These tend to come with the most-favourable rates, while also offering the advantage of being able to use any air miles earned on a wider range of services.

Keep on top of payments

As with all financial products, it's highly-recommended that you keep on top of your credit card payments. Products offered by airlines in particular are notorious for coming with high interest rates, so not keeping on top of repayments can more than offset any savings you may get on the cost of a flight, while it can also damage your long-term credit rating.

Further information

Learn more about the benefits of Air Miles at the official website of the scheme and find your dream destination with the help of Lonely Planet. Look for credit cards offering air miles at the UK Net Guide money shop.

26/09/2011

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