For someone just starting out, I recommend getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred card first. Recently, Chase has not been approving people who like to apply for lots of credit cards (which will be you eventually, if you follow the advice on this website), so it’s a good idea to get that card before you have such a track record. Here’s a suggested list for starting out with American and United, but honestly, the order doesn’t really matter:

1. Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
2. Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard
3. Chase Ink Plus Business Card
4. Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Card
5. CitiBusiness / AAdvantage Platinum Select World MasterCard
6. Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Business Card

You’ll notice that a few of these are business cards. See the FAQ should you have any questions about this. It is useful to add business cards to your stable if you can.

If you plan on travelling exclusively in economy class within the continental U.S., Caribbean, and parts of Central America, you might consider focusing on Southwest Airlines. This is especially true if you have a significant other or travel buddy with whom you can use the Companion Pass.

Otherwise, if you have a specific destination and class of service in mind, see below.

Which Miles Should I Use?

This is roughly the same question as “Which credit card should I get?” but the answer can help direct you to collecting the most useful miles for an upcoming trip. To that end, below I have a list of various regions throughout the world and the best miles to use to travel to them in economy, business, or first class. I only select from the mileage programs that I cover on this website, so if you’re a little more advanced and would like to consider awards with other programs, you can always search with AwardHacker or AwardMaximizer. Neither tool is perfectly accurate though, and they do miss a few things, such as Singapore’s cheap flights from the mainland U.S. to Hawaii.

Also, keep in mind that having the “best” miles is no use if there is no availability on the dates you want, so in the long run, it’s best to have miles in many different programs.

A few more notes before we get started:

• All of the mileage prices below assume your travel originates in the United States.
• Not every airline agrees what region a particular country belongs in. For example, United considers the Canary Islands part of Northern Africa, but American considers them part of Europe, making them much cheaper to fly to using AAdvantage miles. I have a list of countries where you can use this kind of knowledge to your advantage at How To Save Miles By Knowing Your Geography.
• American Airlines routes involving British Airways are not a good value due to fuel surcharges. You’ll want to avoid awards that include them as part of your itinerary. This mostly comes into play on flights to Europe that connect in London.
• British Airways Avios is not listed in the table below (except in one place) because their rewards program is distance based, and the prices of their flights can vary depending on where you are flying to/from. Be sure to check any prices you find below with their Award Chart if you are flying economy class within North or South America.
• Southwest Rapid Rewards is not listed in the table below because their rewards program is revenue based, and the prices of their flights can vary due to a variety of factors. Be sure to check the price with Southwest if you are flying economy class anywhere on their route network.

Any mileage programs marked with a * show pricing that is only available if your award does not include any alliance partners (i.e. you only fly American Airlines flights if using American AAdvantage or United Airlines flights if using United MileagePlus).

Economy Class

Business Class

First Class

Suites Class

If you want to fly in a Singapore Suite, the miles you’ll need are Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles. You can fly suites class to a variety of destinations throughout the world, but, unsurprisingly, many of these flights involve Singapore in some way. For more information, see Searching With Singapore Airlines (Suites Class).

Q: So does that mean you won’t make any money from this website?
A: I doubt I will ever qualify for credit card affiliate links, so that much is basically out of the question. At the moment, I have one referral link for the Chase Ink card. Shopping portal links will typically all be referrals since they are free anyway, and I can’t think of a good reason not to use them. Having said that, no, I don’t expect this website to be much in terms of a source of income. I certainly won’t be quitting my day job.

Credit Cards

Q: Doesn’t signing up for all of these credit cards hurt your credit score?
A: No, not in the long run at least. When you apply for a credit card, your score does take a temporary hit, often about 5 points per application, but this only lasts a few months. Long term, having all of these open accounts can even help, though that’s beyond the scope of the discussion here. At the time of this post, my FICO score is 815, and I have 31 open credit cards.

Q: So I should sign up for lots of credit cards then?
A: Yes, but only if you can pay off all of your balances in full every month. I don’t want my advice to lead to people having credit card debt and interest payments, so make sure you can stick with your budget regardless of how many cards you have. Also, if you’re planning on taking out a mortgage within the next 2 years, you can still apply for credit cards, but I would limit myself to one card every 6 to 12 months.

Q: Which credit card should I get?
A: It depends. For most beginners, I recommend the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, but I also go through a more in-depth discussion at Which Credit Card Should I Get?

Q: Can I really get a business card?
A: You probably can. Think about whether there is anything you do for a profit. Aside from what we traditionally think of when we heard the word “business,” what about selling things on ebay or craigslist? Or any hobby where you can sell the fruits of your labor? Don’t be embarrassed if whatever it is doesn’t have you rolling in dough. My only advice is to tell the truth. I’ve applied for credit cards using this blog as my business – they ask how long I’ve been in business and how much revenue I have, and my answers are less than 1 year and $0, respectively. I still get approved. Some credit cards are more selective about your answers, but many will still approve you even if you don’t think your stats are that impressive.

Airline Miles

Q: Where’s Delta?
A: I have a strong dislike for Delta and the way they manage their frequent flyer program. They devalue their miles consistently, and they refuse to even publish an award chart. Anyway, if you’re not discouraged by this, just about every other points & miles blog covers them in some fashion. I won’t be discussing them here.

“Per their terms, City National Bank will not refund nor prorate the annual fee on the Crystal Visa Infinite Card once it has posted to your account. If you do not intend to renew the card and to pay the annual fee, you must cancel your card before the annual fee posts.”

Discussion

“This is an addendum to the Crystal Visa Infinite Card credit card agreement that was sent out to cardholders in 2016.”

Here is the pertinent part of the addendum:

“Annual Fee – There is no annual fee for the first year your Account is opened. Thereafter, we will assess you an Annual Fee of $400.00. The Annual Fee is non-refundable except as indicated below. The Annual Fee will be posted to your Account each year in the same month in which your Account was originally opened. Subject to applicable law, we are entitled to collect the Annual Fee once it is posted to your Account even if you do not use your Account or if your Account is subsequently suspended, closed or terminated for any reason.”

“There’s no way of knowing yet how strict they are planning to be with this; however, on the reverse side is language for New York Residents Only mentioning that they may be able to receive a prorated refund and listing instructions on doing so. This makes me speculate that they might be enforcing this rule in every state to the extent that they can, but we can’t know for sure.”

“In any case, if you’re not planning on renewing your account, I recommend you cancel it before the annual fee posts. You’ve been warned.”