Fly Free More Often And In Business Class And First Class
The cheapest way to fly is by using airline loyalty program points and miles. Instead of potentially paying thousands of dollars for flights, you just need to pay any taxes, fees and surcharges.
Traditionally, points and miles were earned by paying cash to fly an airline, with the airline then rewarding you with points and miles to fly free with them in the future. This was designed to create loyalty - fly our airline often and you’ll be able to fly our airline for free in the future. This is why airline loyalty program points used to be called frequent flyer points, and sometimes still are.
While this still applies today, it is not the way most people earn their airline loyalty program points and miles, and it is certainly not the easiest way. Most people earn their airline loyalty program points and miles through credit card spend. With most credit cards, you’ll earn credit card points and miles every time you use your credit card for both personal and business spend.
Rather than spending these points and miles directly with the credit card company, you are far better off transferring these credit card points and miles to airline loyalty programs and then using these airline loyalty program points and miles to book flights, paying only taxes, fees and surcharges.
Done right, you can easily earn enough airline program loyalty points and miles to fly free every year, often internationally, and if done really right, often in business class or first class.
How Do I Choose The Best Credit Card For Earning More Airline Loyalty Program Points And Miles?
There are 4 essential steps in choosing the best credit for earning more airline loyalty program points and miles.
Step 1 – Choose A Credit Card That Earns Loyalty Points And Miles
This seems obvious, but not all credit cards earn loyalty points and miles. Some credit cards earn you cashback. Other cards don’t earn you anything at all. So, you need to ensure you choose a credit card that earns loyalty points and miles.
Step 2 – Choose A Credit Card That Allows You To Earn Points And Miles With Many Airline Loyalty Programs
Some credit cards only allow you to transfer credit card loyalty points and miles to one airline loyalty program. Other credit cards, instead of earning credit card loyalty points and miles, directly earn you airline loyalty program points and miles, but once again, only with one airline loyalty program.
Unless particularly suited to your needs, both types of credit cards should be avoided.
You need a credit card that allows you to transfer credit card loyalty points and miles to many airline loyalty programs, as this is the key to spending the least number of points and miles on flights.
Step 3 – Choose A Credit Card That Allows You To Earn Points And Miles On All Your Spend
Many credit cards cap the number of points and miles you can earn, usually per month or per year.
Also, some credit cards will only allow you to earn points and miles at the highest rate up to a certain capped amount. After that, you will only earn points and miles at a lower rate.
The best credit cards will allow you to earn points and miles at the highest rate all the time. Just as importantly, they will allow you to earn an uncapped number of points and miles at the highest rate, meaning you will earn points and miles on all your spend and not just some of it.
Step 4 – Choose A Credit Card Based On Both Credit Card Earn Rates And Credit Card Transfer Rates To Airlines
When choosing the best credit card, you need to look at how many credit card points and miles you earn for every $1 spent on your credit card, along with how many airline loyalty program points and miles you then earn after you have transferred the points and miles from your credit card loyalty program to your airline loyalty program. You can’t just look at one and not the other. You need to look at both to get the complete picture.
Here’s an example:
Credit Card A
For every $1 spent on Credit Card A, earn 3 Credit Card A loyalty points.
For every 4 Credit Card A loyalty points, earn 1 Airline C loyalty point (by transferring points from Credit A loyalty program to Airline C loyalty program).
So, if you spend $100 on Credit Card A, earn 300 Credit Card A loyalty points (1 to 3), which you can then transfer to 75 Airline C loyalty points (4 to 1).
Bottom line: Spend $100 on Credit Card A and earn 75 Airline C loyalty points.
Credit Card A looks more attractive than Credit Card B because you earn more credit card loyalty points – 300 vs 250 for every $100 spent. However, you actually end up with far more airline program loyalty points using Credit Card B – 125 vs 75 for every $100 spent, which is 67% more!
So, you need to choose a credit card that earns you the highest number of airline program loyalty points and miles and not the highest number of credit card points and miles.
Using the 4 steps just outlined, you can do your own research amongst more than 100 credit cards available in Australia and the 19 top airline loyalty programs.
Fortunately, Pointrs has done all the research for you.
Pointrs Best Credit Cards To Earn More Airline Loyalty Program Points And Miles
The majority of Australians use a Visa or Mastercard when using a credit card. Around 80% of credit card purchases in Australia, in dollar terms, are on Visa or Mastercard.
Based on that, you might assume that a Visa or Mastercard is the best card to use to earn the most airline loyalty program points and miles. However, generally, a high-earning American Express card earns you far more airline loyalty program points and miles – up to 67% more!
With a Visa or Mastercard, you will generally earn around 0.75 airline loyalty program points and miles for every $1 spent on eligible purchases, and sometimes even less (although sometimes you may earn higher).
With the highest earning American Express cards, you will generally earn 1.25 airline loyalty program points and miles for every $1 spent on eligible purchases - 67% more.
There are a number of American Express cards that will earn you 1.25 airline loyalty program points and miles for every $1 spent on eligible purchases, all of them direct-earn cards. There are also many American Express Cards that will earn you 1-1.125 airline points and miles for every $1 spent on eligible purchases, still well above 0.75 airline loyalty program points and miles.
Based on the criteria for choosing the best credit card, here are our best overall personal and business credit cards for earning more airline loyalty program points and miles.
Pointrs Best Credit Card Overall (Personal)
This is a tie between the American Express Platinum Card and the American Express Explorer Credit Card.
American Express Platinum Card
- Earn airline loyalty program points and miles with many airline loyalty programs
- Earn uncapped points and miles
- Earn 1.125 airline loyalty program points or miles for every $1 spent on eligible purchases, with most airline loyalty programs
If you don't already have an American Express Platinum Card, you can apply for one below, and potentially earn a generous sign-on bonus at the same time.
Apply for an American Express Platinum Card here
American Express Explorer Credit Card
- Earn airline loyalty program points and miles with many airline loyalty programs
- Earn uncapped points and miles
- Earn 1 airline loyalty program point or mile for every $1 spent on eligible purchases, with most airline loyalty programs
If you don't already have an American Express Explorer Credit Card, you can apply for one below, and potentially earn a generous sign-on bonus at the same time.
Apply for an American Express Explorer Credit Card here
Pointrs Best Credit Card Overall (Business)
This is a tie between the American Express Platinum Business Card and the American Express Explorer Business Credit Card.
American Express Platinum Business Card
- Earn airline loyalty program points and miles with many airline loyalty programs
- Earn uncapped points and miles
- Earn 1.125 airline loyalty program points or miles for every $1 spent on eligible purchases, with most airline loyalty programs
If you don't already have an American Express Platinum Business Card, you can apply for one below, and potentially earn a generous sign-on bonus at the same time.
Apply for an American Express Platinum Business Card here
American Express Explorer Business Credit Card
- Earn airline loyalty program points and miles with many airline loyalty programs
- Earn uncapped points and miles
- Earn 1 airline loyalty program point or mile for every $1 spent on eligible purchases, with most airline loyalty programs
If you don't already have an American Express Explorer Business Credit Card, you can apply for one below, and potentially earn a generous sign-on bonus at the same time.
Apply for an American Express Explorer Business Credit Card here
Like all credit cards, there may be fees and charges associated with American Express cards, which vary from card to card. However, any American Express card fees and charges are not only offset by their high earn rates, but also their many other benefits that these cards provide. Pointrs subscribers can readily check these benefits through their Dashboard, to ensure they never miss out on them.
