Today, most of the airline authority provided services, like access to the lounge, meals given in mid-air and, or may be an extra personal space require the passenger to pay a fee or to go for higher airfare. Fortunately, now the airlines are happily offering these benefits back to their most frequent passenger as well as consumers having their co-branded credit cards.
So, if you are getting bored of waiting for a long cue, paying up fees and/or being crammed into the back of a plane, avoid these six mistakes to get the cream out of an airline credit card:
1. Picking up wrong cards
Many airlines will offer the passengers multiple airlines credit cards. As a passenger or consumer, you might know that American Express provides three separate versions of credit cards that are called “Delta SkyMiles cards”. Apart from that they also offer three different business class credit card versions. The basic credit card comes with a $95 fee per annum, but it also offers comparatively low reward points and additional benefits rather than the high-cost credit cards. The key to choosing the right card is to weigh all of the benefits you are able to use against the cost of the annual fee.
2. Ignoring the huge interest charges
Like any other reward credit cards, airline cards will also bear high-interest charges than no-frills cards. It's also unfortunate that if you earn any flyer miles from your airline card, that reward will not be as worthy as your interest charges on that card. So, by availing any those airline cards, you must pay a huge amount of money as interest if you carry a certain balance. That’s why it’s always the best idea to pay off your balance in full at the end of each month.
3. Not opting for the benefits
Most of the airline credit cards will provide a huge number of benefits to their users (travelers and passengers). But for getting these benefits, you must know how to use them. As an example, the “United MileagePlus Explorer Card” gives a free checked bag benefit to their card users along with one other person, if the user uses only that card to buy his tickets. Also, the “Delta SkyMiles Reserve card” from American Express provide complimentary access to the SkyClub lounges in any airport, but this facility is only reserved for the primary cardholders. The cardholder can include two more, by paying for $29 each additional member. The “American Airlines AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard” provides free lounge entry to their primary and secondary card users along with two more members as well.
4. Not earning elite status
It is obvious that airline credit cards offer good benefits directly to their cardholders. But many of us don’t know that those credit card companies also provide indirect perks when you get elite status. As for example, the “Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier cards” from Chase deliver their card users 1,500 Tier-qualifying points for each $10,000 and above purchases, capped at 15,000 Tier-qualifying points per annum. These reward points can enable the card users to get the A-List or A-List Preferred status. By getting this elite status, a consumer can get V.I.P check-in, boarding, extra bonus points, and free wifi service in flight.
5. Not utilizing reward miles properly
Earning your reward miles is very hard, but spending those miles properly is often harder than you can imagine. Most of the airlines currently charge double miles for most flights, and travelers or passengers need to put extra effort for finding preferable seats at the lowest mileage levels, they are called “saver awards”. The best option to find the lowest priced awards for international flights is to check out for partner awards. Don’t give up on redeeming your reward miles, for getting an award flight at the lowest levels.
6. Not looking for annual fees
It is wise to apply for an airline credit card that’ll save on your baggage fees, in a single flight. But if you haven’t used that benefit recently, it is not worthy to pay the annual fee any longer. If you are getting a bill for an annual fee for an airline credit card that you aren’t utilizing as much, contact the card company. IN some special cases, you can get a similar credit card with a less expensive annual fee. The card company may offer you to waive off the annual fee or provide you bonus reward miles that can compensate the fee totally.