Are your credit card charges working for you?

I doubt that you would allow any substantial amount of money to lay in a non-interest bearing checking account if there were an option that paid you something. In spite of that dazzling piece of logic, many, many people use a credit card of one flavor or another and get little or nothing in return. If you travel for a living, or even just enjoy travel and wish you could do more, then picking up a credit card to earn airline miles is a no-brainer. What can get a little daunting is the process of picking the "best" one(s) for you.

In this first addition to the The Art of Traveling with Your Mac presentation from Macworld Conference & Expo San Francisco 2005, we will look at some of the things you should consider when making choices to make your travel work for you.

Before you ask, "So what does all this have to do with me as a Mac user," let me remind you that one of the biggest expenses in attending events like Macworld Conference & Expo is the plane ticket. If you start planning now, you might just be able to fly to San Francisco for free next year.

Even if Expo isn't your goal, Mac users always looking for a good value for their money. So read on and see if pursuing airline miles is for you.

What's Your Goal?
First, consider what your goal is in trying to earn dividend miles. Are you trying to get free tickets to and from a specific destination? Do you want maximum flexibility in redeeming your miles, both in location and time? Do you insist on first class, or is coach good enough to get where you want to go? Does your employer tend to book you on one specific airline more than another? Do you have a personal favorite?

Check the web site of your local airport, or airports you have easy access to and note the airlines that offer service. In a major city this isn't always an issue, but smaller, regional airports offer less selection. It won't do you any good to have a free ticked on Airline A and find out that you don't have local service.

If you are looking for a specific destination, do a search on the major travel sites to see what airline options you have.

Things to Look For In A Mileage Card
The obvious first thing you're going to look at is the cost of the card. Mileage cards are never free, so you need to consider the annual cost of carrying the card against how aggressively you will use it to earn miles, and the probable costs of the tickets you plan to acquire with it.

The second, and a more personal choice, are the interest rate terms of the card. If you are able to pay your card off each month then the interest rate really isn't an issue, but if you plan to carry a balance, you need to do some serious math about the interest rates of airline cards vs. any other options you might have.

Find out how many miles are required to earn a free ticket, both for coach and first class, and how those rates change during the year, if at all. Some airlines let you board for as little as 20,000 miles, while others are notably more. Obviously, lower is better, but only if they offer the destinations you are looking for.

Next, take some time and review the opportunities and rates to earn miles. The standard is 1 mile for every dollar spent on your card, and a mile credit for every mile flown on that airline but there are other options to earn more miles faster. For example:

• Double miles can often be had by buying a ticket directly from your airline on their web site.
  
  
• Extra miles can be awarded for renting cars or staying with specific hotel properties.
  
  
• Retail partners offer mileage bonuses for purchase, either on a by-transaction or per-dollar basis.
  
  
• Bonus miles for buying flowers online
  

You don't want to spend money just to earn miles, but if you use these services, or have the option to select them over others, you can watch your bonus mileage run up at a surprising rate.

Signing Bonuses
Ready to apply? Not quite yet. "Signing bonuses" for first-time cardholders can get you a long way toward your first free ticket. As this is being written, at least two airlines are offering anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 free miles, with one offering more up-front miles with higher-limit (and fee) cards. While this seems like an obvious way to grab those miles easily, remember that the fees are annual so you are committing to paying the extra money for as long as you have the card. You may want to balance those "free" miles and associated higher annual costs against the option to purchase miles, something almost every airline offers to help you fill in that gap at the last minute.

The Bottom Line
There are many different credit card options out there to get you to sign up and spend money in their programs. If you are a frequent traveler or looking for the option of free airline tickets, then start surfing the airline web sites and gathering information. If you pick the right one and pay attention, you will be flying for free in no time.

To help you organize and make the right decision, download our Airline Credit Card Analysis Sheet (Excel or PDF format).