So I need a little bit of advice....a few of my fellow soccer parents know about my little URs addiction that I have and our soccer coach just asked me for help about how to earn airline flights using credit cards. He's from England and wants to earn international flights - most of my experience is domestic and I fly almost exclusively on SW. We travel for soccer tournaments, hubby's marathons, and to Disney.
Which credit cards should I recommend to him? I always say CSP. I don't think he could stomach the CSR annual fee. I was going to recommend the CF-CSP-airline card trio. I always say Chase first, but what about Barclay's?
so many factors at play here.....disclaimer: I am also from England and have used miles for trips home many times...but the damn taxes!!! Most of my flights have been in economy - although I have done a few PE redemptions and also upgrades from paid economy.
Anyway, most of the English soccer coaches I know are late twenties/early thirties, been over here a few years, probably have little credit history so are probably going to be fairly limited in what cards they can get and large MSRs might be a challenge. Their idea of a trip home is the cheapest possible ticket so the complexities of earning miles to fly luxury is less important to them. Does that sound anything like your coach?
So over the last decade I have been through Chase BA x3, BOA Virgin x3, Citi AA Visa/MC x4 - especially a few years back when those cards were giving out 75k - 100k miles to almost anyone. Right now, I would tell anyone to focus on UR and MR, maybe even TYP. The signup bonuses for BA and VS cards require a lot of spend, thereafter you can do as well, if not better, earning Virgin Miles or Avios with Amex MR or Citi TYP earning cards - especially when Amex or Citi has the transfer bonuses. Of course, the flexibility of Chase UR with the option to grab a big signup bonus and then use the chase travel portal for 1.5x value is a good option too, but I get the impression the CSR might be out of reach.
Anyway, if large MSRs are OK, I would probably be suggesting something like..
1. CSR/CSP
2. Amex Plat or PRG
Possibly downgrade the above after a year and then have CF and Amex EDP as keepers.
If large MSRs are not an option - then CF and Amex EDP are not bad cards to start with. Then progress to the others later.
However, I would also add that the bargains that used to exist for transatlantic economy redemptions are harder to find now. Particularly with the move to peak pricing. I once flew IcelandAir via Reykjavik BOS - LHR and it cost me less than the fees and taxes on a BA reward!!