Credit Cards that Help You Pile Up Frequent Flier Mileage and Points!

This is a guest post from Mr Credit Card of www.askmrcreditcard.com. Mr Credit Card is going to take a leaf from his best credit card recommendations section and list some cards that will be useful for folks who want to earn frequent flyer miles or points.

Based on the east coast, Mr. Credit Card will be highlighting credit cards for certain airlines that fly east coast to west coast (and vice versa), including United, Continental, Frontier, American Airlines and US Airways.

Frequent Flier Miles/Points credit cards can be sorted into two groups. The first group is cards that allow you to earn points that can be transferred to multiple airline frequent flyer programs. The second group consists of cards that have their own reward program and allow you to use them for travel expenses. So below are my recommendations.

Cards for those with multiple frequent flyer memberships

Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card - The Starwood Credit Card is probably the highest rated card for frequent flyers. Why? Aside from having a great frequent guest program, the SPG Starwood Preferred Guest allows you to transfer points on a one on one ratio (mostly) to over 30 airlines. Furthermore, they will give you 5,000 bonus miles when you actually transfer 20,000 points into air miles. This is one card frequent flyers have in their pockets.

American Express Gold Card - Another card to consider earning air miles is the American Express Gold Card. The Membership Rewards program has over 17 airline partners that fly from the East Coast to Los Angeles. You are allowed to transfer points into air miles at a one to one ratio. The points you earn do not expire as well. If you do not wish to transfer points into miles, American Express has an online travel booking system powered by Travelocity. You can use your points or a combination of points and cash to pay for your flights. Aside from these benefits, the card also offer things like free auto rental collision and baggage insurance.

Cards that allow you to book travel with whomever you want

Chase Sapphire Card - Chase's latest reward card is actually pretty good. With the reward program, you could book any flight with Chase's online travel site. You could use your points for travel certificates on Continental and United as well. You could also use your points to book your hotel stays. For those who do not really travel but still want points for free airline tickets, this is one good card to consider.

Blue Sky from American Express - This was the very first card that allowed you to book any travel with any agent (online or offline). What cardholders have to do is simply notify them that you want to use points to pay off your travel expenses and it will be done in the next month's statement. The advantage of having this card is that you can book with any travel agent you want and find the best deals for yourself. That way, do you not have to deal with the traditional credit card reward program restrictions like having to have a Saturday night stay, 3 weeks advance booking etc, that can be a real inconvenience.

Escape From Discover - This card is essentially the same as Amex Blue Sky but they allow you to earn double miles (or points) for every dollar that you spend. But the catch is that there is an annual fee. Like the Blue Sky, you can use any travel agent you want and your points will be used to credit your statement after the travel expenses appear on them. If you hate paying any annual fees, Discover also has the Miles Card, which has no annual fee, but allows you to earn one miles for every dollar that you spend on the card.

For other top rated 2010 credit cards by Mr Credit Card, read about them here.