Questions and Answers

Hi,

I live in the uk and often travel out to and around Asia on Malaysia Airlines and British Airways (Oneworld). I would like to know the best credit card which will allow me to make the most of my miles.

Thank you

Assuming you’re not able to get US credit cards, check out Tiffany’s post from last year about getting credit cards outside the US:
[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/07/30/choose-credit-card-outside-us/[/URL]

I did not find the post helpful. I have browsed allot and wanted to get opinions on the card.

Thanks

What UK cards have you looked at and are considering? There’t not any information on here about UK cards but if you link to some, it’d be easier to make recommendations.

BA American Express

Post office credit card

Amex Platinum

Can you provide your links to the exact offers? The terms can make a difference as to whether or not it’s something we’d recommend.

The Post Office cards doesnt seem to be rewards cards, so probably not what youre looking for.

I think the BA Amex might be good for the bonus even though it’s not much. Same goes for the BA Premium Amex.

Amex Platinum is expensive but earns 1 point per GBP spent and is transferable to different airline and hotel programs. Not sure what the transfer ratios are though but if it’s less than 1:1 for transfers to BA Avios, the BA Amex card is going to be better.

Amex Platinum has the perks but the Amex Preferred Rewards card has a better earnings scheme. Assuming you dont have this card, have you considered it?

Not to be harsh, but I do think that if you’d looked over the post a bit you might have found it more helpful. The key point is that there are tradeoffs, and a couple of ways to filter cards. The ultimate decision depends on your personal financial situation and travel goals.

UK personal cards with transferable points (my first filter), are:

[B]Amex Platinum[/B]
[URL]https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/content/platinum-card/[/URL]
[LIST]
[*]30,000 sign-up bonus after £2,000 in first three months
[*]1 point per £1 in spend
[*]Many other benefits: Priority Pass membership;
[*]£450 annual fee; not waived the first year
[/LIST]
[B]Preferred Rewards Gold[/B]
[URL]https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/content/gold-card/[/URL]
[LIST]
[*]20,000 sign-up bonus after £2,000 in first three months
[*]1 point per £1 in spend, 2 points per £1 spent with Amex travel
[*]10,000 point bonus each year with £15,000 in spend
[*]Several other benefits: two lounge passes per year; $75 US hotel voucher
[*]£140 annual fee; waived the first year
[/LIST]
[B]Starwood Preferred Guest / American Express[/B]
[URL]https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/content/starwood-preferred-guest-credit-card/[/URL]
[LIST]
[*]£75 annual fee; not waived the first year
[*]10,000 point sign-up bonus
[*]1 point per £1 in spend
[*]Gold status after £15,000 annual spend
[*]Free night certificate with £25,000 annual spend (don’t see any category restrictions)
[*]Same airline transfer partners as US program
[/LIST]
None of those really offer bonus categories, however (my second filter).

MBNA offers some bonus categories on their program-specific cards, but you really have to commit, as the points can’t be transferred. The nice thing is that their cards don’t have an annual fee, so you can pick one up in conjunction with your main transferable card. The United MileagePlus [I]Amex[/I] is probably my favorite of those, followed by the AAdvantage [I]Visa[/I].

So I would generally go with the Preferred Amex (unless you’re really going to leverage the perks of the Platinum), and supplement with one of the MBNA cards to give you access to other programs/alliances.

[QUOTE=”Tiffany, post: 19563, member: 7″]Not to be harsh, but I do think that if you’d looked over the post a bit you might have found it more helpful. The key point is that there are tradeoffs, and a couple of ways to filter cards. The ultimate decision depends on your personal financial situation and travel goals.

UK personal cards with transferable points (my first filter), are:

[B]Amex Platinum[/B]
[URL]https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/content/platinum-card/[/URL]
[LIST]
[*]30,000 sign-up bonus after £2,000 in first three months
[*]1 point per £1 in spend
[*]Many other benefits: Priority Pass membership;
[*]£450 annual fee; not waived the first year
[/LIST]
[B]Preferred Rewards Gold[/B]
[URL]https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/content/gold-card/[/URL]
[LIST]
[*]20,000 sign-up bonus after £2,000 in first three months
[*]1 point per £1 in spend, 2 points per £1 spent with Amex travel
[*]10,000 point bonus each year with £15,000 in spend
[*]Several other benefits: two lounge passes per year; $75 US hotel voucher
[*]£140 annual fee; waived the first year
[/LIST]
[B]Starwood Preferred Guest / American Express[/B]
[URL]https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/content/starwood-preferred-guest-credit-card/[/URL]
[LIST]
[*]£75 annual fee; not waived the first year
[*]10,000 point sign-up bonus
[*]1 point per £1 in spend
[*]Gold status after £15,000 annual spend
[*]Free night certificate with £25,000 annual spend (don’t see any category restrictions)
[*]Same airline transfer partners as US program
[/LIST]
None of those really offer bonus categories, however (my second filter).

MBNA offers some bonus categories on their program-specific cards, but you really have to commit, as the points can’t be transferred. The nice thing is that their cards don’t have an annual fee, so you can pick one up in conjunction with your main transferable card. The United MileagePlus [I]Amex[/I] is probably my favorite of those, followed by the AAdvantage [I]Visa[/I].

So I would generally go with the Preferred Amex (unless you’re really going to leverage the perks of the Platinum), and supplement with one of the MBNA cards to give you access to other programs/alliances.[/QUOTE]

Thank you so much and sorry for sounding a bit rude.