Airline and Travel Reward Credit Cards By FederatedCreditCards.Com Copyright © 2008

Airline Mile and Travel Reward Credit Cards are ideal for people who want to earn travel perks like free flights, hotel stays, and other tourist services. Travel rewards credit cards are a great way to let your normal day-to-day purchased reduce or eliminate the cost of your next vacation.

Many airlines have teamed up with credit card issuers and they award air miles for credit card purchases. This benefits the airlines by attracting new customers. As an additional incentive, people are usually awarded bonus miles or points just for signing up for the credit card. These bonuses can be significant, 10,000 to 20,000 air miles. Depending on the airline these bonus miles may be nearly enough for a free trip.

In addition to airlines, many top hotel chains offer points for using credit cards and allow you to earn free stays. Top hotels like Marriot, Westin, and Sheraton, to name a few, are part of these programs. Some experts advise hotel programs provide much more bang for the buck than airline programs.

Travel rewards credit cards are generally available in 3 categories:

Airline Mile Credit Cards - allow card members to obtain free tickets on almost three hundred different airlines, as well as cash back bonuses, and privileges with car rentals, and hotels.

Frequent Flyer Credit Cards - These programs are less flexible than other travel rewards programs. They allow you to accumulate frequent flyer miles which can be used toward flights and other perks, but only on a specific airline.

Travel Rewards Credit Card - Travel rewards credit cards are considered to be an all-purpose traveler's credit card as they provide many of the benefits found in the other 2 categories of travel credit cards

Things to consider:

Most rewards cards carry higher interest rates than non rewards cards. If you carry month to month balances on these cards the interest you pay can quickly cost you more than the value of rewards you will earn.

It's important to review and understand any travel credit card terms and conditions before signing up. Understand all restrictions and limits, understand how many points or miles earned per dollar spent and understand how many points or miles you must accumulate to obtain the reward you seek. This information will go a long way toward eliminating disappointment when you attempt to redeem your rewards.