If Ya Gotta Charge Might as Well Get a Bonus
Written: Mar 13 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Friendly service, no annoying sales calls
Cons: Not accepted as widely as VISA/MC
|
|
|
| Rocketgirl's Full Review: American Express - Delta Airlines SkyMiles |
I don't really fly much, just once or twice a year. But I would fly if I got the trip for free!! I live in a smaller town in which Delta is the main airline, so other similar cards aren't an option. And my attitude is, if I'm going to charge something anyway, I might as well get an added bonus--frequent flyer miles.
I paid $55 to receive the card and a "signing bonus" of 5,000 miles. Then I get one mile per dollar I spend. And when I do go on a trip, even if on another airline, I charge my tickets to this card. So at least if I can't take Delta, I get some frequent flyer miles on my charge card. You can do the same at your hotel and rental car agencies. Some hotels and rental agencies have a partnership with the Delta plan so you'll get frequent flyer miles just for staying with them or using their cards--added to charging on your SkyMiles card, it starts to add up fast. I haven't had a bit of trouble having miles credited to me either. In fact, I participated in the special offer by Healthy Choice foods for 500 free frequent flyer miles. The offer was over in December and I still hadn't received the miles and I thought, oh well, I just suffered through some (what I thought) bad food. But I recently received a postcard from Delta saying the response was so overwhelming that they are just backlogged. So I know there is no problem with my account. I also use this card for all my on-line purchases that accept Am-Ex to get the miles.
The interest rate is a typical high rate, around 18%, about what you would expect for this type of credit card. But I pay the balance off every time, so the interest rate generally isn't a consideration for me.
I once had a bogus charge on this credit card from some restaurant in Florida, a LONG way from where I live. I called the customer service desk and in no time at all they had their feelers out, investigating the charge. They reversed the charge off my bill, while they took an allotted time to investigate. After a certain amount of time had passed they sent me a follow-up letter stating that no response had been received from the restaurant so they were permanently crediting my account. Very helpful and communicative.
One warning--watch out when you get your bill. The outer envelope looks very, very similar to the envelope your frequent flyer miles statement comes in. Don't think it's nothing and toss it in the garbage like I once did. You see, the frequent flyer mile statements are two or three months behind, so I don't keep them. I just check my account balance on the Delta website. So if you do the same, pay attention to your mail.
Overall, I have been very happy with this credit card. If you are going to charge it anyway, why not get more bang for your buck? Earn a free airplane ticket while you're at it!
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
Rocketgirl
|
 in Books |
|
Member: Beth
Location: Tri-Cities, WA
Reviews written: 398
Trusted by: 224 members
About Me:
So many books, so little time.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.