www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I need some help from those of you who travel a lot.... I couldn't find the answer by searching previous posts.

I recently signed up for the AAdvantage credit card which gives you frequent flyer miles on AA. I think it's 1 mile for every $2 spent? Anybody know if that's accurate? Are there restrictions on what type of purchases qualify for this or is it anything you buy with the card? Approximately how many miles would I need to get a free ticket NYC-SJO? I use my credit card a lot. I always pay the full balance every month, so I never pay finance charges. Would that matter?

thanks.

It's 1 mile/$. Up to 60k or 100K depending on your card. It is for all purchases. As for NYC-SJO, I'm guessing 30,000 to 35,000 miles depending on the time of year.

dapanz1

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Paradise= Sitting outside the Bodega in Panama City about 1 am. Drinking cool Balboas with cool friends and blazin' hot Colombianas. I want to be there..RIGHT NOW!

30000 and 35000 are correct but anouther thing to watch are the credit card flights dicounted through Citibank for 7500 miles off. Sometimes San Jose is offered and they come out each quarter.rbc100

I use my AAdvantage Platinum Citibank Mastercard (almost) exclusively.
I charge the majority of my business expenses on that card, approx $20k - $30K per month. It's 1 mile per $1. They limit me to a maximum accumulation of 100,000 miles per year on my card (which kind of sucks), but I still use the card all year long. But if the miles are not used, they'll expire in 36 months. It is 30k or 35k miles to SJO, depending on time of year. I was not aware of the discounted miles that RBC100 has mentioned. I'll have to look into that one.

I also use my Delta Airlines Frequent Flyer card for incidental purchases throughout the year. It is an American Express Optima card. It works in a similar fashion, except none of my commercial suppliers accept AMEX, so it takes much longer to accumulate miles on the Delta card. Basically use it for restaurants, fuel, clothes, etc.

Either way, I would definitely recommend getting one of the cards. Especially if you pay your monthly balance, in full. No finance charges. With multiple trips to CR each year, you can't afford NOT to have this type of card. If you only accumulate enough miles for one free trip per year, isn't it still worth it ?!?!?!?!?!? IMHO....Hell Yeah !!

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Amen, Mikey-B. I use the AMEX similarly. However, I have the upgraded version, the Preferred Plus card. This one charges a higher annual fee but then it's a 2 miles/ $ card. Adds up in a hurry. And, yes, RBC is correct. Quarterly, AA offers discounted travel to certain destinations. I may not be the miser that RBC is but, I keep a close eye on the airfares and am always looking to accumulate points.

dapanz1

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Paradise= Sitting outside the Bodega in Panama City about 1 am. Drinking cool Balboas with cool friends and blazin' hot Colombianas. I want to be there..RIGHT NOW!

Hey Orange,

It depends on which plan you have. I think you may have gotten the one that gives you 1 mile for every $2 spent, it has a lower annual fee than the card that gives you 1 mile for every $1 spent. You may want to swtich it if possible as if you want to maximize the program the difference in annual fees is small and the difference in accumulated miles is huge.

Good luck.

Yo CasaV,
I got the bronze one with NO annual fee. I have a problem paying a fee for a credit card. Maybe I'm cheap. But I combined it with another platinum Citibank card I have so my available credit is very high for a bronze. I may think about upgrading though if it's 1 mile/$1 vs 1 mile/$2. Something to think about.

One last question... what are the taxes that you have to pay when you get a free ticket? Citibank website says that taxes are $70-170 for international travel ($40-60 for domestic). Are taxes that much? I remember somebody mentioning like $30.


Thanks for the replies fellas.

Just got off the phone with Merrill...

Any ticket on Continental, Delta, AA, US Air or any other american carrier to Costa Rica (No Taca unfortunately on their Signature Rewards program which I have been on for a couple of years is no service charges, no taxes, 35,000 miles (subject to availability)

The program is $1.00 per point.....free card

If you are 21 days in advance, no problem.......

See you all in February

Hey Orange,

I found it definately is worth paying the annual fee for 1-1 mile to $ ratio. Also the tax will depend on how far in advance you book the reward travel. I'm not sure of the specifics, but they ad $25 and up to $50 fee depending on how short of a time the travel date is. If you book it far enough in advance it is about $30 like you said.

Another good note for us NY guys is that AA is partnered up with Taca, so you can earn your miles with the AA card and use them for the direct flights with Taca.

CasaV....you are correct.

dapanz1

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Paradise= Sitting outside the Bodega in Panama City about 1 am. Drinking cool Balboas with cool friends and blazin' hot Colombianas. I want to be there..RIGHT NOW!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/
Check out Airline Programs and Credit Card Programs/Partners

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CasaV and Dapanz1...are you sure about that? Can you use AA AAdvantage frequent flyer miles to fly on Taca?

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Gringotim wrote:



I do not know how AA works their program but I am familiar with TACA's Distancia mileage program.

They are in partnership with AA. When I buy a ticket on AA I give them my Distancia card number. The miles for that trip are posted to my Distancia account. I can use those miles on TACA flights not on AA flights.

I would assume ( I know always dangerous) that the AA program is similar. You can credit to your AAdvantage account when flying TACA but can only use those miles on AA.

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I will find out this weekend. I'm curious because I fly AA domestic and I will probablyy fly TACA to CR from now on since it's the easiest (least stressful) way to go from NY and the price ain't bad either.

I'll post when I find out for sure.

Gringotim and Dingdong,

Unless they have changed, Taca and AA are flight partners, you can earn and spend the miles inter-changeably. In order to use your AA miles to fly on Taca as all you have to do is call AAdvantage and tell them, they will book you on Taca right there. I did this about 3 months ago.