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There are many criteria to choose a credit card. The most important of all of them is the reward schemes, where the user can reap some benefits out of the credit card. Reward schemes are the decisive factors in making the credit card bad one or a good one. There are a number of reward schemes that the credit card unions have introduced to make the cards appealing to customers. Airline reward schemes are the most appealing of all of them.
The system of airline reward scheme is fairly simple. The customer uses the credit card to make purchases and earns bonus air miles for every dollar spent. These air miles can be redeemable at the participating airlines at the time of ticketing. Sometimes, for every air ticket purchased, the customer gets up to 15,000 bonus air miles. The number of air miles earned for every ticket depends on the price of the ticket purchased. Some cards also offer air mile points every time the card is used for any purchase. These points can later be converted into air miles when purchasing the ticket. Airline rewards also combines other incentives such as free hotel stays, free rental cars and so on. Sometimes, if the credit card is used extensively, then the customer will be rewarded with free tickets to tourist attraction or theme parks. Air mile reward schemes are the most beneficial reward schemes for frequent flyers or people who like to travel a lot.
There are some things to keep in mind while choosing a credit card offering air miles reward scheme. Some credit cards have only one or two participating airlines where the customer can redeem the airline points. Any other airline flights cannot be included in the air miles programs, which makes the choices very limited. Checking the conditions for this reward scheme before applying for the credit card will give an idea of all popular participating airlines. It is better to sign up for a card that allows the customer to use the card and redeem rewards regardless of the airlines, to get the maximum benefit of this reward scheme. Another matter of concern is the validity period for these reward schemes. Some credit cards have a time limit to redeem the air mile points collected on the card, failure to which will make the points earned obsolete. Choosing the credit cards which do not impose time restrictions is better because the customer will have the liberty to redeem them when needed.
Some of these cards can be combined with the airline - own frequent flyer programs. Every airline will have a frequent flyer program, which gives the members benefits including free seat upgrades, free flight tickets, and bonuses like shopping discounts on the airline mall and so on. Most of these frequent flyer programs have benefits if they are combined with air mile reward schemes to redeem free miles. The airline that offers frequent flyer program must participate in the credit card reward schemes to avail this benefit. If chosen wisely, credit card reward schemes can be very beneficial and ease the financial burden from time to time.
