The content is accurate at the time of publication and is subject to change.
It has been a long-term practice among banks and credit companies to reward customers to keep them loyal for as long as possible. Whether you are a customer of Visa, MasterCard or American Express, you are always eligible for some kind of a perk if you present any value to your lender as a credit consumer.
We all are happy to earn points which we redeem for free air travel, hotel stays, car rentals and merchandise but not many of us know how such rewards programs started and what extra opportunities they can offer customer today. Frequent flyer programs are among the most popular ones with credit cardholders, so we cannot but outline some of their most significant features and historical facts.
People often flying on business trips or just those who like to travel and prefer plane basically can get a good benefit out from frequent flyer credit cards accepted at all major airlines. Frequent flyer programs initially applied to customers flying with a certain airline and were designed to turn current passengers into lifetime customers. As soon as airlines' owners realized that it cost them more to attract new clients than to keep current ones, they started out the program of rewarding customers for the number of air miles they fly.
So, who was the initiator of the frequent flyer program? In 1981 American Airlines ventured to introduce AAdvantage program which fairly rewarded travelers miles for the distance they covered. So, basically, the more a customer flies, the more miles he/she earns.
Today, all major airlines team up with credit card companies and banks for the purpose of promoting frequent flyer program and making it available for people who do not like to accumulate miles through frequent flies.
Yes, a frequent flyer credit card allows you to collect bonus miles and then redeem them for a free travel without having to actually by tickets, in other words, without making travel-related transactions.
How exactly do you earn points, later turning into miles with a credit card? Just use your plastic at certain stores, either online or off-line, or at restaurants and earn 1 mile or double miles for every dollar you spend with a card.
Today you can find enticing and really beneficial frequent flyer programs with American Express cards, Chase bank and Citibank offers. Most of the offers have zero or low introductory APR on purchases and no annual fee which are great benefits for most cardholders.
It is easy to see that an opportunity to earn a free airline ticket with suchlike credit cards wins an extended customer base both for an airline and credit card company as well. Customers especially like it that they do not have to fly a specified distance with a definite airline to collect the required number of points.
A credit card with frequent flyer program gives customers all the convenience and benefits of a regular bank card while allowing freedom where to shop to collect bonus miles.
Some twenty years ago free travel was not available through credit card use and a customer faced certain restrictions.
Nowadays, frequent flyer programs compete with other rewards, such as cash back, point rewards, free hotel stays and gas rebates. A frequent flyer card is to the most advantage for people who will purposefully use it to collect miles. If, say, you travel by car more frequently, a frequent flyer program will be useless, if not harmful, for you.
So, be wise and make a proper use of a frequent flyer program which has become available with banks and credit companies besides airlines themselves.
