By Tom Tessin

Did you know that you can get free airline tickets when you simply use your airline credit card? Well you can and before we get into details on what you should look out for, let me tell you how it works. Every time you spend a dollar, an airline will generally give you “miles”. The more miles you earn, the closer you get to a free airline ticket. Depending on the airline, this can be anywhere from 25,000 miles to just about anything. This sounds like a lot of miles right now but they do add up fairly quick. Let me tell you what you should look out for when you’re looking at offers.

Blackout dates: Never ever sign up for a card that has blackout dates. You’re just defeating the purpose of getting rewards if there are going to be blackout dates. What does this mean for you? It means that you’ll go and try to get your seat but they won’t let you on certain days because there will be a “blackout”.

Expiration date: How bad would it be if you went into to cash your miles and your miles expired? Yes, some airlines actually do this but a majority of them don’t’. Try to find an airline that won’t expire the miles on you.

Great points system: The more miles you can get per dollar, the better. If you’re loyal to an airline, try and go with that airline. If you’re not, try and compare each airline to see who offers the best.

There are many things to consider when looking at airline mile offers but keep these three in mind at the minimum when applying. If you do this, I can assure you that you’ll find a great card for you and your family to use.