For frequent travels back and forth between the BVI and the states, can one accumulate and use miles on a specific airline? I know that we'll be back forth at least 6 times per year, so would like to bank miles and cash in for a free flight every once in a while. This would be flights from JFK to STT... Suggestions welcome. Thanks!!

Absolutely. We have both an American Airlines Visa and a Capital One Visa that gives us double points on every purchase. Haven't paid for a flight in years <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Delta American Express is a great card as well. Gold costs $95/year but in addition to accumulating FF miles you also get one free checked bag per person each way booked thru the card. That saves you $25/pp each way. The Platinum for $195 gives that same free bag PLUS one free companion ticket per year within the continental 48. NO foreign exchange charge either. When I opened mine 2 years ago I got 30,000 FF Miles upon making the first charge to the card! HOWEVER, AMEX is not widely accepted in the BVI's.

Second vote for Delta and American Express on our preferred way to get to the islands. Agreed on the drawback of AE not being widely accepted in the BVI. We use out Delta AE for everyday purchases and then use our points for vacation flights. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" />

Southwest (Visa) and Jet Blue (AE) also have good cards but do not fly directly into STT from our area. My advice is to figure out the airline flights best match your trips for the majority of the time and then get their card.

After talking to friends and forumites we moved to the Capital One Venture Rewards card for points. It lets us shop for the best deal with no blackout dates. We have reservations across United, Jet Blue and AA right now. We just booked January tickets using points.

Cheers, RickG

Forumites... Love it!

We have USAir and Cap One.
Have booked with USAIr miles but not cap one... yet.
It helps that USAir donated a few miles to the cause after a little snafu in the flights going down a couple of years ago <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />
Actually flying USAir again this time (through Charlotte on return only) <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

We have switched over to Capital One for all of our rewards. I like that we are not locked into a single or small group of airlines as you often are with miles. I can search around and get the best deal, pay for it with my Capital One card (earning additional points in the process), and then use my points to reimburse my travel expenses. I still get frequent flyer miles and credit from the airline on tickets I purchased with the Capital One points. There are no blackout dates and as far as the airline is concerned, I simply paid for the ticket myself. Also, the points can be used for any other travel related expenses as well. Finally, if you don't use the points for travel you can use them for other purchases, but at a lower reimbursement rate.

edit: Forgot to mention that Capital One also doesn't charge foreign transaction fees

Capital One Venture for us too. We accumulate many miles through work. We tried AA because where we live AA is our best link to the Caribbean. Yes, you need way fewer miles on AA, but we could never get the direct flights.

We chose a card that just gives us cash back - the most versatile of all things.

I had kind of a surreal experience reading this thread because sometimes I felt I was part of a credit card commercial. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cool.gif" alt="" />

Another happy Capital One cardholder here!
We get 1.5% cash back on all purchases. Just bought a boat hoist with it. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> And as everyone has said, no foreign transaction fees. Great customer service - I get a live person whenever I call.
Used to use the Delta Amex but stopped because it's not accepted everywhere. Husband flies Delta for work/business on a weekly basis so we've got the FF miles covered that way.