I'm going to be in need of as many miles as I can get once I get to CH. I want to get a credit card that gives airline miles to pay for all my moving expenses. I'm learning that almost all US credit cards charge a 2-3% transaction fee for purchases made overseas. Or they only allow you to use miles if you originate from the US. Anyone know of one that doesn't have these two problems? Or, will I be able to get a credit card that accrues miles once I get to Switzerland and avoid the who international transaction fee thing?

Hi

Swiss International Airlines offers credit cards which helps you get miles which can be redeemed on the Star Alliance network.

But, I guess it does not make sense to spend on a credit card to get miles as the annual fee more or less is equal to the value you get in miles.

Regards

BA over diners club
Swiss over MC or VISA.

Those are your choices from here in Switzerland.

Internationally probably the best available is "miles and more" credit card from Lufthansa

Thank you both. I'll do more research into the ones you have mentioned...

Be careful using a BA Amex card. I built up a lot of miles only to find it was the same price to buy a flight from Switzerland to the UK without any BA miles as to use the miles. This is because they always charge you the taxes. I queried this with BA and they admitted it can and does occur!! Steer clear.

This is not correct. You only pay the taxes. But effectively, for a European ticket, the airline fare could only be CHF 40.-, so the difference can be small for the number of miles you spend. (9,000 miles).

Also, note that, In switzerland, there is no BA Amex card, only a Diners Club one (which, by the way, give you access to a few Airline private lounges).

I would suggest the www.cornerbank.ch miles and more mastercard. once u reach status as a frequent traveller or senator (like me) the card is free.
plus the give you a nice kick off bonus. Its comparable with the Swiss cards from AECS Credit Suisse but as it's lufthansa and they have the same miles and more program as swiss, austrian, croatia airlines, etc it doesnt matter. I have a Swiss Lufthansa credit card, a German Lufthansa credit card and a swiss Miles and more card all linked to the same account so I collect whether I pay in Euro or Swiss Francs.
PM me for links.

[quote=Fly-Swiss;66164]This is not correct. You only pay the taxes. But effectively, for a European ticket, the airline fare could only be CHF 40.-, so the difference can be small for the number of miles you spend. (9,000 miles).

I am afraid it IS correct. I took the matter up with BA and they admitted that from time to time the fare you pay London -Geneva return by booking on the BA Website, including all taxes etc, can be the same total price as using 9000 miles. Hence the miles are worthless. I have it in writing too. BA went on to say that nowhere in the small print of their Scheme do they promise that the BA miles get you a cheaper flight than available from BA on their website without any miles. They call it 'variable pricing'. I call it 'cheating the consumer'.

I have tried a dummy booking on their website and the price is replaced by miles. what they call "taxes, fees, charges" remains the same. Hence, you still save something like 40 gbp on the ticket. But anyway, maybe a misunderstanding somewhere...

It is not worth using miles for short haul flights these days, they are much more valuable for Eco or Business trips on long haul. Plus, they would have to give me miles for me to accept to use Heathrow or Gatwick....

Just an update - for those who are in the US and moving to Europe, it seems the Capital One No Hassles miles card is the best - with no foreign transaction fees and no annual fee! I'm not sure the money spent to miles conversion is the best but you have flexibility in getting free tickets on any airline. If anyone has had a bad experience with this card, let me know - but I'm going to give it a try as it seems the best option when coming from the US.

Thanks for all the input!

The annual fee is flat, so it really depends on how much you spend as to whether you will get miles outnumbering your annual fee. And hopefully it goes without saying that you should only be spending what you would have spent anyway, just that you are being smarter about putting it through one card. I am getting better at it; e.g. I buy everything I can on the credit card (as I have already paid the annual fee) including petrol and groceries, so that it all gets the miles too. Amazing how much that adds up to in a year!

The Swiss credit card, as mentioned above, now gets you "Miles and More" since Swiss was acquired by Lufthansa, and as mentioned above it is usable on the Star Alliance Network, which really is a very good network and certainly covers the continents and countries that I need to get to for free.

Go for it ...