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The Oscar of Travel Rewards Credit Cards
By Eva Maria Norlyk
When applying for a credit card online, most people sifting through the vast multitude of credit card offers wish that there were some way to find the best offer without having to pour through the long, tedious terms and conditions of every single credit card.
Well, for travel rewards credit cards there is. Welcome to the Freddie Awards, the “Oscars” for all sorts of travel awards programs, including the best travel-related affinity credit card.
The Freddie Awards were established in 1988 by Randy Petersen, the Publisher and Editor of InsideFlyer magazine. Petersen named the awards the Freddie Awards in honor of Sir Freddie Laker (1922-2006), a British airline entrepreneur, who is best known for founding Laker Airways and SKYTRAIN. Freddie Laker is widely respected for his pioneering travel marketing ideas and his competitive, innovative approach to promoting the travel industry.
Like the Oscars do for film, the Freddie Awards evaluate different travel awards and frequent flier programs to find the best in different categories of awards, including best travel affinity credit card. The Freddie Awards rank each travel rewards credit card against each other to determine which takes home the prize for the “Best Affinity Credit Card” category.
The Freddie Awards use a system called “Value Voting,” which requires voters to assign a value number between 1 and 10 to their program choices. The winning program is the one that receives the highest average value score. The “Best Affinity Credit Card” award includes credit cards for different regions, including the Americas; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; Japan, the Pacific, Asia; and Australia. In each of these areas, the top credit card is selected by regional consumers.
So, just in case you wonder, which airline miles credit card was voted the best for the U.S. for 2009? For the past three years running, the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express has taken the top prize for travel-related affinity credit cards. The Starwood Preferred offers its holders a variety of advantageous features; it is compatible with over 30 frequent flyer programs, cardholders get double points for charges at Starwood Hotels, there is no caps on rewards redemptions, and the card comes with a low $45 annual fee, which doesn’t even kick in until the second year of use.
Runners’up include the Mariott Rewards Premier Visa Signature Card and the American Express Membership Rewards card in second and third place respectively. Other 2009 contenders include Alaska Airlines’s Visa Signature Card, the Air Tran credit card, and Delta’s SkyMiles American Express.
For the Europe, Middle East, and Africa category, first prize for several years running has gone to Lufthansa’s Miles & More card followed in a close second by Brussels Airlines American Express.
For credit cards for Australia, Japan, the Pacific, and Asia, voters selected Virgin Blue Velocity NAB Gold Card American Express/Visa and Jet Airways Citibank Credit Card landed in second place with the American Express Membership Rewards in the third.