How To Soothe Your Baggage Headaches With Airline Credit Card?
Whenever it comes to travel with that extra bag or suitcase, we all get worried because this extra bag can give you and your airline some serious headache. Usually, airlines ask you to pay additional charges for that extra bag. Nowadays, if you have booked the cheapest fare ticket then airline won’t allow you to use the overhead bin. That means you can’t carry any hand luggage into the cabin forget about the extra bag. To sort out these problems there is a solution, that you can buy an airline privilege credit card. These credit cards come with a variety of offers and privileges for their customers.
However these credit cards are not free, they charge an annual fee for these. For a basic airline credit card, you need to pay $95 as an annual fee. But offers and privileges offered by these credit cards can make up for that fee.
These credit cards are offered to the frequent flyers by various airlines. Mr. Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst with Atmosphere Research Group gave details about these cards and said, “With these cards, you will get many important benefits, e.g. the complimentary baggage check-in and access to premier lounges. All the airlines are aware of the fact that free bag check-in is a great lure for many customers and flyers. Major airlines have collaborated with banks for these credit cards. They sell a flyer’s miles to the bank and then bank issue loyalty reward points to the card holders and card holder can use these reward points for various offers.
Benefits linked to the Airline cards:
Almost all the major airlines in the United States now offer airline credit cards. The benefits included in these cards are free baggage check-in. These days an airline charge around $25 per bag each way, but with this card, you will get free baggage check-in.
So if you are traveling with your partner, then you might pay around $100 for your luggage but if you have this card, then it will be free for you.
If you are traveling with Delta then you can save more because Delta is offering a free baggage check-in for up to nine persons traveling on the same itinerary, which means savings of $450 on a single trip. American Airlines has this offer for five people and United for two.
Another benefit with this card is that you get the exemption from basic economy fares. United and Delta Airlines have introduced the basic economy under which you cannot use the overhead bin for your luggage, however, you can still carry a bag which can fit under the seat in front of you. If you are not willing to keep your bag under the seat then you need to pay for that bag to use overhead bin. But if you have this privilege credit card which also works as your membership card with the airline you will get an exemption from paying the fee and you can use that overhead bin without any hesitation.
Why is this card not worth for you?
If you are not a frequent traveler, then this card is not beneficial for you or if you travel alone or you like to travel with different airlines, then it won’t make any difference for you. It will not cover your annual fee.
If you already hold a frequent traveler status or you have the first class or elite class ticket, then you are already covered get all the privileges.
If you fly with Southwest Airlines, then also this card is not beneficial for you. Because Southwest Airlines doesn’t charge for the first two bags.
And if you are not good in managing credit cards, then you should not opt for this card as well. If you will spend without any planning you may end up paying more interest than saving on your bags.
But if you travel for few times in a year, then airline credit card will earn you more points and you can definitely save few hundred bucks while traveling.