Air Miles Rewards Cards, are they worth it?

[jumpingjackamo]

I am planning way ahead for next summers travelling as DH and I want to travel to both America and West Africa, so a lot of planning is required.

We are saving towards both trips and I have been looking into ways we could save more money or top up our savings towards these trips.

I was thinking of getting a cash back credit card recently but as we travel every two years to somewhere reasonably far, I am wondering if it would be better to get an air miles rewards card instead.

I don't know much about how these types of rewards cards work and if they are actually worth the hassle.

We are very good with money and saving so are planning to run all purchases we can through the card and have the balanced paid off in full every month. This way we we could rack up maximum rewards without incurring any interest.

Is this a good idea or riskier than it sounds and does anyone know if this type of rewards card is actually worth the hassle?

I think the moneysavingexpert site has some good info on loyalty cards. It's going to be a question of maths ultimately ie. how many points do you get per £1 spent, what are the points worth against the air ticket and what restrictions apply. For example, if you get a BA airmiles card can you use them on other airlines? Or (if you were a dedicated Tesco shopper) would you rack up more points and get more airmiles trading in club-card vouchers with Virgin? I don't know the answer but, if you're paying off the card every month, you might as well make the most of any rewards available.

Thanks Cogito, I'm heading over to moneysavingexpert for more info.