Points for Business Travelers is a new weekly series aimed at helping business travelers maximize miles and points without a lot of effort. Have a suggestion or question? Email roadwarriorette @ gmail.com.

It’s easy for business travelers to get lots of points without doing much extra work. So far we’ve talked about setting goals and loyalty programs. This week the topic is credit cards.

Credit Cards

There are about one million credit cards available, all with different hooks. Cash back, bonus points, airline affiliations, charitable giving, and more. If you are looking for the easiest, fastest way to get points, the answer is credit card bonuses.

(Note: Before you start applying for credit cards, check your credit score and credit report. If you plan to utilize credit card sign-up bonuses as part of your strategy, make sure your report is accurate and your score is as high as it can be.)

The strategy. I’m not going to tell you which card to get—there are tons of blogs that do that already. What I will say is that you need to be strategic about it and look for the card that aligns with your goals. For example, if you are saving up points for an international first class trip, the Southwest Chase card is not for you (since Southwest does not fly internationally). But if you want the Companion Pass, it’s a great card! If most of your travel is in the car, you want a card that gives bonus points for gas. If you have lots of airline points, you may want to diversify—look into a card tied to a hotel, or get a non-specific card like the Chase Sapphire.

Sign up bonuses. Bonuses are the best way to easily get lots of points very quickly. They almost always have corresponding spend requirements, so watch those carefully. (I didn’t realize there was a minimum spend for my first reward card, and so didn’t get the bonus. So it does happen!) However, even if a spend sounds like a lot ($2k or $3k in a few months), it can be attainable if you plan for it. We have transferred all of our spending to credit cards—bills, groceries, gas, etc., so that we can maximize the number of points we get. With the Southwest Chase cards we had to spend $4k in 3 months, which we easily did. Read more of this article »

According to NBC News (by way of AP) the big three US airlines-Delta, American, and United- are going to start offering wifi on international flights. They already offer it on many domestic flights, but starting in early 2013 will also have it on overseas flights. One of my coworkers is not excited—she says these are the only flights she has where she doesn’t have to be available to clients. However, I am super stoked—it will allow me to be more productive and maintain contact with home.  Of course, it might cut into my movie time…..hmmmm……

Readers, would you use wifi on an overseas flight?

There’s a recent article from the New York Times titled “Have Elite Fliers Been Downgraded?” Even before reading the article, just seeing the title had me nodding my head. Yes, absolutely yes, in my experience, the elite experience is being diluted regularly. The article states because there are more Elites, perks previously available only to actual frequent fliers are now credit card bonuses, andsome perks you can simply pay for (better seating, etc), that it’s frankly just not that special to be Elite anymore.

Sure, we still get to board first, and there are certainly the occasional upgrades. And I would definitely rather be one than not! But I’ve been feeling for a while that the bonuses of being Elite now are not nearly as good as when I started traveling all the time six years ago. Flights are so full that I rarely get upgraded or am able to get on an earlier flight. Even when I call in for assistance, the agents aren’t that helpful. I guess I get where the airlines are coming from—if they can make more money by selling perks, then why not? But it still feels like the 80,000-100,000 miles I fly per year don’t mean anything. Also, I’ve noticed that, for American anyway, elite qualifying miles are harder to come by. For example, in 2010 I flew to Manila once. I ended up with about 85,000 EQMs, which got me to Platinum. I figured that in 2011 I would go to Manila twice, which would get me over the Executive Platinum hurdle. No such luck. In fact, even though I flew more actual miles in 2011, and went to Manila TWICE, I had fewer EQMs than the year before. Bummer. And of course this year, I’ll be taking several months out of my traveling schedule while having a baby, and will be lucky to hit Gold.

All that being said, I am still grateful for the perks I do still get—early boarding, better seat selection, speedier security line, free checked bags. I enjoy the occasional upgrade, although I don’t take them for granted anymore. Still, it would be great if we felt valued for our business…..

Readers, what have your experiences been? Do you feel your Elite experience has been diluted? Anyone disagree with me and think it’s as great as ever?

What is the deal with minor maintenance issues taking forever to deal with lately? In the last two weeks the Home Warrior and I have been on two flights that were delayed significantly because of a simple fix. And I’m not talking, like, cracks in the fuselage. I’m talking about teeny-tiny stuff.

For example, the HW was flying home from Florida two weeks ago on a super early flight. The flight attendants noticed that an overhead bin near his seat wouldn’t close. They tried to fix it themselves, but weren’t able to. So they called maintenance. Which took forever. Once they arrived, they tried to fix the bin. Nothing they tried worked so they closed it with….. duct tape. Special airline duct tape, to be exact. Then, of course, they had to do the paperwork. So while the repair attempts took about five minutes, and the actual duct tape application took about one minute, his flight was delayed close to an hour.

Can you see the special duct tape?

Then last week, on a trip out to the East Coast, my flight was boarded and ready to go. And we sat. And sat. We ended up being delayed for over ninety minutes. What serious repair took this long, you ask? There were scratches on the outside of the plane. They weren’t fixing the scratches, mind you. They were applying stickers, to label where the scratches were. This meant we arrived after midnight. Argh.

So what is going on? I haven’t had to deal with maintenance issues in a long time, and especially not trivial ones that took an inordinate amount of time. Is it budget cuts? Getting rid of maintenance staff? Tons of paperwork that must be completed? Who knows. What I do know is that if this trend continues, customers are going to be even more angry at the industry.

Readers, what’s the strangest maintenance issue you’ve ever experienced?

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I have been flying American for years. The flights are convenient, the points program has been decent, and my company prefers them. In years past, I would get upgraded more often than not, have direct flights, could easily fly standby, and redeem points for vacations on a regular basis. But for the past six to eight months, I feel like things have changed. They got rid of the direct flight to San Jose, upgrades are rare, and reward tickets are more expensive. Worst of all, all flights are overbooked and I can never get on an earlier flight using standby. In fact, last Friday I was flying home from Raleigh through Chicago. There was a ground delay in Chicago, and I was going to miss my connection home. Not only could they not get me on any other flight out of Raleigh (including two to Dallas that would have been quicker anyway), all of the Saturday direct flights were overbooked, so I had to make a connection in Dallas. Which meant I didn’t get home until 5pm on Saturday.

After all of this, and with the bankruptcy drama in the back of my mind, I am considering a switch. My understanding is that other airlines will often do status matches. What airline do you fly, and why do you like them? Or, conversely, who have you flown and hated? Who has the best rewards program? Do you get a lot of upgrades? Or can you fly standby?