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Charge Card Caveat
The Travel Tightwad · November 21, 2001

The offer from American Express looked too good to be true. For just $135, the cost of signing up for the Platinum Card, Mitch Sackson was being offered a free airline ticket for a companion. The Bluffton, SC, retiree applied without a second thought, hoping to earn his reward for an upcoming trip to San Francisco.

Then he read the fine print and discovered he was right: the offer was too good to be true.

"I found out that you can only get a "freebie" ticket if you purchase your ticket in a category where the round-trip fare is $600 or more. And you can't use your frequent flier miles for the purchase," he says.

Sackson was so incensed that he phoned American Express and demanded his money back. After some back-and-forth with the charge card company, he got a partial refund. But not everyone is as fortunate. Every day, thousands of travelers are foiled by the fine print on cards that they hope to use for travel-related purchases (such as two-for-one ticket deals) or to maximize their frequent flier mileage.

Knowing how to sidestep these questionable card deals can save you hundreds, perhaps even thousands of dollars a year, not to mention the headache of trying to redeem a "free" airline ticket.

There's no better time to be aware of these cards than now. In this soft economy, travelers are looking for any way to save a buck, and transferring the balance from one credit card account to one of these travel cards (or earning a free airline ticket) may seem like a great way to cut costs. It sometimes isn't.

Here's a "deal" I just got in the mail from United Airlines' Mileage Plus program and First USA Bank. All I needed to do was sign the pre-approved acceptance form for (1) a free round-trip companion ticket, (2) the ability to earn one airline mile for every $1 in purchases, and (3) to secure up to $100,000 in credit.

Wow, I thought. Where's my pen?

Then I noticed the backside of the letter and the little leaflet that came with the offer. The terms and conditions were inordinately long and were printed in miniscule typeface. They included restrictions on how you can earn the companion ticket, where you can fly to, and when you could fly. The credit card came with its own special set of rules. For example, there's a $60 annual fee, a late payment fee of $29, an annual percentage rate of 16.40 percent, and a cap on how many miles you can earn. Add it all up and it's hardly a competitive offer.

I've seen hundreds of these "bargains" and they all look very similar. The benefits are boldfaced while the fine print is reduced to a barely readable font size. Often, the legalese is hidden on the backside of the offers or tucked away on a leaflet that's easily overlooked. I don't fault any of these companies for trying to win our business. I do, however, blame them for trying to mislead us. The companies are abiding by the letter of the law by disclosing the terms of their offer, but certainly not by the spirit of the law.

It's no surprise that credit card offers are the 12th most complained about category of consumer fraud, according to the Better Business Bureau. Travel ranks 21st on the list.

Is it enough to read the fine print? No, because the card offers deliberately gloss over the downside while embellishing the highly-restricted benefits. Do you really want to do business with a company that starts a relationship by pulling a fast one?

Long ago I decided to find a credit card I like, stick with it, and ignore the rest. I don't bury my head in the sand: I constantly monitor my plastic for its competitiveness. If I'm being over billed, I won't hesitate to complain. What happens to the other offers? They get sorted directly into a large circular file better known as the recycler.

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator based in Key Largo, Fla. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.