Hobart to Vienna, Which credit card and which program is most suitable??

[Daniel 1982]

Hello to you guys,

I read Chris Guillebeaus "Frequent Flyer Master" and now I started to plan my trip.
My goal is to go to Europe (Vienna or Airoports close by)
I decided to earn miles through credit card expenses ( I stumbled across AMEX Starwood as the best for me) and to choose a Requent Flyer Program (couldn't figure it out which one would be the best, I thought of FLy Emirates) and then transfer the points to this program.

I have on e question: Am I right when I think earning miles work like this:
I choose with which Airline I could go to my dream destination.
I choose a credit card (which has the required Airline in the program), spend money with this card and earn miles. I choose the Frequent Flyer program of the airline that can take me to my destination. Then I transfer the miles to my Airline Frequent Flyer program and try to get my rewards.

The seond question:
If my Airline ( that flies for example from Hobart to Vienna) is not supported by my credit card I have the chance that they are partner airlines. So I could rack up miles in my Frequent Flyer program of airline A but fly with it's partner airline B?

The third and final question for today:
I don't spend much money as a student. I shop at Woolworths or Coles. I pay my rent and have occasional aother samll expenses. That's about it.
And I want to go to Vienna from Hobart and return. Which Card would you choose? ( I thought AMEX Starwood) and which Airline Frequent Flyer Program? ( I could not find any American Airlines that fly to Vienna, although they should have the best Mileage prorgrams) so I decided on Fly Emirates. Which one would you think of in this case?

If you have some hints for me that would be amazing...uff...
Thank you in advance,

Daniel

 

[Isochronous]

If you want to use a US airline, you could always credit to Velocity (i.e. Virgin Australia), fly DJ HBA-MEL-LAX and then use the DJ codeshare on Delta to fly in the US - though DL may not go to Vienna. In which case maybe UA MEL-SYD-LAX-JFK , then UA or LH to Germany and then LH from Germany to VIE. I think Starwood might be able to credit to UA. Only problem with this is if you spend a lot at places that don't take Amex. For MC and Visa in Australia your options are basically virgin or QF.

 

[JetLagged]

Only problem with this is if you spend a lot at places that don't take Amex.

Plus the fact that the surcharges, commisions etc on Amex for international use are very high - like any other Australian CC, especially those linked to a rewards program.

Questions is whether you want to earn points/miles while spending overseas, or simply have a cc to use.

As you will see from other threads here - many of us use the 28 degrees Mastercard whilst overseas : run it into credit and then withdraw money for hotel bills, etc. Might not earn points but works out a lot cheaper (so especialy ood for a working student).

 

[moa999]

Can you even get an Amex Starwood in Australia?

 

[rechoboam]

Emirates fly to Vienna. Citibank have a credit cars but others will have to let you know whether it is any good. A handful of airlines will get you to Vienna from Melbourne but emirates has tended to be the overall quickest door-to-door for me.