There is no point of thinking of getting a miles credit card if they only form of transport one takes is the occasional bus or underground ride to work or home. If you are a enthusiast cyclist or a buff walker or simply hate travelling the miles card is not for you.

What can a miles credit card offer a traveller who does uses the air transport frequently?

Any frequent traveller can apply to most airlines for a miles credit card. They are designed to appeal to clients and to add value to other services offered by airlines. The main advantage of miles credit cards is the so called "miles" or "points" accumulated when travelling with a specific airline.

Airlines are usually divided in several alliances - agreements between two or among more airlines as to the benefits they offer their customers and the services they share and the co-operation they offer each other. The most important are:

Oneworld (www.oneworld.com)

which include the following airlines:

1. American Airlines

2. British Airways

3. Cathay Pacific

4. Finnair

5. Iberia

6. Japan Airlines

7. LAN

8. Malév

9. Qantas

10. Royal Jordanian

SkyTeam (www.skyteam.com) which include the following airlines:

1. Aeroflot

2. Aeromexico

3. Air France

4. Alitalia

5. China Southern

6. Continental Airlines

7. CSA Czech Airlines

8. Delta Air LinesKLM

9. Korean Air

10. Northwest Airlines

Star Alliance (www.staralliance.com)

which include the following airlines:

1. Air Canada

2. Air China

3. Air New Zealand

4. ANA

5. Asian Airlines

6. Austrian

7. LOT Polish Airlines

8. Lufthansa

9. Scandinavian Airlines

10. Shanghai Airlines

11. Singapore Airlines

12. South African Airways

13. Spanair

14. SWISS

15. TAP Portugal

16. Thai Airways International

17. United Airlines

18. US Airways

Why are the alliances important for miles credit cards? Because simply it does not matter which airlines you choose - you will always accumulate the points on the card (or miles) and you can swap them for tickets in any of the airlines that form the alliance. It is al little more difficult to get miles crdited to your card if you use one of the alliance airlines than if you used the airline with whom you hold the card – you will probably have to send a fax or an email showing that you did make the trip, when it took place and you must probably send them the booking number so they can do a computer search of your trip.

Miles credit cards can be either Airline-Sponsored allowing you to focus on one airline or one alliance or they may be Bank-Sponsored and they will allow you to focus on many airlines or alliances.

Airline-sponsored miles credit cards are a good option for frequent flyers but they normally carry quite high interest rates. Apart from giving you miles or points when flying they are usually tied to another product such as frequent guest at a hotel chain.

Some of the best options are for example British Airways miles credit card. One of the most important advantages of the British Airways miles credit card it that the airline flies all over the world with very few destinations not covered and when not covered by BA, it might be covered by one of the alliance airlines (Oneworld). They offer a very attractive 15,000 bonus miles the first time this miles credit card.

The other option is to use bank-sponsored miles credit cards. This option is better is you do not have one important airline flying in your area or if you use many alliances. The other advantage is that they often require fewer mile to swap for tickets than the miles credit cards offered by a specific airline. They might also be a little cheaper as airline-related cards usually have higher rates than bank-based cards.

One of the best options in this category is Citi Premier Pass Master miles credit card that gives you 10,000 bonus points (miles) if you use US 300 within the first two months of getting the card. However, the annual interest is quite high (11.99%) so you should shop around and see if this is convenient and if it suits your needs. You will have to collect at least 25,000 to be able to get a round trip ticket in the US or in Alaska.

How can you earn miles on your miles credit card - well there are two ways. First, of course you fly and earn the corresponding miles and second, you use the miles credit card as if you would any other credit card. Actually, the second way is much better to add miles or points to your miles credit card. There might be other things attached to the card such as hotel and car rental, meals in specific restaurants or using any other partners that wok jointly with the bank or the airline.

If you decide to use these cards you should take into account several considerations. Where do I live? What airlines will I use? What kinds of banks do I normally use? What are the biggest banks in the world and will I be able to use my card if I go, for example to Africa? If you choose one of those world-wide banks you will definitely be able to use those cards, and this way earn more miles than if you used a less known bank that might not be accepted in all establishments. On the other hand you must also think in the small print - what is the interest rate I am being charged for the use of my miles credit card? How do the balance out?

Whatever you do not be tempted to get many cards - one for one airline, one bank-sponsored and one just in case. Why? Even if you don't use them there are hidden costs - card management as the banks call it. so you might just keep the miles credit card in your wallet but at the end of a quarter or six months you will get a bill for card management which you will have to pay. So if you have one card only you will only have to pay one charge, you will get one statement and you will definitely save yourself many headaches.