Thinking of your free ticket every time you swipe your airline credit cards? Take a look at this CNN Money article. Your free ticket can come from your own money in the form of annual fees, and, if you regularly keep a balance on the card, the financial charges. Because these mileage program credit cards post a higher interest rate, you would be better off just staying with a simple low-interest card.

If you like numbers, the CardWeb study mentioned in this article has plenty of them:

- It normally takes two years to get a free ticket (MM: Yes, spending $25,000 on a card is no easy task.)
- On average, if you carry a $3,000 balance, you will overpay by $118 for your "free" ticket (compared to keeping balance on a lower-interest card).
- Only three programs, America West, Frontier, and Southwest, would still save you some money even you carry a balance. The money saved: between $13 and $91 every two years.
- The average mileage reward equals 1.4% of your purchases. (MM: It is even less than the 1.5% flat cash back I can earn from Fidelity Investment Rewards card -- that's why I never advocate these mileage cards.)

Actually, if you want to take advantage of any credit card reward program, make sure you can pay off the balance every month, or you will be taken advantage of. For mileage program cards, my best practice is to take promotion deals with bonus miles and first year annual fee waiver, then cancel the account before the first year is over.

News Source: SavingAdvice.com