Hidden Fees

A recent article by CCNMoney.com listed a number of hated hidden fees.  One of the fees that were mentioned were fees associated with using your Frequent Flier Miles.  The article went on to question whether it could really be called “reward travel” if you have to pay for the reward.  To redeem your miles for any flight on US Airways, you must pay a $25 to $50 fee. American, Continental, and United usually make you pay $50 to $500 one way to use miles for upgrades.

So this begs the question, if you have to pay to use these miles and you are being charged interest by the credit card each month does it make sense to continue to do so?  In my opinion, absolutely not.  It makes more sense to eliminate all of your debt, turn a blind eye to the gimmicky rewards programs and just save enough money to pay for your flight in most people’s cases.  The amount of credit card interest you are being charged typically far outweighs any benefit you might receive from reward travel.