Who is getting ready to travel this summer? Do you wish you could check bags for free, get free flights, or get discounts on hotel stays? Do you have a Travel Rewards credit card? Are you taking advantage of all the points that you could gain with such a card? If not, take a look at some of the best credit card travel rewards promotions out there, courtesy of Bankrate, “Best Travel Credit Cards of 2019.”
When I was planning to book my summer vacation flight online with American Airlines, I was shown an ad for one of their travel rewards cards in partnership with Citi. I did a quick search to see what other options they had and found a card that gave a larger number of bonus miles than I was initially offered. I had been considering getting one more credit card, as I did not have one that offered flight rewards, so decided on the spot to sign up for the one I had just discovered. (You can read my recent post about upgrading my Bank of America card to a Cash Rewards card and getting an Amazon Prime Rewards card in “Credit Cards with Rewards.“)
My New Citi®/AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard
I ended up getting the Citi®/AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard. I typically use American Airlines when I travel, and I am part of their AAdvantage travel rewards program. Perks of this card include preferred boarding on domestic flights, no foreign transaction fees, earning 2x American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles on AA purchases, 2x miles on restaurant and gas station purchases, 1x mile on all other purchases, and other travel rewards. The sign-up promotion when I applied was 60,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. One of the travel bonuses that I really like is the one free checked bag on domestic flights for myself and those traveling with me on the same reservation. This is going to save me significantly on checked bag fees when I travel with my children and will make up for the $99 annual fee that comes with the card after the first year.
Top 3 Travel Rewards Credit Cards
I do wish that I would have researched further for a more generalized travel rewards card before leaping into the one with the American Airlines partnership, as I sometimes fly with Southwest or JetBlue. Some of the other options I might have considered were with Citi, Capital One, and Chase.
Citi Premier Card
If wanted to get a Citi card with travel rewards, the Citi Premier Card would have slightly better points earning potential with the opportunity to earn 3 points per $1 spent on travel including gas stations, and then 2 points per $1 spent at restaurants and on entertainment (if they include concert tickets, I’d be racking up the points), and 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases. It offers 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Their Points Transfer allows you to transfer points to participating airline loyalty programs, though this is a list of mostly international airlines and doesn’t included American Airlines, though does include JetBlue. You are also required to book through their Travel Center. After owning the Citi Premier Card for 12 months, you may be eligible for a card upgrade. I wonder if I will have a similar opportunity with my American Airlines card. I expect I could easily switch within the company after holding the account for more than a year, if I found a different Citi card that better suited my needs. The annual fee is $95 and is not waived for the first year, whereas the AA linked card fee was waived the first year.
Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card
As I already do business with Capital One in the form of savings accounts and a one-year CD, I might have considered their Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card. This card gives fewer bonus miles at 50,000 once you spend $3,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening. It makes up for that with the chance to earn 2x miles on every purchase, as well as earning 10x miles on thousands of hotels, through January 2020. They have 14 international travel partners with most having a 2 to 1.5 points transfer ratio. This would be a good card for someone who likes to travel internationally or needs to make a lot of hotel reservations in the next 6 months. A downside is that you must redeem statement credits within 90 days of your travel purchase. I don’t necessarily travel that often or do much international travel, so this would probably not have been the best card for me. The annual fee is waived for the first year and then is $95 annually after that.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Finally, I wanted to discuss the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card as this one offers great perks and appears on nearly every list I see for best credit cards. New cardholders get 60,000 points after spending $4,000 within the first three months. The card awards an unlimited 2x points on restaurant and travel purchases and 1x points for all other purchases. Travel purchases are broadly defined, so you can earn extra points from rideshare programs, passenger trains, and parking garages. You can book travel through Chase’s portal or transfer points to one of 14 partner travel programs, which include Southwest and JetBlue. If I decide to get a fourth credit card in the future and they still have these rewards or better, this is probably the one I would choose.
No Annual Fee Travel Rewards Credit Card
Honorable mention award goes to the Bank of America® Travel Rewards. If you are looking for a credit card with no annual fee go with the Bank of America card. It also has a nice bonus amount of 25,000 online bonus points if you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening and gives you 1.5x points on all purchases. One thing different here is that you get a statement credit that you redeem after you purchase your travel item, instead of getting the discount upfront.
What about American Express?
Where is American Express® in my list? If you are opening a personal account, all of the best cards from American Express have much higher annual fees — $250 for the Gold card and $550 for the Platinum card. You’ll want to consider their rewards plans carefully in order to decide if you will make enough use of the perks to cover the costs of these annual fees. They do offer more reasonable business cards with either no annual fee or a $95 fee, but the perks aren’t as large or broad as their more costly options or other companies’ cards with the same annual fees.
Some of these rewards calculations and comparisons can get complicated. However, spending an hour of your time figuring out what works best for your typical spending patterns and your travel goals can optimize your future travel budgets and help you make the most of these credit card perks. Go to the yearly summary (or summaries) that should be posted online for your current credit card. Your spending will be broken down by categories. Checking the amounts you typically spend under each category should help you decide on which cards points earning system would be most beneficial for you.
Get the Point(s)?!
“Most people don’t look at the fine print…you can go to places in the world with pudding, that is funny… .”