Best Airline Credit Cards

The information related to the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier and United Explorer credit cards has been collected by The Ascent and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card.

One of the best ways to travel more cheaply, and sometimes more luxuriously, is by taking advantage of airline miles credit cards. In addition to the miles you’ll earn by putting purchases on the card, these airline miles credit cards also offer generous sign-up bonuses and travel perks like free checked bags, priority boarding, and premium airport lounge access. Airline miles can offer high value if you know where to pledge your loyalty, allowing you to book everything from one-way tickets to long-haul flights, business class tickets, and even round-the-world trips for next to nothing. We’ve researched the best airline miles credit cards and come up with this guide to help you maximize your airline perks and win some stellar deals.

We’re firm believers that two to three major factors ultimately matter when making any decision, including which credit cards to carry. Which is why our ratings methodologies focuses a few essentials, including:

• Sign-up bonus and ongoing rewards -- We think big sign-up bonuses and high earn rates should be synonymous with airline credit cards.
  
• Robust travel benefits -- Any pick on our list should roll out a red carpet of perks, from priority boarding and free checked bags to access to airport lounge access and an array of travel insurances.
  
• Fees -- No foreign transaction fees are table stakes for inclusion. How we view annual fees differs. We mainly want to assess whether paying an annual fee is justifiable (hint: many times, the answer is “yes”!), given a cards sign-up bonus, rewards program, and compared to competing offers in the market.

General travel credit cards date all the way back to 1950, when the Diners Club Card was first introduced as a way to pay for travel and entertainment (restaurants, mostly). It caught on with traveling salesman, who enjoyed the ability to expense business purchases to a card, and the world of travel cards was born.

The airline cards of days gone by look nothing like the high-powered cards of today, however. Whereas the earliest offers simply allowed people to make a purchase without using cash or check, today’s cards offer rewards on every purchase, access to high-end lounges in airports, plus perks that can even help you move through airport security faster than the general public.

Rewards are the key feature of any travel card. Airline cards typically earn “miles” or “points” based on how much you spend. Some offer a simple rewards program where you earn 1 or 2 points or miles on every $1 you spend, whereas others offer bonuses that give you more points or miles when you spend in certain categories. (Not surprisingly, airline cards often pay bonuses on spending with the associated airline.)

Airline cards can be broken down into categories based on how points or miles you earn are redeemed:

• Statement credits -- Many cards allow you to redeem points or miles for statement credits, which erase travel purchases from your card. For example, if you have 100,000 miles worth $0.01 each, you’d be able to make a $1,000 travel purchase on the card, and then redeem your miles to have the $1,000 purchase erased from your statement. The big advantage with statement credits is that you can book travel how you want to, whether it’s through an online travel agency, or directly with the hotel or airline. You aren’t limited to the card issuer’s travel portal.
  
• Travel portals and points transfers -- Many card issuers operate their own online travel portals where you redeem points directly for airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, and more. Think of this as something like Expedia, where prices are denominated in points or miles rather than cash. Travel portals can be convenient, and they also eliminate the risk that a travel purchase you make isn’t treated as travel for the purposes of a statement credit. Many of these same cards offer the flexibility of transferring points to an airline or hotel loyalty program. If you’re savvy, this is an easy strategy to stretch the value of each point.
  
• Airline loyalty -- These cards offer premium miles for purchases made directly with a carrier. The miles programs vary in redemption value, but you can consistently count on receiving premium perks such as free checked bags, priority boarding, and lounge access. As “loyalty” implies, these offers are shoe-ins for cardholders sticking to one carrier.

You can find die hard fans for all three types of rewards programs. Travelers who like to shop around for last-minute or special travel deals tend to prefer cards that offer statement credits. That’s because bargain shoppers can shop around for the absolute best deal wherever they find it, book it, and request a statement credit redemption to pay for it.

In contrast, travel portals can be more restrictive than cards that offer statement credits, and it isn’t certain that the price you see in a card issuer’s travel portal is really the best possible price for an airline ticket, hotel room, or rental car. But they’re easy and convenient to use, and you never have to worry that a purchase you make won’t qualify as travel for a statement credit-based program. (A quick Google search or phone call to a card issuer is a good way to confirm a purchase on your card will qualify as travel for statement credit redemptions.)

Rewards cards are a dime a dozen, and card users can always opt for a simple and easy cash back card instead. So why are airline cards so popular? It really comes down to some big advantages that make airline cards a better choice for those who are frequently on the road.

Big sign-up bonuses

These offers stand out for their massive sign-up bonuses to new qualifying cardholders. Some sign-up bonuses currently offer upwards of $750 in travel value. Even no-annual-fee cards offer as much as $200 in travel value. These bonuses are higher than you’d find with cash-back credit cards.

No foreign transaction fees

Many credit cards charge a foreign transaction fee (usually 3% of the purchase amount) when you use the card overseas, or to pay a merchant who processes cards through a foreign bank. None of our best travel card selections charge a foreign transaction fee, in contrast to many other credit cards on the market.

Avoid travel costs

Depending on the card, you may be able to dodge some travel expenses when you use it. Some airline cards and other travel cards allow you to bring a checked bag for free. A select few give cardholders Global Entry and TSA Pre✓ credits, which cover the application fee for security clearances that help you get through airport security faster.

Status

Some cards give you immediate status with hotels and airlines just for having the card, which makes you eligible for enhanced loyalty points on every stay, late checkouts, and other perks when you book a stay or flight with a particular hotel or airline.

Comfort at the airport

Some high-end travel cards offer cardholders access to thousands of airport lounges all around the world, where you can enjoy complimentary food or drinks while waiting for your flight.

Travel insurances

Even some travel credit cards with no annual fee offer valuable travel insurance options from trip cancellation protection to lost and delayed baggage insurance. Premium travel credit cards up the ante with deeper coverage that could relieve the burden of almost any travel mishap. Note, qualifying for travel insurance will generally require you to place the entire purchase on your credit card.

Free checked bags

Wipe out nuisance checked bag fees by carrying an airline-branded card. Most branded offers include this perk.

Priority boarding

Airline-branded cards also tend to offer priority boarding for cardholders. Most branded offer include this perk as well.
It’s smart to have a credit card if you travel frequently, even if it isn’t specifically designed for travel. That’s because many travel agencies require credit cards for travel purchases, particularly if you want to rent a hotel room, or rent a car for a weekend getaway.

Cards with annual fees typically offer more perks and rewards for every $1 you spend, so whether or not it makes sense to pay an annual fee typically comes down to how much you spend each year.

For example, take a no annual fee card that offers 1.5 miles for every $1 spent, thus rewarding you with $0.015 of travel value per $1 and a card that carries a $95 annual fee, but it rewards cardholders with 2 miles per $1 spent, for a rewards yield of $0.02 in travel value per $1.

We can determine which card is the better choice by dividing the difference in the annual fees by the differences in rewards yields. In this case, we find that the cards break even at $19,000 in annual spending ($95 fee divided by $0.005 = $19,000). If you spend more than $19,000, the annual fee card may net out more positively for you.

You’ll notice that both airline-branded airmiles credit cards and general travel credit cards made our list. The biggest reason airline-branded cards are included is that they can be very valuable for people who use one airline and can benefit from the various VIP perks, such as priority boarding, free checked bags, and travel credits. This is why airline-branded credit cards tend to work best for business travelers or frequent flyers. The downfall is these cards are notorious for devaluing miles, meaning that miles that were once worth $0.01 each have been devalued to $0.007 each, or even less.

General travel credit cards have more established redemption values and tend to be less complicated, making them a fit for people who value an array of redemption options in one card.

While we have many good things to say about airline cards, we recognize they aren’t for everyone. Used wisely, an airline credit card can help you earn rewards that can be used to pay for your next trip to Asia, or your next Uber ride to a ballgame.

There are two things you need to do to make sure that a travel card works for you, rather than against you.

• Don’t carry a balance -- It doesn’t make sense to spend and carry balances just to earn a small amount of travel rewards. Because credit cards carry interest rates in the double digits, paying just one month of interest can cost you more than you earn in travel from using a rewards card. Building up a balance in the pursuit of travel rewards is a losing strategy.
  
• Redeem rewards for travel -- Airline cards offer the best value when the points or miles you earn are redeemed for travel. Avoid redeeming for cash back, since virtually all travel cards give you less value per point or mile when you redeem for cash. If you don’t know that you will have a need for travel redemptions, a cash back card is probably better for you than an airline card.