Airline miles and travel rewards credit cards allow you to earn rewards on purchases that can than be redeemed for airline tickets, hotel rooms, and even cash back in some cases. When comparing these cards, it is important to understand that there are two types of cards which allow you to earn airline miles / travel rewards.
The Two Types of Travel Rewards Credit Cards:
- General Rewards Cards – General travel rewards cards like the Barclaycard World Elite and Capital One Venture cards allow you to earn miles or points that are redeemable with any airline and for other types of travel and vacation costs For most people, we recommend choosing this type of card because you have more options when it’s time to redeem.
- Airline Specific Cards – These cards let you earn miles that can be redeemed with a specific airline, such as Delta or United. Generally, we find these cards to be less flexible, offer inferior rewards, and really better suited to business travelers (who are more interested in taking advantage of upgrades and other airline specific perks).
We we through the best deals for both types of cards to determine the best travel rewards cards for 2019. And if you keep reading below, you can find out a little more about our methodology and how we ranked the cards.
One final note before you start reading: all cards mentioned below have rewards programs that are both easy to use and allow you to easily redeem your rewards.
Best Welcome Offer
Chase launched new new Sapphire Reserve Card in late 2016 to take on the Platinum Card from American Express. (You can check out this article to see how the two cards compare.)
It comes with a stellar sign up offer: the opportunity to earn a 50,000 bonus points by spending $4,000 in your first 90 days with the card. (You can still receive the 100,000 point welcome bonus is you apply in a Chase branch through March 12, 2017. So hurry up.)
The Sapphire Reserve also comes with some other great perks (highlighted below). Plus the opportunity to redeem your points for 1.5 cents per point when redeeming for travel with Chase partners through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.
However, this card has two drawbacks that make it hard to universally recommend:
- The $450 annual fee (which is not waived for the first year); and
- The fact that you earn only 1 point per $1 spent on categories other than travel and dining
If you want to earn 3 points on dining and travel, with no fee you can also consider the Costco Anywhere Visa.
If you sped a few thousand dollars per year on travel and dining than the Chase Sapphire Reserve is certainly a credit card you will keep in your wallet.
A Good Alternative
Th Venture Rewards card recently took on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card in a rematch of travel rewards cards, and won handily.
And no wonder. It has a nearly identical rewards program and signup bonus as offered by the Barclaycard Arrival Plus. The key difference is the Venture card does not offer a 5% bonus when rewards are redeemed for travel. But it does benefit from a lower annual fee (of $59, and waived for the first year).
To learn more about this card, read our review.
Venture® Rewards Overview
CreditShout Rating
Annual Fee: $59 (Waived First Year)
Credit Required: Good
Rewards Program and Signup Bonuses*:
- Enjoy a one-time bonus of 40,000 miles once you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months, equal to $400 in travel.
- Earn unlimited 2X miles per dollar on every purchase, every day.
- Fly any airline, stay at any hotel, anytime.
- Travel when you want with no blackout dates.
- Miles don’t expire and there’s no limit to how many you can earn.
- No foreign transaction fees.
- No annual fee for the first year; $59 after that.
Intro APR
N/A
Intro Balance Transfer
N/A; but No Transter Fee
Regular APR
13.24% – 23.24% Variable on Purchases and Transfers
Best No Annual Fee Travel Rewards Card
The Discover it Miles card provides the most travel rewards without paying an annual fee – which really help out those who charge lower amounts on their rewards cards.
It achieves this status by offering of 1.5 point per dollar spent, plus a first year bonus of doubling all points. This mean you will earn 3x points for each dollar you spend.
Read the complete review for this card to learn more about it.
Best Card if You Do Not Have Excellent Credit: Capital One® Venture One
Capital One’s VentureOne Visa card is the no annual fee version of the Venture Rewards credit card. It offers 1.25 points for each dollar spent, and the potential for 20,000 bonus points by spending $1,000 in the first 3 months.
We do not think the rewards and benefits of this card are as generous as those for the it Miles card. However, if you do not have excellent credit, the VentureOne travel rewards card makes a great alternative.
Read our review to learn more.
VentureOne® Rewards Overview
CreditShout Rating
Annual Fee: $0
Credit Required: Good
Rewards Program and Signup Bonuses*:
- Enjoy a one-time bonus of 20,000 miles once you spend $1,000 on purchases within the first 3 months, equal to $200 in travel.
- Earn unlimited 1.25 miles per dollar on every purchase, every day and pay no annual fee.
- Fly any airline, stay at any hotel, anytime.
- Enjoy a low intro APR on purchases for 12 months; 11.9%-21.9% variable APR after that.
- Travel when you want with no blackout dates.
- No foreign transaction fees.
- Miles don’t expire and there’s no limit to how many you can earn.
- Enjoy unlimited access to your credit score and tools to help you monitor your credit profile with CreditWise®.
Intro APR
0% fo 12 Months
Intro Balance Transfer
N/A, but No Transfer Fee
Regular APR
12.24% – 22.24% Variable on Purchases and Transfers
What About the Chase Sapphire Preferred?
We know that a lot of bloggers out there tout the Chase Sapphire Preferred. And we really wanted to love it too. In fact, we went out of our way to maximize its value in making our rankings by assuming you will spend more than typical amounts on travel and restaurants.
We also assumed you would always redeem your rewards through one of their partner programs to take advantage of their 25% rewards bonus. (You always use one of these providers, right?: United, Southwest, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Hyatt, and Marriott. And you don’t mind be limited in your choices, right?)
But, despite all that, the Chase Sapphire Preferred did not do as well as other cards we analyzed. Don’t believe us. Check out articles comparing the CSP vs. Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® and the CSP vs Capital One Venture Card.
The Rankings
Like our EPIC Guide to Cash Back Cards, we assumed that you would spend either $36,000 per year (or $3,000 per month) or $54,000 per year ($4,500 per month) on your card. (This also makes it easier for us to compare the total value of cards across classes.)
Based on those spending thresholds, we also made the following assumptions about how you would spend your money:
$54,000 per Year
- Travel: $14,000
- Dining Out: $10,000
- All Other Spending: $30,000
$36,000 per Year
- Travel: $14,000
- Dining Out: $10,000
- All Other Spending: $30,000
After assuming you max out all signup bonuses and other redemption rewards, and taking into account any annual fees, we calculated that the 2-year total value of each card is:
Card | 2 Year Value $54,000/year  | 2 Year Value $36,000/year |
|---|---|---|
Chase Sapphire Reserve | $2,740 | $1,980 |
Barclaycard Arrival Plus® | $2,679 | $1,923 |
Capital One Venture | $2,501 | $1,781 |
Chase Sapphire Preferred | $2,355 | $1,830 |
Discover it Miles | $2,310 | $2,040 |
Capital One VentureOne | $1,550 | $1,100 |
One final note: you can really see how the lower your spending goes, the more amplified the benefit of the it Miles card can be, thanks to Discover doubling your first year rewards.
Airline Miles Credit Cards Q&A
Q. How Do I Redeem My Points or Miles?
A. Redeeming points and miles with a travel rewards card like those reviewed above is pretty painless. You just book your trip with the card (it can be any airline, hotel etc..) and then you can apply the points you’ve earned towards those purchases, either online or over the phone.
Q. Are Airline Credit Cards Any Good
A. Some airline specific cards do have solid rewards programs. If you are planning to apply for a specific airlines rewards card, make sure that your airport is a hub for that airline! For example: Even though Delta flies into pretty much everywhere, your life will be much easier when it comes time to book if you live near a Delta hub like Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York (JFK), or Salt Lake City because there will be more available flights to choose from.
This is why many times it can be good to go with a general travel rewards card like the Venture Rewards Visa. You can book with any airline or hotel and not have to worry.
Q. What is the Difference Between an Airlines Miles Credit Card and a Frequent Flyer Card?
A. Frequent flyer programs work in conjunction with your airline or travel rewards credit card. By signing up for a frequent flyer program you receive miles and build status whenever you fly with an airline. These miles are usually in addition to the miles you earn on the purchases you make with your card.
