Travel credit card

If you aren't looking for an airline specific card, take a look at Chase Sapphire Reserve. It has a $550 annual fee, but you get a $300 credit each year, so it costs $250.

It is a great card for traveling internationally- no int'l fees. It is my everyday card and we have racked up tons of points. Chase's point redemption system is one of the easier ones I've used.

For a cheaper option, I have read good things about the Capital One Venture card.

I rotate through the Chase Sapphire, Southwest Visa and Cap 1 Venture, Every year we drop 1 and pick another one up on a continual 3 year rotation so that there is always two years since our last promotional offer.

They key (to me) is finding a card that has travel partners (1:1 transfers) or suits your travel plans best. Some partner with Marriot, some with Hilton, some with certain airlines so accumulating more points with an airline you don't plan to use doesnt help that much.

quote:

---

If you are looking at a specific airline, I'd choose on convenience. Personally, I have United Club MileagePlus. I live along the Blue Line in Chicago and frequently fly out of ORD to LAX, LGA and SFO - there are several legs each day to/from w/ United, so it only made sense for me to run with that card.

---

yeah...that's key. If say, for example, OP is from Louisiana and trying to accumulate points for a family trip to disney the Southwest Visa makes more sense than say Chase Sapphire even if the earning potential and promo offer may not be as lucrative.

quote:

---

What’s the best credit card for travel rewards and points?

---

Not really the correct question. If you like to travel, you should accumulate multiple ways to do what you want. For example, I have Hilton, Marriott, and Wyndham cards (and had a Radisson card and still have points), and my daughter has a Hyatt card, so I have a number of options when I travel. I'm not stuck at the hotel that's further away from where I want to be. Different hotel brands work better for different regions of the world.

But for airline travel, you should get multiple cards of the same time to accumulate points. You can earn Chase UR points or Amex MR points, and/or you can earn convertible points through Citi and Capital One.

Go to LINK if you want to learn the hobby.

quote:

---

AMEX Platinum if you travel frequently.

The $200 hotel credit pays for half of the card and there are countless other perks...

-Access to Centurion Lounge
-Complimentary gold elite status with Hilton and Marriott
-$15 in Uber Cash monthly
-Reimbursement for Global Entry or TSA Precheck
-Annual airline fee statement credit of up to $20
-Complimentary elite status with Hertz Gold Plus Rewards, Avis Preferred and National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive

---

A few more that come to mind:

Delta Sky Club access.

The airline fee is $200. Looks like you left the last 0 off.

5x points on flights booked direct with airlines or through Amex and hotels booked through Amex.

$20/month digital entertainment credit - I use mine to cover the Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ bundle and NY Times subscription.

Credit for a Clear membership as well as pre-check and global entry mentioned above.

We also got 100k points when we upgraded from gold amex, as well as 5x points on gas, groceries, restaurants in the first 6 months(up to $15K), so we basically got 175k points to upgrade.

There are others, but those are the most commonly used.

I also noticed that I seem to get priority to nicer ubers when I use it. I'm almost always referred to an uber black at close to the same price as uberx and with less wait times.

At first I was definitely put off by the annual fee, but I don’t know there’s another credit card I would ever use…the benefits pay for the card fee MANY times over

quote:

---

the benefits pay for the card fee themselves MANY times over

---

We looked into the card as well but flying mostly from MSY and rarely on Delta it didnt make as much sense. I couldn't really understand the hotel credit if I remember correctly..is it any hotel charge or only certain hotels they partner with?

But any hotel booked on that card? No particular hotel brand/chain, room category, etc.?

I believe it needs to be one that is part of the Hotel Collection or AmEx Fine Hotels and Resorts. Those are the only ones I've ever booked as you get additional perks/benefits

Pick a brand and stick with it. I have a Marriott card and the wife a United Club card.

I’m Titanium and she is Platinum. I can’t begin to count the amount of upgrades and free travel we have accumulated.

Starting a trip knowing you have club access, free bags, priority boarding, upgraded suite, late checkout, free breakfast, etc is quite nice.