What's the best travel credit card with no annual fee?

The best airline credit cards with no annual fee are the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card and Discover it® Miles if you want a general miles card, or the Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card, the JetBlue Card and the American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card for those who want to earn airline-specific miles without paying an annual fee. The earning rates on the airline-specific cards aren’t quite as good, though, and you’ll only be able to use them for flights on one airline.… read full answer

Here are the best airline credit cards with no annual fee:

• Capital One VentureOne:

  20,000 miles bonus for spending $500 in the first 3 months. 1.25 miles per $1 on all purchases. 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months. $0 foreign transaction fees. You need good credit.

• Discover it Miles:

  1.5 miles per $1 on all purchases. First year’s miles matched. 0% intro APR on purchases for 14 months (11.99% - 22.99% Variable APR after that). 0% foreign transaction fees. You need good credit.

• Blue Delta SkyMiles Credit Card:

  10,000 miles bonus for spending $500 in the first 3 months. 2 miles / $1 spent at restaurants and on Delta purchases (1 mile / $1 on everything else). 20% statement credit on food, beverages and headsets purchased on Delta flights. 0% foreign transaction fees. You need good credit.

• JetBlue Card:

  10,000 points bonus for spending $1,000 in the first 90 days. 3 points / $1 spent on JetBlue purchases. 0% foreign transaction fees. You need good credit.

• AAdvantage MileUp Card:

  10,000 miles + $50 statement credit bonus after making $500 in purchases within the first 3 months. 2 miles / $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases. 3% foreign transaction fee. You need excellent credit.

Overall, there aren’t too many airline credit cards with no annual fee. Most travel rewards credit cards charge, but many also offer more than enough rewards to make up for it, as long as you regularly make purchases and pay your bill in full every month. So, you may want to waive your no-annual-fee rule if you spend at least $1,000 per month. That’s how much you have to shell out each of the first three months to get the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card’s 60,000 miles initial bonus, for example. And that alone covers years of annual fees, since this card’s annual fee is $95.

But if you don’t spend quite that much, the Capital One VentureOne or Discover it Miles is definitely the way to go. Keep in mind that Discover it has no foreign transaction fees, but it also has lower global acceptance than Visa or Mastercard.