Travel Rewards Credit Cards

The best Chase travel card is Chase Sapphire Preferred because it offers 50,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months. That’s worth $625 in travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards. Sapphire Preferred also offers 2 points per $1 spent on travel and dining, and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases. And it comes with well over $500,000-worth of travel insurance. To top it off, Sapphire Preferred’s $95 annual fee is waived the first year.

But if you’re a big spender who’s looking for more prestigious perks, another good Chase travel card to consider is Chase Sapphire Reserve. It has a $750 initial bonus for spending $4K in 3 months and a $300 annual airline credit. Sapphire Reserve also provides access to 1,000+ airport lounges and rewards you with 3 points per $1 spent on travel and dining. Plus, Reserve offers up to $1,000,000 in insurance benefits. That’s why it costs $450.

There are plenty of other good Chase travel cards, too. Unlike Sapphire Preferred and Reserve, they are co-branded with the loyalty programs of airlines and hotels.

Here are the best Chase travel cards:

• Best Overall: Chase Sapphire Preferred
• Best for Frequent Flyers: Chase Sapphire Reserve
• Best Airline Card: British Airways Credit Card
• Best for Hotel Points: IHG Rewards Club Select

Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best Chase travel credit card overall due to its bonus rewards and relatively low fee. It also lets you transfer your points at a 1:1 ratio to 13 airline and hotel loyalty programs.

The British Airways credit card is the best Chase travel card affiliated with an airline. It offers 50,000 points for spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. Plus, you can get an additional 25,000 points for spending a total of $10,000 in the first year. You’ll also receive 3 points per $1 spent on British Airways purchases and 1 point per $1 on everything else. Lastly, the British Airways Card gives you a “Travel Together Ticket” for a companion to use when you spend $30,000 in a calendar year. The card requires good credit and costs $90 per year.

The IHG Rewards Club Select Card is the best Chase travel credit card for hotel points, thanks to its 60,000-point bonus for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months and the free night you’ll get after every account anniversary. You can also earn another 5,000 points by adding an authorized user and making a purchase in the first 3 months. In addition, you’ll get 5 points per $1 spent on IHG purchases, 2 points per $1 at gas stations and grocery stores, and 1 point per $1 on everything else. On top of that, cardholders receive complimentary IHG Platinum Elite status. The IHG Rewards Club Select card requires good credit and costs $49 per year, with the fee waived the first year.

You need good or excellent credit to get any of these Chase cards. If you have fair or limited credit, consider Capital One QuicksilverOne or Capital One Platinum as alternatives. For bad credit, some good choices include the AeroMexico Visa and Discover it Secured.

The best Capital One travel card is the Capital One Venture Rewards Card because it offers 50,000 bonus miles for spending $3,000 in the first 3 months and gives at least 2 miles per $1 on all purchases. Bookings made on hotels.com/venture yield 10 miles per $1. Capital One Venture’s initial bonus alone is worth $500 in travel, more than covering the cost of its $95 annual fee ($0 the first year). As a result, the Venture Card is more than just the best Capital One travel card; it’s one of the best travel credit cards from any issuer.

But in a sense, every Capital One credit card is a good travel card. Capital One is one of just a few credit card companies without foreign transaction fees on any of their cards. Plus, Capital One’s travel cards are special in the sense that cardholders can redeem rewards for statement credits to pay for any travel purchase charged to the account. This adds flexibility in travel booking without sacrificing any value.

Several of Capital One’s other offers do stand out above the rest, though. For example, the VentureOne Card is the best Capital One travel card with no annual fee. And the SavorOne Card’s dining and entertainment rewards are great for vacation fun. It just depends on what exactly you’re looking for.

Best Capital One Travel Cards:

• Capital One Venture Rewards – Best overall
• Capital One VentureOne Rewards – Best for no annual fee
• Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards – Best for dining
• Journey Student Rewards from Capital One – Best for students

Capital One VentureOne Rewards is the best Capital One travel card for no annual fee because it combines a $0 annual fee with a sizeable bonus: 20,000 miles for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months. That’s worth $200 in travel. It also offers 1.25 miles per $1 spent on purchases (10 at hotels.com/venture). Venture One has a 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months. The card requires good credit.

When it comes to dining, the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards card is the best because it gives 3% cash back at restaurants, 2% on groceries and 1% on everything else. There’s also a $150 bonus for spending $500 in the first 3 months. SavorOne has a $0 annual fee. Plus, it has a 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 9 months. SavorOne requires good credit.

Students looking for the best Capital One travel card will appreciate Journey Student Rewards. It offers 1% cash back on all purchases to students with limited or fair credit. And that increases to 1.25% if you pay your bill on time. There’s a $0 annual fee.

You’ll need good credit to take advantage of Capital One’s best travel cards. But if you currently have bad credit, you’re not out of luck. The Capital One Secured Mastercard may not have rewards, but it doesn’t have an annual fee or a foreign transaction fee, either.

The best Discover travel card is the Discover it Miles card because it offers unlimited 1.5 miles per $1 spent on all purchases. Discover also matches all miles earned during the first year. Discover miles are worth 1 cent in travel each, and cardholders can use their miles to pay for any travel purchase made with the card. Cardholders can also book travel accommodations on Discover’s travel portal using miles, with no blackout dates or restrictions. Plus, the Discover it Miles card has a $0 annual fee and a $0 foreign transaction fee.

Discover it chrome is another good Discover travel card, especially for road-trippers. It offers 2% cash back on $1,000 spent at gas stations and restaurants each quarter, plus 1% back on all other purchases and a first-year rewards match. Discover it chrome also has a $0 annual fee and a $0 foreign fee.

All Discover cards can be useful for travel. That’s because Discover is one of the few issuers to not charge foreign transaction fees on any credit cards.

Here are the best Discover travel cards:

• Discover it Miles – Best for travel overall
• Discover it chrome – Best for gas and dining
• Discover it Student chrome – Best for students
• Discover it Secured – Best for bad credit

Students looking to get a Discover travel card can consider the Discover it Student chrome card. It gives 2% cash back on $1,000 spent per quarter at gas stations and restaurants, and 1% back on other purchases. It also has the Discover first-year rewards match. It’s available to students with limited credit history. And it has a $0 annual fee, with a foreign fee to match. Plus, as a special treat, the Discover it Student chrome card gives a $20 bonus each year your GPA is 3.0 or higher.

People with bad credit aren’t left out, either. The Discover it Secured card is the best Discover travel card available to people with bad credit. Discover it Secured offers 1%-2% cash back on purchases (doubled the first year) and has a $0 annual fee. Just bear in mind that this card requires a $200+ refundable security deposit, which becomes your spending limit.

You actually can’t set an American Express travel notification. Amex is one of the few credit card companies that doesn’t allow it. Most issuers want you to tell them ahead of time when you plan on traveling, so they won’t flag your purchases as fraud if they see you spending money in another country or state. Amex, on the other hand, is confident in their ability to recognize fraud without travel notifications.

This is what American Express has to say about travel notifications on their website: “We use industry-leading fraud detection capabilities that help us recognize when our Card Members are traveling, so you don't need to notify us before you travel.” While the exact nature of how they do this is an Amex secret, some Amex customers have been able to provide insight into the process. For example, some report that Amex sent them an email saying their recent purchases indicated they’d be traveling in the near future. So if you buy plane tickets, for example, Amex will reasonably assume you’ll be going somewhere.

So in the end, you don’t need to set an American Express travel notification, and there’s no way to do it even if you wanted to. You should just expect Amex to figure out when you’re traveling. But if your card ever is flagged for fraud, a call to the number on the back of your card should quickly sort things out. It’s also a good idea to make sure Amex has the right phone number on file for you, so they can let you know if there’s an issue.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve travel credit automatically reimburses cardholders for up to $300 in travel-related expenses each year. The credit applies to flights, hotels, trains, cruises, taxis, parking, Uber and Lyft. It can also help pay for vacation packages and airline fees. The Sapphire Reserve travel credit does not apply to in-flight goods and services (e.g. Wi-Fi, food), tourist attractions or merchants within airports. The $300 annual credit does, however, cover two-thirds of the card’s $450 annual fee.

Chase Sapphire Reserve travel credits are applied to the account the same day qualifying purchases post. This happens until you hit $300 total for the year. For example, if you make a $100 travel purchase, Chase will apply a $100 credit as soon as the purchase processes. And you will have $200 remaining for other purchases during the year. On your monthly statement, your transactions will include both the original purchase and an extra item that says, “Travel Credit.” The credit subtracts the purchase amount from your balance. Chase determines whether a purchase is eligible for the travel credit based on a 4-digit code that businesses use to categorize transactions. Anything coded as “travel” qualifies.

Remember that the Chase travel credit resets every 12 months on the first statement date after your account anniversary. If you submitted an application before May 21, 2017, the credit will reset on your December statement’s closing date. If you’re unsure when your credit will reset, you can call customer service at 1 (800) 432-3117 or the number on the back of your card. Simply enter your account number and ask a representative. Unused credit does not roll over from year to year.

There’s no need to set a Capital One travel notification, also known as a travel alert. Capital One discontinued its travel notifications in 2016.

A travel notice tells a bank that the cardholder will be away from home during a given time period. That way, charges made from places you don’t normally visit won’t trigger the fraud prevention system and cause the bank to freeze the card. Like many issuers, Capital One uses EMV chip-and-signature technology. But unlike most of them, Capital One believes chip technology has made travel notices obsolete.

Each time you make a payment with a chip card, the chip creates a unique code for the transaction that can only be used one time. That prevents account information from being stolen at the point of sale. And that’s why there’s no longer the need for a Capital One travel notice.

But chip-and-signature technology doesn’t help you if someone steals your physical card. And it’s always good to be prepared. So it’s important to know the numbers to call if you run into any problems using your card while traveling. For instance, if your card gets stolen, you can call to have it frozen and get an emergency replacement card overnighted to you. You can also get a cash advance by wire transfer in that situation.

Here’s what you need instead of a Capital One travel notification:

• Domestic customer service number: 1-877-383-4802
• International customer service number: 1-800-955-7070 (collect call)
• Card number or Social Security number: Enter your card number when you call to speak to a representative. If your card is lost or stolen, enter your Social Security number instead.

You don’t need to set a Capital One travel notification to use your card abroad with peace of mind. And that’s not the only way Capital One makes travel easy. You also avoid foreign transaction fees because none of Capital One’s cards charge them.

The Capital One Purchase Eraser lets cardholders redeem miles for travel-related expenses made in the past 90 days, including airfare, hotels, and transportation. The cards with the Capital One Purchase Eraser include the Venture, VentureOne, Spark Miles Business Select and Spark Miles Business cards. To use the “Purchase Eraser,” log on to your Capital One account online or through the app. Click on your rewards miles, and then select the “Cover a Purchase” option. Your purchases that are available to be “erased” will show up, along with the number of miles required pay for each in full. You can also redeem miles to erase a portion of a purchase. Once you’ve selected the purchase(s) you want to erase, the miles will be immediately subtracted from your rewards balance. Your account will then be credited with the redemption(s) within 7 days.

The Capital One Venture and Spark Miles Business cards give 2 miles per dollar on all purchases. The Spark Miles Business Select card gives 1.5 miles per dollar, and the VentureOne card earns you 1.25 miles per dollar. Redeeming those miles for travel-related expenses gets you an exchange rate of 1 mile=1 cent. If you redeem your miles for a non-travel statement credit (not using the Purchase Eraser), they’re only worth half a cent each.

Most travel rewards credit cards are much more restrictive when it comes to redeeming miles. But Bank of America is one credit card company that allows cardholders to erase travel purchases like Capital One. After making a travel-related purchase, you can apply your Bank of America travel rewards to cover the cost of the purchase.

The best Amex travel card depends on your preferred type of travel, but the top contenders are Amex Platinum, Blue Cash Preferred, Starwood Preferred Guest and Delta Reserve. Each one shines in a particular rewards category. For example, the Starwood card offers free hotel nights, Blue Cash Preferred will save you money on gas, and Amex Delta Reserve is the way to go for airline miles. And for a good overall travel card, your best bet is Amex Platinum. You get a 60,000 point bonus for spending $5,000 in your first three months, access to 1,000+ airport lounges, and 5 points per $1 spent on flights and hotels.

But before you make your decision, you’ll want to read up on each card in more detail.

Here are the best Amex travel credit cards:

• OVERALL: Amex Platinum
  60,000 points for making $5,000 in purchases during your first three months. $200 Uber credit and $200 airline fee credit annually. 5 points per $1 for flights and hotels booked through the Amex travel website or directly with airlines. Access to 1,000 global lounges with a Priority Pass membership worth $359 per year. Good credit needed. $550 annual fee. No foreign transaction fee.
• GAS REWARDS: Amex Blue Cash Preferred
  $250 bonus for spending $1,000 in your first three months. 6% back on $6,000 spent at supermarkets per year. 3% cash back at gas stations and eligible department stores. 1% back everywhere else. Good credit needed. $95 annual fee. 2.7% foreign transaction fee.
• HOTEL POINTS: Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card
  30,000 points for spending $3,000 within the first three months. 4 points per $1 at Starwood hotels (5 with Starwood elite status). 1 point per $1 on all other purchases. Good credit needed. $95 annual fee, waived the first year. No foreign transaction fee.
• AIRLINE MILES: Amex Delta Reserve
  40,000 miles and 10,000 Medallion Qualifying Miles for spending $3,000 in your first three months. Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs) earn you status in Delta’s tiered loyalty program. 2 points per $1 on Delta purchases, 1 everywhere else. Domestic round-trip companion certificate every year on your anniversary. 15,000 miles and 15,000 MQMs for spending $30,000 in a calendar year, plus 15,000 more of each for spending $6,000. Good credit needed. $450 annual fee. No foreign transaction fee.

There are several good options for an Amex travel credit card. But it’s worth noting that Amex cards don’t have the high global acceptance rates of Visa and Mastercard credit cards, so you could run into trouble if it’s your only travel option. And if you’re interested in non-Amex alternatives, the Capital One Venture Card offers a 50,000 mile initial bonus, 10x miles at Hotels.com, and 2x miles everywhere else for an annual fee of only $95.

There are 9 Chase Sapphire Reserve airline partners, including JetBlue, Southwest and United. Sapphire Reserve cardholders can transfer points to partner airlines’ frequent flyer programs in increments of 1,000, at a rate of one partner mile per Reserve point.

This can be a good option if you already have a lot of miles with a particular airline partner. But not all airlines’ miles have equal value. So some Chase Sapphire Reserve airlines will offer a better deal for your points than others.

Chase Sapphire Reserve airline partners:

• AerLingus AirClub
• British Airways Executive Club
• AIR FRANCE/KLM Flying Blue
• Iberia Plus
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Singapore Airlines Kris Flyer
• Southwest Rapid Rewards
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

To transfer points to one of Chase Sapphire Reserve’s airline partners, log in to the Chase Ultimate Rewards site, click “Use Points” and select “Transfer to travel partners.” Then click on the loyalty program you want to use, enter your membership information and choose an amount to transfer. Lastly, double-check everything because all transfers are final.

In addition to its airline partners, Chase lets you transfer points to the loyalty programs of four different hotel chains. And remember that you’re not limited to booking flights with official Chase Sapphire Reserve airline partners. You’ll earn 3 points for every dollar in airfare on any airline when you charge it to your Reserve card. And your $300 annual travel credit can cover any type of airfare too.

The biggest American Express Platinum travel benefits are a 60,000-mile initial bonus, complimentary Gold Status in the Hilton Honors and Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty programs, a $200 annual airline credit, and 5 points per $1 spent on flights and hotels booked through American Express Travel. There’s also a monthly Uber credit, no foreign transaction fee, baggage and travel insurance, and premium roadside assistance.

Amex Platinum is a charge card, which means you’ll have to pay the balance in full every month. Plus it has a $550 annual fee. So you need to make sure you’ll get your money’s worth from its travel perks before you apply.

Here is a rundown of the American Express Platinum travel benefits:

• Annual Airline Credit

$200 in credits per year for baggage fees, in-flight meals and other airline incidentals. You can’t use the credit for airfare, gift cards, upgrades, duty–free purchases or award tickets.

• Credits for Uber Rides

Up to$15 in credits for Uber rides each month, plus a bonus $20 in December ($35 total). The credits expire at the end of each month.

• Complimentary Hotel Status

Cardholders can join Hilton Honors and SPG as Gold-level members for free. Members get complimentary room upgrades and more opportunities to earn free nights.

• Initial Bonus Miles

60,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 in your first three months. Points are redeemable for around $500 in travel-related purchases, merchandise or gift cards. Points do not expire as long as the account remains open.

• Reward Points for Travel Purchases

Earn 5 points for every $1 spent on travel purchases booked through AmexTravel.com. Earn 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases.

• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Credit

Credit for the $100 Global Entry application fee or the $85 TSA PreCheck application fee, once every four years. Both services expedite re-entry into the U.S. when traveling abroad. Cardholder eligible for statement credit every four years.

• Baggage Insurance

Pays replacement costs for carry-on baggage, up to $3,000 per covered person per covered trip. Pays up to $2,000 for checked baggage.

• Car Rental Insurance

Covers eligible rental vehicles for up to 30 days against damage and theft up to a maximum of $50,000. Does not cover intoxicated/reckless driving, damage to other vehicles or injuries to people in other vehicles.

• Travel Accident Insurance

Covers you and your family for accidental death or dismemberment while traveling on a common carrier (plane, train, boat or bus), up to $100,000 per person.

• Premium Roadside Assistance

Gives free service to the cardholder 4 times annually. Includes towing up to 10 miles, winching, jump starts, tire changes if you have a spare, lockout service, and 2-gallon fuel delivery. You owe any extra cost for towing more than 10 miles or additional services.

Despite all of American Express Platinum’s travel perks, the $550 annual fee might still be too much. There are some other good options, fortunately. One is Chase Sapphire Preferred. You’ll earn 50,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 in your first three months. That’s worth $625 when redeemed for travel. And the $95 annual fee is waived the first year.

The higher-end Sapphire Reserve Card is Platinum’s closest competitor. It shares most of the same features as Sapphire Preferred, but has an initial bonus worth $750 in travel. It also has a $300 annual travel credit and a $450 annual fee.