Best Travel Credit Card
Best travel credit card is
designed especially for those who are travel lovers. Best travel credit card
add value for booking of trips. These rewards are so high that can meet
personal expenses and sometimes may cover a full travel cost. We have
shortlisted some best travel credit cards for you.
What is a travel credit card?
Definitely, Travel credit card has attractive features of travel rewards. These rewards may be in shape of airline miles or hotel points. Other benefits are usually taxi booking, hotel booking, VIP Lounge access, travel insurance, priority boarding access & many discounts. Travel credit card not only offer rewards, also come up with sign up bonus. Without a doubt, if you are frequent traveler than travel credit card is best for you.
Best USA Travel Credit Card
Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card
Welcome Bonus 60,000 Bonus Points
Annual Fee $95
Regular APR 20.74% to 27.74%
Credit Score Excellent
Rewards Get 5X Rewards at travel purchases through Chase Travel, 3X Reward at dinning online groceries streaming services, 2X at other travel, 1X rewards at all other purchases.
Citi Strata Premier Credit Card
Welcome Bonus 75,000 Bonus Points
Annual Fee $95
Regular APR 20.49% to 28.49%
Credit Score Excellent
Rewards Get 10 Points per dollar spent at hotel, car rental and vacation booking through Cititravel.com, 3 Points for restaurants, supermarket, gas and EV. 1 point for all other purchases.
Capital One Venture X Reward Credit Card
Welcome Bonus 75,000 Bonus Miles
Annual Fee $395
Regular APR 20.00% to 29.75%
Credit Score Excellent
Rewards Get 10 Miles per Dollar at hotel and rental cars through booking at Capital One Travel, 5 Miles at flights, vacation, Capital Entertainment Purchases, 2 Miles for eligible purchases.
Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card
Welcome Bonus 60,000 Bonus Points
Annual Fee $550
Regular APR 21.74% to 28.74%
Credit Score Excellent
Rewards Get 10X points at Hotels & Car rental through Chase Travel, 5x points on flights, 3x points on travel and dining, 1x point on all other purchases.
The Platinum Credit Card from American Express
Welcome Bonus 175,000 Bonus Points
Annual Fee $695
Regular APR 20.49% to 28.49%
Credit Score Excellent/good
Rewards Get 5 Points per dollar spent at prepaid hotel booking through American Express and flight booking with airlines or AMEX travel, 1 point at all other purchases.
Welcome Bonus 60,000 Bonus Miles
Annual Fee $325
Regular APR 20.49% to 28.49%
Credit Score Excellent/good
Rewards Get 4x points at restaurants (Up to $50,000 purchases) US Supermarkets (Up to 25,000 purchases), 3x points at flight booking through Amextravel.com. 1x for all other.
Chase Freedom Flex
Welcome Bonus $200
Annual Fee $0
Regular APR 19.74% to 28.49%
Credit Score Excellent/Good
Rewards Get 5% cash back at categories rotate from time to time, 5% at travel purchases through Chase Travel, 3% at dinning & drug stores, 1% at all other purchases.
United Quest Card
Welcome Bonus 70,000 Bonus Miles
Annual Fee $250
Regular APR 21.24% to 28.24%
Credit Score Excellent/good
Rewards Get 3 miles at United purchases, 2 miles at dinning, streaming services and other travel. 1 mile at all other purchases. Each year you can get $125 United purchase credits.
The World of Hyatt Card
Welcome Bonus 60,000 Avios
Annual Fee $95
Regular APR 20.99% to 27.99%
Credit Score Excellent/Good
Rewards Get 9x points for each dollar spent at Hyatt, 4x points at Hyatt Hotel spendings, 2x points at restaurants, airline ticket, local transit, fitness club.
Capital One Venture Reward Credit Card
Welcome Bonus 75,000 Miles
Annual Fee $95
Regular APR 19.99% to 29.74%
Credit Score Excellent/Good
Rewards Get 5x miles at hotel, vacation, rental booked through Capital One Travel. 5x miles Capital One Entertainment. 2x miles at all other purchases.
Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card
Welcome Bonus 60,000 Bonus Miles
Annual Fee $95
Regular APR 20.49%, 25.49%, 29.49%
Credit Score Excellent/good
Rewards 5X unlimited bonus reward points at hotels for each dollar spent, 4x bonus points at airlines, 3x at travel and restaurants, 1x at all other purchases.
American Express Green Credit Card
Welcome Bonus 40,000 Points
Annual Fee $150
Regular APR 20.49% to 28.49%
Credit Score Excellent/Good
Rewards Get 3X membership reward points at eligible travel, transit, restaurants purchases in the USA. 1x rewards point at all other purchases.
U.S Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card
Welcome Bonus 50,000 points
Annual Fee $400
Regular APR 21.74% to 28.74%
Credit Score Excellent/Good
Rewards Get 5x miles bonus at prepaid hotel and car rentals booked through Altitude Rewards Center. 3x points at eligible travel purchases and mobile wallet spendings.
Bilt World Elite Master Credit Card
Welcome Bonus Not available
Annual Fee $ 0
Regular APR See Over time APR
Credit Score Excellent/good
Rewards Get 3 points at dinning, 2x points at travel (airline, hotel, car rental, cruise company), 1x rent payments, 1x points all other purchases.
Capital One Venture One Rewards Credit Card
Welcome Bonus 20,000 Miles
Annual Fee $0
Regular APR 19.74% to 29.74%
Credit Score Excellent/Good
Rewards 5X Miles at hotels, car rentals booking through Capital One Travel. You can earn unlimited 1.25x bonus miles at all other purchases.
Different Benefits of Travel Credit Card
In fact, different travel credit card offer different rewards and benefits. Thus, we will discuss some common and popular benefits, which usually travel credit card, have.
- Free Miles rewards
- Travel Insurance
- Trip Delay Protection
- Baggage Insurance in case of lost
- Rental car insurance VIP Lounge access
- Partnership with programs such as TSA PreCheck, Global Entry or CLEAR
- Priority Boarding
- Free Hotel Points
- Free Taxi Points
Who should get travel credit card
Positively, Travel credit card have special features & structure of travel related purchases, so travel credit cards are best for travel lovers or who have frequent travel need. Naturally, if you are occasional traveler than this card may not be suitable for you. Always do costs benefit analysis before picking a travel credit card?
How travel credit card rewards work?
Obviously, with each purchase, travel credit card earns points or miles. Hence, these earned miles or points can be redeemed for airline tickets, gift cards, or travel related purchases such as hotel booking, taxi booking, resort booking or trip booking. So these rewards support you for the next travel and can meet your pocket expenses.
Different types of Travel Credit Cards
In any case, all the travel credit cards are not same. They differ in term of usage, rewards and benefits. Following this, ee have tried to further create types of travel cards for your best understanding, that is as follows;
1. Airline Credit Cards
Without a doubt, Airline Credit Cards are specially designed for airline purpose. These cards are structured with partnership of airline companies. Some cards are for the usage at all airlines and some cards are usable only at specific airline. Airline Credit Card earns miles that can be redeem for future purchases of airline.
Always, Airline Credit Cards have other perks and benefits that include zero annual fees, attractive sign up bonus, free checked baggage, TSA PreCheck or Global Entry, VIP Lounge access and priority boarding.
2. Hotel Credit Cards
Undeniably, Hotel credit cards cover one part of travelling that is just hotel. By hotel credit card user can enjoy priority booking of hotels with discount rates. Points can be earned by purchases of hotel rooms and meals. Earned points can be redeemed for further hotel related purchases.
In brief, Hotel credit cards offers may be in shape of night free stay or sign up bonus. You can easily imagine worth of these cards. These cards also provide other benefits and perks.
3. Business Travel Credit Cards
Always, Business travel credit cards will meet your business need of travel. With these cards, you can manage your personal and business travel expenses separately. Indeed, such cards have offering of zero annual fee with attractive rewards. These rewards are helpful for the business to maximize their profit.
4. Co-Branded Travel Credit Cards
Co-branded travel credit cards are issued by the joint venture of card issuer and Airline Company. Such cards have extra rewards for specific hotel or airline purchases. These cards are issued to create brand loyalty of customers.
Some examples of co-branded credit cards are as follows;
- Southwest Credit Card
- Delta Credit Card
- Marriot Credit Card
- Hyatt Credit Card
- American Airlines Credit Card
Pros and Cons of Travel Credit Card
To conclude, We will discuss pros and cons of travel credit cards.
Pros of Travel Credit Card
- You will earn rewards at travel that will minimizes cost of your next travel
- Cardholder is offered discounted travel.
- Travel credit cards are offered elite perks such as free luggage and complimentary breakfast.
- Travel credit cards usually have zero foreign transaction fee or very low foreign transaction fee.
Cons of Travel Credit Cards
Major drawback of travel credit card is that earned rewards can be redeemed for the travel purpose only. Rewards can be utilized for limited purposes.
Some cards have high annual fee with premium perks. If you are not a routine traveler than cost can be more than benefits.
Who should have travel credit card?
a. Business travel
If your business requires more and routine travel, than you should have a travel credit card
b. International Travel
If you are planning cross boarder travels, than travel card is suitable for you. But you should check annual fee, sign up bonus and foreign transaction fee.
c. Luxury ravel
If you have a hobby of travel or have girlfriend and want travel the world, than travel credit cards is best for you.
How to pick best travel credit card
To compare different credit cards, we will show some important factors to consider before picking a right & best travel credit card for you.
1. Annual Fee
First important & high cost factor to consider is the annual fee. Do cost benefits analysis and compare that whether cost of annual fee is being set off with benefits or not.
2. Foreign Transaction Fee
Usually travels are from the out of country therefore foreign transaction fee factor is very important to consider. Before picking a travel credit card, always take a look at the foreign transaction fee.
3. Sign up Bonus
Before final decision to apply, always check the offered sign up or welcome bonus. If you have need of one time travel than you will get maximum benefit from the bonus utilization.
For a frequent traveler, it is most important factor to consider the reward rate. Higher rate will minimize your cost of next travel.
5. International Acceptance
Before applying a credit card, check that whether the card is accepted worldwide or it is limited to specific countries. Mostly you have needed of cross boarder utilization. In this case specific country card will be zero for you.
6. Travel Protection
Now a day, when crime rates are high. It is risky to carry money or expensive products. So consider this important factor of travel protection in the card. It will save from the huge loss of theft or lost.
7. Perks
Travel credit cards offer different perks such as VIP Lounge access, priority luggage, taxi booking etc. consider the offered perks before picking a travel credit card.
What is required credit score for travel credit card?
Travel credit cards are issued to good income class, so required score is good or excellent. You should have at least score of 700 or more to apply for travel card.
How many miles are needed for a free flight?
There are many things such as airline miles, flying country, domestic or international travel. For a domestic travel, you require 5,000 to 25,000 points according to our study. For international travel you may be need of 20,000 to 40,000 points, depends upon your card, destination and Airline Company.
Methodology
After study of hundreds of travel credit cards, we have shortlisted only a few on the basis of following factors
- Annual fee
- Welcome bonus or sign up bonus
- Rewards
- Perks and benefits
- Miles value in Dollar
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
Rewards:
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card holder can earn 5x when travel purchases are mad through Chase Ultimate reward. You can earn 3X points at all other travel purchases.
Welcome Bonus:
Welcome bonus at Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is 60,000 bonus points.
Annual Fee:
Annual Fee at this card is $95.
Regular APR:
Regular APR at this card is 21.49% to 28.49% that is variable.
Credit Score:
Required credit score for this card is 700 or plus points.
Details:
With the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, you have opportunity to earn 60,000 points. For these points, you have to spend $400 during first 3 months of account opening at travel purchases. You can redeem these points at Chase Ultimate Rewards. These points have worth of $750.
At the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, you can earn rewards of 5X when travel purchases are made through Chase Ultimate Rewards. You can earn 3X rewards at dinning and 2X at all other purchases.
Your earned rewards have 25% more value when redeemed through Chase Ultimate Rewards for airline, hotel booking, car rental and cruises booking.
Other perks at this card include Lost Luggage Insurance, interruption insurance, Auto Rental, Collision Damage Waiver & Trip cancellation.
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Rewards:
With Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, you can earn 10 miles per dollar when booking is made through Capital One Travel. This booking should be for hotels or cars.
You can earn 5 miles per dollar for flights. You can earn 2 miles per dollar for all other eligible purchases.
Welcome Bonus:
Welcome bonus at this card is 75,000 miles.
Annual Fee:
Annual Fee at this card is $395.
Regular APR:
Regular APR is 22.24% to 29.24% that is variable.
Credit Score:
Excellent credit history or 750 points or more are required for this card.
Details:
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card have high annual fee that is $395 but its benefits will set off the annual fee.
- You can 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 during first three months of account opening. These bonus miles have worth equal to $750.
- You have opportunity to receive $300 annually but your booking should be through Capital One Travel.
- With Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, you can get discount at hundreds of trip options available at Capital One travel.
- At your anniversary each year, you will get 10,000 miles that have worth equal to $100.
- You can earn 10X miles at hotel booking and car booking through Capital One Travel.
- Cardholder has opportunity to earn 5X miles for flight booking but condition is that booking should be through Capital One Travel.
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card offers you 2X miles at all other purchases.
- You can redeem your earned miles for flights, hotels and car rentals. You can also transfer your earned miles to loyalty programs.
- You can get $100 for TSA or Global entry.
Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card
Rewards: With Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card, you will earn 10X bonus points at hotel booking & car rentals but purchase should be through Chase Ultimate Rewards. For the 10X rewards, you should spend at least $300.
With this card, you can earn 5X bonus points at flight booking. You can earn 3X bonus points for dinning and other travel purchases. Cardholder will get 1X bonus point at all other purchases.
Welcome Bonus:
Welcome bonus at this card is 60,000 bonus points.
Annual Fee:
Annual Fee at this card is $550.
Regular APR:
Regular APR is 24.49% to 29.49% that is variable.
Credit Score:
Excellent credit history or 750 points or more are required for this card.
Details:
Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card have high annual fee of $550 but its benefits will set off the annual fee.
- With this card, just spend $4,000 during first three months and get welcome bonus of 60,000 bonus points. These bonus points have worth of $900 when rewards are redeemed through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
- At your account anniversary date, you will get $300 each year in the shape of Annual travel Credit.
- With Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card, you will earn 10X bonus points at hotel booking and rental cars but purchase should be through Chase Ultimate Rewards. For getting 10X bonus, you have to spend at least $300 each year.
- You have opportunity to earn 5X bonus points for flights booking.
- With this card, cardholder will earn 3X bonus points for other travel and daily purchases.
- Further, you can earn 1X bonus points at all other purchases.
- Your earned rewards have 50% more value if bonus points are redeemed through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
- Welcome bonus points of 60,000 have worth equal to $900. Welcome bonus of 60,000 bonus points is enough to set off the annual fee of $550.
- With the Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card, you can avail other attractive benefits and perks such as priority pass, TSA PreCheck or Global Entry, travel insurance, luggage lost etc.
The Platinum Card from American Express
Rewards: With the Platinum Card from American Express, you can earn 5X bonus points for each dollar spent. But these bonus points are for hotel booking through American Travel & flight booking through AMEX Travel. Cardholder can earn 1X bonus points for each dollar spent at eligible purchases.
Welcome Bonus: Welcome bonus at this card is 80,000 bonus points.
Annual Fee: Annual Fee at this card is $695
Regular APR: Regular APR is 29%.
Credit Score: Good credit history or 700 points or more are required for this card.
Details:
· The Platinum Card from American Express have very high annual fee of $695 but its benefits will set off the annual fee.
· During first six months of card membership, just spend $8,000 and earn 80,000 reward bonus points as a welcome bonus.
· Cardholder can earn 5X rewards points for booking with airline and hotels. But this booking should be through American Express Travel.
· After the two night hotel stay, The Platinum Card from American Express holder will earn $200 hotel credits each year.
· When you use this card for Wal-Mart membership payment fee, you will get reimburse of the entire membership fee. So you will save $155 by this membership fee refund.
· The Platinum Card from American Express has special rewards for digital entertainment payments. After enrolment, use this card at Disney, ESPN, Hula, The New York Times, Peacock and the Wall Street Journal.
American Express Green Card
Rewards: At American Express Green Card, you will earn 3 points per dollar spent at travel transit and eligible restaurant purchases. Cardholder will earn 1 point per dollar at all other eligible purchases.
Welcome Bonus: Definitely, After sign up as a new member, cardholder will get 40,000 points after spending $3,000 at purchases during first six months.
Annual Fee: Annual Fee at this card is $150.
Regular APR: For APR, see pay overtime APR.
Credit Score: Excellent credit score history or 700-749 points are required for this card.
Details:
To Conclude, American Express Green Card have high annual fee of $150. It has no intro APR, no balance transfer facility with very limited features and perks. However its welcome bonus and rewards are awesome. Cardholder will enjoy high rate of rewards at dining, travel and transits purchases. Cardholder will also get trip delay insurance and $100 Lounge Buddy credits. A lovely feature of this card is that it has no foreign transaction fee. Further it offer easy redemption of rewards and flexible points transfer option.