I’ve been traveling solo for 14 years, but it wasn’t until about 10 years ago that I started learning about the benefits of travel rewards-based credit cards. When I booked my 6-week trip to Australia and New Zealand in 2012, I discovered the Capital One Venture card, which offered points and cash back (plus an appealing “Purchase Eraser” to redeem points for any travel purchases in the past 90 days.) I thought I was a genius, leveraging those benefits to erase maybe $300 of my travel expenses once I returned. As a result, I kept that card in my wallet for everyday purchases to earn points for future travel.
Turns out, I was merely a novice in the world of travel cards. In the years since then, I have learned a LOT more about earning and redeeming credit card points for travel, and I’ve expanded my arsenal to include several more robust travel cards with more powerful earning and redemption potential.
While the world of credit card points can be very overwhelming (trust me, I know), I wanted to share my advice based on years of personal experience with several travel cards. Personally, as a frequent traveler, I use several together to maximize value and keep my redemption options wide open. However, there is plenty of value in just one or two travel cards – and if you’re a beginner in leveraging credit card points for travel (or if you’re an infrequent traveler just looking to reap the rewards of your spending power on, say, one big trip each year), I recommend starting with one.
Here’s my advice for how to choose a travel card, and my top picks!
First, consider how you’ll earn points.
Naturally, rewards credit cards reward you with points for every dollar you spend using the card, but not all cards and their earnings multipliers are created equal. Identify your largest spending categories – for most people, this is probably groceries and dining. (It’s certainly mine!) But if you spend a lot on certain other categories, like gas, entertainment, travel (this includes trains, taxis, busses, rideshare services, hotels, as well as flights!), etc. be sure to note this as well.
Then, think about how you want to redeem your points.
Do you have one big trip in mind that’s coming up? What about saving for a luxury experience like a 5-star resort or first-class international flight? Or maybe you want to start taking shorter weekend trips or local adventures more often? Just like the rates at which points are earned aren’t created equal, neither is how they can be redeemed. Each travel card has different rules, though the one thread that ties (most of) them together is that they partner with airlines and hotels, which opens up your opportunities for travel redemption.
Now, let’s take a look at my favorite cards, and how they stack up in terms of earning and redeeming points. Here’s a quick rundown, then more detail below:
#1: Chase Sapphire Preferred
This is my favorite all-around rewards credit card, and not just for travel! The Chase Sapphire Preferred is part of Chase’s Ultimate Rewards program, which is one of the best rewards programs out there.
Earning points with Chase
The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns points at the following rates:
- 5 points per dollar when you pay for travel (hotels, flights, trains, etc.) through their Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal
- 3 points per dollar spent on restaurants (including takeout and delivery) and online grocery orders
- 3 points per dollar on select streaming services
- 2 points per dollar spent on all other travel not booked (or not available) through the Travel Portal
- 1 point per dollar spent on everything else
Redeeming points with Chase
Chase allows its cardmembers to redeem points in several ways:
- Booking travel in the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal
- Transferring them to travel partners (i.e., converting to miles with your favorite airline’s loyalty program)
- Pay Yourself Back, which allows you to, literally, pay yourself back on purchases in certain spending categories (subject to a rotating schedule)
- Converting them to gift cards
- Converting them to cash back or a statement credit
Best redemption value
Of these options, redeeming for travel in the travel portal is by far the BEST value for your points. Why? Because your points are worth 25% more when used this way! While 1 point = 1 cent for gift cards/cash back/statement credits, 1 point = 1.25 cents in the travel portal.
For example, I recently had 31,000 points accumulated on my Sapphire card. I could have used those to redeem for cash back and gotten $310 in my pocket. And I’ll be honest: before I learned about all the ways to leverage points with travel cards, I did this a lot. I thought cash back was the most flexible option, allowing me to use it on whatever I wanted – even toward travel expenses.
However, when I logged into the travel portal in my Ultimate Rewards dashboard, I saw that those 31,000 points were worth $394 in travel dollars! Since I could book travel directly through the portal, I found a roundtrip flight from San Diego to NYC for $258 on JetBlue that I could book using only 20,600 points. Had I converted my points to cash back to pay myself back the $258 flight (like I used to do), it would have cost me 25,800 points.
In addition, travel booked through the Travel Portal, even when redeeming points, is considered a revenue booking. That means you’ll ALSO earn points/miles with the airline/hotel’s loyalty program – even if you paid nothing out of pocket! These are valuable tools for any traveler, no matter how frequently they travel.
Chase’s travel partners
However, I strongly recommend doing some price comparison research first. In some circumstances, the price you find in the Travel Portal is higher than what you’ll find on the airline/hotel’s direct website. (This doesn’t happen often. Chase’s prices are usually the same as what you’ll find directly, but in certain cases, like with business class/first class airfare, it can be different.)
If the price is drastically different, OR if the itinerary you want simply isn’t available (which can also happen), you should consider the second way Chase allows you to redeem points: by transferring to their travel partners. Points will transfer at a 1:1 ratio, meaning 1,000 Chase reward points = 1,000 airline miles.
Chase partners with the following airlines/hotels:
- British Airways Executive Club
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Emirates Skywards
- Singapore Airlines Krisflyer
- Southwest Rapid Rewards
- United MileagePlus
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Aer Lingus AerClub
- Iberia Plus
- World of Hyatt
- IHG Rewards Club
- Marriott Bonvoy
Here’s an example where transferring to the travel partner was more valuable than booking through the travel portal:
I recently wanted to book a JetBlue Mint seat (their luxurious business class with private cabins and lie-flat seats) on a flight from San Diego to Orlando. On JetBlue’s website, this fare was $883 or 75k points. However, on the Chase Travel Portal, this was a whopping $2,140!! While I honestly have no idea why there was such a huge discrepancy in this particular case, naturally it made sense for me to transfer my Chase points to my JetBlue TrueBlue account. (Which, by the way, can be done directly through the Ultimate Rewards portal, because JetBlue is a Chase travel partner.) Then, I was able to combine JetBlue points with cash to book that $833 Mint seat for 40k points + $456.
Extra benefits
- No foreign transaction fees
- $50 hotel credit every year in the Chase Travel Portal
- 10% anniversary bonus points (every year, you’ll earn bonus points that equal 10% of purchases made with your credit card during the previous year, at a rate of 1 point per $1 spent.)
- Primary auto rental coverage
- Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
- Baggage delay insurance
- Trip delay reimbursement
- Travel and emergency assistance services
- Extended warranty protection
- Purchase protection
- Lost luggage insurance
Annual fee
$95/year, which is an exceptionally great value for what is quite often considered one of the best all-around travel cards in the field. In fact, I have often paid off that annual fee with just 1-2 months of spending/points value. And the $50 hotel credit pays for more than half of that already!
Current sign-up bonus
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases on your new card in your first 3 months. That’s worth $750 in flight credit in the Chase Travel Portal!
Apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card now
*I will earn bonus points if you sign up using the link above!
#2: Amex Gold
I recently acquired the sleek Amex Gold card (also available in rose gold!), another top contender in the world of travel cards. Though this one comes with a much heftier annual fee than the Chase Sapphire Preferred, some simple math showed me that I’d be able to recoup it in a little more time than it takes me to recoup the cost of the Sapphire. And it all comes down to the fact that you get 4x points per dollar on ALL groceries (bought at regular supermarkets) and ALL dining (restaurants and food delivery.) That’s 33% more point value I’ll be receiving by charging my Amex Gold card over my Sapphire Preferred on restaurants, and 300% more value on groceries!
Earning points with Amex
- 4 points per dollar spent on groceries at supermarkets (not including Costco, Target, or Walmart)
- 4 points per dollar spent on restaurants and food delivery
- 3 points per dollar spent on flights booked directly with the airline or on amextravel.com
- 1 point per dollar spent on everything else
Redeeming points with Amex
Amex allows its cardmembers to redeem points in several ways:
- Booking travel in the Amex Travel Portal
- Transferring them to travel partners (i.e., converting to miles with your favorite airline’s loyalty program)
- Converting them to gift cards
- Converting them to cash back or a statement credit
Best redemption value
Redemption values vary a bit more here than they do with Chase Ultimate Rewards. One point in the Amex Travel Portal is worth 1 cent for flights, but only 0.7 cents for hotels. (Not such a great value, especially compared to Chase’s 1.25 cent value per point.) Instead, transferring your points to travel partners is where you’ll get the most bang for your buck.
While Amex’s 19 airline and 3 hotel group partners offer different redemption values for their points, the average is around 2 cents per point. And you’ll get the absolute best value by using those points toward long-haul flights in business class or first class, simply because of the insane cash value those flights cost. I’ve read stories of people redeeming their Amex points for 3.4 cents or even a whopping 18 cents per point on first-class airfare with the ANA Mileage Club (i.e., using only 120k points on a $22,000 first-class flight from NYC to Tokyo.) You’ll just need to do some research on the travel partners and codeshares to learn the best way to maximize your points.
Amex’s travel partners
Amex partners with the following airlines/hotels:
- Aer Lingus AerClub
- Aer Lingus Club Premier
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- Alitalia MilleMiglia
- All Nippon Airways Mileage Club
- Avianca LifeMiles
- British Airways Executive Club
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Delta SkyMiles
- Emirates Skywards
- Etihad Guest
- Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles
- Iberia Plus
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Singapore KrisFlyer
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Choice Privileges Hotel Group
- Hilton Honors
- Marriott Bonvoy
Extra benefits
- No foreign transaction fees
- Primary auto rental coverage
- Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
- Baggage delay insurance
- Trip delay reimbursement
- Travel and emergency assistance services
- Extended warranty protection
- Purchase protection
- Lost luggage insurance
Annual fee
$250/year. Whether or not this is worth it heavily depends on your own personal answers to the two issues I brought up in the beginning: how will you earn points, and how do you want to redeem them? If you don’t mind flying coach and typically take short-haul domestic flights, Amex Gold’s travel redemption value may not be worth the yearly fee. If you travel internationally a lot – or even just once a year and you want to spring for a luxe experience in business or first class, the fee could be worth it for that flight alone.
Current sign-up bonus
Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards Points after you spend $4,000 on purchases on your new card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. That’s worth $600 in flight credit in Amex Travel!
Apply for the Amex Gold card now
*I will earn bonus points if you sign up using the link above!
#3: Capital One Venture
This was the first of my travel cards, and when I first got it 10 years ago, it really did very little for me by way of slashing my travel expenses. In fact, the main reason I applied for it was to snag a hefty sign-up bonus. However, while it still remains much more “bare bones” than either Chase or Amex travel cards in terms of both earning and redeeming, it has come a very long way in a very short time. And because of its straight-forward program – and one very impactful perk – it is a great choice for beginners and light travelers.
Earning points with Capital One
- 5 miles per dollar when you pay for travel (hotels, flights, trains, etc.) through Capital One Travel
- 2 miles per dollar on everything else
Redeeming points with Capital One
Capital One allows its cardmembers to redeem points in several ways:
- Booking travel in Capital One Travel
- Transferring them to travel partners (i.e., converting to miles with your favorite airline’s loyalty program)
- Paying off travel-related purchases on your statement from the last 90 days with the Capital One Purchase Eraser
- Converting them to gift cards
- Converting them to cash back
Best redemption value
Again, as with Chase and Amex, redeeming miles for gift cards or cash back will get you the worst value (0.8 cents per point for gift cards; 0.5 cents per point for cash back.) Instead, focus on transferring them to travel partners – or using Capital One’s nifty Purchase Eraser tool. With that, you would charge the purchase to your card, then use the Purchase Eraser to redeem points (at a 1 point = 1 cent value) to “erase” it. The only limitation is you have 90 days to do it – which, frankly, is a huge perk because that buys you 3 extra months to earn points to cover the purchase!
For beginners, the Purchase Eraser is an appealing benefit because you don’t have to worry about finding award space or doing a bunch of cross-research to squeeze out any more value from your points. If you don’t mind a few extra steps, however, you could get more value by transferring points to one of Capital One’s 19 airline or hotel partners. Most transfers are done at a 1:1 ratio, though some are at 2:1.5 or 2:1. (It’s then up to the airline’s loyalty program to determine how those miles/points are redeemed for travel. Again, do a little research first.) Also, Capital One routinely offers limited time transfer bonuses that could get you even more bang for your buck with particular airlines.
Capital One’s travel partners
Capital One partners with the following airlines/hotels:
- Aeromexico Club Premier
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- ALL Accor Live Limitless
- Avianca LifeMiles
- British Airways Executive Club
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Choice Privileges
- Emirates Skywards
- Etihad Guest
- EVA Infinity MileageLands
- Finnair Plus
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- TAP Portugal Miles&Go
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- Wyndham Rewards
Extra benefits
- No foreign transaction fees
- Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit (up to $100, once every four years)
- Secondary auto rental coverage
- Extended warranty protection
- Travel accident insurance
- Roadside assistance
- 24-hour travel assistance services
Annual fee
$95/year – the same as Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Current sign-up bonus
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 on purchases on your new card in your first 3 months. That’s worth $600 in Purchase Eraser points value!
Bottom line
To sum up, all three travel cards above have their merits, and I personally use all three of them to maximize my points earnings: I use Chase for streaming services and most of my everyday expenses, Amex for groceries and dining, and Capital One for bills that are set to auto-pay. When I book travel, it’s usually through Chase’s Travel Portal. However, if I don’t have enough points and I’m a bit crunched on budget, I’ll use Capital One so I can erase the purchases (and have 3 extra months to keep earning, during which time I’ll switch my everyday purchases to that card.)
Likewise, if I have points to redeem, I fish around for the best deal and compare whether redeeming points in Amex or Chase’s travel portals, or transferring my points to the airline’s loyalty program, is better. It’s often a very personal discretionary choice when deciding which of my travel cards to use, and there isn’t always a clear answer. But for someone like me who travels a lot, I’ve found a lot of value – and most importantly, flexibility – in using these three travel cards as a kind of magical trifecta.
My recommendations
- Capital One Venture: For beginners/light travelers looking to offset some of their travel expenses, and who want simplicity.
- Chase Sapphire: For light or moderate travelers who don’t mind economy flights but want to experience first class every now and then, and who don’t mind doing a little extra leg work to maximize their points value.
- Amex Gold: For luxury travelers, business travelers, frequent international travelers, or budget/everyday travelers looking for a posh experience like a first-class flight.
That said, I still firmly believe the Chase Sapphire Preferred is the overall BEST card for value and flexibility. With additional points-maximizing potential like Pay Yourself Back, 10% anniversary bonus points, $50 hotel credit, and 25% bonus value in the travel portal, it satisfies a wide range of traveler types. And at the same price as the Capital One Venture card, it’s worth considering – even if you’re a travel point beginner.