Signing-up for credit card offers that award you free airline miles or hotel points is one of the easiest ways to travel for pennies on the dollar. I know there is no way that I would be on a three-month trip through Southeast Asia if I wasn’t able to book flights and hotel with the miles I earn through these offers.
For anyone new to this concept, take a minute and read over my Beginner’s Guide to point you in the right direction. After that you can come back to this list to help decide which credit card offers is best for you.
Top 5 Travel Credit Card Offers for July 2014
1. Citi Executive® / AAdvantage® World Elite™ MasterCard®
Bonus offer: 100,000 miles + $200 in statement credits after spending $10,000 within three months
Annual fee: $450
Review: American Airlines miles are some of the best airline miles to earn and use for both flights within the US and internationally. The current 100,000 mile offer on the Citi Executive® / AAdvantage® World Elite™ MasterCard® is incredible, but it comes with a caveat—a high spending requirement and annual fee.
You will have to spend $10,000 within the first three months to earn the sign-up bonus. The annual fee is $450 per year on the card, but you will also get a $200 statement credit for airline incidental, bumping the fee down to $250. If you can hit this spending requirement and put the card’s perks to good use, go for it, if not maybe look at some of the other offers below.
Card Perks:
10,000 EMQs
Admirals Club access
The application page through using the link above does NOT show the full offer terms, but there are successful reports on Flyertalk thread of getting approved a receiving the bonus. Still, your mileage may vary, so be sure to confirm the bonus offer terms when you activate your card.
2. The US Airways Premier World MasterCard®
Bonus offer: 40,000 US Airways miles after first purchase
Annual fee: $89 per year
Review: The US Airways Premier World MasterCard is currently offering 40,000 bonus miles after your first purchase. This is an incredible offer with no spending requirement, however the card does have an $89 annual fee.
US Airways miles have among the most valuable award chart and from the 40k miles you can easily get $750+ in free flights. A few best uses of US Airways miles include 120,000 for a roundtrip First Class flight from the US to North Asia and 100,000 roundtrip Business Class to Europe (125k in First).
With the card you will also get a free checked bag for you and four of your travel companions on domestic US Airways flights.
Card Perks:
Free checked bag for you and four of your travel companions
One companion certificate good for up to 2 guests to travel with you on a US Airways-operated flight at $99 each, plus taxes and fees
3. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Bonus offer: 40,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $3,000 within three months (plus get an additional 5,000 points for adding an additional authorized user that makes a purchase within three months)
Annual fee: Waived the first year, then $95
Review: The Chase Sapphire Preferred card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points that can be transferred to Korean Air, United, Hyatt, British Airways and many other valuable travel partners at a 1:1 ratio. For anyone wanting a card that earns great returns and super flexible rewards this is a sure card to have in your wallet.
You will earn 2X points on dining and travel purchases and also get a 7% annual points “dividend”. This puts the cards’ earning rate at 2.14 points per dollar. Still slightly short of the 2.28 points per dollar you can earn with the Barclaycard Arrival Plus card, but you will potentially get more valuable and flexibility from transferring the points to the travel partner of your choice.
Card Perks:
Transfer to valuable transfer partners
7% annual dividend on earned points
4. Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®
4. Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®
Bonus offer: 40,000 miles after spending $3,000 within 90 days
Annual fee: Waived the first year, then $89 per year
Review: Among the most flexible and highest earning rewards cards out there is the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®. The card earns 2x points on all purchases and you will get a 10% mile rebate on all miles redeemed for travel, that means you will earn 2.2% cash back on every dollar spent. You can redeem miles for a statement credit to pay yourself back for any purchases travel, making the card incredible flexible and easy to use. These two aspects make the Arrival Plus card one of the top all-around travel rewards credit cards and one that every serious traveler should have.
You will get over $440 in free travel when you redeem the 40,000 mile sign-up bonus for travel purchases.
Card Perks:
40,000 mile sign-up bonus worth $400 in free travel
10% mile rebate on any miles redeemed for travel
Ultimate flexibility and high rewards earnings
5. Ink Plus and Ink Bold Business Cards
Bonus offer: 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5,000 within three months
Annual fee: Waived the first year, then $95 per year
Review: You can earn 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points with both the Chase Ink credit card and Bold charge card. Similar to the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, these cards earn valuable Ultimate Rewards points that can be transferred to any of the airline and hotel transfer partners at a 1 to 1 ratio.
The flexibility to use the points how you want and to transfer them to the airline or hotel partner of your choice makes these points among the most valuable bank-points.
Chase Ink cards you earn 5x points on office supply stores, internet, cell phone, and cable purchases.
Card Perks:
5x points on office supply stores, internet, cell phone, and cable purchases
Free Lounge Club membership and 2 complimentary lounge accesses every year you pay the annual fee on the card
Ultimate flexibility by transferring points to valuable transfer partners
The important thing to always remember when applying for credit cards is to never taken on more than you can handle. Don’t think of a credit card as free money, you should always always always pay your balance off in full every month to avoid paying interest fees. Interest fees take away the whole purpose of signing up for credit cards to earn free airline miles. If you’re accruing a balance, then you’re not really traveling for as free as you would like.
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Great article!! I was seriously just contemplating getting a travel credit card so this was perfect timing. Definitely gonna check these out! Thanks!
Travel credit cards can be such a great money saving tool especially if there’s one that fits with your travel plans. I’m glad you got to this at the right time!! 🙂
More important question for us (and not answered in your list):
how high are the so-called “Foreign Currency Transaction Fees”?
Very few attractive cards for travellers waive these, some charge a percentage no matter, some charge a percentage up to x amount (max. $5 per transaction), some charge higher percentage points than others, and so on! Cash withdrawals, cash advances: here the fees and charges vary greatly too. For long-term travellers, like us, the bonus miles can be quickly eaten up by excess credit card charges!
Hi Juergen !
Thanks for your question. The AA and US Airways cards mentioned above do have a foreign transaction fee, but the Chase Ink, Sapphire and Barclays Arrival cards do not have any foreign transaction fees. I would always recommend using a card without a foreign transaction fee if you plan on spending abroad frequently. As far as cash advances go, they are generally never a good deal and would not recommend them. It is far better to have a debit card to withdraw money from ATMs.
Hope this clarifies!