Best Credit Cards For Travel 2017

Our Picks For the Best Travel Credit Cards in 2017

The following cards are among the best for their respective categories. For more information on how we determined the winners for each of the above categories, take a look at our methodology section.

Best For Maximizing Travel Rewards: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

If your credit card spending is predominantly made up of dining and travel purchases, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card will be a great fit. The rewards you earn using this card are called Ultimate Rewards (UR) points – they are among the best rewards points available. What makes the points so valuable is the ability for Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card holders to transfer their points to a slew of different travel brands. As of 2017, these include brands like Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® and Marriott Rewards®. This feature is what makes the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card excellent for travelers who may have their loyalty spread across an array of different brands. You can pick and choose where to allocate them, depending on your vacation and trip needs.

To get the most out of your Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, you will want to book your travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. That way, you will receive a 20% discount on your bookings, and simultaneously bump up the value of your UR points. Doing this will bumps up the card’s rewards rate to that 2.5% limit – better than most general travel rewards cards.

Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partners
Hyatt Gold Passport®	Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	United MileagePlus®	Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards®
British Airways Executive Club	Korean Air SKYPASS	Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer	The Ritz-Carlton Rewards®
	Marriott Rewards®	IHG® Rewards Club

The airlines you can transfer your UR points to cover all 3 major alliances - Oneworld, Star Alliance, and Skyteam. That unlocks for you for cardholders, the ability to book travel with up to 63 airlines altogether.

Highlights

• 1.25 – 2.5% Rewards Rate: You earn double points on dining and travel and an additional point if you use the card to pay for airfare or hotels accommodations through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
• 50,000 point signing bonus worth up to $625 towards airfare or hotels through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• Points can also be transferred to partner airlines and hotels at a 1:1 ratio. 
• No foreign transaction fees
• Chase Ultimate Rewards points are also usable for Cash Back at 1 cent per point

Best For Domestic Travelers: Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card

For those who travel frequently around the United States, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card is an excellent choice. Southwest Airlines flies to 85 different airports throughout the country, as well as 11 locations throughout the Caribbean – frequent vacations pots such as Costa Rica and Jamaica. The credit card itself earns 2 Rapid Rewards points per $1 when you make Southwest Airlines purchases directly with the airline, and whenever you book Rapid Rewards Hotel and car rentals. All other purchases earn just 1 point per $1. We value Rapid Reward points redeemed for Wanna Get Away tickets at $0.016, which puts the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card rewards rate at anywhere between 1.5% and 3%.

The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card can be particularly rewarding for individuals who travel in pairs, or larger groups. Southwest offers a companion pass to individuals who reach 110,000 points within a single calendar year. The points earned with this credit card can help you attain this reward – which carries with it a value of several hundred dollars. The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card helps give a boost towards this reward, when you first sign-up. Cardmembers who spend at least $1,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening will receive 40,000 bonus points.

Highlights

• Rewards rate between 1.5% and 3.0%.
• Rapid Rewards points can be used to fly to over 96 locations throughout the United States and Central America.
• 40,000 bonus Rapid Rewards Points for those who spend at least $1,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.

Best No Annual Fee Travel Credit Card: Discover it® Miles

The Discover it® Miles is best for travelers who don’t spend a ton of money, and want to avoid having to pay an annual fee. The card offers a 1.5% rewards rate on all your spending, which is an above-average rate. However, what puts this card on this list is it’s fantastic year-1 bonus. Discover matches all the miles you earn at the end of your first year, if you’re a new cardmember. For example, if you were to earn 30,000 miles, you’d get another 30,000 on top, for a grand total $600 in rewards.

The Discover it® Miles has no foreign transaction fees, which makes it an excellent travel tool abroad. Many credit cards will tack on a 3% charge anytime you use them outside of the U.S. The Discover it® Miles waives that fee completely, so you’ll be free to use it anywhere you go. Keep in mind that Discover isn’t as widely accepted as Visa or Mastercard, so this may be a limiting factor. However, Discover has a few ways of compensating for this. If you travel to Asia, know that Discover is compatible with UnionPay in mainland China and the JCB network in Japan. You can also use your Discover it® Miles at Diners Club locations, when in Europe, Asia or South America.

Highlights

• No Annual Fee
• 1.5 miles per dollar on all purchases
• Discover doubles all the cash back you earn at the end of your first year (new cardmembers only)

Best for High Spenders: Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®

The Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® makes for one of the best everyday credit cards because of its high general rewards rate, which applies to all purchases you make. The card rewards you with 2 miles for every $1 you charge to it. That translates to a rewards rate of 2%-2.1% on all spending (depending on how you redeem your miles). On top of these standard rewards, the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® also provides users with the ability to earn 50,000 bonus miles, provided they spend at least $3,000 on purchases in the first 90 days of receiving their card.

The miles you earn with the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® are best used as travel statement credit – this qualifies you for an extra 5% points dividend. Without this bonus, other cards with lower annual fee end up being a much better deal. As it stands, this card shines for high spenders – individuals who average a monthly spend of $2,500. 

Highlights

• 2.1% Rewards Rate: Regardless of what you spend your money on through the card
• 50,000 mile bonus worth $500 dollars in statement credits on travel
• No Foreign Transaction Fees 

Best for Travel Involving Hotel Stays: Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express

While the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express is mostly thought of a hotel credit card, the built-in points transfer program allows it to do double duty as an airline credit card. Starpoints earned through the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express carry, on average, a value of $0.024 per point – higher than most rewards programs. Therefore, at worst, this card will provide you with a 2.4% rewards rate on all your spending – or 4.8% when used towards booking stays with Starwood or Marriott properties for your next travel itinerary.

One of the coolest features of the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express is that for every 20,000 Starpoints you transfer to an airline, you get 5,000 bonus points. That comes out to an extra $120 in value with each transfer of that magnitude. For this reason, we highly recommend you don’t transfer points when you have less than that threshold.

Starpoint Airline Transfer Partners
Program	Transfer Ratio	Program	Transfer Ratio
Aeromexico Club Premier	1:1	Etihad Airways	1:1
Aeroplan / Air Canada	1:1	Flying Blue	1:1
Air Berlin	1:1	Gol Smiles	2:1
Air China	1:1	Hainan Airlines	1:1
Air New Zealand & Air Points	65:1	Hawaiian Airlines	1:1
Alaska Airlines	1:1	Japan Airlines	1:1
Alitalia MilleMiglia	1:1	LAN Airlines	1:1.5
All Nippon Airways (ANA)	1:1	Miles and More (Lufthansa)	1:1
American Airlines AAdvantage	1:1	Qatar Airways	1:1
Asia Miles	1:1	Saidi Arabian Airlines	1:1
Asiana Airlines	1:1	Singapore Airlines	1:1
British Airways	1:1	Thai Airways International	1:1
China Eastern Airlines	1:1	US Airways	1:1
China Southern Airlines	1:1	United Mileage Plus	2:1
Delta Air Lines	1:1	Virgin Atlantic	1:1
Emirates Skywards	1:1	Virgin Australia	1:1

Highlights

• 2.4% - 4.8% Rewards Rate: There is no need to worry about where you use the card. You’ll be getting a minimum 2.4% rewards rate, which is well above average.
• 25,000 point signing bonus, after spending $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months
• Rewards can be transferred to 32 partner airlines for use in their respective airline loyalty program

Best For Moderate Spenders: Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card

We recommend the Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card as an excellent travel rewards credit card for people who spend below $30,000 annually (any higher and one of the other travel rewards cards will net you more rewards). Cardholders earn 2 miles on every $1 spent – regardless of categories. This translates to a rewards rate of 2% across all your purchases. The 5% increase in rewards rate (from 2.1% to 2%) you get with the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® only becomes worth it if you spend more than $30k, and paying the higher annual fee begins to make sense.

Venture miles earned through the Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card have a number of different uses, though consumers should focus on the Purchase Eraser for maximum value. This means using points to pay down past travel expenses on your bill, like your last vacation, or even your regular train / bus commuting costs. If you choose to get straight cash back from your rewards, you will halve the rewards miles' value.

Highlights

• 2% Rewards Rate on all purchases when using miles to pay down travel expenses
• No Foreign Transaction Fee
• 40,000 bonus miles once you spend $3,000 on purchases within 3 months

Best Business Travel Credit Card: Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express

With the Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express, business owners earn a 2.4% rewards rate on all their purchases, and 4.8% anytime they pay for hotel stays with any one of the Starwood properties – including Sheraton, Westin, St. Regis, and the W. On top of this, the Starpoints earned with this card can be transferred to over 30 different airlines – increasing the flexibility of your travel options. 

The Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express offers a nice slew of services to help businesses keep track of all their travel spending. As part of the American Express OPEN family of cards, the SPG credit card allows you to designate an account manager to review statements, make payments, dispute charges, and more. Being an SPG Business credit card user with Amex OPEN also gives you access to a forum where you can interact with industry experts and other business owners – allowing you to learn and share with a large community of entrepreneurs.

Highlights

• Complimentary Sheraton Club lounge access, and free in-room premium Wi-Fi helps carry out business on-the-go.
• American Express OPEN benefits help with tracking expenses and accounting
• Ability to transfer rewards points to over 30 airlines

Best For Luxury Travel Benefits: Chase Sapphire Reserve℠

If you would like to make the time you spend at airports more enjoyable, Chase Sapphire Reserve℠ can be a great asset. The card comes with Priority Pass Select membership, which includes access to over 900 airport lounges worldwide. These provide access to some nice amenities, such as showers, conference rooms, and bars.

On top of this, being a Chase Sapphire Reserve℠ cardholder will also pay for Global Entry or TSA Pre✓. This gratifyingly speeds up the amount of time you spend in lines at the airport, and helps you get to your destination in less time.

Keep in mind that Chase Sapphire Reserve℠ comes with a $450 annual fee. Luckily, it does a lot to justify this cost. Firstly, it provides a high sign-up bonus. Users can get 100,000 points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. This is worth $1,500 when redeemed for travel through the Ultimate Rewards online portal. As we enter into 2017, this bonus is unmatched by any other credit card. Also, every year cardmembers get a $300 travel credit. Together, these perks make the annual fee well worth-it, for most travelers.

Highlights

• Access to over 900 airport lounges worldwide
• 100,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months
• $300 annual travel credit

Best For Train Travel: Amtrak Guest Rewards® World MasterCard®

For travelers who prefer taking Amtrak to planes, the Amtrak Guest Rewards® World MasterCard® provides rewards rates as high as 7.8% on Amtrak tickets. As long as you don't mind being rewarded in points that can be only used to book more Amtrak travel, this card carries a ton of value, no matter where you use it to shop.

The Amtrak system allows travel throughout most of the United States - though it is more densely populated with stations along the eastern seaboard. For travel redemption purposes, Amtrak divides the nation into 4 zones - Western, Central, Eastern, and Northeastern (red lines in the map below). The more zones your itinerary takes you on, the more points you will need to pay. A round-trip from Boston to Los Angeles would require 10,500 points (traveling across 3 zones), in Economy class.

If you tend to vacation and travel with at least 1 other person, this card can also be very rewarding, thanks to its companion coupon benefit. The companion coupon acts as a "buy one get one free" offer, on Amtrak tickets. Amtrak Guest Rewards® World MasterCard® cardholders receive one of these companion coupons every cardmember year.

Highlights

• High rewards rate 2.6% to 7.8% (redeemable towards Amtrak travel)
• 1 Companion Coupon every cardmember year
• 20,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 in purchases within 90 days of account opening

Summary of The Top Travel Credit Cards

Here is a quick overview of our favorite credit cards for travelers. Be mindful of each card’s annual fee, and weigh it against the benefits you’ll get out of it. If you think you’ll come out with a net positive, the card is worth applying for.

Best For...	Card	Annual Fee
Earning Miles	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card	$0 Intro for the First Year. Then $95
Domestic Travel	Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card	$99
All-around Rewards	Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®	$89 - Waived first year
Travel Involving Hotel Stays	Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express	$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $95
Moderate Spenders	Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card	$0 intro for first year; $59 after that
No Annual Fee	Discover it® Miles	$0
Business Travel	Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express	$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $95
Luxury Travel	Chase Sapphire Reserve℠	$450
Train Travel	Amtrak Guest Rewards® World MasterCard®	$79