A airline credit card can be a general travel rewards card or a shared brand card that is linked to a frequent traveler program. When you buy with your credit card, you earn points or miles that can be exchanged for free flights and other expenses related to trips. You can also exchange rewards in the form of cash return or transfers to travel partners.
In addition to winning free flights, airline credit cards can come with travel benefits, such as free pictures, priority shipping, seat updates, concierge services or access to airport rooms only for members. Often, airline purchases, rental cars and hotel gain bonus points.
Registration bonds worth $ 100 are common, and some cards offer registration bonds worth $ 500 or more. Most airline credit cards have an annual rate, but some renounce the annual rate for the first year. When it comes to interest rates, many airline cards have annual percentage rates that vary from a little more than 20% less than 30%.
When choosing a airline credit card, keep these tips into account. Complete dissemination: There are many mathematics.
Choose the appropriate rewards program for you
The airline credit cards of the shared brand sometimes offer the greatest benefits for air rates and related purchases. The general travel rewards cards provide broader rewards categories, but many do not offer the same level of rewards for airline -based profits.
- Shared brand cards: Unfortunately, cards linked to an airline in particular can limit their travel options. If you are being recorded for a shared brand airline card, consider airlines with centers at your local airport. For example, many frequent flyers in Atlanta fly with Delta because the airline has a large center there.
- Travel rewards cards: With travel rewards cards, points or miles can be used for flights, hotels and rental cars without being restricted to an airline in particular or an airline partner. They can also be exchanged for merchandise or cash refund.
Calculate income potential
With the best rewards in air tickets and purchases related directly to the airline, the airline cards of the shared brand promote the brand’s loyalty.
General Credit Cards of Travel Rewards often give you more chances of winning a higher rewards rate. They can offer wider bonus expenses categories or simply win a higher rate in all purchases.
Calculate annual bonuses and rates
Registration bonds and welcome offers provide many points or miles, but only after complying with certain expenditure requirements. However, they do not slide you for an attractive registration bonus. Too often, consumers make the mistake of spending too much to try to win that registration bonus.
In addition, subtract the annual rates of your potential profits to estimate the true value of a card. Make sure the annual rate is worth the benefits and rewards.
Calculate the value of redemption
For most general travel rewards cards, a point or mile is equal to 1 penny, while the cards of the shared brand airline can offer 1 cent 5 cents per point/mile, depending on the flight. The reason for this wide range is that it is difficult to put a constant value about what it obtains in rewards due to flight prices, route, availability and more.
While some airlines have a published awards that can be used to estimate the value, others not. Understanding how the points of an airline card works is an important part of the selection of a credit card.
Understand travel benefits
Many general travel cards offer advantages, including travel cancellation or interruption insurance, primary car rental coverage, lost luggage protection and without foreign transaction rates.
Alternatively, the airline’s shared brand cards generally provide benefits directly linked to the airline, such as free registered bags, check-in priority, priority shipping, complementary tickets and access to the airport halls.
- Make sure the rates are worth it. Consider your plans to use the card, obtain rewards and take advantage of the benefits. If you do not use it enough to compensate for associated rates, a different card could be a better adjustment.
- Consider non -annual rates cards. If the annual rates make you pause (I do not blame you), there are a handful of credit cards of the shared brand that do not have an annual rate or that renounced it during the first year. For example, the Delta Skymiles® Blue American Express card and United Gateway℠ card I have no annual rates.
- Combine cards. If you have a general travel rewards card but it often flies an airline, it may make sense to add a card of a shared brand airline to your wallet. Your general travel rewards card can offer better rewards in bonus categories, but your shared brand card will win more when you fly with that specific airline.
- Maximize loyalty level rewards. To do this on a shared brand card, you must travel as much as I can with a single airline. So, this strategy is excellent for frequent flyers. Keep a close tracking of your qualified purchases, points/miles and flights, and find out when the qualifications expire. Schedule your trips so that you can maximize profits within the calendar year and get a level update.
- Maximize returns of the bonus category. Calculate the criteria to obtain bonds and monitor the promotional programs offered by your credit card company. And keep in mind that additional spending with airlines may not be limited to flights!
Pros and cons of the airline credit cards
Pros
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Income potential. Many airline credit cards offer bonus points for flight and other purchases related to travel and categories such as restaurants, entertainment and groceries.
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Air ticket discounts. Even when you are not redeeming points or miles of rewards, you may still use your shared brand air card to save money.
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Airline privileges. Many airlines offer special privileges for shared credit card holders, which include free registered bags, priority boarding, flight purchase discounts and seat updates. The card of its airline can also take it to deprived airport halls with courtesy drinks, refrigeries and work spaces.
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Trip and protection advantages. Many airline credit cards renounce foreign transaction fees, which is important for international travelers. They can also offer protection for travelers, including travel cancellation insurance, car rental insurance, lost luggage protection and emergency assistance.
Cons
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Complicated rewards structure. With credit cards from the shared brand airline, the points assessments are fluid. Determining how much a point or mile is worth sometimes can be a discomfort.
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Annual rates. Many airline credit cards have annual rates, so you will have to make sure the rewards exceed the cost.
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Highest purchase and transfer of APRs balance. The purchase and transfer of ABS balance for airline credit cards can be higher than for other types of rewards cards.
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Credit score requirements. Airline credit cards are often reserved for consumers with at least a good credit (a Fico® score of at least 670).
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Gains restrictions. Airline credit cards can only earn bonus points or miles in purchases with a specific airline. Or some bonus categories can only win the bond rewards rate in a limited amount of annual purchases.
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RESTRICTIONS TO THE CHANNELS. The points or miles obtained with a shared brand credit card can only be usable with a particular airline or its partners. There may also be a blackout dates, which limit flights to those who have access and dates when you can travel.
- General rewards credit cards. A general rewards card may allow you to obtain travel rewards in addition to rewards in other categories, such as meals, groceries and pharmacy purchases.
- Hotel credit cards. If your travel expense tends to focus on hotels, you can consider hotel credit cards. There is an overlap between the best credit cards, the best hotel and the best credit cards, but consumers loyal to a particular hotel chain can search for shared brand cards.
- Airline rewards programs. You can still win in the frequent flyer program of an airline even if you do not have a shared brand credit card.
US News has helped consumers make money decisions for decades. Our classification of the best credit card factors of the airline in the general satisfaction of the issuer, APR, benefits of the card holder and the annual card rate, the foreign transaction rate and the balance transfer rate. We also consider several factors related to rewards: ease and flexibility of redemption, the income rate of the airline rewards, the value of redemption of rewards and the registration bonus value. Satisfaction data is based on an annual national survey.
Our best options include shared brand cards and general travel rewards cards, so you can find a good option if you are loyal or not to an airline in particular. The annual rates between the upper airline cards vary widely, so be sure to consider if you would get enough value of a card to compensate for any annual fee. Most cards on our list offer a registration bonus. Be sure to consider if you can unlock additional rewards with your normal expenses.
(Tagstotranslate) Money (T) Credit Cards (T) Airlines of the airline airline
