Best Airline Credit Cards With Bonus Miles (2020)

An airline credit card that gives you airline miles or points whenever you use your card is an unbeatable option for the avid traveler. Broadly speaking, such credit cards can be divided into two categories: (1) credit cards co-branded with specific airlines, and (2) credit cards not aligned with specific airlines. For the first group, co-branded airline credit cards let you earn miles which are credited directly into your account with that airline's frequent flyer program. For the second group, such credit cards offer flexibility in the sense that the reward points you earn can either be used to offset your travel purchases, or be transferred to frequent flyer programs of your choice. I used both types of airline credit cards to help me reach my One Million Air Miles goal in 2016 which I used to redeem for US$54,000 worth of air tickets.

Here, we at GET.com have done the research to pick the best airline miles cards this season.

GET.com's Best Airline Credit Cards

Best For	Credit Card
Double Miles	Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card
Signing Bonus	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Free Airport Lounge Access	The Platinum Card® from American Express
Delta Rewards	Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card

Here are GET.com's Best Airline Credit Cards:

Best for Double Miles on Any Purchase: Capital One^® Venture^® Rewards Credit Card

Capital One^® Venture^® Rewards Credit Card is a fantastic miles card that has a one-time bonus of 50,000 miles ($500 in travel) when you spend $3,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening. What we love most about Capital One^® Venture^® Rewards Credit Card is you earn unlimited 2X miles per $1 spent on any purchase, which means that your mileage will increase twice as fast. You can book travel when you want, with no blackout dates. There's a $0 intro annual fee for the first year; $95 after that. Here's our Capital One^® Venture^® Rewards Credit Card review.

Best for Signing Bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card

Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card is a highly recommended travel rewards credit card that offers you 60,000 bonus points worth $750 in travel rewards after you spend just $4,000 in the first 3 months. You earn 2 points per dollar for travel and restaurant purchases around the world, and 1 point per dollar for everything else. What we really love about Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card is that you can redeem your Ultimate Rewards points for airline tickets which are good for any airline, hotel stays, cash, merchandise and other rewards. There are no travel restrictions or blackout dates when redeeming for travel. You can also do a points transfer to participating frequent flyer programs at a 1:1 rate! There's a $95 annual fee. $0 foreign transaction fee. You can read more about the 4 reasons why Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is ideal for a traveler or expat, or read our Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card review.

Best for Free Airport Lounge Access: The Platinum Card^® from American Express

The Platinum Card^® from American Express, a GET.com advertiser, is a great Card that lets you travel in style and earn points quickly if you love traveling more than anything else. This Card gives you free access to more than 1,000 airport lounges worldwide across 120 countries, including the International American Express lounges, The Centurion^® lounge network, Airspace Lounges, and Delta Sky Clubs. Plus, you get to enroll in Priority Pass™ Select for free, courtesy of American Express. Additionally, besides rewarding you with 5X points for flights booked with American Express Travel or flights booked directly with airlines and on eligible hotels booked on amextravel.com, The Platinum Card^® from American Express lets you earn 60,000 points after you use your new Card to spend $5,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Terms Apply. The Platinum Card^® from American Express has a $550 annual fee (See Rates & Fees). Read our review of The Platinum Card^® from American Express here to learn more about the card.

For rates and fees of the The Platinum Card^® from American Express, please click here.

Best for Frequent Domestic Travel: Citi^® / AAdvantage^® Platinum Select^® World Elite™ Mastercard^®

Citi^® / AAdvantage^® Platinum Select^® World Elite™ Mastercard^®, a partner card, is a great airline credit card for those who fly with American Airlines as you can earn a bonus offer of 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage^® bonus miles after you spend $2,500 in purchases within the first 3 months. This Citibank card gives you 2 AAdvantage miles for each dollar you spend on (eligible) purchases from American Airlines, at gas stations and restaurants. When flying with American Airlines on domestic itineraries, your first eligible checked bag will be free. There is a $99 annual fee (waived for the first 12 months). Here's our Citi^® / AAdvantage^® Platinum Select^® World Elite™ Mastercard^® review. We love Citi^® / AAdvantage^® Platinum Select^® World Elite™ Mastercard^® for its many benefits.

Best for Delta Air Lines Rewards: Delta SkyMiles^® Gold American Express Card

Delta SkyMiles^® Gold American Express Card, a partner card. With this card, you can earn a limited time offer of up to 70,000 bonus miles. Earn 60,000 bonus miles after you spend $2,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months. Plus, earn an additional 10,000 bonus miles after your first anniversary of Card Membership. Earn 2 miles per $1 spent on eligible purchases made directly with Delta, at restaurants worldwide and at U.S. supermarkets and 1 mile per $1 spent on other eligible purchases. One of the highlights of this card is that it lets you get your first bag checked in for free on Delta flights for you and companions booked on the same reservation (up to 9 waivers per reservation) when purchasing your tickets with this card. Why is this perk so notable? Because just using this card to book round-trip tickets for a family of 4 can save you up to $240! You will also benefit from Main Cabin 1 Priority boarding and other premium travel perks. There is a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $99 ( See Rates & Fees). Terms Apply. See our full review of Delta SkyMiles^® Gold American Express Card to find out more.

For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles^® Gold American Express Card, please click here.

Best for Delta Air Lines and Restaurant Rewards: Delta SkyMiles^® Blue American Express Card

Delta SkyMiles^® Blue American Express Card lets you earn 15,000 bonus miles (limited time offer that ends 4/1/20) after you spend $1,000 in purchases on your new Card in the first 3 months of card ownership and a 20% savings in the form of a statement credit after you use your Card on eligible Delta in-flight purchases of food, beverages, and audio headsets. You earn 2x miles for every dollar you spend on purchases you make directly with Delta and 2x miles per $1 spent at restaurants worldwide. Earn 1x mile per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases. Something noteworthy about this card is that it has no annual fee (See Rates & Fees) and no foreign transaction fees (See Rates & Fees). It has a 15.74% - 24.74% variable APR (See Rates & Fees) on purchases and balance transfers. You will also benefit from a host of other travel perks. Terms Apply.

For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles^® Blue American Express Card, please click here.

Best For Avianca Airlines and low annual fee: Avianca Vida Visa^® Card

Avianca Vida Visa^® Card lets you earn 2 LifeMiles per $1 spent on Avianca purchases and 1 LifeMile per $1 spent on all other purchases. There is no cap on the number of LifeMiles you can earn. Get a 15% discount on purchases of miles with Multiply Your Miles. Receive a welcome bonus of 20,000 LifeMiles after your first purchase with this card. Enjoy additional travel benefits like Travel Accident Insurance and Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver. This card has a $59 annual fee and 0% intro APR for 12 months on balance transfers (14.74% to 27.74% variable APR thereafter).

Best for Avianca Airlines and gas rewards: Avianca Vuela Visa^® Card

Avianca Vuela Visa^® Card has a welcome bonus of 40,000 LifeMiles after you make your first purchase. Earn 3 LifeMiles per $1 spent on Avianca purchases, 2 LifeMiles per $1 spent at gas stations and grocery stores and 1 LifeMile per $1 spent on all other purchases. This card has no foreign transaction fees and gives you a 15% discount on purchases of miles with Multiply Your Miles. There's a $149 annual fee and 0% intro APR for the first 12 months with 14.74% to 27.74% variable APR thereafter.

What is an Airline Credit Card?

There are many airline credit cards that give you special airline privileges and let you earn miles or points through the airline loyalty program. If there are 1 or 2 airlines that you always fly with, then using an airline-specific credit card can be a good way to earn miles fast. Most of these cards let you earn miles on every purchase you make.

If you always fly with different airlines, then a more general travel credit card like Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card could work better. This card lets you earn points (2X points per $1 spent on travel and restaurant dining worldwide, 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases) that can be redeemed to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs at full value (1:1 point transfer). So 1,000 points converts to 1,000 frequent flyer miles/points with partner airlines.

Airline-branded cards usually let you earn actual frequent flyer miles or points with one airline. Other more flexible travel cards have more complicated miles reward programs.

Here we highlight some of the most popular credit card rewards programs:

1. Chase Ultimate Rewards

The Chase Ultimate Rewards program is one of the best rewards programs in the US. Only certain Chase credit cards participate in this program. You get 1:1 point transfer when you convert the points you earn with Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card to frequent flyer programs such as Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, Singapore Airlines, Korean Air SKYPASS and British Airways Executive Club. This means you get to enjoy flexibility of your points without them losing value.

Alternatively you can also convert points to Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Hyatt Gold Passport.

Transfer to frequent flyer programs cannot be reversed, so only convert your points to miles when you are sure which airline you are flying with. You can also choose to redeem your points for gift cards, merchandise, or cash back. And points never expire as long as your account is in good standing. All things considered, Chase Ultimate Rewards is a pretty good travel rewards program.

2. Capital One^® Rewards

This rewards program is used by certain Capital One^® travel cards like Capital One^® VentureOne^® Rewards Credit Card. You can choose to book travel through the Capital One rewards program. You can also choose to book travel yourself, and then just redeem your miles for a statement credit towards the cost of your travel purchases.

That makes this a very flexible travel rewards program to use. Cardholders will also have the option to transfer their miles to participating airlines. Miles can be transferred at a rate of 2 Venture miles to 1.5 airline miles to the following partners: Accor Live Limitless, Alitalia (MilleMiglia Program), Asia Miles, Avianca (LifeMiles), Etihad Airways (Etihad Guest), Aeromexico (Club Premier), Air Canada (Aeroplan), Air France KLM (Flying Blue), EVA Air (Infinity MileageLands), Finnair (Finnair Plus), Hainan Airlines (Fortune Wings Club), JetBlue (TrueBlue) Qantas (Qantas Frequent Flyer) and Qatar Airways (Privilege Club). Venture miles can also be transferred at a rate of 2 Venture miles to 1 one airline mile to Emirates (Emirates Skywards) and Singapore Airlines (KrisFlyer).

On the whole, this is a very flexible program that also lets you redeem miles for merchandise, gift cards (minimum 1,000 miles to redeem for a $10 gift card) or cash back.

3. FlexPerks℠ from U.S. Bank

This program lets you earn FlexPoints℠, which can be redeemed for airline tickets, travel gift certificates, cash back, merchandise and gift cards. You will have to book your tickets through the FlexPerks Rewards Center (powered by Travelocity^®) when redeeming points for flights. It's easy and convenient, but you have to redeem points for travel through FlexPerks only, so it isn't as flexible as other programs.

But you can book tickets with no blackout dates on over 150 airlines as long as you have a minimum of 20,000 FlexPoints. FlexPerks has 16 different redemption tiers which let you get up to 2 cents in value for every point you redeem. That means you could redeem 20,000 points for an airline ticket that costs up to $400.

If you redeem 30,000 points, you can receive up to $600 in airfare. You can get a lot of travel for your points if you play these cards right. Most other programs give you 1 cent for every 1 point you redeem, which would only be $200 in airfare for 20,000 points.

With FlexPerks, you can get up to double that amount. Unfortunately, FlexPoints have a lifespan of 5 years, after which they expire. So if you want to save up a huge amount of points for a world tour, this may not be the program to use.

4. Citi ThankYou^® Rewards

This rewards program actually earns points that can be redeemed in many different ways. One big travel perk that you get with some Citi cards is that you can convert points to these frequent flyer programs at a 1:1 rate (minimum 1000 points): Malaysia Airlines Enrich, Garuda Indonesia Frequent Flyer, Etihad Guest, EVA Air Infinity MileageLands and Asia Miles, Flying Blue Award Miles, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Qantas Frequent Flyer.

Airline Card Benefits

First Checked Bag Free

Some airline credit cards let you get a certain number of checked bags free when you use them to pay for your booking. For example, if you purchase your ticket in full with Delta SkyMiles^® Gold American Express Card you'll be able to check your first bag for free on every Delta flight, which comes out savings of up to $240 per round trip for a family of four.

Travel Insurance

When you pay for travel bookings using some airline credit cards, you automatically receive travel insurance coverage for your trip. The most common types of coverage you receive are travel accident insurance (covers death or severe injury on a common carrier) and a secondary auto rental collision damage waiver which adds coverage above what your auto insurance policy gives you.

Better cards give you more comprehensive insurance coverage. Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card, for example, gives you trip cancellation/trip interruption insurance, trip delay reimbursement, lost luggage reimbursement, baggage delay insurance and a primary auto rental collision damage waiver.

Here is a summary of what types of travel insurance coverage you might want to look for when choosing an airline credit card.

Travel Accident Insurance

This type of travel insurance is offered by many credit cards. If the plane, cruiseship or other common carrier you travel on is involved in an accident, you can receive compensation for injuries, loss of mobility and more. For example, Chase Freedom^® gives you up to $250,000 coverage for accidental death or dismemberment.

Trip Interruption/Cancellation Coverage

This is one of the most useful types of travel insurance to have. Unfortunately not very many cards give you this coverage. This insurance covers you if a qualifying emergency like an unexpected illness of you or a family member/business partner forces you to cancel your trip.

This insurance may also refund certain expenses like hotel stays or restaurant meals when a trip is interrupted unexpectedly (unexpected bad weather or technical difficulties, for example). This coverage and reimbursement only applies to purchases made with your card.

If you have the Visa Signature version of Chase Freedom^®, you can get reimbursed for up to $5,000 of non-refundable, pre-paid travel expenses (passenger fares, tours, hotels) per trip. Using the right card to pay for your bookings means you probably won't need to buy additional travel insurance.

Luggage Loss/Damage Insurance

This is pretty self explanatory. If your luggage gets lost or damaged by a common carrier, you will get reimbursed up to a certain limit. For example, Chase Freedom^® provides up to $3,000 of coverage per passenger with the Visa Signature version).

Rental Car Loss/Damage Waiver

Rather than paying extra for auto rental insurance when you rent a vehicle, just pay for the rental using a credit card that gives you this insurance coverage. Many airline cards give you secondary auto rental insurance, and this may be limited to only a certain amount of coverage.

But some cards like Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card give you primary coverage up to the actual cash value of the vehicle. In every case, this coverage applies to collisions (and usually theft), but may not include things like windscreen damage or mechanical breakdowns.

Emergency Medical Evacuation Insurance

This is a very useful insurance to have, but here again, this coverage only comes with a few credit cards. When you use a card that offers this insurance to pay for your travel bookings, you will be covered for the cost of transporting you to certified medical facility or even back to the US for care.

How we rate Airline Credit Cards

At GET.com, we look at the miles you earn, if miles expire or not, and how much those miles are really worth in travel. We also look at the airline benefits that these cards offer, such as free checked bags, priority boarding, lounge access and on-board credit. We pay a lot of attention to bonus offers as well.

Other important factors are flexibility in how you can earn and redeem rewards, and introductory low APR periods. Other benefits like travel insurance, shopping perks and travel discounts also feature highly in our rating process.

We also consider the annual fee, standard APR, foreign transaction fees and compare these to the benefits the card offers to give you a clear picture of what each airline card really gives you.