This premium airline card offers a hefty sign - up bonus in the first year and attractive perks, such as a $ 100 companion certificate; but with an $ 89 annual fee and a ho hum rewards rate, the card's value falls sharply after its first year.
While the rewards can't compare to
a premium airline card with an annual fee, the Blue Delta SkyMiles card is your best option for earning airline miles without having to pay an annual fee.
This premium airline card offers a generous sign - up bonus in the card's first year and some modest perks for frequent American Airlines passengers; but unless you're a heavy traveler, you could have a hard time justifying the card's annual fee after the first year.
While the rewards can't compare to
a premium airline card with an annual fee, the Blue Delta SkyMiles card is your best option for earning airline miles without having to pay an annual fee.
With American Express's latest entry to the rewards card space — the Blue Delta SkyMiles card — at last there's a worthy contender for casual travelers seeking to earn airline miles without all the maintenance that comes with
a premium airline card.
Not exact matches
I've used Ultimate Rewards points earned from my Chase Sapphire Preferred ®
Card towards
premium cabin flights on Lufthansa (many times), Thai Air, and Singapore
Airlines.
Citibank also offers a
premium American
Airlines travel rewards credit
card.
As we discussed above, you must have at least 1
premium Ultimate Rewards
card to convert the cash - back you earn from
cards with no annual fee to points that can be transferred to
airline and hotel partners.
The Citi ® / AAdvantage ® Executive World Elite ™ Mastercard ® is a decent
premium travel credit
card for dedicated American
Airlines and US Airways customers.
There are a few «
premium»
airline credit
cards, however, that are far more expensive.
Bottom Line: If you travel frequently and value lounge access you will benefit greatly from having the one of the
premium airline branded credit
cards that charge a $ 450 annual fee.
That's because the annual fee you pay for any of these
premium cards will be less than a one - year lounge membership in either the Delta Sky Club, American
Airlines Admiral's Club or the United Club.
It's important to point out that the Platinum's $ 200
airline credit is far more limited than similar credit provided by other
premium credit
cards.
The Platinum
Card ® from American Express comes with all the other trappings one might expect from a premium card, like lounge access, Global Entry fee reimbursement, and airline fee cre
Card ® from American Express comes with all the other trappings one might expect from a
premium card, like lounge access, Global Entry fee reimbursement, and airline fee cre
card, like lounge access, Global Entry fee reimbursement, and
airline fee credit.
And a
premium credit
card may offer airport lounge access through a lounge network not associated with an
airline, such as Priority Pass Select or the American Express Centurion lounges.
For example, most
airline cards will offer priority boarding, a free checked bag and discounts on in - flight purchases, while
premium cards will give you an airport lounge membership.
The
card is less valuable if you place a
premium on
airline and lodging flexibility when you travel.
Other travel benefits of this
premium card include a $ 200 annual
airline fee credit, $ 75 hotel credit, fee credit for Global Entry program or TSA PreCheck, complimentary Hilton Honors and Starwood Preferred Guest Gold Status, and complimentary Wifi at more than 1,000,000 hotspots worldwide with Boingo.
With 5 Points per dollar on
airlines, the
card allows you to accumulate rewards points faster so you can redeem them for your favorite items, from travel, merchandise to
premium concert tickets, movies, gift
cards, and much more.
One great benefit of the Enhanced Business Platinum Amex
card is a 35 - percent point rebate that's applied whenever points are redeemed for economy flights on the cardholder's annually selected
airline, or for any
premium - class flights on any
airline via American Express Travel.
«A credit
card that can provide
premium benefits - such as lounge access - to United
Airlines customers.»
As with lounge access, these
cards allow you to forego the tickets you'd have to buy or the nights you'd have to stay by acquiring a
premium card that's co-branded with the
airline or the hotel chain.
With Chase Ultimate Rewards and a
premium card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you can transfer points 1:1 to
airline and hotel transfer partners.
This is a
premium credit
card with a ton of perks, including a $ 200 annual
airline fee credit, Centurion Lounge access and Delta Sky Club access when flying Delta, Gold status with Starwood and Hilton, 5x points on airfare and more, so those benefits come with a significant, recently increased annual fee of $ 550.
You can also redeem through the Ultimate Rewards website — which offers flights from nearly every
airline — at a better rate with the
premium cards.
The Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard is a
premium travel rewards
card geared toward American
Airlines frequent flyers.
The Delta Reserve Credit
Card is the
premium offering among the Skymiles credit
cards from American Express and Delta
Airlines.
This fee is most often found on travel credit
cards that offer benefits like airport lounge access,
premium rewards earning, and complimentary
airline or hotel elite status.
If you think you can use the $ 100 annual
airline fee credit on the
premium card, or if you spend $ 19,000 on travel and dining each year, the Bank of America Premium Rewards Credit Card is the clear win
card, or if you spend $ 19,000 on travel and dining each year, the Bank of America
Premium Rewards Credit
Card is the clear win
Card is the clear winner.
The
premium American
Airlines card offered by Citi is the Citi ® / AAdvantage ® Executive World Elite ™ Mastercard ®.
You'll be able to transfer your 1.5 x points from the Freedom Unlimited to a
premium rewards
card like the Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred, which each offer 1:1 transfers with
airline and hotel partners.
American
Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United all offer
premium co-branded credit
cards.
One of the best features of a
premium co-branded
airline card is the ability to earn miles towards elite status, and the United MileagePlus Club
card doesn't allow you to do that.
UBS Visa Infinite, a newcomer to the
premium travel credit
card market, offers a $ 250 incidental
airline fee credit that works in a way similar to the
airline credit from American Express Platinum.
But as an entry - level
card, it can't do what other
premium Chase
cards — such as Sapphire Preferred or Ink Cash — can do; namely, transfer points to
airline and hotel partner programs.
Keep in mind, you must hold at least one
premium Ultimate Rewards
card to transfer points to
airline and hotel partners.
The Citi ® / AAdvantage ® Executive World Elite ™ Mastercard ® is the
premium, luxury travel
card for American
Airlines.
The Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard is a
premium travel rewards
card geared toward American
Airlines frequent flyers.
The real trick is this: by also having the ThankYou Prestige
card, which is a
premium card, those points can be redeemed for 1.6 cents per point on American
Airlines and US Airways flights.
As you apply for other
premium UR
cards you can then transfer your UR back out and use the flexibility of those Ink or Sapphire
cards to get the UR points into a hotel /
airline program.
Many people hoped to see American Express making their $ 200 yearly
airline fee credit easier to use, comparable to competitor's
premium travel rewards
cards that give similar credits for any travel - related expense.
The American Express Platinum
card showers cardholders with a $ 200
airline fee credit, up to $ 200 in Uber credits, a $ 75 resort credit for select hotels, a credit for TSA Precheck or Global Entry, free access to some of the best airport lounges worldwide, complimentary Wi - Fi,
premium travel insurance and more.
Unlike other
premium card programs, Citi's
airline credit doesn't restrict cardholders to incidental fees and in - flight purchases.
But the best thing about the
card is its travel perks, including a $ 100 credit for
airline fees, a $ 75 hotel fee credit,
premium roadside assistance and a large list of other
airline and hotel perks.
I've used Ultimate Rewards points earned from my Chase Sapphire Preferred ®
Card towards
premium cabin flights on Lufthansa (many times), Thai Air, and Singapore
Airlines.
However, please keep in mind that transfer of these points to Chase's hotel and
airline partners is only possible if you've any of the
premium Chase credit
cards such as the Chase Ink Plus Business Credit
Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve
Card or the Chase Sapphire Preferred
Card.
As we discussed above, you must have at least 1
premium Ultimate Rewards
card to convert the cash - back you earn from
cards with no annual fee to points that can be transferred to
airline and hotel partners.
Once you have transferred points from your Chase Freedom Unlimited ®
Card to one of the
premium Ultimate Rewards
cards, you open up the option to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to
airline and hotel partners.
You can also redeem through the Ultimate Rewards website — which offers flights from nearly every
airline — at a better rate with the
premium cards.
If you have a
premium Chase Ultimate Rewards
card, you'll be able to transfer your points to seven different
airline partners or redeem for travel via the UR travel portal at a discount.