Credit Card Offers: Airline Credit Cards

Airline credit cards allow you to earn rewards for travel. If you are a frequent airline traveler, these credit cards can be a good way to save money on your flights. Good airline credit cards offer unrestricted travel without blackout dates or seating restrictions. As with all credit cards, you want to look for a low interest rate and a lack of fees.
This airline credit card post is part of our ongoing Saturday series through which we help you find the best credit cards for you. If you’re not looking for the top airline credit cards, then you might want to look at our other posts, which include the best Chase credit cards, Citibank credit cards and Discover credit cards.
The best airline credit cards are:
- TOP PICK. Chase Sapphire Preferred. This airline credit card makes it easy for you to earn points towards flights. In addition to traditional points, you can earn 25,000 bonus points if you spend $3,000 in 3 months (enough for a free flight). You also earn points on your points, getting a 7% dividend annually on the points that you earned throughout the year.
- TOP PICK. Chase Sapphire. People who don’t qualify for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card may want to get the regular Chase Sapphire card, which has traditional airline travel points along with 10,000 bonus points just for making your first purchase on the card. There are no limits or expiration dates on your airline rewards.
- TOP PICK. Discover Miles. This credit card offers unrestricted airline travel regardless of where you book your flight. It offers double rewards points for the first $3,000 spent on travel and restaurant purchases. Plus, you can earn 1,000 bonus miles for every month in the first 12 months that you make a purchases; one purchase per month means 12,000 free bonus airline miles at the end of the first year. This card offers a zero percent balance transfer for 6 months.
- American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card. Earn double points on this rewards card when you book flights through the site’s online travel tool. Spend $500 in the first three months and get 10,000 bonus airline points for free.
- Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express. The travel rewards that you earn on this credit card can be applied to free hotel stays at Starwood hotels–or you can use the points to get free flights. Earn 10,000 bonus points after your first purchase and another 15,000 bonus points if you spend $15,000 in the first 6 months.
- Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card from American Express OPEN. This is the business travel version of the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express. Additional perks on this card include accelerated earnings and the ability to take guests with you into airport lounges.
- PenFed Premium Travel Rewards American Express. The points on this airline card add up quickly since you earn 5x points on all airfare purchases on this credit card, plus you earn 3x points on your hotel and restaurant charges. You get 20,000 bonus points if you spend $650 in the first three months; that’s enough for a free flight.
- Blue Sky from American Express. This airline credit card offers unrestricted travel that can be redeemed with points as low as 7,500. It offers a flexible payment plan and 0% intro APR on purchases for 6 months.
- Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express. This airline credit card gives you additional bonus points year upon year so the longer you keep it, the better it is going to be for you. However, points are available immediately including 20,000 bonus miles awarded for your first purchase on the card.
- Delta Reserve Credit Card. Use this credit card to enjoy flights on Delta Airlines. Earn 10,000 bonus points after your first purchase, get year-upon-year points bonuses, gift the flights to friends and get complimentary access to airport lounges for you and your travel companions.
- Simmons First Visa Platinum Travel Rewards. This airline credit card offers unrestricted air travel with a one-point-per-dollar reward system. It also comes with travel insurance.
Note: Offers change frequently; please be sure to check the offer website to ensure that all details and information are correct.
Published on June 12th, 2010 - 4 Comments
Filed under: Credit Cards, Reviews
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About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
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4 Responses to “Credit Card Offers: Airline Credit Cards”
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June 13th, 2010 at 11:43 am
The Amex SPG is my preferred choice. The ability to transfer SPG points to an airline frequent flyer mile program at 25% bonus is the selling factor for me. Its like spending $1 gets you 1.25 points on an airline frequent flyer mile program. You don’t see many credit cards offering $1 for 1.25 points.
June 13th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
This ongoing series has to be a sign that this site is in decline. The whole post is a big ad for your site sponsors, and no new information at that. Sad…
June 13th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Dan: Sorry you feel that way. If you hadn’t noticed, these Saturday posts are being run in addition to all of our weekday regular content, not in place of it.
June 17th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Nowadays, a lot of credit cards exchange points for $ for air ticket purchases. For example, capital one no hussle card’s 25,000 points can be used for $250 on air fare. I don’t really like this. AAdvantage’s credit card allows $25,000 points for a round trip… I think that would be a better deal. You can’t really get many round trip tickets for $250.
Also, another cool card I use – Citi Premier. It gives 1 points for 1 mile you fly on the tickets you purchase. If you choose to purchase via their agents, you can get a free companion every time. If you do fly a lot, these will be a pretty good option.