In a world with so many credit cards, points, miles, transfer partners like various airlines and hotels, it can be overwhelming to make sense of it all. So, to make your life easier, this article answers the age old question: “What credit card is the best one for travel”.
The Simple Answer
The simple answer? There is no simple answer – because, it depends.
It depends on where you live, how you travel, how frequently you travel, where you travel to, the type of travel, your lifestyle, needs, aspirations and finally, financial situation.
The Long Answer
For the purposes of this article, I am skipping Hotel and Airline points ecosystems like Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, IHG Rewards, World of Hyatt, American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, etc… – the list goes on. Each program offers its own slew of partnered credit cards.
Instead, I am going to cover flexible credit card reward systems that allow users to freely transfer to any hotel chain/airline partner. The best part, these core 6 rewards ecosystems let you transfer to a total of 50 airline and hotel partners – though realistically, not all are equally useful or offer the same value when redeemed.
Transfer Partner Charts
Here is a consolidated view of all the transfer partners in each ecosystem. You’ll see a lot of commonality across various ecosystems – and that can be a good thing.
Importance of diversity
In the 6 years of me leveraging credit card points and miles to travel the world, I’ve learnt the importance of diversification. Just like investing or saving, when you have multiple baskets to choose from, you have increased flexibility and in the world of points, flexibility is king.
Personally, I have exposure to 4 out of 6 ecosystems – as they not only cover all the partners I use, it also allows me to top off from multiple sources – based on where I have surplus after signing bonus sprees. I have avoided two ecosystems on purpose as I’d like to complete my roster of cards from all the other issuers before signing up for new cards (long game strategy).
There is a subsequent drill down beyond the immediate transfer partners – and those are into alliances – especially with airlines – like One World and Star Alliance. This lets you transfer to a partner that is on your list and book another partner that isn’t on your list.
For example, I can leverage Amex and Capital One to transfer British Airways Avios which I then move to Qatar (Avios) to book Qsuites for my family and myself. I have also been using Bilt to transfer points from rent to American Airlines but they’re going away from June 24, 2024 – unfortunate as AA had the lowest taxes and fees on the same Qsuites (One World). Since AA is no longer a transfer partner to any of these 6 core ecosystems, I have built up a large points balance in AA (from Bilt, Citi AA and Barclays AA cards). Additionally, for domestic AA flights, I can always leverage the Avios ecosystem (BA) to book standard award fares.
I save my Chase points for Hyatt, United and Southwest because of the amazing CPP value I get thanks to my status. As a Hyatt Card holder I get additional value with 9x bonus earning on any expenses incurred during my stay, as a United cardholder, I get expanded saver fare availability even when cash prices are higher + free checked bag(s).
But after any big redemption, balances shrink and hence it is important to continually reload those points ecosystems via new sign up bonuses or referrals between partners (if you have family, that works too – by referring each other and stacking points). Most card issuers have a set of rules, but once you understand them, you can plan out the next 2-4 years on what cards to get.
Chase: 24-48mo rules, AMEX: lowest tier to higher tier and once in a lifetime language (typically 7-8 years but No-Lifetime Language offers are occasionally available), and so on.
Real world examples
Now with diversification taken care of, I want to review some actual scenarios I went through to find and book award fares for flights or free hotel nights.
Flying from hub cities like SFO, LAX, IAH, JFK/EWR, etc… – is advantageous because major airlines operate there more frequently than non-hub cities like SEA (which only Delta and Alaska call a hub). Hence, if you do not live in any of the hubs but want to fly business or first long haul – consider booking position flights.
West Coast (Non-Hub) to India (Hub/Non-Hub)
For example, I recently had to book last minute tickets from Seattle – Bangalore however, given the 20+ hour journey, I wanted to fly lie flat vs economy and keep it a one-stop journey. Hence, I looked around and found standard award availability for Finnair Business (on their famously new and improved non-recline yet extremely comfortable seat) on American Airlines for 70K AA miles + $12 flying SEA-HEL-DEL in ~22hrs. I had been building up a balance of AA points using my Bilt card over the past two years of rent payments and they came in clutch saving me thousands of dollars.
Subsequently, I was able to book a domestic flight from DEL-BLR for under $80 and while this trip did end up being a 2-stop, 90% of my journey was lie flat – and that worked best for me. I was also traveling extremely light so there was no hassle of multiple checked bags that I had to worry about.
South/Mid-West (Hub) to India (Hub)
East Coast (Hub) to India (Hub)
Free Hotel Stays
Additional Examples can be found under “Points and Miles“.
Detailed Partners and Transfer Times
It is important to note that not all transfer are instantaneous and some require planning. Always call the partner to confirm availability and reserve/put it on hold if you know it will take time to transfer the points – so please plan before you initiate any transfers as they are final.
Chase Partners
American Express Partners
Capital One Partners
Citi Bank Partners
Bilt Partners
Wells Fargo Partners
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