Below is my list the top travel credit cards for April 2018. I weigh a number of factors, such as the value of sign-up bonuses, benefits, limited time nature of the offers, flexibility of using points, ease of obtaining the bonus, and potential for maximum value for the rankings. In the end, these rankings are subjective but should serve as good guiding posts to help you shop around for the top travel credit cards.
The Top Travel Credit Cards
1. Chase Sapphire Reserve
Highlights:
- 50,000 Ultimate Rewards after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months
- $300 travel credit
- 3X on dining and travel
- Priority Pass with unlimited guests
- Redeem points at 1.5 cents per point through Chase Travel Portal
- TSA Pre-Check/Global Entry $100 credit
- Primary rental car insurance
- Annual fee: $450 (not waived first year)
The CSR: the top travel credit card
The Chase Sapphire Reserve’s sign-up bonus of 50,000 Ultimate Rewards worth around $1,050, which is impressive. But this card has much more going for it than its signup bonus, with bonus categories of 3X on dining and travel and some of the best travel and purchase protections offered by any credit card. The card also comes with Priority Pass membership allowing for unlimited guests flying with you and the ability to redeem Ultimate Rewards at 1.5 cents per point through the Chase travel portal.
You might be turned off by the $450 annual fee, but with its $300 travel credit you can knock down that fee to $150. Chase also has some excellent travel partners that you can transfer your Ultimate Rewards to including: Southwest, Singapore Airlines, British Airways, United, Korean Air, Flying Blue, and Virgin Atlantic.
You can fly in Singapore Suites by transferring your Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer to Singapore Airlines.
2. The Platinum Card® from American Express
Highlights:
- 60,000 miles after spending $5,000 within the first 3 months (75K offer in Google Incognito and there are even methods to get 100K offers)
- Priority Pass access for you and two guests
- Centurion lounges access for you and two guests
- Delta SkyClub access when flying with Delta
- Hilton Honors Gold elite status
- SPG Gold Preferred elite status (and therefore Marriott Gold and Ritz-Carlton Gold), and rental car status as well
- 5X on airfare and 5X on hotels booked through the Amex Travel portal
- TSA Pre-Check/Global Entry $100 credit
- Annual fee: $550 (NOT waived first year)
A powerhouse of a credit card
The changes to The Platinum Card® from American Express in March 2017 greatly changed the value proposition of this card. It’s got a higher welcome offer, better lounge access (for some), and now comes with $200 in Uber credits and a sleek new metal design. If you’re able to utilize the $200 annual travel credit and the $200 in Uber credits, you’re looking at an effective annual fee of $150, which is fantastic considering the benefits listed above.
American Express has arguably better transfer partners than Chase. With American Express, you can transfer Membership Rewards to airlines like ANA, Aeroplan, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, British Airways/Iberia, Flying Blue, Delta, JetBlue, Etihad, Emirates, and several others. These partners give you maximum flexibility across several alliances and partnerships making it much easier to find good rewards to use your points on.
With all of these perks the Amex Platinum is easily one of the top travel credit cards.
3. The Chase Sapphire Preferred
Highlights:
- 50,000 Ultimate Rewards after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months
- 2X on dining and travel
- Redeem points at 1.25 cents per point through Chase Travel Portal
- Primary rental car insurance
- Annual fee: $95 (waived first year)
Still one of the best travel credit cards
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is still one of the top travel credit cards available to the public. It earns 2X on a broad travel category and 2X on dining and also offers primary rental car insurance. Depending on your level of spend on these categories, the Sapphire Reserve might be a better option but you can read this article to find out if that’s the case.
While not as impressive as the Sapphire Reserve, its annual fee is waived the first year and after that it’s only $95. For many people paying $450 for the Reserve is just asking too much, regardless of the potential return in value, and so the Sapphire Preferred is often the more practical option. If you’re averse to high annual fees but want a solid travel credit card, this card might be perfect for you.
4. Citi ThankYou® Premier Card
Highlights:
- 50,000 sign-up bonus after $4,000 in spend within the first 3 months
- 3X on travel including gas
- 2X on dining and entertainment
- Redeem points at 1.25 cents per point through Citi Travel Portal
- Annual fee: $95 (waived first year)
The Premier comes with arguably the best bonus earning rates of any major lower annual fee travel card with 3X on all travel purchases which includes gas and 2X on dining and entertainment.The Premier’s spend requirement is also only $4,000 compared to the Prestige’s $7,500. While the Prestige does not currently offer a sign-up bonus, the Premier is often the more practical option to turn to since it has a lower annual fee and lower spending requirements.
If you’re planning on applying for the Citi Premier be sure to read up on Citi’s application rules since you’ll be limited to one Citi ThankYou bonus per 24 months.
5. Southwest Plus Card
Highlights:
- 40,000 points after spending $1,000 within the first 3 months
- $69 Annual fee
- 3,000 anniversary points
- Perfect for getting the Southwest Companion Pass
Perfect for the Companion Pass
While we have seen 60,000 point offers for all cards at once before, the 40,000 point offers are still decent, since it puts you closer to hitting the 110,000 points needed to hit the Southwest Companion Pass.
That pass will allow you and a companion can fly around on Southwest for the next two calendar years while only paying for one ticket (and the taxes/fees on the other). Since Southwest will be flying to Hawaii in 2019 (and possibly late 2018), you might be able to use your Companion Pass to get to paradise.
6. Hilton Honors Aspire Card
- 100,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months
- 14X Hilton Honors Bonus Points at hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio worldwide
- 7X Hilton Honors Bonus Points on flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com, car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies and at U.S. restaurants
- 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points on other purchases
- Complimentary Hilton Honors Diamond status
- One weekend night at any hotel or resort in the Hilton portfolio (upon opening account and on account anniversary)
- Weekend night after spending $60,000 on the card within a calendar year
- Unlimited Priority Pass membership
- $250 airline incidental fee statement credit
- $250 Hilton resort statement credit
- $100 on property credit at Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts and Conrad Hotels & Resorts when booking the exclusive Aspire Card package
- $450 Annual Fee
A hotel card with lots of value potential
The Hilton Honors Aspire Card is loaded with benefits and comes with a valuable welcome offer. The welcome offer is essentially worth 195,000 Honors points with the free night certificate it comes with, which is more than enough to cover two nights at even the most expensive Hilton properties.
If you have any planned stays at Hilton properties, especially any Hilton resorts then this card should get your attention. 14X on Hilton purchases amounts to nearly a 7% return and with the resort and airline credits (which add up to $500), you can actually make a profit on this card.
Since the card also give you Hilton Diamond status, this card, Priority Pass, and an annual free night certificate, this is one of the most valuable credit cards.
Read on here to find out more about the Hilton Aspire.
7. US Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite® Card
Highlights:
- 50,000 points (worth $750 in travel) after spending $4,500 within the first 90 days
- $325 travel credit
- 3X on eligible mobile wallet purchases
- 3X on travel booked directly with airlines, hotels, taxis, trains, etc. (but no OTAs)
- Priority Pass (with only 4 entries)
- 12 complimentary GoGo passes each membership year
- TSA Pre-Check/Global Entry $100 credit
- $400 annual fee
Huge travel credit & great bonus categories
This is a new premium credit card that just launched in May 2017 and there are a couple of things that make this card instantly attractive and worthy of being considered on of the top travel credit cards this month. For one, you can earn 3X on travel booked directly with airlines, hotels, taxis, trains, etc. (but no OTAs). But more importantly, you can earn 3X on eligible mobile wallet purchases through Apple Pay,® Android Pay,™ Samsung Pay and Microsoft Wallet. This opens up some big earning potential!
The card also comes with one of the highest travel credits at $325. Unfortunately, this travel credit will be issued per cardmember year, so you won’t be able to double dip after the turn of the calendar year.
The biggest drawback of this card for many will be getting approved. You need to have been an existing US Bank customer for at least 35 days (e.g., hold a checking account or similar) to be eligible. Also, US Bank is notoriously strict when it comes to approving applicants with many inquiries on their credit report so a lot of folks might be facing a rejection.
Still, you can net $675 in travel from the sign-up bonus + travel credit after you factor in the annual fee and that’s one of the most generous bonuses available right now.
8. Barclaycard Aviator Red
Highlights:
- Earn 50,000 AAdvantage miles after your first purchase.
- Earn 2X on eligible American Airlines purchases
- First checked bag free for the primary cardmember and up to 4 companions on eligible bags when traveling on domestic itineraries operated by American Airlines
- Preferred boarding for the primary cardmember and up to 4 companions on their reservation
- Earn $3,000 Elite Qualifying Dollars after spending $25,000 on purchases each calendar year
- 25% inflight savings on food, beverages, and headsets on American Airlines-operated flights
- 10% of your redeemed miles back on redemptions (up to 10,000 miles per calendar year)
- $100 American Airlines Flight Discount after you spend $30,000 or more in Purchases on your Account during your cardmembership year
- Reduced Mileage Awards — Fly to great destinations on American Airlines operated flights for up to 7,500 fewer AAdvantage® miles for flights in the US and to/from Canada
- No foreign transaction fees
- Annual fee $95 (not waived)
Arguably the best AA credit card (read why)
Sign-up bonuses don’t get much easier than these, as all it takes is making a single purchase to earn your bonus! It’s essentially like paying $95 for 50,000 AAdvantage miles, which is a deal I’d go for just about any day. This offer does at times rise to 60,000 so you might want to hold off until that higher bonus rolls around.
9. Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card
Highlights:
- Earn 50,000 bonus miles once you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
- Earn unlimited 2X miles per dollar on every purchase, every day
- 10X on purchases with Hotels.com (new perk!)
- $0 intro annual fee for the first year, $95 after that
- No foreign transaction fees
A great all-purpose credit card
Once you hit the $3,000 spend this offer gives you $560 worth of travel which is great. What I really love about the Venture is that there’s no minimum redemption requirement which makes the Venture very practical to use.
With the $59 annual fee this is not one of the best cash back cards available. Some people who put a lot of spend on their Venture cards do get the annual fee waived but it’s never a guarantee and with no annual fee 2% cards out there, you might be tempted to look elsewhere. Still, the early spending bonus is worth so much that that alone makes this card attractive and worthy of mention for the top travel credit cards of this month.
10. Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Credit Card
Highlights:
- 50,000 point bonus after spending $3,000 (worth $500) within the first 3 months
- Tiered bonus earning structure (read more here)
- $95 annual fee
- $100 for airline incidentals, (baggage fees, in-flight drinks, etc. but excludes airfare)
- $100 Global Entry credit
Make a profit with this card
The Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Credit Card is the newest credit to the list and it offers you maximum flexibility when redeeming your points since they effectively act as a credit that can be used on any purchase, starting at $25. Factoring in the purchases needed to meet the minimum spend requirement, you’ll be left with $560 worth of statement credit with this card. Having the flexibility to use your miles on any purchase makes it a lot easier to purchase airfare and hotels and put your itinerary together.
I’m not crazy about the cash back earnings on this card (1.5% back on all purchases and 2% on travel and dining), but it’s still a great way to cover $500+ worth of travel expenses with its sign-up bonus. Also, the travel credits are issued by calendar year, so it’s easy to come out ahead even with the $95 annual fee that is not waived.
Final word on the top travel credit cards for April
These are some of the top travel credit cards on the market right now, but know that there are plenty of other great options available. If you’re new to travel credit cards then I suggest going with a card that earns you a flexible currency like those from Chase, American Express, and Citi. That way, you can earn your points now and figure out how to maximize them when you have more time research your options.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
The Venture card is 95 bucks a year, not 59.
Thanks for the catch. Fixed.
Hey Daniel,
Thanks for youre great post.
I would be happy if you answer me this question:
Are these bonus programs or even the card benefits, in germany available?
Hi there, unfortunately, these are not available in Germany (unless you previously had ties to the US).