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Best Airline Credit Cards

Top Picks & Airline Miles Calculator
Maximize your rewards with the best airline credit cards available, tailored for earning the most miles and enjoying the most benefits.
By Robert Flowers III - 2024-02-01

Looking for the perfect airline credit card? Look no further! We've done the research and found the top credit cards for earning airline miles. Not only do these cards offer great rewards, but many also come with additional benefits like lounge access and annual companion passes.

Here's our top credit card picks for earning airline miles:

Get Matched With The Best Credit Cards.

Quickly find the perfect credit card tailored to your unique spending habits and financial needs.

Input your monthly and yearly spend amounts into our calculator tool and be on your way to earning more rewards today!

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Best For Flexible Travel Rewards
  • Earning Rate: Earn 5X miles on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3X on online grocery purchases, select streaming services, and dining purchases, 2X points on other travel purchases, and 1X on everything else.
  • Annual Credits: Annual $50 credit for hotels booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel portal.
  • Main Highlights: 25% boost to point value when redeeming points for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards (easy 1.25 cents per point) and 10% bonus points annually based on how much you spent the prior cardmember year.
  • Intro Bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
  • Annual Fee: $95.
  • Summary: The Chase Sapphire Preferred is one the best flexible travel rewards credit cards in the market. It features great categories and lots of ways to earn bonus points on your everyday spend. Points can easily be redeemed for 1.25 cents apiece for travel booked through Chase. They can also be transferred to Chase's airline and hotel partners which includes United, Southwest, and Hyatt, for significantly higher value.

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

Best Premium Card For Unlimited Miles On Purchases
  • Earning Rate: Earn 10X Venture Miles on car rentals and hotel booked through Capital One Travel, 5X miles on airfare booked through Capital One Travel, and an unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases.
  • Annual Credits: $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel and 10,000 bonus miles annually (worth $100 towards travel).
  • Main Highlights: Complimentary access to Capital One Lounges and Priority Pass Lounges, up to $100 towards Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application, and no foreign transaction fees.
  • Intro Bonus: Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.
  • Annual Fee: $395.
  • Summary: The Venture X Card offers exceptional value when booking through their travel portal. We're talking a 5% to 10% return minimum on your spending with the chance to get even higher returns when you transfer your points to Capital One's airline and hotel partners. On top of that, the card basically wipes out it's own annual fee with the $400 in value you'll get out of the annual credits. If you're looking for a premium travel card, this one's a no-brainer.

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Best For Unlimited 2X Miles
  • Earning Rate: Earn 5X miles on car rentals and hotels booked through Capital One Travel and an unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases.
  • Main Highlights: Up to $100 towards a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application.
  • Intro Bonus: Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.
  • Annual Fee: $95
  • Summary: The Venture Card is one of the best flat-rate travel rewards credit cards available. Miles earned with the card can be redeemed for 1 cent in value towards any travel purchases including all airlines. Miles can also be transferred to Capital One's airline and hotel partners for increased value. It's a great alternative to the Venture X if you don't need the higher multipliers and lounge access.

Citi Premier® Card

Best For Everyday Spending & Travel
Citi Premier® Card
  • Earning Rate: Earn an unlimited 3X points on restaurant, supermarket, gas station, air travel, and hotel purchases and 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
  • Annual Credits: $100 hotel credit when you book a $500+ hotel stay through thankyou.com.
  • Main Highlights: Grants the ability to transfer ThankYou Rewards points to all of Citi's airline and hotel partners.
  • Annual Fee: $95.
  • Summary: If you ever wanted to experience first and business class with top-notch 5-star international airlines like Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Emirates, and others, the Citi Premier is the best option for building up rewards due to the great earning rates. If you're a local person, it's also the best option for JetBlue, Wyndham, and Choice hotels.

The Platinum Card® from American Express

Best For Luxury Travel & Worldwide Lounge Access
  • Earning Rate: Earn 5X points on airfare booked direct or through American Express Travel (on up to $500,000 of these purchases per year) and 5X points on prepaid hotel bookings through American Express Travel. All other purchases will earn you 1X.
  • Annual Credits: Up to $300 in Equinox statement credits, up to $240 in digital entertainment statement credits, up to $200 in airline fee statement credits, $200 in Uber Cash (up to $15 per month and up to $35 in December), up to $200 in statement credits for purchases made with Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection credit on 2 night minimum bookings, $189 CLEAR® Plus statement credit, $155 Walmart+ statement credit (up to $12.95 per month, subject to auto-renew), and up to $100 in statement credits for Saks Fifth Avenue ($50 credit bi-annually).
  • Main Highlights: Global lounge access (Centurion lounges, Delta SkyClub lounges, Airspace lounges, Escape lounges, and Priority Pass lounges), superb purchase insurance, complimentary elite status with Hilton and Marriott, and up to a $100 statement credit every 4 years for Global Entry or up to $85 statement credit every 4.5 years for TSA PreCheck application fee.
  • Intro Bonus: Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $8,000 on purchases on the Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
  • Annual Fee: $695. (See Rates and Fees)
  • Summary: The card has a hefty annual fee, but is easy to offset thanks to the large amount of annual credits, extensive lounge access, high intro bonuses, and many other benefits the card offers. Points earned with the card can be transferred to a large handful of airline partners including Delta Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and JetBlue Airways.

American Express® Gold Card

Best For Restaurants & Supermarkets
  • Earning Rate: Earn 4X Membership Rewards points on restaurant purchases worldwide, 4X at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 per year, then 1X), 3X points on airfare purchased direct or through American Express Travel, and 1X points on all other purchases.
  • Annual Credits: Up to $120 in annual dining credit ($10 per month) and up to $120 in annual Uber Cash ($10 per month).
  • Intro Bonus: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases with your new Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership.
  • Annual Fee: $250. (See Rates and Fees)
  • Summary: This is the one of the best (if not thee best) credit card for earning rewards on restaurants and supermarket purchases. If you spend moderately across either category, you'll easily rake up lots of points transferable to a large amount of airlines including Delta, JetBlue, Virgin Atlantic, Air France, and many more.

Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card

Best For Delta
  • Earning Rate: The Delta Platinum AMEX Card earns 3X SkyMiles on Delta and hotel purchases, 2X at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets, and 1X on all other purchases.
  • Annual Credits: Up to $120 in Resy credits, up to $120 in rideshare credits, and up to $150 in Delta Stays Credit.
  • Main Highlights: Companion Certificate on Main Cabin domestic, Caribbean, or Central American roundtrip flights to select destinations each year after renewal of your Card, first checked bag free, $2,500 Medallion® Qualification Dollars each Medallion Qualification Year, Main Cabin 1 priority boarding, 15% off award travel booked through delta.com, the ability to earn Medallion® Qualification Dollar on spend, and complimentary Hertz Five Star® Status.
  • Intro Bonus: Earn 90,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $4,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months.
  • Annual Fee: $350. (See Rates and Fees)
  • Summary: The annual companion pass alone will typically offset the annual fee. Assuming you don't wait until the last minute, it's easy to use and generally offers about $300 to $400 in value. The Delta Platinum AMEX is also a great choice if you're trying to spend your way to higher Delta Medallion Status as it offers the ability to earn Medallion Qualification Dollars.

United℠ Explorer Card

Best For United
  • Earning Rate: The United Explorer Card earns 2X miles on United, restaurants, and hotel purchases, and 1X on all other purchases.
  • Main Highlights: First checked bag free, two annual United Club passes, and up to $100 towards a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application.
  • Intro Bonus: Earn 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
  • Annual Fee: $0 the first year, then $95.
  • Summary: If you fly United, but don't have frequent flyer status with the airline, the Explorer Card offers the best value in terms of benefits as you'll save lots of money with the free checked bag perk and you'll be able to enjoy two lounge visits. The only drawback is that the card doesn't earn a ton of miles, so I recommend pairing it with the Chase Sapphire Preferred or, if you want more benefits, picking up the United Quest℠ Card instead.

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card

Best For Frequent Southwest Travelers
  • Earning Rate: Earns 3X points on Southwest purchases, 2X points on local transit and commuting (including rideshare), internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming, and 1X points on everything else.
  • Annual Credits: $75 in Southwest credits each anniversary year and 7,500 anniversary points (worth about $95) for just being a cardholder.
  • Main Highlights: 4 upgraded bookings per anniversary, the ability to earn Tier Qualifying points spending on the card with no cap, and in-flight discounts.
  • Intro Bonus: Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
  • Annual Fee: $149.
  • Summary: The Southwest Priority Card is a solid option if you value the 4 upgrading bookings. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card will probably be the better option.

Airline Miles Calculator: Which Card Is Best For You?

Use the calculator to get an idea of which credit cards will earn you the most rewards and best return when it comes to airline redemptions.

Results will consist of top-rated airline and travel credit cards from our partners. They will be sorted by net return which is the average value of the total rewards earned, plus annual credits, and minus annual fees.

Remember that airline credit cards offer benefits that can save you money or add significant value to the card. This includes free checked bags, companion passes, and more.

You'll want to take this into consideration along with the return you'll get running spend through the card.

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Calculator Options
What Type of Rewards Do You Want To Earn?
This calculator can output the best credit cards for a general rewards type or compile a list of the best credit cards for earning rewards with a specific loyalty program.
Frequent Flyer Programs
Select the frequent flyer program that you want to earn rewards for. Results will include all co-branded credit cards offered by the selected airline and all credit cards partners that allow you to transfer rewards to the selected airline.
Hotel Loyalty Programs
Select the hotel loyalty program that you want to earn rewards for. Results will include all co-branded credit cards offered by the selected hotel program and all credit cards partners that allow you to transfer rewards to the selected hotel program.
Other Loyalty Programs
Select the program that you want to earn rewards for. Results will include all credit cards offered by the selected program and all credit cards partners that allow you to transfer rewards to the selected program.
Personal Or Business?
Are you looking for personal (consumer) credit card or business credit cards? You can also include both in the results.
Include Intro Bonuses?
If set to yes, intro bonuses will be included for a card's calculation ONLY IF you have met the monthly spend criteria based on what's entered into the tool.
Do note that we do not have intro bonuses for all credit cards and we cannot calculate intro bonuses for some cards due to the complexity of some spend requirements.
Enter Your Monthly & Yearly Spend Amounts
Resets all fields in the Category Spending section for all columns. Also clears all saved spend values that carry from calculator to calculator.
Deletes all categories in the Category Spending section so you can start fresh.
Add Categories
Search for categories and click 'Add Category' to add it to the calculator. If you want to be more specific, you can specify domestic or international spend.
Type at least 3 characters.
Category Currently Selected:
Spend Region:
About Spend Region: Some credit cards feature categories that only earn rewards when spending in a certain region. Changing this category to Domestic or International spend will calculate such for those cards, otherwise it's assumed by Default.

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Results

These estimates are to help guide you towards making the best decision when it comes to picking up a rewards credit card. They should be used for illustrative purposes only.