Explore the boundless possibilities that credit cards offer for enhancing your travel experiences – from accumulating miles with every purchase to unlocking a treasure trove of exciting rewards and perks. With our comprehensive guide, you'll gain valuable insights on how to maximize these benefits, transforming your travels into unforgettable adventures filled with luxury and discovery.
The Advantages of Credit Cards
Convenience: Credit cards elimate the need to carry large amounts of cash while traveling, reducing the risk of loss or theft. They offer a convenient and widely accepted payment method for various expenses such as accomodation, dining, shopping and transportation.
Car Rentals: Credit cards play a vital role in vacation car rentals, primarily due to the deposit requirements. Rental companies often request a credit card to secure a reservation and as a guarantee for covering any potential damages or fees incurred during the rental period. This deposit is typically held on the credit card until the vehicle is returned without any issues.
Safety and Emergencies: In unforeseen emergencies or unexpected expenses while traveling, the availability of instant funds through credit cards proves invaluable. Whether it's sudden medical costs, travel disruptions like missed flights, or canceled reservations, credit cards serve as a financial safety net, alleviating stress and enabling prompt resolution of unforeseen circumstances.
Fraud Protection: The majority of credit cards offer robust fraud protection measures, often including zero-liability policies, which shield you from unauthorized transactions. This provides peace of mind, assuring you're safeguarded against fraudulent activities.
Insurances: Some credit cards offer an array of invaluable benefits for travelers, ranging from trip cancellation and baggage insurance to travel medical and rental car coverage. Additionally, they often include travel assistance services, providing support in emergencies and unexpected situations while abroad.
Mile-Earning Capabilities: Credit cards can provide abundant opportunities to earn miles, making them essential for travelers seeking to maximize rewards. With everyday purchases and bonus categories, as well as sign-up bonuses, credit cards offer a convenient way to accumulate miles quickly for various travel rewards. Some credit cards offer additional perks and alongside miles, such as priority boarding, complimentary checked baggage, access to airport lounges and more.
Considerations for Credit Cards
Acceptance: Before traveling, it's essential to check the acceptance of your credit card at your destination. While major credit card networks like American Express, Visa and Mastercard are widely accepted worldwide, some regions or establishments may have limited acceptance. It's a good idea to carry at least one backup card from a different network in case your primary card is not accepted.
Foreign Transaction Fees: Many credit cards charge foreign transaction fees for purchases made in currencies other than your cards native currency. These fees can add up quickly, so consider using a credit card that offers no foreign transaction fees to save money while traveling abroad.
Travel Benefits: Look for credit cards that offer travel-related benefits such as travel insurance, rental car insurance, trip cancellation/interruption coverage or access to airport lounges. These perks can enhance your travel experience and provide valuable protection in case of any unexpected events.
Ensure It Has Mile-Earning Capability: Make sure that your credit card is capable of earning miles for unlocking valuable rewards. With this feature, you can accumulate miles with every purchase, maximizing your opportunities for travel benefits and rewards. By choosing a card with mile-earning capabilities, you ensure that your spending works towards enhancing your travel experiences.
Cash Withdrawals: Be aware of potential fees for cash withdrawals when using your credit card. These fees can vary, so it's important to check your card's terms and conditions to avoid unexpected charges.
How to Earn Miles
Fly and join Frequent Flyer Programs: The most traditional method of earning miles is by flying. Miles are typically awarded based on the distance traveled, the fare class of the ticket and the traveler's frequent flyer status. Make sure to register for frequent flyer programs such as Miles & More or Sky Miles from Delta Airlines, to collect miles with your flights.
Frequent Flyer Program Promotions: Maximize your miles by taking advantage of frequent promotions that offer bonus miles for a range of purchases and activities. Keep an eye on these opportunities to boost your rewards. Stay updated on the latest offers, such as through the Miles & More website or app and start earning
Miles and More Frequent Flyer Program Airline Partners
Fyling Blue Frequent Flyer Program Airline Partners
Credit Cards: Numerous credit card companies provide reward programs enabling cardholders to earn miles for their purchases. Co-branded airline credit cards offer bonus miles for spending with the airline or its partners, in addition to miles earned from everyday purchases.
For example, many American Express cards offer the ability to earn points or miles on every dollar spent.Credit Card Bonuses: Credit card companies often offer promotions and bonuses that allow cardholders to earn additional miles through various actions. These actions may include reaching a specific spending threshold within a specified period, applying for a new credit card, referring friends and family to the card, or taking advantage of offers with partner merchants. For example, by signing up for the American Express Gold Card, you could receive approximately 40,000 Membership Rewards points.
Best Credit Cards for Travelers
Navigating the options to find the right credit card can be a daunting task, as suitability often depends on various factors such as region and individual preferences. However, one option that tends to stand out for travelers across different regions is American Express.
Below you find the ideal credit cards for travelling and earning miles!
+ Earn 80.000 reward points upon application
+ Various annual credits such as $200 Hotel Credit, $200 Airline Credit, $240 Digital Entertainment Credit or $200 Uber Cash App
+ Earn miles with every dollar you spend
+ Free access to over 1.400 airport lounges across the whole world + guest
+ Comprehensive travel and rental car insurance benefits
+ Collect points simultaneosly across 12 frequent flyer and 3 hotel programs
+ The annual fee of $695 sounds high, but with full utilization, the card is extremely worthwile!
*Conditions may change. See all details on the American Express website
American Express Platinum Card
+ Earn about 40.000 reward points upon application
+ Various annual credits such as $120 Dining Credit, $120 Uber Credit or $100 Hotel Credit
+ Earn miles with every dollar you spend
+ Comprehensive travel insurance benefits
+ Collect points simultaneosly across 12 frequent flyer and 3 hotel programs
+ The annual fee of $250 is much lower than the Platinum Card, yet it offers excellent benefits!
*Conditions may change. See all details on the American Express website
American Express Gold Card
+ NO annual fees
+ Earn a $200 bonus upon application
+ Earn 3% cash back on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services*Opens offer details overlay
+ Earn 3% on drugstore purchases
+ Earn 5% on travel purchased through Chase TravelSM
+ Unlimited 1.5% cash back for all other purchases
*Conditions may change. See all details on the Chase website
Chase Freedom Unlimited Credit Card
The Best Ways to Redeem Miles
The best way to redeem miles is undoubtedly through premium flights, as points/miles offer the highest value redemption.
The optimal approach is to transfer your Amex points to partner programs. With partnerships established with 20 diverse airlines, such as ANA, JetBlue and Virgin Atlantic, you have a multitude of options to maximize your rewards.
While you have the option to book flights or hotels directly through Amex Travel, redeeming points with a transfer partner typically offers a higher redemption value. This is because Amex Travel limits redemptions to a fixed value of 1 cent per point for flights, whereas transfers often yield significantly greater value.
Etihad Airways: Although not being a member of with one of the three major alliances, Etihad has established partnerships with non-alliance airlines that provide exceptional value. One of the most advantageous options is using Etihad Guest points to book flights operated by American Airlines. The best deals are for international business and first-class flights on American's large international route network, starting at about 30.000 membership points.
Virgin Atlantics: Despite not being a member of one of the three major airline alliances—Star Alliance, Oneworld and SkyTeam—Virgin Atlantic has successfully developed an exceptionally valuable loyalty program by establishing individual partnerships with airlines, similar to Alaska Airlines. While some of these partners can be booked online, others necessitate searching for award space independently and making bookings via phone. Notably, partnerships with airlines such as Delta Airlines and ANA offer some of the best redemption values.
Delta Airlines: Virgin Atlantic recently devalued its Delta award chart, but it retained one particularly attractive option: 50,000-point flights from the U.S. to Europe in Delta One business class. This pricing is applicable to all nonstop Delta tickets from the U.S., although connecting tickets may incur additional mileage. This presents an excellent opportunity to travel with Delta from the U.S. to numerous European destinations. Moreover, it proves to be considerably more cost-effective than transferring points directly to Delta SkyMiles for the same award ticket. When booking a Delta One ticket to Europe, it's important to always check Virgin Atlantic first. Virgin Atlantic consistently offers lower pricing than Delta and other SkyTeam programs on these routes.
ANA: Despite ANA significantly increasing its mileage prices, you can still book attractive ANA premium flights through Virgin Atlantic. The chart shows round-trip prices.
ANA Award chart via Virgin Atlantics
Hawaii: For West Coast travelers, redeeming miles for Alaska flights is ideal. Their non-alliance partnership provides budget-friendly nonstop flights to Hawaii from cities like Los Angeles, Seattle and Portland. A one-way flight from California, Oregon or Washington to any Hawaiian island costs just 13,500 KrisFlyer miles
European flights with Iberia: By transferring 68,000 Amex points to Iberia, you can book a longhaul round-trip off-peak business-class flight from or to Spain. The cash price for similar flights typically begins at around $2,500.
Various options from europe: Many of the mentioned frequent flyer programs, along with several others, also offer numerous premium flights from Europe, such as Frankfurt, London, or Paris. This is possible through programs such as Miles & More (Lufthansa Group), Executive Club (British Airways/Iberia), and Flying Blue (Air France/KLM).
Lufthansa Miles & More: The Miles & More program by Lufthansa is one of Europe's largest frequent flyer programs, offering rewards for flying with Lufthansa, the Star Alliance and partners. Members earn miles for flights, which can be redeemed for various rewards including premium flights. Check the award chart below.
Miles & More Mile Bargains: Lufthansa Miles & More Mile Bargains is a special monthly feature of the Miles & More program. It offers members exclusive deals to redeem their miles for flights at reduced mileage rates. These monthly Mile Bargains provide discounted award flights to select destinations for a limited time. It's an excellent opportunity for members to maximize their miles and enjoy discounted travel options on a regular basis.
Mile Bargain Example: An example of a long-haul Mile Bargain in the Lufthansa Miles & More program could be an offer for a premium flight from Frankfurt to Los Angeles in Business Class. Instead of the usual mileage rate, members might access a significantly reduced fare, such as 55,000 miles for a round trip, compared to the standard rate of around 112,000 miles or more. However, these offers are often time-limited and may vary monthly.
