Credit Cards that Offer the Most Airline Miles

Published January 7, 2019

[DISCLOSURE: Cards from our partners are mentioned below.]

You probably love traveling. If you travel frequently, then you might consider signing up for a credit card that offers airline miles or other forms of travel credit. These cards give you points for every dollar you spend, and these points can then be redeemed for flights, baggage fees, and other costs associated with traveling.

The advantage with an airline credit card is that the airline card offers much more value during redemption and more perks, but some travel credit cards do have less flexibility. The following list will cover some of the credit cards that offer the most airline miles.

Wells Fargo Propel American Express Card

The rewards that the Wells Fargo American Express Card offers for travel are very generous. Cardholders earn 3X the points for travel, including flights. Not only that, but it offers 3X the points for lots of other categories like gas stations, transit, ride shares, hotel stays, homestays, and car rentals. This basically rewards you for all travel expenses you incur. An added bonus is that streaming services like Netflix and Hulu earn you 3X the points as well, making this a really flexible credit card. You earn 1X the points on all other purchases.

Wells Fargo is also offering 30,000 bonus points to new cardholders who spend $3,000 in purchases within the first three months. That’s worth $300 in cash redemption! Although this isn’t a travel credit card, it offers more rewards on travel than other credit cards that don’t have an annual fee. You can always use your cash back to help you pay for your next trip.

Capital One Venture

The Capital One Venture card earns you 2X miles per dollar spent on every purchase. Plus earn 10X miles on thousands of hotels, through January 2020; learn more at hotels.com/venture. This is another flexible travel card that awards you lots of airline miles. The nice thing too is that you don’t have to stick with one particular airline – you can redeem your miles on any flight and there aren’t any blackout dates.

New cardholders can earn a one-time bonus of 50,000 miles when they spend $3,000 within the first three months of the account opening. That’s equal to $500 in travel! You can also receive up to $100 application fee credit for Global Entry or TSA pre-check. Miles never expire and there’s no limit on how many you can earn.

 

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

 

The Chase Sapphire Preferred does not give airline miles. However, it has an excellent travel redemption program that most people use for flights or hotel stays. It’s more flexible than a typical airline credit card because you can transfer the points to another rewards program at a one to one ratio or use the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.

Cardholders receive 50,000 points when they spend $4,000 within the first three months. These points are worth about $625 in value when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards. You earn two points for every dollar spent on traveling and at restaurants. Chase count taxis, hotels, and flights as travel expenses. Cardholders earn one point for every dollar spent on everything else.

Final Thoughts

All in all, the above four cards all offer a decent amount of airline miles. However, finding the credit card that offers the most airline miles for you will depend on your spending and traveling habits.

Make sure to fully understand what gives you the most miles before signing up for a credit card. You’ll want to determine your spending habits and pick a card based on what will earn you the most rewards. Remember too that to qualify for credit cards that offer great rewards, you’ll need to have good or excellent credit. Check your credit score for free today at Credit.com.

At publishing time, the Wells Fargo Propel American Express Card, Capital One Venture, Discover it Miles, and Chase Sapphire Preferred Card are offered through Credit.com product pages, and Credit.com is compensated if our users apply for and ultimately sign up for any of these cards. However, this relationship does not result in any preferential editorial treatment. This content is not provided by the card issuer(s). Any opinions expressed are those of Credit.com alone, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the issuer(s).

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