The best airline credit cards of July 2020
Fasten your seatbelts. We’ve compiled a list of the top credit card offers to consider right now for award flights to help you ring in a new year of travel. If you’re loyal to a particular airline, you can do well by opening an airline credit card that rewards you for your business with a more comfortable travel experience and extra miles for your next award trip. You get perks like free checked bags and priority boarding, along with benefits specific to each card.
The best airlines rewards credit cards
- Chase Sapphire Preferred Card: Best for beginners
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card: Best for Southwest flyers
- The Platinum Card® from American Express: Best for premium benefits
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®: Best for American Airlines flyers
- United℠ Explorer Card: Best for United flyers
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card: Best for occasional Delta flyers
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card: Best for frequent Delta flyers
- Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card: Best for Alaska Airlines flyers
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®: Best for earning and redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points
The information for the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Credit card | Best for | Annual fee |
---|---|---|
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card | Beginners | $95 |
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card | Southwest flyers | $149 |
The Platinum Card® from American Express | Premium benefits | $550 annual fee (see rates & fees) |
Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite™ Mastercard® | American Airlines flyers | $99, waived the first 12 months |
United℠ Explorer Card | United flyers | $95 annual fee, waived the first year |
Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card | Occasional Delta flyers | $99, waived for the first year. See (rates and fees) |
Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card | Frequent Delta flyers | $250 See (rates and fees) |
Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card | Alaska Airlines flyers | $75 |
Chase Sapphire Reserve® | Earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points | $550 |
Best credit cards for airlines July 2020
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Current Bonus
When you sign up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you’ll earn 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of opening your account.
Rewards
Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders get:
- 2 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on travel and dining at restaurants
- 1 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on all other purchases
Benefits and perks
You’ll also get perks like:
- Primary car rental insurance: Covers damage from theft or collision to your rental car when you pay for the rental with your card.
- Trip delay reimbursement: Get up to $500 back per ticket on meals and lodging when your trip is delayed more than 12 hours or requires an overnight stay.
- Extended warranty protection: Extends the time period of the U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by a year on eligible warranties of three years or less.
- Baggage delay insurance: Reimburses you for purchases like toiletries and clothing during baggage delays longer than six hours by a passenger carrier, up to $100 a day for five days.
Temporary benefits
Between July 1 and September 30, 2020: Receive:
- 5 Chase points per dollar on streaming services (up to $1,500 in spending)
- 3 Chase points per dollar at gas stations (up to $1,500 in spending)
- 3 Chase points per dollar with Instacart (up to $3,000 in spending)
You’ll also receive up to $50 in statement credits towards an Instacart Express membership.
From May 31 to September 30, 2020: Pay Yourself Back feature allowing you to redeem Chase points towards dining establishments, grocery stores, and home improvement stores at a rate of 1.25 cents each.
Activate by December 31, 2021: Eligible for at least a year of free DashPass (normally $9.99/month). DashPass gets you waived delivery fees on orders of $12 or more at participating restaurants.
Read this post for full details!
Annual fee
The $95 annual fee is definitely worth it because when you earn the welcome bonus, that’s $600 cash or $750 in travel (with no blackout dates) or over $1,000 in award travel.
Why it’s the best airline miles card for beginners
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the #1 card we recommend for beginners in the miles-and-points hobby. The sign-up bonus is worth $750 in travel when you book through the Chase travel portal and you can get even more value by transferring the points you earn to airline and hotel partners like Hyatt, Southwest and United Airlines.
Plus, the Pay Yourself Back feature gives you a great reason to collect Chase points, even if travel isn’t in your near future. You can collect points for travel later, but know you can easily redeem them at a decent rate if travel doesn’t pick up for a while.
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
Current bonus
The Chase Southwest Priority comes with up to 40,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. That’s worth $600 in Southwest flights.
Rewards
- 2 Southwest points per dollar on Southwest Airlines purchases, including airfare
- 1 Southwest point per dollar on every other purchase
Insider tip
This is the only card on this list that will completely negate the annual fee each year with zero effort on your part. If you’re a Southwest regular, you’ll receive ~$188 in free airfare each year, thanks to a $75 Southwest statement credit and 7,500 Southwest points for renewing your card each year.
Benefits and perks
With this card, you’ll receive:
- Up to $75 in statement credits for eligible Southwest purchases each account anniversary year
- Four upgraded boardings (positions A1 to A15) each account anniversary year (worth $30, $40, or $50 each, depending on the flight)
- 20% back on Southwest in-flight purchases
- 7,500 Southwest points on your account anniversary (worth ~$113 in Southwest flights)
- 1,500 tier qualifying points (TQPs) for each $10,000 in purchases up to $100,000 in purchases annually (which equal 15,000 TQPs)
- No foreign transaction fees
Annual fee
$149
Why it’s the best for Southwest flyers
If you fly Southwest with any regularity you should opt for the Southwest Priority Card. You can receive $1,000+ in value from the card in the first year:
- 41,000 points after earning the intro bonus and meeting spending requirements (worth $615 based on our Southwest points value estimation)
- $75 statement credit annually
- $113 in points (based on our Southwest points value estimation) annually
- Up to $200 in upgraded boardings annually
This is hands down the best Southwest personal card, and it’s not close. Here’s our Southwest Priority Card review.
The Platinum Card® from American Express
Current Bonus
With The Platinum Card® from American Express, you can earn 60,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of opening your account.
Rewards
- 5x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on airfare (booked either directly with the airline or through American Express Travel)
- 5x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on prepaid hotels booked on Amex Travel
- 1 Membership Rewards point per dollar on everything else
- Terms apply
The 5x Membership Rewards points you’ll earn on flights booked directly with the airlines and on prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel is the highest earning rate for flights of any credit card.
Benefits and perks
With the Amex Platinum, you’ll also get perks like:
- Up to $200 in Uber credits annually
- Up to $200 annual airline-fee credit
- $100 Global Entry credit
- Airport lounge access
- Elite car rental status with Avis, Executive status with National Car Rental and Gold Plus Rewards with Hertz
- Free Hilton Honors and Marriott Gold elite status (free breakfast and upgrades when available)
- Terms apply
For information on lounges at your home airport or favorite airport, check out this post on how to find Amex Platinum airport lounges.
Temporary benefits
May through December 2020: Up to $20 in statement credits per month on select streaming and wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S
Between August 2020 and December 2021: up to a $200 statement credit on qualifying purchases made through Amex Travel. This is valid only for those who renew their card between April 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020
Read this post for all the details.
Annual fee
The card has a $550 annual fee, which is not waived (see rates and fees). If you use the perks and credits, you’ll easily come out ahead and find the annual fee worth it.
Why it’s the best for premium benefits
The Amex Platinum is useful for anyone looking to earn a nice stash of Amex Membership Rewards points, especially if you can make the most of the card’s perks. You’ll find our full review of the Amex Platinum card here.