I fly 100,000 miles a year. These are my picks for best airline credit cards | CNN Underscored

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You don’t need elite status with every airline to get perks like free checked bags, priority boarding or airport lounge access. Often, all you need is the right airline credit card.

Most major U.S. airlines offer co-branded credit cards with benefits that can make flying cheaper and more comfortable. Even if you only fly an airline a few times a year, perks like free checked bags can save you enough money to justify a card’s annual fee. Premium airline cards may add benefits like companion tickets and lounge access, and all of these cards earn miles you can redeem with the airline and, in many cases, its partners.

If you aren’t loyal to one carrier, a general travel card may make more sense, since its rewards can typically be used with multiple airlines. You can also hold both types of card, using an airline card for carrier-specific perks and a flexible travel card for everyday spending.

I currently have, or have had, five of the cards in this guide. I fly around 100,000 miles a year, hold top elite status on Delta and have held high-level status with Alaska Airlines and JetBlue. That said, I evaluated these cards with the average traveler in mind, focusing on whether benefits like free bags, priority boarding and lounge access can deliver enough real-world value to justify getting the card.

Airline-branded cards typically offer perks with that airline only (and sometimes with its partners) and earn miles in its loyalty program. The higher the annual fee, the more valuable the airline-specific perks tend to be. For example, an airline card without an annual fee may offer elevated earnings on spending with that airline but no free checked baggage or early boarding. Conversely, an airline’s top co-branded card, with an annual fee in the hundreds, offers all those perks plus access to the airline’s lounges. Often, airline cards come with an accelerated path to elite status with that airline too.

That said, airline-branded cards only make sense for people who fly that airline often enough. For those who don’t but still want to earn points that can be redeemed for travel, general travel rewards cards usually make more sense. Those cards earn points that can be transferred to airlines and hotels or redeemed on the card issuer’s own travel portal, and they often come with travel protections like insurance for delays or lost luggage.

The choice boils down to staying loyal to an airline versus earning credit card points that are more flexible than airline miles. Once you’ve earned a mile with Delta, for instance, it can only be redeemed for travel on Delta itself or its partners, but if you’ve earned American Express points, you can transfer them to a vast number of airlines. That’s why we’ve included some travel rewards cards in this article as well.

That includes the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, which we find easy to use and has broad appeal, thanks to the ability to use miles to simply erase travel purchases. Or you might want a card that offers travel protections such as trip delay and cancellation insurance instead, in which case the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a standout choice that also earns extra points on airfare. Those Capital One and Chase cards, like other competitors, earn rewards in the form of points or miles that can be then transferred to airlines or used to book travel on the card issuer’s portal.

Here’s a breakdown of why each of the cards we selected is a good choice for a given airline, along with a look at what else it offers besides airline-specific perks:

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is not an airline card, but it earned its place here thanks to the flexibility of Chase Ultimate Rewards® points. Even if this card won’t get you free checked bags, benefits on any airline or lounge access, it makes sense as a card for frequent flyers because it offers many useful travel insurance benefits.

For example, when you pay for travel with the card, you’ll be covered if your trip is canceled for any covered reason, up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip. You’ll also be reimbursed for any covered out-of-pocket expenses, up to $500 per person, if your flight is delayed by at least 12 hours or if the delay forces an overnight stay.

It will also earn 2 points for every dollar spent on all travel, 5 points on all travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ portal and 3 points on dining, vacation home rentals, gas and EV charging stations, among other bonus reward categories. You’ll then be able to redeem those points for flights, including in premium cabins that often include lounge access, free checked luggage and other perks as part of the ticket.

The more flexible option is to redeem your Chase points through the Chase Travel portal. When you redeem this way, you can book any flight without worrying about award availability or blackout dates.

You’ll get at least 1 cent per point when you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred and redeem your rewards this way, and you’ll even earn airline miles for the flight because airlines consider these tickets regular airfare, not award redemption.

With a little more work, you can extract even more value from your points by transferring them to any of Chase’s 10 airline partners, including Southwest, JetBlue, United and Air Canada, or its four hotel partners — IHG, Marriott, Hyatt and Wyndham.

Chase points transfer at a 1-to-1 ratio to most partners, meaning you’ll get 1,000 airline miles for every 1,000 Chase points you transfer. However, Chase just dropped the transfer rate to World of Hyatt for Chase Sapphire Preferred card holders to a 4-to-3 ratio. This is in effect now for new card holders, but doesn’t apply to existing card holders (those who applied before June 15, 2026) until Oct. 1, 2026.

Then you can book using the miles or points through that airline or hotel program. Sometimes there are even transfer bonuses, giving you 20% or even 30% more points when you send them to a travel partner.

Why would you book this way when you can get any flight using the first option? Because you can potentially get a lot more value for your points when you transfer them, especially if you’re looking to fly internationally in a first- or business-class cabin. That’s why frequent-flyer website The Points Guy values Ultimate Rewards points at 2.05 cents apiece.

Despite a very high $795 annual fee, the Chase Sapphire Reserve comes with several travel perks that can offset the cost, including a $300 yearly travel credit, a $120 Lyft credit, complimentary access to Chase and Priority Pass airport lounges, and more. Like the Sapphire Preferred, it isn’t an airline card, but it provides excellent travel insurance and earns points that can be turned into flights on many airlines.

The Sapphire Reserve is, in fact, the best card when it comes to travel protections. It’s the only card that offers all seven major types of coverage: trip cancellation/interruption insurance, trip delay reimbursement, lost luggage reimbursement, baggage delay insurance, rental car protection, travel accident insurance and emergency evacuation assistance. Thanks to its solid trip delay insurance, for example, I easily recouped the $400 I had to spend after a delayed flight resulted in an unplanned overnight stay in Puerto Rico.

When it comes to redeeming credit card rewards for air travel, the Chase Sapphire Reserve works similarly to the Chase Sapphire Preferred but with a few key differences.

Both cards earn Ultimate Rewards points, so you can redeem them the same way: at a fixed rate through the Chase Travel portal or by transferring them to Chase’s partners at a 1-to-1 ratio. The big difference is that your points are worth up to 2 cents apiece when you redeem them via the Chase portal with the Sapphire Reserve using Points Boost, where available. On all other purchases on Chase Travel, you’ll get 1.5 cents per point (for card holder who opened their card prior to June 23, 2025, on points earned before Oct. 26, 2025, and redeemed until Oct. 26, 2027; after that, they’ll be valued at 1 cent).

The Chase Sapphire Reserve also offers a great earning rate on airfare and hotels booked directly with providers, where you’ll earn 4 points for every dollar. For purchases on Chase Travel, you’ll get an exceptional 8x points. You’ll also earn 3x on dining worldwide. It’s not a good card for general travel spending because it earns only a point per dollar on expenses outside of those bonus categories, but for frequent flyers, it’s a great card, and doesn’t tie them to a single airline’s ecosystem.

The American Express Platinum Card® also isn’t tied to a specific airline but earns points that can be redeemed directly for any flight or transferred to many airlines and hotels, but its set of partners is different from Chase’s. It also offers travel insurance and access to many airport lounges.

When it comes to earning points on airfare, the Amex Platinum has the highest earning rate of any credit card on our list. You’ll earn 5 points for every dollar spent when booking directly with the airline or with American Express Travel® (up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year). That’s more than the 4 points per dollar you’ll earn with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, but you’ll earn bonus points on many other travel purchases with the Chase card, while the Amex Platinum only earns those 5 points per dollar on airfare, as well as hotels and flights booked through American Express Travel.

But the Amex Platinum is best known for its luxury perks, which are the main reason it’s also one of our picks for the best American Express credit cards. For starters, just by being a card member, you’ll have complimentary access to thousands of airport lounges around the world, including the exclusive American Express Centurion Lounges, Delta Sky Clubs® when flying Delta (10 Sky Club® day passes per Medallion year and Priority Pass™ airport lounges; subject to visit limitations. Enrollment is required for Priority Pass.

Card holders also get complimentary Gold elite status with the Hilton and Marriott hotel chains, which can get you a late checkout, bonus points when staying on a paid rate, space-available upgraded rooms and complimentary breakfast at select properties (enrollment is required). You’ll also have elite status with three car rental companies: Hertz (President’s Circle), Avis (Preferred Plus) and National (Executive) — although car rental insurance with the Platinum is only secondary, not primary.

Now, the Amex Platinum doesn’t come cheap, with an annual fee of $895 per year. However, the many travel perks, along with yearly credits, can help offset the fee if you can take advantage of them.

When it comes to transferring points, American Express has a wider selection than Chase, with 17 airlines and three hotel partners. In particular, American Express Membership Rewards® are the only credit card points issued in the US that transfer to Delta Air Lines.

With seven different Delta credit cards available — four personal and three business — there’s a Delta card for all types of flyers. The Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card will likely suit occasional Delta flyers the best. It has an introductory annual fee of $0 for the first year, and then a $150 annual fee starting at your first renewal (see rates and fees), so you can try out the card for a year to see if it’s right for you.

You’ll earn 2 Delta SkyMiles per dollar on purchases made directly with Delta with the Delta Gold Amex, as well as at restaurants worldwide (including takeout and delivery in the U.S.) and U.S. supermarkets. You’ll also get priority boarding on Delta flights, a free checked bag when flying Delta and 20% off Delta in-flight purchases.

Also, if you spend $10,000 on the Delta Gold Amex card in a calendar year, you’ll earn a Delta flight credit worth up to $200. So, if you’re able to spend this much on your credit card each year, that alone will more than make up for its annual fee.

However, if you expect to be in the air a lot, you might instead want to look at the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card or the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card. The Delta Reserve card has the great advantage of providing access to Delta SkyClub and Amex Centurion Lounges when flying Delta, and both these higher-end cards will help you earn Delta elite status quicker and come with more Delta perks, including an annual companion certificate after your first year. As a Delta frequent flyer, I have both and can offset the annual fees, but people who don’t fly as often as a travel journalist would probably find that overkill.

If you’re a United frequent flyer like CNN Underscored travel products editor Kyle Olsen, you could consider the United℠ Explorer Card. It comes with no annual fee for the first year, then a $150 fee starting in the second year, allowing you to essentially try it out for no cost while determining if it works for your spending and travel habits.

With this card, you’ll earn 3 miles for every dollar you spend on United, as well as at restaurants (including eligible delivery services) and on hotel stays booked directly with the hotel, plus 1 mile per dollar on everything else. That’s not bad, but the Chase Sapphire Preferred earns 3 points per dollar on dining and other everyday expenses, plus 2 points on all travel, and you can transfer Chase points to United.

That’s why the real reason to have the United Explorer Card is taking advantage of its perks, and not only when flying on United. Unique among airline cards at this annual fee level, it will reimburse you for up to $120 for a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck membership application fee. It also offers primary insurance coverage for rental cars, another unique feature among its peer airline cards.

You’ll get priority boarding and earn 25% back on in-flight purchases when you’re on a United flight, and you can check your first bag for free (as well as one for a traveling companion). The card also comes with two United Club lounge day passes per year.

It also offers an incentive to fly on a different carrier. You’ll get up to $100 statement credit per year on flights booked directly with JSX, a company offering flights that depart from private terminals on smaller jets, on which you can earn United’s own MileagePlus miles.

If Southwest is your airline of choice, you’re aware that the biggest U.S. carrier by domestic passengers has done away with its traditional business model by introducing assigned seating, premium seats and fees for checked baggage, like all other airlines in the country.

The airline has a spate of co-branded cards that can circumvent those fees, though. The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is the most expensive of the Southwest personal credit cards, with an annual fee of $229. Even with that annual cost, we chose it for this list because it provides the most benefits, which are especially useful under the airline’s new bag and seating policies.

The Southwest Priority card comes with a first checked bag free for the card holder and up to eight additional passengers on the same reservation. At $35 per checked bag per person, this benefit alone could surpass the cost of the annual fee. The card also lets you select a Preferred seat with more legroom at no charge, when available. Card holders and up to eight passengers on the same reservation will board before the general public, with group five.

Further, the points you earn on the Southwest Priority card — including the sign-up bonus — count as qualifying points toward the Southwest Companion Pass, and the card also awards an annual boost of 10,000 Companion Pass-qualifying points. Having the pass can save you thousands of dollars, because it allows a companion to fly with you for free (plus the minimal costs of taxes and fees) for the rest of the year in which you earned the pass, plus the entire following year.

The card also will get you 7,500 bonus points each anniversary year starting with your second year as a card holder; 25% back on in-flight purchases like drinks and Wi-Fi; and 2,500 tier-qualifying points (TQPs) toward A-List status for every $5,000 spent in purchases annually, meaning you’ll get to elite status on Southwest faster.

This could be a good card for people who spend a decent amount on gas and dining out, because it earns 2 points per dollar on gas stations and restaurants. On Southwest purchases, it earns 4 points per dollar.

For the occasional American Airlines flyer, the Citi®/AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® is a great card, especially because there’s no annual fee for the first year, then only $99 per year thereafter. While it isn’t the best card to use on everyday spending because it earns 2x points only on restaurants and gas stations, as well as American Airlines purchases, you can save a lot of money with it on baggage fees.

All Citi/AAdvantage Platinum card holders get a free checked bag on domestic American flights for not only themselves but up to four additional companions on the same reservation. With baggage fees starting at $45 per bag (if you pay online, that is. Otherwise it’s $50), a family of four all checking a bag can save $360 by flying just one round trip a year. That’s almost four times the annual fee.

Card holders also board before all other passengers in Main Cabin and get a 25% savings on in-flight food and beverage purchases on American Airlines flights. Spending $20,000 in purchases during the card membership year and renewing the credit triggers a $125 American Airlines flight discount.

Also, like other mid-tier airline cards, the AA Platinum Select has no foreign transaction fees.

If you fly American regularly, you might prefer the Citi®/AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®, because it comes with an Admirals Club lounge membership and additional benefits. That card isn’t cheap, though, at $595 a year, so it’s best only for those who expect to be on an American plane at least monthly.

JetBlue has only about 5% of the U.S. air passenger market but a large share in major markets like New York City and Boston. People who fly it often will find value in the JetBlue Plus credit card, which earns a remarkable 6 points per dollar on JetBlue flights. It’s not the top card for everyday spending, with 2 points per dollar at restaurants and grocery stores, and 1 point per dollar on everything else, but it comes with perks that can improve your experience when flying JetBlue.

You and up to three companions on the same reservation get a free checked bag when flying JetBlue, which can easily save you hundreds of dollars with just one trip. And while this card comes with a $99 annual fee, you’ll earn 5,000 bonus points each year starting with your first account anniversary (meaning a year after you first get the card). These 5,000 points are worth about $67, according to The Points Guy, which offsets more than two-thirds of the cost of the card.

A notable feature of JetBlue points is that they can be pooled with family and friends, which makes it easier to hit the critical mass needed for a redemption. With this card, you’ll also get 10% of your points back after you redeem for and travel on a JetBlue-operated award flight.

JetBlue opened its first airport lounge in 2025, at New York’s JFK airport, but this card won’t give you access to it. The card that does is the newly launched JetBlue Premier Card, which has an annual fee of $499 and also comes with access to Priority Pass lounges worldwide, like other premium travel cards. Unless you are a truly frequent JetBlue customer, we advise sticking with the cheaper JetBlue Plus.

Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Credit Card: Best for Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines flyers

After acquiring Hawaiian Airlines, which remains as its own brand, Seattle-based Alaska Airlines introduced a joint loyalty program called Atmos in 2025. To go with it, there’s a credit card issued by Bank of America, with an annual fee of $395 but some benefits normally found with more expensive cards. This is the top credit card for both Alaska and Hawaiian, and it comes cheaper than the equivalent card offerings from American, Delta and United.

Besides offering 3 points per dollar spent on Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines purchases, the Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite has a unique feature: Every foreign purchase earns 3x points. Other cards earn the same multiplier on dining and travel purchases abroad, but only this one earns 3 points per dollar on every single thing you buy outside the US.

This could make the Atmos Summit a perfect card for people who go abroad a lot, even if it earns just 1 point per dollar in the US on all purchases that aren’t airfare with Alaska and Hawaiian. It’s also attractive for eligible account holders with Bank of America, who earn an additional 10% on every purchase (a $100 restaurant bill paid with the card would yield 330 points, not 300).

Every Atmos Summit card holder gets a 25,000-point Global Companion Award per year, with no spending requirement. After $60,000 in spending within a year, you’ll get another Global Companion Award, this one for a whopping 100,000 points.

But even better, you don’t really have to be an Alaska or Hawaiian Airlines flyer to make this card work for you. You can redeem Atmos points to fly on American Airlines too, and often you’ll pay much less in Atmos points than American charges in its own AAdvantage miles. Similarly, the Global Companion Award works on American flights, as well as on other partners in the Oneworld alliance, such as British Airways. The alliance includes 15 airlines, 12 of which serve the U.S., so you won’t lack for opportunities to use those Atmos points.

The Points Guy values one Atmos point at 1.5 cents, so that automatic Global Companion Award alone is worth $375, which is almost the entire annual fee of the card.

The card also offers lounge access in the form of eight Alaska Lounge passes per year (two per calendar quarter) that are usable when traveling on same-day flights operated by Alaska, Oneworld partners or other Alaska partners.

And as befits a card aimed squarely at people who travel internationally, it comes with a credit of up to a $120 every four years for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck.

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card also isn’t an airline-specific card, but it takes the cake when it comes to flexibility. This straightforward travel card earns 2 miles for every dollar you spend on it — no need to worry about bonus categories. You can then redeem your miles for any travel purchase at 1 cent per mile, which means you’re getting a 2% return on all your purchases. That’s comparable to the return provided by the Citi Double Cash® Card, which serves as our benchmark.

Redeeming your miles is incredibly easy using Capital One Venture’s eraser tool feature, which can reimburse you for any travel purchase. All you have to do is charge any travel-related purchase to your Venture card, and then go online within 90 days and choose to redeem your miles for that transaction instead of paying for it with cash.

If you’re an expert when it comes to frequent flyer programs, you can also transfer your Capital One miles at a 1:1 ratio to more than 15 different travel partners, including British Airways, Air Canada, Avianca and Wyndham Rewards. (Transfers to JetBlue happen at a less favorable 5:3 ratio, which we do not recommend.) You’ll need to do your homework if you go this route, but you can potentially get a lot more value for your miles, which is why The Points Guy values Capital One miles at 1.85 cents each.

According to CNN Underscored’s credit card methodology, we evaluate cards based on a variety of factors, gauging their utility for real-world users, not just card experts. The principal factors we consider are the following:

CNN Underscored’s team of expert editors and contributors carefully reviews credit cards, travel rewards and loyalty programs to help readers navigate changes and make informed financial decisions. Our expert recommendations are grounded in real-world value, not hype, and backed by thorough analysis, expert insight and a commitment to clarity and transparency.

For this article, CNN Underscored senior money editor Alberto Riva rounded up the best credit cards for airline travel. Riva is a frequent flyer who covers around 100,000 miles a year in the air and currently holds seven co-branded airline credit cards. He’s earned and redeemed vast numbers of air miles and credit card points. His credit card recommendations are based on real-world experience and years covering travel and finance.

Click here for rates and fees of the American Express Platinum card.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles Gold card.

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.