topic Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS? in Credit Cards

Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

pinkandgrey — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 18:48:42 GMT

Going forward, I will be traveling to Egypt a couple times a year. I'm not looking for hotel rewards or anything. I'm most interested in the best rewards for international flights, and obviously no FTF would be great.

What do you all think is the best card in this situation? Again, hotels are of no value to me lol It's all about the flight/airline rewards.

Thanks!

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

unsungivy — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 19:22:29 GMT

@pinkandgrey wrote:
Going forward, I will be traveling to Egypt a couple times a year. I'm not looking for hotel rewards or anything. I'm most interested in the best rewards for international flights, and obviously no FTF would be great.

What do you all think is the best card in this situation? Again, hotels are of no value to me lol It's all about the flight/airline rewards.

Thanks!

I mean, obvious question would be if you are going to be using a specific airline repeatedly? Next would be looking at your hubs, and what lounges they have in them.

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

pinkandgrey — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 19:58:07 GMT

@unsungivy wrote:
@pinkandgrey wrote:
Going forward, I will be traveling to Egypt a couple times a year. I'm not looking for hotel rewards or anything. I'm most interested in the best rewards for international flights, and obviously no FTF would be great.

What do you all think is the best card in this situation? Again, hotels are of no value to me lol It's all about the flight/airline rewards.

Thanks!
I mean, obvious question would be if you are going to be using a specific airline repeatedly? Next would be looking at your hubs, and what lounges they have in them.

I honestly will use whichever airline has the best price. Turkish is often good, but British can be as well. So I'm not necessarily loyal to any one particular.

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

ptatohed — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 22:31:52 GMT

Are you looking for miles/points or cash back?

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

Jessie — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 22:46:14 GMT

I'd go with Cap 1 Venture. You can use any airline and no foreign fees.

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

pinkandgrey — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 22:51:27 GMT

@ptatohed wrote:
Are you looking for miles/points or cash back?

Whatever gives the best reward value for flights! Thanks!

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

Patient957 — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 14:46:23 GMT

@pinkandgrey wrote:
Going forward, I will be traveling to Egypt a couple times a year. I'm not looking for hotel rewards or anything. I'm most interested in the best rewards for international flights, and obviously no FTF would be great.

What do you all think is the best card in this situation? Again, hotels are of no value to me lol It's all about the flight/airline rewards.

Thanks!

Venture X. 5x on flights. The $395 AF is fully recoverable with the $300 travel credit and 10K annual bonus points. Has both your airlines as transfer partners. Has decent lounge access with branded lounges and Priority Pass, though YMMV depending on your airports. Decent 75K SUB. No FTF.

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

dfwxjer — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 14:42:00 GMT

Are airport lounges important to you?

What's your home base airport?

Are you looking to fly business/first class, or just maximize flight rewards?

For stricktly flight benefits the Amex platinum is hard to beat. You can transfer MR directly to British Airways, and you can book Turkish Airlines via Air Canada's Aeroplan currency. You'll get 5x MR points on flights booked directly with airlines (any) and get considerable value transferring them to the aforementioned partners.

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

pinkandgrey — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 14:51:45 GMT

@Patient957 wrote:
@pinkandgrey wrote:
Going forward, I will be traveling to Egypt a couple times a year. I'm not looking for hotel rewards or anything. I'm most interested in the best rewards for international flights, and obviously no FTF would be great.

What do you all think is the best card in this situation? Again, hotels are of no value to me lol It's all about the flight/airline rewards.

Thanks!
Venture X. 5x on flights. The $395 AF is fully recoverable with the $300 travel credit and 10K annual bonus points. Has both your airlines as transfer partners. Has decent lounge access with branded lounges and Priority Pass, though YMMV depending on your airports. Decent 75K SUB. No FTF.

Wow, I appreciate the very-comprehensive answer. Thank you!!

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

pinkandgrey — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 14:59:53 GMT

@dfwxjer wrote:
Are airport lounges important to you?

What's your home base airport?

Are you looking to fly business/first class, or just maximize flight rewards?

For stricktly flight benefits the Amex platinum is hard to beat. You can transfer MR directly to British Airways, and you can book Turkish Airlines via Air Canada's Aeroplan currency. You'll get 5x MR points on flights booked directly with airlines (any) and get considerable value transferring them to the aforementioned partners.

No, lounges are not important to me.

Denver Intl is the home base.

Maximizing rewards is most important, but admittedly I would prefer to step it up to business class. 12-hour flight in Economy is brutal lol

I love Amex, but its acceptance is pretty limited in Egypt. MC and Visa are best for sure!

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

dfwxjer — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 17:04:07 GMT

The CSR and Cap1 Venture X are solid offerings as well that run on Visa

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

pinkandgrey — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 17:11:39 GMT

@dfwxjer wrote:
The CSR and Cap1 Venture X are solid offerings as well that run on Visa

Yeah, I've been looking at the Venture X. I have heard the CSP is good, but interesting that you mention the CSR. Obviously there's the AF difference, but what advantages does it have over the Preferred?

Thanks!

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

dfwxjer — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 17:21:44 GMT

The CSR includes the $300 easy to use travel credit, and has higher earning multipliers. The points boost feature on redeeming UR points is 2x on CSR vs 1.5 on CSP.

Since you don't care about airport lounges, or any of the other credits, you'll probably be well served with the CSP. Nice earning rates for travel, $95 af, travel insurance, and the same travel portal and transfer partners.

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

pinkandgrey — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 17:29:08 GMT

@dfwxjer wrote:
The CSR includes the $300 easy to use travel credit, and has higher earning multipliers. The points boost feature on redeeming UR points is 2x on CSR vs 1.5 on CSP.

Since you don't care about airport lounges, or any of the other credits, you'll probably be well served with the CSP. Nice earning rates for travel, $95 af, travel insurance, and the same travel portal and transfer partners.

Awesome, thanks for the details!

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

unsungivy — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 02:40:30 GMT

If you're going to be flying frequently, you really SHOULD take lounges into account. The amount of free food and drink they can add up to is astonishing.

With Denver as your home base, it has an AmEx lounge, CapitalOne, American Airlines, United, and Delta. Since there is no Chase Sapphire lounge there, I'd cross the CSR off the list. I don't think you'd get what you want from the CSP... it's a decent entry level travel card but not very specific to maximizing flying. You have crossed off AmEX due to your experience with internation acceptance, which is fine... otherwise I'd have recommended the AmEx Platinum as a travel card that is heavily focused on flights.

To me, given what info you HAVE provided, to second what @Patient957 said, it looks like the Venture X is going to be the best fit for you. The kicker is that CapitalOne has a lounge in the Denver airport, so you will be able to take advantage of that on every flight out... even if it's not something you are looking for in a card, it's better to at least have a usable option while you're getting everything else out of the card. (While I personally would get the CSR instead, that's because I'm already in the Chase ecosystem and have a Chase Sapphire Lounge at my home airport... if you got the CSR you'd be partially paying for a feature you wouldn't even have the OPTION to use.)

EDIT: Do note that the 5x miles mentioned by @Patient957 is only for flights booked through Capital One Travel (you also get 10x on Hotels and Rental Cars through there). Outside of using that, you're getting 2x miles on purchases outside of Capital One Travel.

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

dfwxjer — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 18:47:05 GMT

@unsungivy wrote:
If you're going to be flying frequently, you really SHOULD take lounges into account. The amount of free food and drink they can add up to is astonishing.

With Denver as your home base, it has an AmEx lounge, CapitalOne, American Airlines, United, and Delta. Since there is no Chase Sapphire lounge there, I'd cross the CSR off the list. I don't think you'd get what you want from the CSP... it's a decent entry level travel card but not very specific to maximizing flying. You have crossed off AmEX due to your experience with internation acceptance, which is fine... otherwise I'd have recommended the AmEx Platinum as a travel card that is heavily focused on flights.

To me, given what info you HAVE provided, to second what @Patient957 said, it looks like the Venture X is going to be the best fit for you. The kicker is that CapitalOne has a lounge in the Denver airport, so you will be able to take advantage of that on every flight out... even if it's not something you are looking for in a card, it's better to at least have a usable option while you're getting everything else out of the card. (While I personally would get the CSR instead, that's because I'm already in the Chase ecosystem and have a Chase Sapphire Lounge at my home airport... if you got the CSR you'd be partially paying for a feature you wouldn't even have the OPTION to use, on top of getting 3x points instead of 5x points on flights.)

I've heard the Cap1 lounges are fantastic, but haven't tried them yet. I can't imagine flying without lounge access, even if I didn't drink.

I can easily clear my AF with the bar tabs I run at airport lounges lol.

Re: Best Card for International FLIGHTS?

pinkandgrey — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 19:09:41 GMT

@unsungivy wrote:
If you're going to be flying frequently, you really SHOULD take lounges into account. The amount of free food and drink they can add up to is astonishing.

With Denver as your home base, it has an AmEx lounge, CapitalOne, American Airlines, United, and Delta. Since there is no Chase Sapphire lounge there, I'd cross the CSR off the list. I don't think you'd get what you want from the CSP... it's a decent entry level travel card but not very specific to maximizing flying. You have crossed off AmEX due to your experience with internation acceptance, which is fine... otherwise I'd have recommended the AmEx Platinum as a travel card that is heavily focused on flights.

To me, given what info you HAVE provided, to second what @Patient957 said, it looks like the Venture X is going to be the best fit for you. The kicker is that CapitalOne has a lounge in the Denver airport, so you will be able to take advantage of that on every flight out... even if it's not something you are looking for in a card, it's better to at least have a usable option while you're getting everything else out of the card. (While I personally would get the CSR instead, that's because I'm already in the Chase ecosystem and have a Chase Sapphire Lounge at my home airport... if you got the CSR you'd be partially paying for a feature you wouldn't even have the OPTION to use, on top of getting 3x points instead of 5x points on flights.)

Okay, super helpful info. Thank you! The Venture X is looking more and more promising.