Best Airline Card

[Anonymous]

Between Jet Blue, American, United and Delta which is the best airline card to get?  I’m looking for overall value...signup bonus, earn rate, perks/status, annual fee, etc. all being factors. 

Card wouldn’t be my primary as Amex Gold and BBP are my primary cards for day to day use. Would use to book air on that airline and sporadic use unless there is a really good bonus category. 

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Are you under 5/24? If not then United is out.

I believe that Citi American and Amex Delta grant benefits just for having the card ( making sure it is attached to your to freq. flyer account which is attached to initerary).

How much are you able to spend for sub?

If you use a referral Amex Delta gives good sub on $1,000 spend.

Barclays JetBlue and Chase United require that you book flight with card to get benefits.

Edit: which airline or airlines would you be most likely to fly?

Chase United Cards offer United Club access. Amex Delta Gold and Reserve offer discounted and bundled lounge access respectively.

Amex Delta will very soon require Delta ticket for access and United will require United ticket in a year I believe.

[Loquat]

Best is subjective.  More importantly, figure out what airlines fly out of your home town.  Narrow it down even more by making sure that airline goes to the places you want to visit.  You mentioned that Amex Gold and BBP are your daily drivers...make sure that your points can be transferred to that specific airline or at least a partner at the very least.  Be aware that having a stash of MR points only matter to an extent.  Finding award seats can often be a daunting task...couple that with fuel surcharges, lack of availability during peak times, and the amount of points it actually takes to go somewhere awesome can be overwhelming.  

When looking at benefits of a specific airline, make sure you take some time to figure out what you can get out of the card.  I've been around this here forum for some time now and far too many times I've seen folks rack up a bunch of points and then figure out that they're dang near impossible to use in efforts to get what they want.  Also keep in mind that most airline credit cards having earning rates that are horrible outside of using them to buy their branded ticket.  You will run into Citi's AAdantage card that will offer double miles on restaurants and fuel but again you need to value the points.  

Playing the points game in regards to airlines can be a challenge.  There have been many times when I wanted to through in the towel and just give up on airline cards and focus my spend around hotel points.  While this can be challenging as well, it's a much easier point game to play than airlines as most hotel reward cards have a standard redemption rate depending on peak/off peak and what type of room you're looking for.  

I've said all of that to say this...Do Your Homework!  Pros and cons list, point value, transfer partners, where you live, who flies in and out of your home town, where you want to go.  All of this HAS to be considered before pulling the trigger.  I've personally decided on Alaska Airlines but even so I'm still thinking about only holding on to the card just for the companion ticket. I've been thinking about booking all of my airline travel on my Amex Platinum and just getting out of the airline points game completely.  I too will be making a decision around the beginning of the year on how I will proceed. 

[Anonymous]

I’m 2 under 5/24 but prefer to save those for CSP and Biz Ink Pref soon. Also, United is prob the least likely airline of those I listed that I’d fly regularly. I’d rank them American, Jet Blue/Delta (tied), then United. For sub I can spend about $2000-$3000/month. If really needed for sub I’m not averse to using plastiq to pay $3,000 monthly rent for a month or two if absolutely needed. Btw im an Amex guy and love that no hard pulls for more Amex cards. 

[Anonymous]

A small business airline card may or may not make sense.

The subs tend to be smaller than for personal cards but you avoid 5/24 impact.

With Amex business Delta gold or personal Delta gold you would get first year waived in either case.

Unless you have hit Amex maximum exposure or revolver count, if your credit is good or better then Amex will likely grant you a business card.

Barclays? Vegas slot machines are more transparent.

Citi American cards tend to have higher spending needed for subs.

Barclays American personal grants sub if you make any charge and pay annual fee.

We report. You decide.

[Anonymous]

I think its worth mentioning the Barclays Aviator card  (American Airlines). A lot of people don't know that Barclays also offers an American Airlines credit card! Actually, it was U.S Airways but with the merge of this company and AA, Barclays renamed the card "Avitor". At the moment, only the red card is open for new applicants BUT it does come with a pretty awesome SUB which is 50k miles after 1 PURCHASE! You can buy a chocolate bar and earn 50k miles! Yes, the card does have an AF of $95 which isn't waived for the first year but the SUB pays, of course, for the AF for a couple years actually. 

The card also comes with some perks like in-flight discount, preferred boarding, first check bag free and no foreign transaction fee.

The multipliers are pretty bad, I mean, you get 2x back for every dollar spent with American Airlines and 1x back on everything else but, in my humble opinion, the SUB is worth the $95 AF so I actually might get this card soon!

[staticvoidmain]

The answer really depends on your location, and where you fly. My airport has a Delta hub, and I fly to other places with Delta hub, so it made a lot of sense to get a Delta card. Also, Delta is the ONLY major US airlines that flies transpacific, specifically to where I frequently fly to.

[Anonymous]

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@staticvoidmain wrote:

The answer really depends on your location, and where you fly. My airport has a Delta hub, and I fly to other places with Delta hub, so it made a lot of sense to get a Delta card. Also, Delta is the ONLY major US airlines that flies transpacific, specifically to where I frequently fly to.

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+1 - When I started to rebuild my credit a couple of months ago I applied for the "new" Citi AA MileUp card (entry level AA card) and totally did not know what I was doing, actually, to be very honest, I ONLY applied for the card because "teal" is, I guess, my favorite color and I kinda like AA, HAHAHA (me being super honest here!) 

Of course, now I know better and that is actually a sock drawer card - I actually just requested a CLI (10 minutes ago, to be exact) and was approved (sp) from $2100 - $3100.

Long story short, I should have actually looked which airlines fly to my area and after doing some research, I realize that AA is not one of the major airline carries for my area, haha! Anyways, I got some better cards now, this was a couple of months ago when I knew NOTHING about credit cards. Sorry for going a little bit off topic here, haha!

[iced]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Between Jet Blue, American, United and Delta which is the best airline card to get?  I’m looking for overall value...signup bonus, earn rate, perks/status, annual fee, etc. all being factors. 

Card wouldn’t be my primary as Amex Gold and BBP are my primary cards for day to day use. Would use to book air on that airline and sporadic use unless there is a really good bonus category. 

Thanks!

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My advice is to pick an airline card based on the airline you most like flying, not the airline based on what card you think is best. None of the airline cards are great if its for an airline you don't like or can't use. Unless you live in SF, NY, or Chicago, I would also take your home airport into account - do you really want to fly almost everywhere with a connection just to get a free checked bag? Does your home airport even have a lounge for that airline you can take advantage of?

I would also add that JetBlue isn't in the same category as the other 3 as they don't do transoceanic international. They belong more to the LCC category with the likes of Southwest and Frontier.

[UpperNwGuy]

It’s all about where you live.  I live in a United hub, so I have the United Explorer card.  Also, the main reason I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve instead of the Amex Platinum or the Citi Prestige is so I can transfer miles to United.