Favorite Travel Rewards Clubs/Cards

abbyj700

DH and I went to Aruba for our honeymoon this past November. We both hadn't traveled much before then but are looking to travel much more now. I'm in the thick of surprising him for Valentines Day by booking a trip for his 30th birthday this summer. In the search for deals - I'm contemplating getting a rewards club card or a good travel Credit Card. Do you ladies have any favorites you use?

novella1186

I have the Capital One Venture Card. You get points on all purchases but extra points for travel-related things, and you can use them for airline miles. 

What I liked the most, though, was that there are no foreign transaction fees. 2 summers ago we went to Canada and I ended up with somewhere around $300 in foreign transaction fees on my other credit card. I was not pleased. 

southernbelle0915

We have the Delta AmEx. We put everything on it, pay it off every month and basically earn free trips from money we already spend. It's a good fit.

jenna8984

novella1186 said:

I have the Capital One Venture Card. You get points on all purchases but extra points for travel-related things, and you can use them for airline miles. 

What I liked the most, though, was that there are no foreign transaction fees. 2 summers ago we went to Canada and I ended up with somewhere around $300 in foreign transaction fees on my other credit card. I was not pleased. 

I also have Capital One but I think it maybe a different/ older version of the Venture card. I get 2 times points on everything. And they can be cashed in on anything travel (airfare, hotels, tours, rental car, etc). I rave about Capital One because there is no nonsense with using a specific airline or a blackout dates. You literally book anything you want (with merchant code travel) then just hit "apply travel eraser" and it applies the credit to my statement. Our trip to England and Iceland coming up was almost completely free. The key is you have to get used to charging every single thing, and paying it off each month fom checking. If you just use it here and there for gas you'll never get enough points no matter what the program is.

novella1186

jenna8984 said:

novella1186 said:

I have the Capital One Venture Card. You get points on all purchases but extra points for travel-related things, and you can use them for airline miles. 

What I liked the most, though, was that there are no foreign transaction fees. 2 summers ago we went to Canada and I ended up with somewhere around $300 in foreign transaction fees on my other credit card. I was not pleased. 

I also have Capital One but I think it maybe a different/ older version of the Venture card. I get 2 times points on everything. And they can be cashed in on anything travel (airfare, hotels, tours, rental car, etc). I rave about Capital One because there is no nonsense with using a specific airline or a blackout dates. You literally book anything you want (with merchant code travel) then just hit "apply travel eraser" and it applies the credit to my statement. Our trip to England and Iceland coming up was almost completely free. The key is you have to get used to charging every single thing, and paying it off each month fom checking. If you just use it here and there for gas you'll never get enough points no matter what the program is.

Yeah you have to really use it to get enough points for anything good. I got my venture card when we got engaged, and I've been putting ALL the wedding stuff on it and just paying it off. So I have quite a lot of points racked up already. 

flyingfoxes

I have a Capital One card, and they mailed me something about switching to the Venture card.  I've been loyal to my Citibank card for 20 years (this year!), so I've been reluctant to change.  Maybe I need to!

teddygirl9

I have a Visa Infinite which I quite like. Similar to above, you earn points for all purchases, extra for travel type purchases.

eta - it also has amazing insurance/protection for trips booked with it. Car rentals, vacation interuption, etc.

AuroraRose41

I have a Chase Sapphire Preferred and love it! You earn 2 points on any travel and dining purchases, 3 points if you book travel through Chase's online site (you gain access once you have the card), and 1 point on everything else. There are also no foreign transaction fees, and the points transfer 1:1 for miles with many airlines, hotels, and Amtrak Rewards. You can use the points to book any airline on the Chase travel site though too. I think it also has travel insurance/protection too. You can also cash out points or buy gift cards with them, and you can earn 5 or 6 points per dollar through certain online stores. Another really cool thing that not all other travel cards do is that you can pay a partial amount of airfare/travel expenses with points and then pay the rest with the card, so you basically get a discount if you don't have enough points to cover it fully.

FI and I are putting as many of our wedding expenses on it as possible (and paying it off immediately) to hopefully get free (or inexpensive) travel for both the wedding and honeymoon! 

arrippa

The only travel related card I have is the Starwoods AmEx card. I am spending my way to my free hotel stay in Washington DC.

knottie9c5ed33df4bbd226

I just got the Southwest Visa, I am planning on putting ALL my purchases and bills on it and paying it from my checking in order to rack up points quicker. Hoping to use the points for my bachelorette trip to FL in August and FI might be going to a bachelor party via flight so I would like to put it towards that as well.

lovemesomemonster

Put me down for another vote for a Capital One Venture card. I use mine for everything and then pay it off every month. The points add up fast and I like that I don't have to use any particular airline. I also spent over 3 months out of the last year in other countries and it was so nice to not have the international transaction fees! We also have a Chase card, it has the rotating categories that give you 5% cash back every three months so if it's 3 months of fuel we use it to fill all of our cars for that 3 months. Very happy with both of them!

flyingfoxes

I upgraded my Capital One card to the Venture one.  Now to just train myself to use that card instead of my old standby...

JennyColada

DH and I just have regular AmEx cards (I have blue, he has the classic green). We earn 1 point per dollar.

I'm not really sure if ours is the "best" card, but it's good enough. I'm probably going to cash in all of my points (I've had the card for about 8 years and only bought 1 gift card with my points) for a week's worth of Vegas hotel stays.

JoanE2012

We have the United Mastercard (we live near a United hub).  We've used our miles accumulated to fly for free many times, including our recent trip to Hawaii!  We still have enough miles for a few more trips. We charge whatever we can and pay it off immediately.