Earning rates: Earn 10x on hotels, car rentals and Chase Dining purchases through the Ultimate Rewards portal, 5x on flights booked through the Ultimate Rewards portal, 3x on all other travel and dining, and 1x on everything else. Analysis: This has been one of the top travel rewards credit cards available since its launch in — and for good reason. With the Sapphire Reserve, you earn 10x points on hotels, car rentals and Chase Dining purchases through the Ultimate Rewards portal, as well as 5x on flights booked through the Ultimate Rewards portal.
You also get 3x points on all dining purchases and 1x points on all other purchases. Points are earned in the Ultimate Rewards program , including 10 airline and three hotel transfer partners. Or, points are worth 1. Related: What credit score do you need to get the Chase Sapphire Reserve? For more details, check out our Chase Sapphire Reserve review.
Earn 1x points on everything else. Analysis: This business credit card offers 3x points on airfare and everything else Chase includes in its travel classification. You also receive 3x points on all shipping purchases; internet, cable and phone services; and advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines.
Related: Airline credit cards ranked by their return on spending. Even better, none of them require the purpose of the trip to be business. For more details, check out our Chase Ink Preferred Card review. Earning rates: Earn 4x points at restaurants, 4x points at U. Analysis: This card offers 3x Membership Rewards points on airfare purchased directly from the airline or through Amex Travel. You also get a whopping 4x points at restaurants and at U.
Related: Want to switch to the Rose Gold Amex? For more details, check out our American Express Gold Card review. Earning rates: Earn 5x points on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards and 2x points on all other travel including airfare , 3x points on dining, 3x points on select streaming services, 3x points on online grocery purchases excluding Target and Walmart and 1x points on all other purchases.
Plus, earn 5x points on Lyft through March Analysis: The Chase Sapphire Preferred is ideal for those who want to earn valuable rewards without paying a high annual fee. Five points per dollar on travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards is extremely generous for a card with this low of an annual fee. It also earns 2x points on all other travel expenses, including hotels, Airbnbs, public transit and more.
The rewards you earn with this card are fully transferrable, so you can convert your points to miles with United, Southwest, British Airways and seven other airlines , along with three hotel chains — Marriott Bonvoy , World of Hyatt and IHG Rewards Club.
For more details, check out our Chase Sapphire Preferred Card review. Earning rates: Earn 3x points on air travel, hotels, gas stations, restaurants and supermarkets and 1x points everywhere else. Analysis: The main selling point of the Citi Premier card is the number of airline partners you can transfer your points to through the ThankYou Rewards program.
For more details, check out our Citi Premier review. Airfare is a popular bonus category among the top rewards cards. For example, United Airlines has a list of domestic and international airports where they will not accept cash at ticket counters. Call the airline you want to fly before you head to the airport. Visit a travel agent and discuss your travel plans. A travel agent can do some research and help you find the least expensive flight. Your agent can make a reservation with the airline you choose and accept your cash payment in exchange for the tickets.
You can walk up to the ticket counter and buy a ticket in cash for the next flight out of town, but that will be a lot more expensive than buying your ticket in advance. It might also get the attention of security agencies, since cash payments tend to be common in terrorist incidents and attempts. According to Slate. But if you've ever tried to make other travel transactions — like hotel rooms or car rentals — without a credit card, you might be pleasantly surprised by how much easier it is to buy airline tickets.
Before you head for the airline ticket counter in person, you have a few online payment options that don't require an actual credit card. If you have a debit card with the Visa or MasterCard logo, you can use it for online purchases just like a credit card, although the cost of the purchase will come out of your account immediately. You can also purchase a prepaid debit card or, in some cases, an airline gift card and use either for online travel purchases. Finally, quite a few airlines accept PayPal as a payment method.
Nowadays, inflight purchases like snacks, drinks and entertainment can only be made with a credit card. So, unless you're prepared to rough it, get a modest prepaid card to use while in the air. If for any reason you can't or don't want to use any of those online payment methods, most airlines will still accept cash — you just have to go see them at the ticket counter to make the purchase.
Most airlines usually let you call and book the seat over the phone, then hold it up to 24 hours so you can get to the ticket counter and make the purchase in person.
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