So what is the best credit card for air travel? When have had AA and Delta, both not satisfied with. We want one that has no restrictions on travel or the amount of air miles we can use ant any one time.

Capital One!

I se a lot of people use Capital One but I have always had great success with AA. Just have to know when to book for best connections and low miles.

We have AA and Capital One and have switched almost entirely to Capital One.


AA may have changed recently, but historically they charged a surcharge on overseas purchases, regardless of currency. AA also only works for AA. Capital One provides generic miles which can be used for any travel expenses. You book your travel and then use the Capital One "miles" to pay for it at a rate of one cent per travel mile, whether it be air, hotel, rental car, or time share maintenance. You don't need to worry about available award miles from the airline.

I think Larry is somewhat mistaken. When using Capital One points to purchase airline tickets it is not based on a rate of 'one cent per travel mile" but rather one cent per dollar cost of the airline ticket. For example, if the fare for a r/t ticket to ABC is $180 then you need 18,000 points to purchase that particular ticket (regardless of how many miles the plane will fly).

I love my Chase Sapphire Reserve. I have a Cap One, but it rarely comes out of my wallet.

These cards sound great, and we will check into them. So how does Chase operate its rewards program? Just curious why you like that one over capital one.
Scubaman, the problem with us and travel, our plans change and we find ourselves booking last minute or just a few months in advance of our travel. I wish there was a site for AA I could go to and research the lowest reward travel fares without having to go to far into AA’s website. Any thoughts?

I have Capital One Venture. Two rewards points for every dollar spent. There is a yearly fee, $89.00, I think, but worth it to me. I charge just about everything on the card.

Citi Double cash 2% back on all purchases and buy your own tickets. But Citi is droping there rental car coverage in July

The AA card gets you more for your dollars spent if you can make it work for you. For example, I can generally fly round trip to St. Maarten for 30,000 miles (sometimes 25,000 miles). With my Capital One card, 30,000 miles gets me $300 towards my plane ticket. However, I can never find a fare that low to St. Maarten (it is generally $500 to $700). Therefore, my miles go considerably farther on my AA card.

We have the Delta, American, and United cards right now. There are two overriding reasons to have those cards: the baggage allowance and priority boarding. The baggage allowance pays the annual fee for the cards if you make a couple of trips. And we have really been praising priority boarding lately when flights have been so full. And, these card cancel the effects of that horrible "basic economy" class, since the airlines have decided to consider Spirit a role model. All have about a $100 annual fee, though we do the $200 card for Delta since that gets us a companion fare, which has worked out well for us over the years. We don't really care that much about the miles we get from using the cards. It's not really meaningful.

Just be clear that the free checked bag perk varies. Delta is the best. If you have the card you get a free checked bag for everyone on the same ticket purchase. It does not even matter if you buy the ticket on the card. This is a big deal since some of my travel is for business and they buy the tickets. United is in second place. Theirs only applies if you buy the ticket with the card. Otherwise, it always works. American is the worst. Not only do you have the buy the ticket with the card, but it only applies to domestic flights. We still had to pay $25 for a checked bag to Curacao in May.

We actually have two of the United cards right now, one for each of us. The reason is that United is giving $100 credit towards Global Entry, so you can get Global Entry for free.

All three cards have no foreign transaction fees at this time.

I can't get too excited about earning miles on a credit card. We have other cards that pay cash, sometimes as much as 5%. We mostly just accumulate miles from travel and use that.

"AA may have changed recently, but historically they charged a surcharge on overseas purchases, regardless of currency."
AA Citi platinum and Barclay AA cards no longer have a foreign transaction fee.

Larry is correct and you actually get 2 miles for dollar spent, best way is to buy your ticket and get the credit back on your credit card statement.

Yea that’s my problem, I see those AA miles but not for our seclude. I only wish! Thanks for the response!

On cards that offer a free checked bag, most offer it only on domestic flights...which excludes SXM.

Regarding the Chase Sapphire Reserve, it's complicated, but a great deal if you travel frequently. You'll have to read up on the deals. The annual fee is $450, but the benefits are awesome. In the first six months I had the card, wife and I flew to Paris for free on the signing bonus points, got $600 back in travel credits (just taken right off the bill), got a discounted luxury hotel in Paris, and used a bunch of airline lounges for free.

True but when you buy with a Venture card you get 2x miles so look at how much you spend vs ticket $ back. I find it's pretty comparable to AA and you get a lot more flexibility.