Travel credit cards are one of the biggest reasons we can afford to travel Europe for
months every year. And today, we're sharing our picks for the best three travel cards of 2022.
We're Jana and Brett and we opened our first travel credit card in 2015.
Since then, we've opened dozens of travel cards using the points
and miles we've gained to save tens of thousands of dollars on
free and cheap flights, free hotel rooms,
business class upgrades, airport lounge access, rental cars, and so much more.
But we wasted so much time when we first got started because we didn't
know which cards would actually be most useful.
There are over 100 different credit cards on the market, and many content creators are
recommending premium cards with huge annual fees because they generate lots of affiliate revenue.
Look, there's nothing wrong with making money as an influencer, and a lot of those are really
great cards. But we want to help you enjoy free or cheap travel as quickly and easily as possible.
So today we're recommending three travel credit cards, each with annual fees below $100,
one for each of the following categories.
Best Travel Credit Card for beginners.
Best travel credit card for advanced users. And Best Overall Travel Credit card of 2022.
We put the links to each of these cards in the description below but
we are not affiliates with any of these cards.
Meaning if you apply 100 times, we're not going to earn a single penny.
We're just putting them there to help you. So let's get started.
Our pick for the best travel credit card for beginners is the Bank of America Premium Rewards.
With the current offer, you'll have at least
54,500 points after earning the sign up bonus. That's a value of $545.
The reason we think this card is best for beginners
is because the points are just so easy to redeem.
Simply log on to your account, choose to redeem for a statement credit,
type in the number of points you want to redeem, and you're done.
You'll see that credit issued to your account on your next statement.
We think the points you earn with this card are bad for
flights and hotels because honestly, you could get a lot more value with other cards.
But we find that they're absolutely best for expenses such as groceries,
restaurants, and other incidentals.
Because Bank of America allows you to reimburse yourself for any expense at all,
not just travel expenses like so many other travel cards.
So you could spend $545 on your trip at grocery stores and restaurants
and then reimburse yourself with a statement credit — literally free food.
Now there is a $95 annual fee, which brings the net value of this card down to $450.
But who doesn't want to get paid $450 to travel?!
There are additional benefits that could make this card even more valuable.
But let's save that for another video.
Our choice for the best travel credit card for advanced users is the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
With the current offer, you'll have at least 64,000 points after earning the sign up bonus.
And that's a value of minimum $800, but potentially much, much more.
One of the best things about this card is the seemingly limitless options available for
redeeming your points. But that's honestly also what makes it better for advanced users as well.
We think the points that you earn with this card are bad for
reimbursing yourself with a statement credit, or other options like redeeming
points for gift cards. That's because other redemption options are so much more valuable.
You can redeem your points for a statement credit, but honestly, just don't do it.
These points are good for booking travel through Chase's own travel portal
because you get a 25% points bonus when doing so.
This can be used to book your flights, hotels, rental cars,
cruises, etc. And it wouldn’t be a bad use of your points at all.
But we think these points are best used for booking international flights through
a travel partner. And here's where the more advanced techniques come in.
Chase has relationships with partner airlines and hotels,
allowing you to transfer your points to their loyalty programs and book directly.
For example, United Airlines allows you to book one way flights from the U.S. to Europe,
starting at 30,000 points, meaning the points you earn after the sign up bonus
could literally pay for a roundtrip flight to Europe! Using an average ticket price,
these points could easily be worth $1,295. Now there is a $95 annual fee,
leaving you with a net value of $1200, but who doesn't want to get paid $1200 to travel?!
Like the Bank of America Premium Rewards, additional benefits increase the potential
value of this card. But let's go ahead and talk about the final card on our list.
But before we do that, if you think these first two travel cards sound awesome,
please hit the like button so we know this video is helpful to you.
Thanks and let's go onto card number three.
Our pick for the best overall travel credit card is the Capital One Venture Rewards.
With the current offer, you'll have at least 66,000 points after earning
the sign up bonus. That's a value of $660 or more.
What's great about this card is that it takes the best of
the previous two and combines them into one.
Now we think the points earned from this card are bad for gift cards
or paying yourself back for non-travel related expenses.
The value of your points is often cut in half and no one wants to see that happen.
The points can be good for booking flights, hotels or rental cars through the Capital One
travel portal. Now this works just like booking through the Chase travel portal,
but in this case there's no points bonus and there's honestly better options available.
So what it's best for is using the points to cover travel related purchases paid on the card. I find
this option a little better than using the travel portal, even for flights, hotels and rental cars,
because in this case you'll at least earn some points on your spending
but where it really shines is when you redeem points for train rides, metro tickets,
or other smaller travel expenses that normally can't be redeemed with credit card points.
For example, you could put every train ride and metro ticket purchase from your trip on this card
and then completely reimburse yourself up to $660.
Now there is a $95 annual fee, bringing the net value down to 565 bucks.
But who doesn't want to get paid $565 to travel?!
But hold up. There's actually a best-est way to use the points from this card.
Like with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you can transfer points to a travel partner
and then book directly with their program. And there are some pretty
stunning options available. Here are two examples.
One of the transfer partners is Avianca. Incredibly,
you can fly from New York to Zurich, Switzerland, for just 16,500 points,
meaning you can fly to Switzerland 4 times just with the points you earn from the sign up bonus.
That's a value of easily $2,500.
Another partner is Turkish Airlines. You can fly business class between the U.S. and Europe
for as little as 45,000 points. But that might cost you at least $3,000 if you paid with cash.
We used the points from our Capital One Venture card to book that exact flight last fall.
We filmed our entire business class experience during our flight from Istanbul back to the U.S.
So if you want to see what it's like to fly Turkish Airlines business class, or if you just
want some extra motivation to pick up one of the travel credit cards we've mentioned in this video.
Check out that video next and we'll see you there.