Best Travel Credit Cards: Points, Miles and Annual Fees

Points, miles and what they are really worth

Bank points from a flexible currency can usually be redeemed for cash, for travel through the issuer's portal at a fixed rate, or transferred to airline and hotel partners at a set ratio. Co-branded airline miles are locked to one loyalty programme and rise or fall in value whenever that programme changes its award chart.

Value your own redemptions rather than trusting published valuations: divide the cash price of the trip you actually book by the points it cost. If that number is close to one cent, a simple 2% cashback card would have served you better.

Does the annual fee pay for itself?

Write down the card's credits and benefits, then strike out everything you would not have bought at full price. Airline incidental credits, hotel credits, lounge access and rideshare credits are only worth what you genuinely use, and most require a specific booking path to trigger.

Subtract the surviving value from the fee. If the remainder is negative, the card only makes sense if the rewards rate on your travel and dining spending covers the gap — which usually requires substantial annual spending.

Sign-up bonuses without the trap

The bonus is the single largest source of value on most travel cards, but it requires meeting a minimum spend within a fixed window. Never manufacture spending to hit it: paying a fee to move money, or buying things you do not need, destroys the value the bonus creates.

Check the issuer's eligibility rules before applying — most restrict bonuses to once every two years per product, and some limit how many new accounts you can open across any issuer in a rolling period.

Foreign transaction fees, insurance and chip standards

Any card you take abroad should have no foreign transaction fee; the typical 3% charge outweighs most rewards rates. Always choose to be billed in the local currency at the terminal — dynamic currency conversion quietly adds several percent.

• Trip delay and cancellation cover: pays for hotels and meals when a flight is delayed beyond a set number of hours.
• Primary rental car collision cover: pays before your own auto policy, so no claim on your personal insurance.
• Baggage delay reimbursement: small but reliable, and often forgotten.
• Travel accident and emergency medical: usually thin — do not treat it as travel insurance.