The Ultimate Travel Credit Card Battle!

People really need to start including the BodA Premium Rewards Elite card to these comparisons. If you are a Preferred Rewards member, the ROI on spend cannot be beat. Then an additional 1.25 cents per point when used on airfare.

I canceled my platinum AmEx, not a lot of regular vendors use this system. And overseas it is complicated to find the it even more. Start using Strata Elite. We shall see.

For myself who travels a great deal for work, just give me something straightforward. Life and daily tasks are already demanding without the need to navigate the complexity of most of these travel cards. I'm seeking a decent 2x or greater multiplier on direct booked travel, minus needing to use a proprietary card portal. Also, good lounge access and the ability to offset some of the annual fee through some type of practical & useful credit. For me the Venture X is a no brainer.

Capital 1 Venture X is crazy. Requesting income verification after I received the card. That's like putting the cart before the horse. 🤔😳🤦🏾‍♂️🤷🏾‍♂️

Do a best SINGLE card for travel

As a nonrev traveler, CSR works best for me because lounge access. I am really upset they took away the 3X catch-all for all travel. Transit and rental cars are a huge miss. The chase portal used to offer a guaranteed 1.5X points value even though everyone knows their prices tend to be 10 to 20% higher, so you end up having to weigh the math against the better rate. Now they don't even offer that and make the decision when or where they're going to institute a "points boost." Like you I get most of my value from WoH points transfers and the IHG Platinum Elite is nice. CSR also now offers status with National for what its worth. I also like/appreciate their growing lounge network. Their affiliation with the Maple Leaf Lounges is very cool perk. So CSR nerfed quite a few things I like but there is enough there that it might be worth hanging onto. If C1VX was a little less stingy with their lounge rules, I might consider them.

It’s also important to note, that if you have a Canadian Amex Platinum card, you don’t have to pay for that extra guest traveling with you when you want to take advantage of the centurion lounge.

Last year chase had 5x on groceries and gas for 1year on the freedom unlimited. The offer was in branch only. Of course you can only get the benefit for a year but it significantly boosts ultimate rewards earning

Was debating on which to open, but decided to get the Ritz upgrade. I like the benefits and pair it with my United explorer [united hub airport]. 😊

Try weighting the scoring categories and see what happens. No other influencer does that

recently had an awful experience with the Amex platinum. They make it rly difficult to cultivate all of the resources they advertise with the card

I have Venture X. The Priority Pass I have with Venture X allows for 1 visit to Chase Sapphire lounge per year. And Yes, the Philadelphia Chase lounge is very nice.

Amex Platinum for me I find is extremely easy to hit the Annual fee in credits. I already used rideshare or food delivery at least once a month so uber credit automatic. I already had clear and GE, I already had Disney+ Bundle, and there is a nice FHR near me that I like to use as a weekend getaway with my gf. Resy credit is easy to use once a quarter on a date night so no brainer. I wouldn't shop at lululemon or saks but since it's now free to me, I do buy either some kitchen thing or a pair of sweat pants or whatever. I think personally you undervalued the Amex travel because of all the lounge access. A nicer lounge is irrelevant if it's full (thank god Venture X dropped free guests) or if you're traveling through an airport that doesn't have one. Sky Club when traveling on Delta with Amex is a nice bonus.

I've been teasing the idea of getting one of these travel cards for a while. But with my no-annual-fee credit card system, I'm getting 5% cashback on the vast majority of ANYTHING I buy year-round. Sometimes I settle for 3% cash back. I get the freedom to book through any travel portal or airline, find what are truly the best deals out there, and never get locked into spending traps through these credits that ultimately make you spend more than they offer through the cards. The big downside is no free lounge access when travelling. I'm still not sold on getting locked into a nearly $800 annual fee that really, in the end, just gives me lounge access and severely limits what airline I can choose and deals I can find.

Watched this video and thought I should try applying for the venture X as a joke. I got approved...

I am currently a student just starting out my credit card journey. I’ve had a discover student card for about a year and a half and I want to look at opening a second card. I know none of these top of the line cards will be my next move but which echo system should I join? I’m leaning capital one for the simplicity.

Not sure why videos like this don’t refer to RichwithPoints to support all these insights with genuine data?

I’m new to the travel credit card game, and I have a question about the Citi Trifecta. Since the Strata Elite and Double Cash (and maybe Custom Cash too?) work within the ThankYou points system… does that technically give you freedom to redeem Strata Elite points as cash back if you pooled with the other cards? I want a travel card for the benefits, but I also like the flexibility of cash back too. Would love to know if that would work or if there’s stipulations about moving points

Capital one also turn me down about 150 times over a 2 year period...too many credit cards blah blah blah then I got three more cards before I was approve. ..... but alls well that's ends well

I wish you'd do the $95 annual fee cards now.

Need the popular combo chase + C1

Personal Experience
Amex to me has been the most loyal and has stuck with me for better or worse. Few years ago we were struggling and chase was the first one to lower my credit card limits and they always are the first to react. Amex never has and even offered me personal loans to help consolidate debt.
Besides that I use the Amex duo and love it. All my benefits get used on my wife, I feel like its a good romantic spice coupon book. Rest for date nights, Lulu lemon as a good surprise gift here and there and Uber eats also delivers flowers ! Love Amex

Watch out for foreign translation fees on Chase and Citi for their no annual fee cards

Citi really missed the mark with the Strata Elite; they could’ve done so much better.

Visa and Mastercard yesterday announced a roughly $38B settlement in a two-decade antitrust lawsuit with merchants over credit card processing fees. If approved by a judge, businesses could reject several popular cards at checkout. 

Visa and Mastercard have historically required merchants to accept all their credit cards, despite each carrying a different interchange fee—the charge banks impose to process transactions. Fees range from 2% to 2.5%, with higher rates tied to cards offering shoppers more rewards or cash back. Merchants paid roughly $38B in interchange fees last year, up 71% from 2019, as Americans favor rewards cards and fees rise. Under the proposed settlement, Visa and Mastercard would cut interchange fees by 0.1 percentage point annually for five years. Merchants could also accept or decline three categories of cards, with all rewards cards grouped together.

Several merchant industry groups object to the deal, arguing businesses have little choice but to accept rewards cards since they account for about 85% of cards issued.

I had chase for many years, but $795 is a bit too high for me

I know this isn’t a business credit cards comparison but thinking of getting the Sapphire Reserve Business with employee cards to make it more worth it, is that a good option instead of any other business cards? Like even an US bank or other for mostly gas expenses and construction related expenses

“It depends on your needs, habits, and patterns” is the only correct answer. “Overall” or “average” scores are really pointless. The “I don’t even use the highest scoring one myself” pretty much shows it.

which card has the best welcome bonus other than amex? About to make a big purchase so I figure I should open a new card

Excellent breakdown! Love how he simplifies the travel card space without all the hype. It really comes down to which perks actually fit your lifestyle and travel habits.

Do this with the tier 2 travel cards (Amex Gold, CSP, Venture, Citi Strata Premier)

Love my Venture X card for all the reasons Daniel laid out!

The ONLY thing I’m really upset with is the guest lounge access going away starting February 2026. I understand the growing crowding issues in lounges and C1 wanting to get ahead of that problem. However, the way I see it, the lounge access being limited to just the account holder benefits just two types of people. 1) Singles 2) People who fly for business (without their significant other).

For people (myself included) who aren’t single and who don’t fly for business, what’s the point of having free lounge access for yourself but not your spouse when you fly together one or two times during the year for vacation or to visit family on the holidays etc..? Yes, I could pay to bring her in, but at a cost of $75 (to enjoy for an hour or so before the flight)? That’s steep, and it would make the experience much less enjoyable.

Again, I totally understand wanting to avoid crowding issues and keeping lounge access feeling like a premium experience, but if you can’t even bring your significant other with you, it pretty much negates the whole perk for a huge chunk (I would say majority) of account holders.

I truly hope Capital One changes this policy!

The reason You’re getting denied for the Capital One Venture X Is Because Capital One Is Inquiry Sensitive. If You Have More Then you Will Get Denied. I Got Approved For The Card, and Waiting For A Couple Of Inquiries To Fall Since I Also Love Having Credit Cards.

Also Amex Plat Yes The Annual Fee Is Up There. But The credits Are Much Better, and Easier To Use Then The Sapphire Reserve. Yes For Sure The Lounges For Sapphire Reserve Are Better. But the Overall Credits, And Value Is The Platinum In All Honesty, as Well As The Amex Gold Card. Easy Credits To Use. You Can Also Do The Gift Card Trick For Some Plat, and Gold Credits.

The primary insurance benefit on car rentals with the Sapphire Reserve basically paid for my membership for the next 5 years. Was on a family trip where door and fender got damaged by wind. Chase paid the full 4K claim by the rental agency. Also helped eliminate a claim on my regular auto insurance to keep premiums down.

Has anyone here ever had to use the Primary rental coverage from the credit card? I have the Chase Sapphire but I still tend to request the rental insurance coverage because I don't know if I can trust the credit card company for it. Would love to hear about some experiences with it.

Would be interested to see how the BILT 2.0 will compare to these cards!!

You dont talk about redeem. Amex is the strongest. C1 point is quite hard to use