Airline and Hotel Credit Cards

If you’ve read our article on the best travel credit cards, you know that you can usually get the best value from a points-and-miles card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the American Express Platinum. Credit cards associated with a specific airline or hotel brand—known as co-branded credit cards—generally should not be among your primary credit cards. However, these cards can still provide useful benefits, so we’ll break some of the best ones down here.

Co-branded airline credit cards come in a few flavors. Some airlines offer no-fee cards that offer very limited benefits. Generally speaking, those cards aren’t worth getting because you can get better value from no-fee cash-back cards. Most airlines offer a card for an annual fee of around $100 that offers a free checked bag and another benefit or two (like priority boarding). These cards can add value for travelers who fly frequently with one airline; just do the math and make sure the benefits are worth more to you than the annual fee. Finally, some airlines offer a premium card in the $450 range that offers additional benefits. Those high-fee cards generally aren’t worth it unless you fly a lot on a single airline.

Airline Credit Cards

Hotel Credit Cards

Co-branded hotel credit cards are different from airline cards in one key way: cards that charge a fee usually offer elite status with the hotel brand. Lower-fee cards typically offer the lowest level of elite status, and you can generally get higher status with higher-fee cards. Additional benefits vary by brand, but they typically include a free night (usually with a point or tier limitation). This is a benefit that can sometimes provide enough value to offset the annual fee (for the mid-tier cards with fees around $100).