Best Credit Cards for Booking Award Flights

A welcome bonus is one part of choosing a credit card for award flights. The card's transfer partners are just as important because they determine which airline programs can receive your points.

Match transfer partners to your travel plans

Credit card points are most useful when they can transfer to an airline program that serves a trip you want to take. A larger balance may offer fewer useful choices if it cannot reach the relevant programs.

Begin with your likely destinations, then identify the airline programs that can book those routes and the banks that transfer points to them.

Compare flexible and airline-specific points

Flexible points that transfer to several airline programs can give you more than one way to book a flight. Airline-specific points keep your choices within one program.

The better fit depends on how you travel and whether you will use the additional transfer options. Review the programs you are likely to use before assigning value to that flexibility.

Review the points you already have

If you already have points you have not redeemed, search for ways to use that balance before adding another card. This can reveal whether you need access to more airline programs or simply need a workable award fare.

Once you understand your current options, you can decide whether a new card would fill a specific gap. Our guide to when award flights are worthwhile can help with that evaluation.

Choose a card in four steps

1. Decide roughly where you want to go.
2. Identify the airline programs that can book that route.
3. Find which banks transfer points to those programs.
4. Compare cards within that group.

This order connects the points you earn to trips you may be able to book. Our award travel guide explains how transfers and airline programs fit into the booking process.