For some reason, among the average Joe, airline credit cards are more popular than hotel credit cards. It's actually pretty rare for me to come across someone who has a hotel card over an airline card (assuming they aren't deep into the credit card game).
However, for reasons we will discuss, airline cards are typically never the best cards to start your card journey off with. While some cards can offer a lot, others may not offer as much, especially considering the opportunity cost of other cards you could get.
What Exactly Are Airline Cards?
Airline credit cards are cards issued by a bank and cobranded with a major airline. For example, AMEX and Delta exclusively "cobrand" credit cards together (like the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card) while Chase and United exclusively offer cards together (like the United Club℠ Infinite Card).
Spending on an airline card will earn you that specific airline's points. This differs significantly from spending on a cashback card since you'll actually be earning airline miles that you can use to book future flights. Accumulating airline miles is useful, but could be bad since airline-specific miles are not as useful as transferable points.
Airline cards traditionally offer perks like free checked bags, companion passes, early boarding, and sometimes even airline-specific lounge access. These perks differ from hotel cards, which are designed to improve the hotel experience via free hotel nights, etc. Likewise, they differ from transferable point cards in that they don't offer the same flexibility in points that you can get.
What Are The Major Airlines & Their Cobranded US Cards?
While there's a few major US airlines, we're going to highlight the "big 4:" American Airlines, Delta Airlines, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines. Additionally, given the value this frequent flyer program provides, we'll also cover Alaska Airlines.
American Airlines
American Airlines partners with Citi to offer its credit cards. What makes AA particularly unique is its heavy emphasis on credit card spend, which can help get you closer to AA status via "Loyalty Points." There are several AA credit cards that offer a multitude of benefits:
- Free checked bags
- AA Admiral's Club lounge access
- Companion pass
- Early boarding
- Loyalty Point boosters
Delta Airlines
Delta works with solely American Express to issue its cobranded credit cards. The airline has been in the limelight recently, with major, sweeping changes made to its credit card portfolio and loyalty program. The cards now also have the ability to work towards earning Delta status, but you can't purely spend to reach max tier Delta status (unlike American Airlines).
- Free checked bags
- Delta lounge access
- Companion pass
- Early boarding
- MQD status boosters
- 15% off award travel on Delta
United Airlines
United issues its cards alongside Chase. However, United/Chase credit cards are really poor for working towards status; in fact, relatively speaking, getting status with the United cards is amongst the worst out of the bunch. United cards offer a slew of similar perks, such as:
- Free checked bags
- United lounge access access
- Early boarding
- Access to cardmember-only saver award space
- Miles credits
Southwest Airlines
Southwest is actually one of the biggest airlines in the US, carrying consistently more passengers than even United Airlines throughout the past few years. Their Chase cobranded credit cards have some unique spins to them, especially given the fact that Southwest already gives all of its passengers free checked bags.
- Early boarding certificates
- Companion pass offers
The most unique benefit is the Southwest Companion Pass, which has been offered in the past as a part of their credit card's sign up bonuses. This pass allows you to fly a companion for free, which essentially means you get access to BOGO flights for the time period of the pass.
Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines is a more lowkey player relative to the others featured here, but the value of their frequent flyer program cannot be ignored. While they only issue two cards alongside Bank of America, the cards actually have new value, especially alongside the new Bilt/Alaska partnership:
- Free checked bag
- Priority boarding
- Companion fare (with $6,000 of annual spend requirement met)
Pros/Cons Of Airline Cards
Airline cards have the potential to provide tremendous value. However, it's important to consider the broad opportunity costs of these cards.
BRAND
Pros
Cons
- Work Towards Elite Status: Spend on airline credit cards can help accelerate your status journey
- Earn More Airline Miles: Spend on airline credit cards also helps you earn more miles for future travel
- Airline Benefits: Get free checked bags, priority boarding, lounge access and more
- Limited Flexibility: Rewards are usually tied to one airline brand, limiting where you can stay to maximize benefits
- Potential for Devaluation: Airline miles can be devalued over time, meaning it could take more miles for a free flight in the future
- Higher Opportunity Cost: While you earn miles, airline miles are typically worth less than transferable points, so it may be better off to earn transferable points when possible
Wait, But I Earn So Much On Airline Purchases With My Airline Card! Why Is That Bad?
Let's analyze why airline cards typically have a high opportunity cost associated with them. For instance, the mid-range United Quest℠ Card gives 3x miles per $1 spent on United purchases. However, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® also earns 3x points per $1 spent on travel purchases. Given Chase Ultimate Reward points can transfer to United Airlines, why would you elect to only earn 3x United miles per dollar rather than 3x transferable points per dollar?
The value of transferable points is that you can transfer to other partners than United. Think Hyatt, Flying Blue, etc—there are many valuable alternatives here at play.
Generally speaking, I never put any airline spend on my airline cards, unless I earn more miles with my airline card. All else equal, I'd always rather earn transferable points.
Examples Of Good Airline Cobranded Cards
Like with all cards, there are good and bad ones. There are some high value airline cobranded cards and others that aren't too useful. However, I find that airline cobrand cards are more user dependent—they aren't always the guaranteed value play that some hotel cards are.
With the recent revamp of this card, it offers quite a bit relative to its annual fee. Cardholders are eligible to get 15% off when booking award travel on Delta flights, a free checked bag, priority boarding, and complimentary upgrades. Furthermore, the card provides a 2,500 MQD headstart and up to $10/month of rideshare & Resy statement credits every month (a total of $120 each, totalling $240).
The Alaska Airlines card is quite interesting because it has various features/benefits that make it uniquely valuable. Outside of the standard free checked bags and priority boarding, the most powerful perk of this card is the annual Alaska Companion Fare, awarded after meeting annual spend requirements ($6,000 per calendar year).
Although this card has a hefty annual fee, it comes with a slew of benefits that help make it more worthwhile. For instance, the card provides United Club lounge access, 2 free checked bags, upgrades on award tickets, and expanded saver award availability.
Conclusion
Airline cobrand cards have some strong perks and should be considered in your general card strategy. However, it is important to consider the opportunity cost of some of these cards, especially considering they may not earn as well as other more flexible transferable point cards.
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