FLY FREE* BY USING ONE OF THE 7 BEST CREDIT CARDS TO PAY FOR HOTELS AND OTHER TRAVEL EXPENSES
About to book your hotels, rental cars and more for your next dream holiday?
Pay using the best credit cards and you can earn enough points and miles to fly to your dream holiday for free*, even in business class!
With the best credit cards, you can earn up to 12 credit card points/miles for every $ spent on hotels and other travel bookings. You can then transfer these points/miles to airline loyalty programs and use them to fly for free*!
So, what are the best credit cards and how much do I need to spend on these credit cards for free* flights? Read on!
7 BEST CREDIT CARDS TO USE TO PAY FOR HOTELS AND OTHER TRAVEL EXPENSES FOR FREE* FLIGHTS
Here are the 7 best credit cards to use to pay for hotels and other travel expenses for free* flights, including business class.
All have a high points/mile earned when using them to book hotels and other travel expenses, up to 10 times higher than many other credit cards. You must use their travel service to earn the highest number of points/miles and if you don’t you will earn considerably fewer.
Citi Strata Elite Card
Spend On Hotels, Rental Cars And Attractions Booked Through CitiTravel.com – 12 points per $
Also earn points on other spend:
-
Spend On Air Travel Booked Through CitiTravel.com – 6 points per $
-
Spend At Restaurants On Citi Nights Purchases, Friday And Saturday From 6pm – 6 points per $
-
Spend At Restaurants At Any Other Time – 3 points per $
-
Spend On Other Eligible Purchases – 1.5 points per $
Learn more, apply and receive any sign-on bonuses here: Apply for Citi Strata Elite Now
Citi Strata Premier Card
Spend On Hotels, Rental Cars And Attractions Booked Through CitiTravel.com – 10 points per $
Also earn points on other spend:
-
Spend On Restaurants, Supermarkets, Gas Stations And On Air Travel And Hotels – 3 points per $
-
Spend On Other Eligible Purchases – 1 point per $
Learn more, apply and receive any sign-on bonuses here: Apply for Citi Strata Premier Card Now
Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard Credit Card
Spend On Eligible Hotels Booked Through aa.com/hotels And On Eligible Car Rentals Booked Through aa.com/cars – 10 miles per $
Also earn miles on other spend:
-
Spend On Eligible American Airlines Purchases ($1-$150,000 Per Year) – 4 miles per $
-
Spend On Eligible American Airlines Purchases (Over $150,000 Per Year) – 5 miles per $
-
Spend On Other Eligible Purchases – 1 mile per $
All miles earned are American Airlines Aadvantage miles.
Learn more, apply and receive any sign-on bonuses here: Apply for Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard Credit Card Now
Capital One Venture X Rewards Card
Spend On Hotels And Rental Cars Booked Through Capital One Travel – 10 miles per $
Also earn miles on other spend:
-
Spend On Flights Booked Through Capital One Travel – 5 miles per $
-
Spend On Other Eligible Purchases – 2 miles per $
Learn more, apply and receive any sign-on bonuses here: Apply for Capital One Venture X Rewards Card Now
Capital One Venture X Business Card
Spend On Hotels And Rental Cars Booked Through Capital One Travel – 10 miles per $
Also earn miles on other spend:
-
Spend On Flights Booked Through Capital One Travel – 5 miles per $
-
Spend On Other Eligible Purchases – 2 miles per $
Learn more, apply and receive any sign-on bonuses here: Apply for Capital One Venture X Business Card Now
Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card
Spend On Purchases Through Chase Travel Including The Edit (After The $300 Annual Travel Credit Or $500 Credit For Stays With The Edit) – 8 points per $
Also earn points on other spend:
-
Spend On Flights Booked Direct (After The $300 Annual Travel Credit Or $500 Credit For Stays With The Edit) – 4 points per $
-
Spend On Hotels Booked Direct (After The $300 Annual Travel Credit Or $500 Credit For Stays With The Edit) – 4 points per $
-
Spend On Dining Worldwide – 3 points per $
-
Spend On Other Eligible Purchases – 1 point per $
Learn more, apply and receive any sign-on bonuses here: Apply for a Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card Now
Chase Sapphire Reserve For Business Credit Card
Spend On Purchases Through Chase Travel Including The Edit (After The $300 Annual Travel Credit Or $500 Credit For Stays With The Edit) – 8 points per $
Also earn points on other spend:
-
Spend On Lyft Rides – 5 points per $
-
Spend On Flights Booked Direct (After The $300 Annual Travel Credit Or $500 Credit For Stays With The Edit) – 4 points per $
-
Spend On Hotels Booked Direct (After The $300 Annual Travel Credit Or $500 Credit For Stays With The Edit) – 4 points per $
-
Spend On Social Media And Search Engine Advertising – 3 points per $
-
Spend On Other Eligible Purchases – 1 point per $
Learn more, apply and receive any sign-on bonuses here: Apply for Chase Sapphire Reserve For Business Credit Card Now
How to Transfer Points and Miles from Credit Cards to Airline Programs
Once you have earned your credit card points/miles, transfer them to an airline loyalty program and use the airline’s loyalty program to book your flights.
These Pointrs will show you how to transfer your credit card loyalty program points/miles to airline loyalty program points/miles:
Pointr #2510:Transfer Points And Miles To Other Loyalty Programs From Citi ThankYou Rewards
To earn 1,000 airline loyalty program points/miles, transfer the following Citi ThankYou Rewards points earned on their cards to these loyalty programs:
-
Cathay Pacific Cathay - 1,000
-
Qantas Frequent Flyer - 1,000
-
Qatar Airways Privilege Club - 1,000
-
Avianca Airlines LifeMiles - 1,000
-
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles - 1,000
-
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer - 1,000
-
Air France-KLM Flying Blue - 1,000
-
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club - 1,000
-
Emirates Skywards - 1,250
-
Etihad Airways Etihad Guest - 1,000
Pointr #2511: Transfer Points And Miles To Other Loyalty Programs From Capital One Venture Rewards Or Capital One Sparks Miles
To earn 1,000 airline loyalty program points/miles, transfer the following Capital One Venture Rewards miles earned on their cards to these loyalty programs:
-
British Airways Club - 1,000
-
Cathay Pacific Cathay - 1,000
-
Qantas Frequent Flyer - 1,000
-
Air Canada Aeroplan - 1,000
-
Avianca Airlines LifeMiles - 1,000
-
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles - 1,000
-
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer - 1,000
-
Air France-KLM Flying Blue - 1,000
-
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club - 1,000
-
Emirates Skywards - 1,000
-
Etihad Airways Etihad Guest - 1,000
Pointr #2509: Transfer Points And Miles To Other Loyalty Programs From Chase Ultimate Rewards
To earn 1,000 airline loyalty program points/miles, transfer the following Chase Ultimate Rewards points earned on their cards to these loyalty programs:
-
British Airways Club - 1,000
-
Air Canada Aeroplan - 1,000
-
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer - 1,000
-
United Airlines MileagePlus - 1,000
-
Air France-KLM Flying Blue - 1,000
-
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club - 1,000
-
Emirates Skywards - 1,000.
USE POINTRS TO SHOW YOU HOW TO MINIMIZE THE AMOUNT YOU NEED TO SPEND ON CREDIT CARDS FOR FREE* FLIGHTS
Now that you know the best credit cards to use to pay for hotels and other travel expenses, time to find out exactly how much you need to spend on those credit cards to fly to that dream holiday for free* and to learn how to spend the least amount every time.
To minimize the amount you need to spend, you need:
-
To use the airline loyalty program that costs the fewest number of points/miles for your flight and class of travel.
-
A credit card that allows you to transfer points/miles to this airline's loyalty program.
-
To take advantage of any promotions that offer bonus points/miles on transfers.
Fortunately, Pointrs allows you to quickly and easily see all your options so that you can make the correct decision and spend the lowest amount possible on your hotels and other travel expenses in return for free* flights.
Step 1 – Use the “Spend Less” filters to find Pointrs for your flight
In this example, we want to fly New York to London business class with Virgin Atlantic.
Step 2 – Choose the Pointr for your flight
Choose the Pointr using “Airline Miles”.
Step 3 – Under “Flights”, choose the airline loyalty program requiring the lowest credit card spend
In this example, the airline loyalty program with the lowest credit card spend is Virgin Atlantic Flying Club with Virgin Atlantic. As it shows, you can earn Virgin Points on credit card spend from $3,958.
Looking at other airline loyalty programs, others required credit card spend of $10,000:
Step 4 – Click on “Earn Points/Miles” to bring up all the earning options for the Virgin Points required for that flight
As you can see, two of the options are Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards, the credit card loyalty programs belonging to some of the best credit cards to use to pay for hotels and other travel expenses for free* flights.
Step 5 – Click on each of the two credit card loyalty programs to reveal how much you need to spend on each of their credit cards to receive a free* flight.
If you click on “Transfer From Citi ThankYou Rewards 47,500 Points” the following will appear.
As you can see, as a Citi Strata Premier Card Holder, to earn enough points to take this flight for free* you will need to spend only $4,750 on hotels, rental cars and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com.
Scrolling down will show the other Citi card you can use.
As you can see, as a Citi Strata Elite Card Holder, to earn enough points to take this flight for free* you will need to spend only $3,958 on hotels, rental cars and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com.
If you select “Transfer From Chase Ultimate Rewards 47,500 Points” you will see their credit cards you can use, and the amount you need to spend on each of these credit cards, to take this flight for free*.
Using the best Chase card, to earn enough points to take this flight for free*, you will need to spend only $5,938 on purchases through Chase Travel, including The Edit. Using the worst Chase card to earn enough points to take this flight for free* you will need to spend $15,833 on purchases through Chase Travel including The Edit, nearly three times as much.
Using this Pointrs feature, you’ll soon learn that if you don’t book using the best credit card or if you don’t book using the credit card’s travel services, you’ll need to spend around ten times more on your credit card to earn enough points for the same free* flight.
From the examples above, you only need to spend $7,916 on your credit card to fly from New York to London business return for free* by:
-
Using a Citi Strata Elite Card to pay for hotels, rental cars and attractions through CitiTravel.com.
-
Transferring the Citi ThankYou Rewards points earned to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
-
Using the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Virgin Points to fly Virgin Atlantic.
You would require around half the spend, around only $4,000, for free* return economy class flights.
You would require even less spending if you took advantage of promotions where you would receive bonuses on your transfers from credit card loyalty programs to airline loyalty programs. Keep an eye on our newsletter emails and your Pointrs Dashboards for these promotions so that you never miss out.
Of course, there are many other routes with many different airlines that you can fly for free*. Check out our upcoming blogs for some examples.
*Just pay any taxes, fees and surcharges
