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Get the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® if you fly American Airlines a few times a year and check bags. For a $99 annual fee, you and up to four companions on your reservation each get a free first checked bag on domestic trips, worth at least $45 each way. If you always travel carry-on, skip it.
Get the United Club℠ Business Card if you fly United often enough to buy a United Club lounge membership anyway. The card’s $695 annual fee is $55 less than the $750 United charges for an individual membership, which admits no guests, and the card’s membership admits one. If you fly United only occasionally, skip it.
Get the American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card if you want American Airlines miles at grocery stores and on American purchases without paying an annual fee. If you check a bag on two or more round trips a year, pick Citi’s AAdvantage Platinum Select card instead for its free first checked bag.
Open the United℠ Business Card if your company flies mostly United. Its free first checked bag for you and a companion saves up to $200 a round trip, $50 more than the $150 annual fee, and the card adds two United Club passes a year. If you fly United only occasionally, the personal United Explorer Card is enough.
Get the United Club℠ Card only if you’d pay for a United Club membership anyway. Its $695 annual fee is $55 less than United’s $750 membership, which admits no guest, and the card adds free checked bags for you and a companion. If you fly United a few times a year, pick the United Explorer Card instead.
Get the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card if you fly Delta for work and can plan one trip a year with a companion. Each year after you renew, its companion certificate puts that person on an economy round trip for only the taxes and fees. That certificate is what justifies the $350 annual fee.
Open the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card only if you fly Delta for work often enough to use most of its 15 yearly Sky Club visits. Lounge access is the main thing that separates this $650 card from Delta’s cheaper business cards, so skip it if you’d rarely use a club.
The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card is worth its $650 annual fee only if you fly Delta often enough to use its 15 yearly Sky Club lounge visits and its companion certificate. It seats a second traveler for only taxes and fees, even in first class. If you’d skip the lounges, get the $350 Delta Platinum card.
Get the United℠ Explorer Card if you fly United a few times a year and check a bag. At United’s $50 airport bag fee, free first bags for you and a companion save $200 on one round trip, $50 more than the $150 annual fee. And there’s no annual fee the first year.
Get the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card only if you’ll use its companion certificate on a trip you’d take anyway. Your companion’s Delta Main round trip then costs just taxes and fees, so one trip can cover the $350 fee. If not, the Delta Gold card has the same free bags for $150 a year instead of $350.
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