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Get the avianca lifemiles American Express® Elite Card if you fly Avianca and earn 500-plus miles a month on it. The $99 standard card has the same LifeMiles Silver status, so the Elite’s extra $150 mostly gets you a LifeMiles+ plan that adds 6,000 miles a year and doubles your first 1,000 card miles each month.
Get the Allways Rewards Visa® Credit Card only if you fly Allegiant several times a year or book its vacation packages of four or more hotel nights. Its points, worth 1 cent each, and perks like priority boarding for your party and buy-one-get-one airfare work only on Allegiant. Everyone else does better with a general travel card.
Get the avianca lifemiles American Express® Card if you fly Avianca to Latin America or book Star Alliance awards with LifeMiles, which adds no fuel surcharges. The $99 fee buys LifeMiles Silver status, with priority boarding and two Avianca lounge visits a year. If you mostly fly airlines outside Star Alliance, collect transferable points instead.
Get the Aer Lingus Visa Signature® Credit Card if you fly Aer Lingus between the U.S. and Ireland and can charge $30,000 a year on it, enough to earn a companion seat with no taxes or fees. If you can’t, a card with transferable points, which move to several airline programs, gives you more ways to use what you earn.
Get the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card only if you’ll use its seat perks on most work trips. It lets you pick a Preferred seat near the front when you book and upgrade free to Extra Legroom within 48 hours of departure. If a free checked bag and earlier boarding are enough, the $149 Premier Business has both.
Open the Frontier Airlines World Mastercard® if you fly Frontier at least once a year and check a bag. Two free checked bags on every Frontier flight you buy directly with the card are the perk that justifies its $99 annual fee. If you rarely fly Frontier, pick a general travel card instead.
Get the Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® Credit Card if you check bags on Alaska or Hawaiian, and buy your flights with it. At $45 a bag each way, the free first bag saves two travelers $180 on one round trip a year, nearly twice the $95 fee. Spending $6,000 a year on it adds a companion fare from $122.
Pay the full statement balance every month, or interest can cancel the rewards your credit card earns. Then put each purchase on the card that pays the most for it, and before you redeem points, work out what each one would be worth in cents.
Get the Mastercard® Black Card® only if you’ll use its $200 airline and $100 dining credits every year. Its Priority Pass lounge access and 24/7 concierge also come on Luxury Card’s $299 Titanium Card, so the $400 more you’d pay for the $699 Black buys mainly those credits.
Get the Mastercard® Gold Card™ only if carrying a 22-gram card made with 24K gold matters to you. Even if you use all $700 in yearly credits, you still pay $499 of the $1,199 annual fee, and the card’s 2% back on everyday purchases matches what a no-annual-fee card pays.
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