Award redemptions usually give you the most bang for your buck, but there are many programs that allow you to use your miles and points haul for paid airfares. Today TPG Contributor Cindy Gossett looks at the credit card sign-up bonuses that allow you to redeem miles and points for paid airfare.
While you’ll almost always get the most value out of your points and miles by transferring them to a partner for premium award travel, there are times when you may want to redeem your points for paid airfare. If your travel dates aren’t flexible, for example, you may not find award availability for the flight you need. And unlike with award travel, traveling on paid airfare means you can use your elite upgrades to travel in a higher class of service and — perhaps most importantly — accrue elite miles toward airline status.
Today I want to compare different miles and points programs and credit card sign-up bonuses to redeem for $400 paid airfare. Why $400? The number is somewhat arbitrary, but I think it’s necessary to pick a single number in order to compare apples to apples. Also, there seems to be a confluence around $400 for several sign-up bonuses, and it seems like a reasonable enough average number for many domestic round-trips within the US to start the comparison.
| Card | Standard Sign-Up Bonus (Miles/Points) | Point Value for Paid Airfare (Cents) |
TPG Point Valuation (Cents) | Points Needed for $400 Airfare |
Annual Fee |
| Platinum Card from American Express | 40,000 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 40,000 | $450 |
| Business Platinum Card from American Express | 40,000 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 40,000 | $450 |
| Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard | 40,000 | 1.05* | 1.0 | 40,000 | $89 (waived the first year) |
| Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card | 40,000 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 40,000 | $59 (waived the first year) |
| Capital One Spark Cash for Business |
$500 cash bonus | 1.0 | 1.0 | $59 (waived the first year) |
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| Chase Ink Plus Business Card |
60,000 | 1.25 | 2.1 | 32,000 | $95 |
| Chase Sapphire Preferred |
50,000 | 1.25 | 2.1 | 32,000 | $95 (waived the first year) |
| Citi Prestige | 50,000 | 1.6 AA 1.33 Other airlines |
1.6 | 25,000 AA / 30,100 other airlines |
$450 |
| Citi ThankYou Premier Card | 40,000 | 1.25 | 1.6 | 32,000 | $95 (waived the first year) |
| US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature Card |
20,000 | Varies; up to 2 | N/A | 20,000 | $49 (waived the first year) |
Let’s go through each program individually.
1. American Express
Both the Platinum Card from American Express and the Business Platinum Card from American Express currently have sign-up bonuses of 40,000 Membership Rewards points (after meeting the respective spending requirements of $3,000 and $5,000 in the first three months) that equal $400 in paid airfare. However, the Business Platinum card will leave you with many more points left over to start building to a second redemption (or a more expensive ticket). The reason is that while the sign-up bonus for both cards is the same, the Business Platinum Card offers a 30% rebate when you pay for airfare on a preselected airline with your Membership Rewards.
Personally, I wouldn’t use my Membership Rewards for paid airfare unless I really needed to, since transferring those points to an airline or hotel program gives a much better value. In fact, that same $400 flight (assuming it’s on American) could cost you as little as 15,000 British Airways Avios round-trip (since 4,500-Avios redemptions ended in February) — or 18,750 Membership Rewards points transferred to British Airways. Still, paying for your airfare with Membership Rewards is an option if you absolutely need it.
2. Barclaycard
The Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard is an ideal option for redeeming for paid airfare, since the miles don’t otherwise transfer to travel partners. You’ll need 40,000 miles to get a statement credit for $400 airfare, but you’ll get 5% back, making the total outlay 38,000 points. Since the Arrival Plus card gives you a statement credit for any expense that Barclays codes as “travel,” you can also use the points for rental cars or even theme park tickets if you buy them through third-party travel websites like Expedia or Orbitz.
3. Capital One
Despite an extraordinarily effective ad campaign, Capital One’s rewards aren’t as necessarily as valuable as competing cards like Barclaycard Arrival Plus (with its 5% rebate). But there are some cards — including the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and the Capital One Spark Cash for Business — with sign-up bonuses that would allow for paid airfare at our $400 example (with the last being a simple cash-back card that could be used for any expense). If that’s your goal, the Capital One cards could be for you — but do keep in mind that Capital One is notorious for pulling credit reports from multiple bureaus, so factor that into your calculations when deciding to apply for its cards.
4. Chase
The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card comes along with a 50,000-point sign-up bonus (after you spend $4,000 in the first three months). That bonus is enough to cover more than $400 in airfare. Meanwhile, the Ink Plus Business Card will net you 60,000 points after you spend $5,000 in the first three months. Factoring in the points you’ll receive for spending $5,000 as well, that bonus can be redeemed for two $400 airfares (at 1.25 cents per point). But please don’t redeem points for paid airfare unless you truly have no other option; Chase Ultimate Rewards are so valuable because of the program’s transfer partners, and you’ll get much more value by transferring your points to a hotel program like Hyatt or airline programs like United and Korean Air, instead.
5. Citi
Citi recently upped its game in the rewards world, adding transfer partners such as Virgin America. But ThankYou points can also been redeemed for travel when booked directly through Citi. The Citi Prestige card comes with a 50,000-point sign-up bonus (after spending $3,000 in the first three months) that equates to $625 in general travel expenses, or $800 in airfare on American Airlines. Being able to redeem for two $400 airline tickets is pretty incredible. The Citi ThankYou Premier Card, meanwhile, comes with a 40,000-point bonus after spending $3,000 in the first three months. If you also have Prestige, you can redeem points for 1.6 cents each toward AA flights or 1.33 cents each toward airfare on other carriers; otherwise, you’ll get 1.25 cents in value for each point you redeem.
6. US Bank
US Bank FlexPerks is one of the smaller rewards programs, but it can still hold a lot of value. The current sign-up bonus of 20,000 points for the US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature Card equals $400 in airfare for each card. The drawback to the FlexPoints program is that the airfare you purchase must be less than $400 to be able to redeem the 20,000 points. In other words, if a ticket costs $401, you can’t spend 20,000 points and pay $1 — you have to redeem at the next tier, which is 30,000 points (otherwise worth up to $600).
Bottom Line
As you can see, there are plenty of options if your goal is to earn a sign-up bonus to redeem for paid airfare. There are also two cards with sign-up bonuses that equal two $400 tickets. And while this sort of redemption is rarely your best value, it’s a good option to have in your back pocket should you need it.
What’s your favorite card for redeeming points toward airlines?
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card |
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| Intro APR | Regular APR | Annual Fee | Balance Transfer | Credit Rating |
| N/A | 16.24%-23.24% Variable | Introductory Annual Fee of $0 the first year, then $95 | See Terms | Excellent Credit |