The Guide to Chase Travel Cards

Chase is one of the premier names in the travel credit cards business, offering a variety of cards that appeal to both beginners and seasoned travelers.

Chase offers two distinct types of travel credit cards:

• Chase's own branded cards. These cards earn points in the Chase Ultimate Rewards® program. You can use these super-flexible points to book travel through Chase's online portal, redeem them for cash back, or transfer them to more than a dozen airline or hotel loyalty programs, including big names like United, Southwest, Marriott and Hyatt.

• Airline- and hotel-branded cards. Chase issues these cards in partnership with an airline or hotel chain. These cards earn points or miles within the partner's loyalty program, and the rewards are generally redeemable only within that program. They also come with benefits offered directly by the partner, such as free checked bags on flights or free hotel nights.

Which category is right for you — and which card within that category is right for you — depends on how you travel. We'll dive deep on the question in a minute, but the two-sentence summary is this: If you value flexibility, go with a Chase-branded card. If you spend a lot (or could spend a lot) with a particular airline or hotel, look at one of Chase's co-branded cards.

» Learn more: The best travel credit cards right now

Options

Chase offers two consumer travel credit cards: the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is the more expensive of the two — by a considerable margin — but it also comes with richer rewards, a higher redemption value for the points you earn and a longer list of benefits, including an annual travel credit that makes up for a big chunk of the annual fee. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is less costly, but it still offers extensive benefits that make it a popular choice not only for people who are just getting started with travel rewards but also for many who have been in the points-and-miles game for a while.

Here's how these two cards compare:

How Chase points work

The Sapphire cards earn Ultimate Rewards® points with every purchase; how many you get per dollar depends on the spending category. Additionally, when you apply for and are approved for one of these cards, you're eligible to earn a sign-up bonus by spending a certain amount on the card within the first few months.

When it comes time to redeem Chase points, you have multiple options. They include:

• Cash back. Points are generally worth 1 cent apiece when redeemed for cash back.

• Travel bookings. Points are worth more — 1.25 cents apiece with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, 1.5 cents with Chase Sapphire Reserve® — when you use them to book travel through Chase's travel portal, which works like Expedia and other online travel agencies.

• Point transfers. Chase allows you to transfer points on a 1:1 basis to more than a dozen airline and hotel partners. Doing so can squeeze out even more value per point.

» Learn more: How much are airline miles and hotel points worth?

Pros of Chase-branded travel cards

Flexible points. A frequent-flyer mile from, say, Delta Air Lines is pretty much good for one thing: Paying for travel with Delta (and its partner airlines). If Delta can't get you where you want to go, when you want to go there ... well, you're out of luck. But Ultimate Rewards® points don't tie you to any particular airline or hotel; using them to book through Chase at a relatively high point value gives you more options. If you are a member of one of the partner programs, you can pad out your rewards balance in that program by transferring your Chase points. And if you just need cash back, you can redeem your points that way, too.

Point pooling. What makes Chase's system especially appealing is that you can transfer Ultimate Rewards® points earned with other Chase cards to your Sapphire card to make use of the more flexible redemption options. The Chase Freedom Unlimited® and the Chase Freedom Flex®, for example, are marketed as cash back cards, but they actually earn Ultimate Rewards® points — up to 5 points per dollar spent, depending on the category. If you have 10,000 points on a Freedom card and you redeem them for cash back with that card, they're worth $100. Move them to a Sapphire card, and they're worth $125 when redeemed for travel with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or $150 with Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

» Learn more: Maximize your Ultimate Rewards® points with the 'Chase trifecta'

Useful benefits. The comparison table above gives a brief rundown of the additional benefits these cards offer, including annual credits that in each case can pay back a considerable portion of the annual fee. Our reviews of each card go into greater detail, but regular travelers shouldn't have much trouble earning back the cost of carrying these cards with the rewards and perks they get.

Cons of Chase-branded travel cards

No airline- or hotel-specific perks. Most airline credit cards with an annual fee will give you and at least one companion a free checked bag on every flight. A couple of round trips a year (or just one with a companion), and the card pays for itself. Airline card holders often get priority boarding, too, and the more expensive cards can get you into an airline's airport lounges. Hotel cards commonly give you an annual free night, elite status, upgrades and more. Chase-branded cards can't offer these kinds of benefits because airlines and hotels reserve them for their own cardholders.

Annual fees. Most major airlines and hotel groups have an entry-level card with no annual fee. You don't get many perks with these cards, but they let occasional travelers earn points or miles toward a trip without any cost to carry the card. Chase no longer offers a no-annual-fee Sapphire branded card.

Should you get a Chase-branded card?

If you like to travel but don't want to feel limited, a Sapphire card can be a smart choice. You earn solid rewards on all travel. Your ability to redeem those rewards isn't tied to any specific airline or hotel brand. And key benefits on the cards can fit most people's travel styles. The $300 annual credit on Chase Sapphire Reserve®, for example, applies to any travel expense, while the $50 annual credit on the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is good at any hotel, as long as you book it through Chase.

Options

Chase issues "co-branded" travel credit cards in partnership with multiple airlines and hotel groups, including many that are also Ultimate Rewards® transfer partners. They include:

How Chases's airline and hotel cards work

Chase's co-branded airline and hotel cards all work in the the same general way:

• Every purchase earns points or miles in the loyalty program of the brand partner. A United Airlines card, for example, earns United MileagePlus miles; a Marriott card earns Marriott Bonvoy points, and so on.

• You typically earn a higher rate on spending with the brand partner. An airline card might have a base rewards rate of 1 mile per dollar spent, but purchases with the airline itself might earn 2 or 3 miles per dollar. A card might earn elevated rewards in other categories, such as at restaurants, to encourage you to use it more often.

• Rewards are redeemable only through the airline or hotel. If you have points on a Chase-issued hotel card, you'll need to use them with that hotel brand. They don't have the range of options you get with Ultimate Rewards® points.

• The card often comes with perks specific to the brand partner. This might be free checked bags, airport lounge access, priority boarding, free hotel nights, room upgrades, automatic elite status, and so on.

Pros of Chase hotel and airline cards

Loyalty program benefits. Because the card is issued in a direct partnership the airline or hotel brand, it's able to give you benefits you aren't going to get with a general-purpose travel card like one of the Sapphire options. Chase doesn't have the authority to waive your checked-bag fees on an airline or give you a free upgrade at a hotel — but the airline and the hotel do. Those benefits can be powerful enticements.

'Double dipping.' You don't need to pay with a co-branded credit card to earn airline miles or hotel points. If you're a member of the loyalty program (and it's pretty much always free to join), you earn rewards just for flying or staying, regardless of how you pay. But when you pay with a co-branded credit card, you earn additional points or miles on top of those you get for being a member. Members of Marriott's loyalty program, for example, automatically earn at least 10 points per dollar spent (those with elite status earn more) at most hotels in the Marriott family of brands. The points you earn with the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card get added to those.

Cons of Chase hotel and airline cards

Lack of flexibility. Unlike with Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, which have a range of redemption options, airline miles and hotel points lock you into redeeming through the co-brand partner. You might be able to use them with, say, an airline's alliance partner, but you're still required to go through the airline to do so. Since the airline controls the program, it can say what you can do in it. Which leads to the next point.

Redemption restrictions. Airlines and hotels are notorious for putting restrictions on when you can redeem your rewards for a free flight or stay, and for limiting how many seats on a given flight (or rooms at a given hotel on a given night) are available for "award travel" by people cashing in their points and miles.

Benefits aren't freebies. There are hotel and airline cards without annual fees, but they tend to earn rewards at fairly paltry rates, and you won't be getting the kinds of signature benefits that co-branded cards are known for. A no-fee airline card will not get you free bags, and a no-fee hotel card is unlikely to give you a free night every year. At the other end of the scale, the cards with the most sought-after VIP benefits can have annual fees running into the hundreds of dollars.

Should you get a hotel or airline card from Chase?

A co-branded airline or hotel card makes sense if (a) you travel often, and (b) you are (or can be) more or less loyal to that airline or hotel chain. If you're only traveling once every couple of years, a travel card might not be a good choice for you at all, whether it's Chase-branded or co-branded. You might be better off with a cash-back card. If you always go for the lowest price regardless of brand, you're better off with a general-purpose travel card whose rewards offer more flexibility.

The answer depends on what's most important to you:

• If you want flexibility and are looking for a moderately priced card that’ll provide solid benefits, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a good starting point.

• If you want flexibility and are willing to pay extra for perks, look into the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

• If you're a regular traveler who favors one of the Chase co-brand partners in the list above, consider whether the benefits of a dedicated hotel or airline card appeal to you.