Credit Cards for Free Flights: SFO Edition
Tl;dr: Opportunities for easy, free international trips include the AA Platinum Select, Amex Gold, and Capital One Venture Rewards cards.
A Bay Area friend of ours recently asked what kind of credit card they could use to get some extra travel. They already have the Sapphire Reserve and Freedom Unlimited, an outstanding earning-redeeming combo given the Reserve’s 50% bonus on travel booked through Chase. This combination already unlocks a lot of travel, but more never hurts! Here are some simple ways they could get a few more free trips.
Complete a Chase “Trifecta”
The earning setup with the Reserve and Freedom Unlimited is already excellent: 10x on hotels and rental cars booked through Chase, 5x on flights via Chase, 3x on other travel, 3x on dining, 3x on drugstores, and 1.5x on all other purchases. For $30,000 per year in credit card spending, those earning rates should easily earn over 50k Chase points, and could earn over 70k depending on the spending distribution. That’s $750-$1050 towards flights in the Chase Portal at a 1.5¢ per point value, which is excellent for normal-person (non-luxury) travel.
Adding the Chase Freedom Flex would supercharge the point-earning potential by offering 5x points in its rotating categories. This quarter, it’s 5x on gas, EV charging, movies, and select live entertainment. Earlier categories this year included Amazon, hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, gyms, and spas.
Top off on bonus points
There are a few easy ways to add some extra points without much extra effort and without adding any new cards:
Buy online via a shopping portal. By clicking through the portal (or using a browser extension) to shop online, you can add extra points or miles on those everyday purchases–including extra Chase points.
Add all your credit cards to a dining program. If you’re not loyal to any hotel or airline program, Rakuten dining can offer simple cash back which can be used flexibility for travel or anything else.
Save money and energy with OhmConnect. The rewards aren’t much, but it’s a free and easy way to collect some extra rewards, even if it’s just $20 in Amazon gift cards to spend on travel gear.
Add a new card with a great bonus
The Sapphire Reserve’s 50% portal bonus is so good that it is hard to find compelling use cases for their transfer partners, at least out of San Francisco and at least in economy (although I couldn’t find any impressive deals in Business class either).
By contrast, most other cards will require the use of transfer partners to stretch miles as far as possible, but this is often relatively easy, and can provide excellent value. Here are some good options:
AA Platinum Select
Bonus: Currently available with a 75k-mile bonus
Annual fee: $0 for the first year, then $99
Earning: 2x AA miles at restaurants and gas stations, and with AA; 1x otherwise
Perks: Free checked bag and priority boarding when flying AA domestically
How to use the miles: AA miles are the most valuable in the industry given their reliably fixed redemption values, relatively wide availability of minimum-fare routes, and low taxes and fees. They can be used to fly between SFO and Tokyo for 35k in economy or 60k in business class, so the sign up offer on this card is enough for a round trip economy ticket or a one-way business class seat. Round trip economy flights to Europe come in at 45k, Australia is 70k, China is 75k. Fees are under $100.
BoA Alaska Visa Infinite
Bonus: The bonus changes constantly, and if you sign up for emails from Alaska Air you’ll eventually get various offers. It is frequently available with a 70k+, and that is the minimum that should be considered.
Annual fee: $95
Earning: 3x on Alaska, 2x on gas, EV, local transit, rideshare, cable, and select streaming; 1x otherwise (10% bonus with an eligible Bank of America account)
Perks: Free checked bag and priority boarding when flying Alaska, $99 companion fare after making 6k in purchases in a year
How to use the miles: Like AA, Alaska offers reliable redemption values, good availability in economy, and low fees. However, availability is much more limited in business class and its distance-based award chart offers little value on flights from the west coast to Europe. Flights to Asia (including Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Beijing) are 37.5k miles each way in economy or 75k in business (when you can find them). Alaska, however, offers quarterly “Global Getaways,” which so far have offered sale fares like Mexico for 25k, Fiji and Tahiti for 40k miles roundtrip, Oman and Taiwan for 50k, and the Maldives, India and Bali for 60k–all roundtrip.
Alaska miles can also be transferred from Bilt, a no-fee card earning 3x on dining and 2x on flights, hotels, and rental cars.
Capital One Venture Rewards
Bonus: 75,000 points plus $250 Capital One Travel credit
Annual fee: $95
Earning: 2x on all purchases, 5x on travel booked through Capital One
Perks: $120 Global Entry credit.
How to use the miles: These miles can be redeemed for $1000 worth of the travel of your choice via the Capital One travel. The 75k points can also be used to “erase” $750 worth of travel purchases. Capital One doesn’t have the best transfer partners, but TAP Air Portugal offers decent redemptions from SFO. With a 5 minute search, I found a spring trip to Lisbon for 58k miles + $91 in taxes and fees. Transfer partner Flying Blue also offers monthly sales which occasionally reach the Bay Area, including this February sale for 30k round trips to Paris (although fees with FlyingBlue often run $150-250).
Amex Gold
Bonus: 75k via Resy or 90k+ with a referral
Annual fee: $325
Earning: 4x on dining worldwide and U.S. supermarkets, 3x on flights
Perks: $300+ total in statement credits toward select dining merchants, Dunkin, and at Resy restaurants, plus $10 per month in Uber cash.
How to use the miles: Miles can be used at a value of 1¢ each toward flights on Amex Travel, meaning that a 90k bonus would equal $900 in airfare. Amex miles can be transferred to Delta (there is a $0.0006/pt fee, FYI). Although the redemption rates on Delta are typically poor, it offers unpredictable but valuable sales on mileage redemptions. Some of these can end up in your inbox via Delta, but it can be helpful to get alerts like those from ThriftyTraveler. We flew to Italy last November for 44k SkyMiles. Recent Delta deals to hit my inbox include 34k miles to Europe (dozens of destinations) and 70k to Taipei. Those deals can be even better with Amex Skymiles cards (like the Gold) which offer a 15% discount on mileage redemption and can have sizable welcome bonus themselves.
I also recently received an alert for Singapore Airlines (another transfer partner) to Singapore for 84k (59k if you wanted to fly on short notice). I also found economy flights to Australia for 80-84k miles plus $150-250 via Quantas and FlyingBlue. Amex also transfers points to ANA. While ANA’s huge surcharges make most economy redemptions impractical, if you can find availability (easier said than done) you can fly ANA business class round-trip to Tokyo for 105k miles plus about $500 in taxes and fees, a very respectable price for a $5000+ ticket.
Hotel Cards
If you wanted to simply use the Chase Portal to book airfare, a co-branded hotel card is another good option. These cards have sign up bonuses good for several free nights, usually come with a free night annually, and offer elite status and very high points-earning rates when staying with that hotel brand. Our favorites are the IHG Premier and World of Hyatt card, both also offered by Chase.
Conclusion
A Chase Sapphire Reserve is a powerful earner that can unlock a wide variety of travel options. However, strong earning often pales in comparison to the value that a strong welcome offer can provide. So if it makes financial sense, trying out a new card could be an easy way to get your next vacation booked.