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Christine ran her own business developing and managing insurance and financial services. This stoked a passion for points and miles and she now has over 2 dozen credit cards and creates in-depth, deta...
A long-time points and miles student, Jessica is the former Personal Finance Managing Editor at U.S. News and World Report and is passionate about helping consumers fund their travels for as little ca...
With years of experience in corporate marketing and as the Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Qatar, Keri is now Editor-in-Chief at UP, overseeing daily content operations and r...
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Once you’ve experienced sitting in the front of the plane, it can be difficult to settle for less. While the experience has certainly changed, there’s no doubt that making your journey in a business or first class seat is a more desirable way to fly.
It’s common to assume that if you want to be sure you’ll be sitting in a business or first class seat that you must purchase those premium seats. Fortunately, there are several ways to secure premium seating without paying top dollar … and that’s the direction we’re heading today in this article.
We’re going to look at how you might utilize credit card features and benefits to secure upgraded airline seating. We’ll start by looking at cards that allow you to use rewards points to upgrade your flight, cards that give you a rebate when purchasing flights with points, cards that allow you to secure premium flights by transferring rewards to travel partners, and cards that elevate your place in line for complimentary upgrades.
Sit back and join us as we explore several options available via travel rewards credit cards for securing that highly desirable airline upgrade.
The Best Credit Cards for Airline Upgrades — Overview
If you’re seeking an upgraded airline experience, travel rewards cards can help make it happen. Here’s a summary of the options we’ll be covering in our article for using travel rewards cards for upgraded flights.
Earn 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. Plus, for a limited time, earn a total of 10 points per $1 spent on hotel, car rentals, and attractions (excluding air travel) booked on the Citi Travel portal through June 30, 2024.
Annual fee of $95
Transfer Citi ThankYou Points to airline partners and redeem them for premium award flights
Earn 60,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
Annual fee of $0 intro for the first year, then $95
United-branded cards that charge an annual fee offer cardholders (who have elite status with United MileagePlus) complimentary seating upgrades on award flights
Amex Platinum cardholders have the option to utilize Membership Rewards points to bid for upgrades on flights booked with several airline upgrade partners.
How To Use the Card To Upgrade Your Airline Experience
To use the Upgrade With Points option, log in to your online Amex card account and click on Rewards, then Membership Rewards Home. You’ll then see the Book or Upgrade Travel option and be able to bid for an upgrade.
Additional Amex Cards With the Upgrade With Points Feature
The Upgrade with Points feature available on the Amex Platinum card is also available on several additional American Express cards. Here is just a sampling of some of the more popular cards offering this option.
To find out if your specific American Express card has Upgrade with Points availability, login to your online Amex card account, select Rewards, then Membership Rewards Home. If you see the Book or Upgrade Travel option, your card is eligible.
Bottom Line: Using Membership Rewards points to upgrade your flight may not be the best value for your points as the most you can expect to receive is about 1 cent per point. However, having a variety of redemption options is always a positive.
The Best Cards for Purchasing Premium Flights With Points
You may have heard this common word of advice: “If you want to be sure to fly in first class, buy first class.” Fortunately, instead of shelling out a lot of cash, there are options for using your rewards points to secure a business or first class ticket.
Here are some of the best cards that allow you to earn flexible rewards points that can be used to purchase business and first class flights that can upgrade your flight experience.
How To Use the Card To Upgrade Your Airline Experience
When you redeem Membership Rewards points via Amex Travel with your Amex Business Platinum card, you will receive a Flight Bonus benefit that rebates 35% of the points used to purchase a business or first class flight. You can also receive a 35% point rebate when purchasing any flight via Amex Travel that is on your pre-selected airline of choice.
Just as an example, if you were to use 100,000 Membership Rewards points to purchase a business or first class flight, you would receive 35,000 points back into your account in the form of a rebate.
Flights must be purchased with the Pay with Points option and there is a limit of 500,000 rebated points each year.
How To Use the Card To Upgrade Your Airline Experience
The Amex Business Gold card earns Membership Rewards points that can be redeemed through the Upgrade with Points feature. You also have the option to purchase your flight with points via Amex Travel at a rate of 1 cent each.
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
Not all business or first class flights purchased with Ultimate Rewards points offer bottom-line good value, but there are a couple of sweet spots.
How To Use the Card To Upgrade Your Airline Experience
Purchasing premium flights with Ultimate Rewards points earned on your Chase Sapphire Reserve card is not always the best value for your points. A $6,000 business class flight, for example, would cost you 400,000 Ultimate Rewards points, even with the 50% bonus you receive for booking your flights via the Chase Travel portal.
However, there are situations where your Ultimate Rewards points can receive good value when booking a premium flight. For example, if you find an inexpensive business or first class ticket, you can secure it with points and receive excellent value. You may also find value when booking domestic first class tickets.
Another option for upgrading your flight is to utilize the card’s $300 annual statement credit for travel purchases. You can use a combination of points and cash to purchase a flight upgrade and the cash portion, paid with your card, will trigger the travel statement credit. You can also purchase a flight upgrade directly with the airline to trigger the credit.
Bottom Line: When you use Ultimate Rewards points to purchase flights via the Chase travel portal, you’ll receive 50% more in value for your points. Purchasing an expensive business or first class flight may not provide good value, however. You’ll want to use this option only for well-priced domestic first class or inexpensive international business and first class flights to receive the best value. Ultimate Rewards points may receive greater value for business and first class flights when transferred to airline frequent flyer programs and used to purchase award tickets.
The Best Cards for Transferring to Airline Partners
One of the best potential values for your rewards points may be realized by transferring the points to airline partners and subsequently redeem those miles for business or first class award flights.
There are several rewards programs that allow you to transfer points to airline frequent flyer programs. Let’s look at a few travel rewards cards that earn this type of transferable points.
American Express® Gold Card
The Amex Gold card earns flexible Membership Rewards points that can be used to purchase premium flights via Amex Travel, or transferred to airline partners for potentially greater value when redeeming for award flights via a frequent flyer program.
How To Use the Card To Upgrade Your Airline Experience
Membership Rewards in your account can be transferred to several airline frequent flyer programs, most at a ratio of 1:1. You can then use the miles to purchase award flights with the respective airline and its partners.
Transferring rewards to the American Express transfer partners is one of the best ways to receive top value for your rewards points, especially for business and first class tickets.
Several Amex cards that earn Membership Rewards points (we mentioned a few earlier in this article) also allow you to transfer points to airline partners.
To find out if your card has this benefit, log in to your online Amex card account, click on Rewards, then Transfer Points. A list of current transfer partners will appear.
Hot Tip: Watch for bonus offers where Membership Rewards points may be transferred at a ratio better than 1:1. An example of a past transfer bonus includes a 30% bonus when transferring points to Virgin Atlantic, and a 25% bonus when transferring to Air France.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
How To Use the Card To Upgrade Your Airline Experience
Additionally, you can redeem Chase Sapphire Preferred card Ultimate Rewards points via the Chase travel portal for 1.25 cents each. As mentioned previously, redeeming points via the travel portal for international business or first class tickets may not deliver good value due to the relative pricing of such flights. However, domestic first class or inexpensive business and first class flights may be worthwhile.
Hot Tip: Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred between Chase cards. Points earned on no-annual-fee Chase cards, for example, can be transferred to premium Chase cards such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and Chase Sapphire Preferred card to be redeemed for up to 50% more value when used for travel via the Chase travel portal. Check out our comparison of these 2 premium Chase cards.
How To Use Capital One Cards To Upgrade Your Airline Experience
Capital One’s airline transfer partners mostly have a transfer ratio of 1:1, so there is great value found when transferring rewards and then purchasing premium flights with miles.
Log into your Capital One card online account and on the homepage select Transfer Miles. You’ll then see the list of transfer partners.
The $300 annual travel credit on the Capital One Venture X card is also a good resource for securing a flight upgrade. You’ll need to make the purchase via Capital One Travel to trigger the statement credit. Additionally, the cash portion, when combining miles and cash to pay for an upgrade or first class ticket, is also an option for triggering the $300 travel credit.
Citi ThankYou Rewards Cards
When your Citi ThankYou Rewards credit card earns ThankYou Points, you can find value in transferring those points to airline partners for the purpose of purchasing a business or first class award ticket.
How To Use Citi Cards To Upgrade Your Airline Experience
Citi’s airline partners all offer a transfer ratio of 1:1 if you hold a premium card such as the Citi Premier card. Transfers can be made by logging in to your online Citi card account, selecting Travel, then Transfer Points.
Hot Tip: In addition to the option of transferring rewards points to airline frequent flyer programs for purchasing premium award tickets, many airlines allow you to upgrade paid flights or even award flights using miles. Terms apply, but it’s wise to compare the 2 options. Additionally, consider that there may be taxes and fees that apply when using miles to purchase award tickets via a frequent flyer program.
The Best Cards for Complimentary Upgraded Seating
Yes, there are actually cards that can give you an advantage for securing a complimentary upgraded airline seat!
How To Use the Cards To Upgrade Your Airline Experience
Simply having the Delta Reserve card will increase your chances of an upgraded seat. Complimentary upgrades are distributed based on several factors and in order of importance:
Delta SkyMiles cardholders who have met the Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD) Waiver in the current calendar year
Date and time of upgrade request (the tiebreaker)
Let’s look at an example of how the Delta Reserve card works for securing upgrades. If, for example, 2 separate travelers each have Diamond Medallion status and each has a K-class ticket, the traveler with the Delta Reserve card will get the upgrade over the traveler who does not have the card.
Cardholders who have the Delta Reserve card, Delta Reserve Business card, Delta Platinum card, or Delta Platinum Business card will also have a complimentary upgrade advantage after meeting the current year Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD) waiver requirement of $25,000 spent on the card in a calendar year.
With elevated earnings, airline-centric benefits, a faster path to elite status, and an advantage when it comes to complimentary seat upgrades, premium Delta-branded cards make sense for the Delta loyalist.
Very few credit cards offer any upgraded seating benefits for airline flights. United-branded credit cards that charge an annual fee, such as the United Explorer card, are the exception. MileagePlus Premier elite members who hold these United-branded credit cards qualify for complimentary upgrades on award flights.
Bottom Line: The Delta Reserve card and the business version of the card offer cardmembers an advantage over other Delta elites for receiving complimentary upgrades. Cardmembers who have either of those cards or the Delta Platinum card can meet minimum spending requirements for the annual MQD waivers and also have a complimentary upgrade advantage. United-branded cards that charge an annual fee offer cardmembers that are elite members complimentary upgrades on award flights.
Final Thoughts
There are so many options for securing a seat in the front of the plane with points earned on a premium travel rewards card. In addition, some of the best airline credit cards give you an advantage for securing complimentary upgrades.
If you frequent a particular airline or function as a free agent using whichever airline has the best price and schedule, travel rewards cards could offer an upgraded airline experience in either situation.
Whether it’s securing an upgrade on an existing flight, purchasing a business or first class flight with points, transferring points to airline partners, or gaining an advantage for a complimentary upgrade, chances are there’s a card that can help you obtain that elusive seat up front.
For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.
The information regarding the Business Green Rewards Card from American Express was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here. For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here. For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here. For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, click here. For rates and fees of Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, click here. For rates and fees for the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card, click here. For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, click here. For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card, click here. For rates and fees of the American Express® Green Card, click here.
Normally, airline-branded credit cards do not offer free seat upgrades. A few cards, such as the premium Delta Reserve cards, give the cardholder priority over those who do not have the card.
Additionally, some United-branded cards offer the opportunity for cardholders who are Premier members to receive upgrades on United award flights.
While no card can guarantee you a complimentary seat upgrade, cards that earn flexible currencies, such as Membership Rewards points, Ultimate Rewards points, Capital One miles, or ThankYou Points, can be used to purchase business or first class airline tickets.
Some Amex cards that earn Membership Rewards may also offer the opportunity to use points to bid for seat upgrades with the Upgrade with Points feature.
A few airline credit cards, as mentioned previously, help elevate your chances for a complimentary upgrade.
Premium Amex cards offer an option to upgrade flights on Amex’s airline partners using Membership Rewards points.
If your flight is with one of the participating airline partners, you will be able to bid for an upgrade using this Upgrade with Points feature.
Yes, most airline miles expire. The length of time varies by airline frequent flyer program but generally, most points do not expire if there has been recent earning or redemption activity in your account. Delta SkyMiles and United MileagePlus miles, however, do not expire.
If you are planning to transfer rewards points to frequent flyer programs to purchase award flights, be sure the flights you want are available before making the transfer, and initiate the request promptly.
Once points are transferred to the airline, the transaction cannot be reversed.
Christine ran her own business developing and managing insurance and financial services. This stoked a passion for points and miles and she now has over 2 dozen credit cards and creates in-depth, detailed content for UP.
Disclaimer: Any comments listed below are not from the bank advertiser, nor have they been reviewed or approved by them. No responsibility will be taken by the bank advertiser for these comments.
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