If it feels like every airline is dangling a big credit card bonus right now, you’re not imagining it. As summer travel ramps up, Alaska, American, Delta, and Southwest, are all running elevated welcome offers on their co-branded cards — and United just wrapped up its own increased offers a couple of weeks ago.
If you’ve been thinking about adding an airline card to your wallet, the timing is hard to ignore. I generally recommend flexible point cards over airline-branded cards, but the right combination of bonus points and airline benefits can also make a lot of sense.
But “limited time” is a phrase the credit card industry leans on all year, and a big bonus number isn’t the same thing as a good deal. The offer worth chasing depends on how you travel, how much you’d have to spend to earn it, and whether the card still earns its keep once the bonus has posted. Here’s a simple way to size up any airline card offer — and how this summer’s biggest ones stack up.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on One Mile at a Time.
