Best Travel Credit Cards for Travel Miles
I often get asked which credit cards I use for travel. Although I can share with you my opinion and what I use it may not be right for you. All of these cards are mainly intended for travel purposes and most of them have a hefty annual fee. If you use the benefits it is 100% worth it however if you do not travel a lot they are not.
These cards are for UK citizens. I have found that other countries such as the US have more variety of travel credit cards for travel miles available however as a UK citizen you will be unable to obtain them.
I wouldn’t recommend getting these cards for people who don’t travel a lot. I am looking at people who travel 5 times a year or more to get the full benefit. Also, take note of your annual spending. The free cards offer £20,000 annual spend to get a companion voucher while the paid cards are £10,000 spend which is a lot more doable but at a cost.
Virgin Atlantic Reward Credit Cards
These are all credit cards that are offered by Virgin. You will receive Virgin points to be used on your next Virgin Atlantic flight. Virgin also has a current account under Virgin Money however this is different than the cards below.
| Virgin Atlantic Reward Credit Card | Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card | |
| Welcome Bonus | None | 15,000 points – you just need to make one transaction on your card to receive it. |
| Virgin Points | 0.75 Virgin Points for every £1 you spend on everyday card purchases. | 1.5 Virgin Points for every £1 spent on everyday purchases. |
| Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Holidays | 1.5 points for every £1 you spend with Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Holidays. | 3 points for every £1 spent directly with Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Holidays. |
| Upgrade to Premium or a Companion ticket | £20,000 in a year | £10,000 in a year |
| Annual Fee | None | £160 |
The Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card does offer an additional bonus at certain times of the year where you can get an additional 15,000 Virgin Points (this is on top of the welcome bonus). You need to spend £3,000 within 90 days of opening your account for an extra 15,000 points. This is a great bonus as it can take you on a round trip to destinations such as New York, Florida or the Caribbean in economy class.
If it was me I would choose the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card especially if the limited offer with bonus points is available. If you spend £10,000 in the year and get 1.5 Virgin Points for every £1 spent, however, there is a £160 annual fee.
American Express Credit Cards
British Airways American Express and Premium Plus Credit Card
These two cards are great for people who travel a lot using Avios. You will need to have a BA executive account (which is free to sign up). If you don’t travel with British Airways or any airlines that are part of OneWorld then these cards aren’t for you. British Airways is a part of the One World alliance. You can gain Avios points by travelling with any airline associated with One World.
One World Member Airlines are:
- Alaska Airlines,
- American Airlines,
- British Airways,
- Cathay Pacific,
- Finn Air,
- Iberia,
- Japan Airlines,
- Malaysia Airlines,
- Qantas,
- Qatar Airways,
- Royal Air Maroc,
- Royal Jordanian,
- Sri Lankan Airlines,
- Fiji Airways (Oneworld Connect member),
- Oman Air (Future Member).
Note: Although you can earn Avois through all the airlines above you can only use your Companion Voucher flying with British Airways.
| British Airways American Express Credit Card | British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card | |
| Welcome Bonus | Collect 5,000 bonus Avios when you spend £1,000 in your first three months of Cardmembership | Collect 25,000 bonus Avios when you spend £3,000 in your first three months of Cardmembership |
| Annual Fee | £0 | £250 |
| Benefits | No annual fee 1 Avios for every £1 spend on everyday purchases Get a Companion Voucher when you spend £12,000 each year | Get a Companion Voucher when you spend £10,000 each year 1.5 Avios for every £1 spend on everyday purchases 3 Avios for every £1 spent with British Airways or BA Holidays |
American Express Rewards Credit Cards
American Express Rewards Credit Cards are great for people who want to spread out their rewards to perhaps a hotel chain or other airline alliances other than Avios. For every pound you spend, you get 1 point which can be used to convert to Nectar points, emirates or Hilton so you can get money off your shopping or gain enough points to earn free stays in a hotel. You can of course add them to Avios if you prefer but you have more options as to where your points go.
| American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card | American Express The Platinum Card | |
| Welcome Bonus | Earn 20,000 Membership Rewards® points when you spend £3,000 in your first three months of card membership. | £0 for the first year £160 after |
| Annual Fee | £0 for the first year and £160 after | £575 |
| Benefits | Earn 1 point for every £1 spent and 2 points for airline purchases 4 Free passes to Priority Pass Air Lounges Get a £5 Deliveroo statement credit – twice every month Transfer points to 12 airline partners’ loyalty programmes | Get up to £100 in statement credits at Harvey Nichols every year, in-store and online Unlimited access to over 1,400 airport lounges that are part of Priority Pass. Worldwide travel protection for you, your family and Supplementary Cardmembers |
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card is a great first card for anyone who travels even a little bit. The first year is free (you just have to remember to cancel) and you can get 2 points for airline purchases. You also get 4 free passes to air lounges that are part of Priority Pass. Do remember that you are not guaranteed entry to air lounges and you may be refused if the air lounge is full.
American Express The Platinum Card
The American Express Platinum Card has a hefty charge to it however you can add another cardholder completely free of charge. This can then allow you to share the cost of the card so £287.50 each per year which doesn’t sound so bad. This card is worth it if you travel a lot.
The air lounge perk is great however you are not guaranteed entry into any lounge and I have been refused entry as it was at full capacity. You are also only allowed in there up to three hours before your flight and no earlier. The maximum time you have in the air lounge is three hours. As for the travel insurance, it doesn’t cover people over the age of 70 something I wished I had known before signing up.
In my opinion, if you travel 4-5 times a year it is worth it for the travel insurance and the air lounge access otherwise I wouldn’t bother. If you have a partner or friend you would want to share it with it may also be worthwhile.
American Express Cashback Credit Cards
Although the credit cards listed below are not intended for use of travel miles. I would recommend these cashback cards for people who are new to credit cards or are a little short on cash (as you get cashback on your everyday spending). The cashback you can then use for when you travel.
| Platinum Cashback Everyday Credit Card | Platinum Cashback Credit Card | |
| Welcome Bonus | Get 5% cashback on your purchases (up to £100) for the first three months of Cardmembership | Get 5% cashback on your purchases (up to £125) for the first three months of Cardmembership |
| Annual Fee | £0 | |
| Benefits | No annual fee Earn up to 1% cashback on purchases American Express Offers® | No annual fee Earn up to 1% cash back on purchases American Express Offers® |
Barclaycard Avios Credit Cards
Barclays introduced these cards only a few years ago and are therefore fairly new. The British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card was the only Avios card available until now. I prefer the Barclaycard Avios Plus Credit Card as it can be used anywhere unlike American Express where some shops don’t accept it.
Both of these cards have the same fee although Barclaycard is paid monthly while American Express is annual. They also both have a £10,000 annual spend for a companion voucher and offer 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent as well as having the same welcome bonus. The only difference is British Airways American Express offers 3 Avios for every £1 spent with British Airways or British Airways Holidays, something to consider if you pay via British Airways.
| Barclaycard Avios Credit Card | Barclaycard Avios Plus Credit Card | |
| Welcome Bonus | Collect 5,000 Avios if you spend £1,000 in the first three months. | Collect 25,000 Avios if you spend £3,000 in the first three months. |
| Annual Fee | £0 | £250 |
| Points | Collect 1 Avios for every £1 spent on eligible purchases | Collect 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent on eligible purchases |
| British Airways cabin upgrade voucher or 7,000 bonus Avios | £20,000 Annual Spend | £10,000 Annual Spend |
| Perks | None | Airport Lounge Membership at a discounted rate of £18.50 per lounge pass, per person. |
Curve Card
Curve Card is not associated with a bank and you cannot put money onto the card itself. It is used as an “in-between” card where you can put all your Visa, Mastercard and now Papal accounts on the card therefore only taking your Curve Card shopping with you. You can select which card you then want to pay with within the Curve App.
| Curve Cards Available | Curve (the O.G) Free  | Curve X £4.99/month  | Curve Black £9.99/month  | Curve Metal £14.99/month  |
| Your Cards in One | Add up to 3 cards | Add up to 5 cards | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Card Delivery Fee | £4.99 | Free Delivery | Free Delivery | Free Delivery |
| Works with all Mastercard and Visa cards | X | X | X | X |
| Works with Google Pay, Samsung Pay and Apple Pay | X | X | X | X |
| Secure iOS and Android App | X | X | X | X |
| Curve Customer Protection up to £100,000 | X | X | X | X |
| Say goodbye to declines: Anti-Embarrassment Mode | X | X | X | X |
| Go Back in Time: move previous payments between your cards | 3 per rolling 30 days | Up to 60 days | Up to 90 days | Up to 120 days |
| Access to fair FX rates (additional fees may apply) | £1,000 | £2,000 | Unlimited fee-free monthly allowance | Unlimited fee-free monthly allowance |
| Fee-free foreign ATM withdrawals | £200/month | £200/month | £400/month | £600/month |
| Smart Rules: decide which card spends when | 2 rules | 5 rules | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Add your business cards | X | X | X | |
| Curve Cash: 1% Cashback (Find out more) | 3 selected retailers (unlimited time) | 6 selected retailers (unlimited time)* | ||
| Crypto Rewards: Earn rewards in different crypto currencies | Bitcoin only | X | X | |
| Worldwide Travel Insurance | X | X | ||
| Mobile Phone Insurance | X | |||
| Worldwide Airport LoungeKey Access | X | |||
| Car Hire Excess Insurance | X | |||
| Premium 18g metal card (4 colours) | X |
- American Express does not work on ANY Curve Cards
- The best feature is the go back in time feature where you can change where you spent money after you’ve spent it.
- Beware of using your Curve card abroad (in foreign currency) on weekends as it charges you an extra fee.
- For those of you who are self-employed, you can pay your Taxes with Curve (free for Curve Metal up to £3000 30-day rolling period but it is a 2.5% charge after that)
- It is also worth noting that Curve is digital therefore there are no branches. The chat in Curve can take a while for someone to get back to you if you have any issues. It took me 3 working days to get a response from the chat function on the app.
Curve card is great overseas as it uses the FX exchange rate which means you can use it as an in-between card to load your credit card to get you extra points. This service does however charge you a little for using the card on weekends however it is still worth it in my opinion.
Which Travel Credit Cards for Travel Miles do I currently use?
These are the personal credit cards I currently use.
For most of my banking in the UK and Europe, I use a Virgin Money Reward+ Credit Card. This gives me 1.5 virgin points per £1 and it is free to use in Europe. It uses the Mastercard exchange rate.
For paying on my card outside Europe I use Revolut as it uses an interbank exchange rate and has multiple currencies in the app so I can easily exchange money.
For withdrawing money abroad I always use Staling Bank as it has an unlimited withdrawal fee. Revolut is currently free for withdrawing £200 a month after that there is a fee.
I also have Curve Metal which links all my cards together.
If you are looking at getting a debit card you can find my recommendations here.
I have used American Express in the past however I have had a discrepancy with them and they refused to pay me back my money so I have cancelled my card. There bonuses for first-time users are great however I couldn’t justify having two credit cards that both have an annual fee. Always be aware with getting an American Express (Amex) card that fees are high if you do not pay the card back in full every month and not all establishments accept it.
