Best Cards to Turn Your Holiday Spend Into Free Travel (2022)

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Somehow, it’s already November! The leaves have turned and fallen off the trees, the temperatures have started to drop below freezing, and there’s not much left of the Halloween candy. Thanksgiving is quickly approaching, and Christmas is around the corner. 

This time of year typically comes with increased expenditures. Nobody really likes spending more money, but if you’re in the miles and points world, you know that increased spending means more opportunities to open cards to meet credit card welcome bonuses.

Before you start

If you are new to miles and points, this is a great time of year to start. There are some really great welcome bonuses right now and minimum spends may be easier to meet with holiday and end of year spending. However, if you don’t have any travel credit cards yet, we recommend you start with our Travel Hacking 101 series and, when you’re ready, pick one of our favorite two starter cards. 

If you’ve already opened a card – or have a stack of cards – remember that the ground rules of travel hacking still apply during the holidays. Make the most of your holiday and end of year spending by earning free travel, but DO NOT spend money you don’t have! Don’t go into debt to fund travel or Christmas gifts or other discretionary expenses.

Favorite cards this season

There are some great welcome bonuses right now, so let’s turn some of your holiday spending into free travel! These are our favorite cards right now. Some of them we love for their year round perks, and some of them we just love for their high welcome bonuses.

We have included some great business card offers here. Don’t ignore them just because you don’t have an LLC – even if you have a small side hustle, you probably qualify. For more information on opening business cards, check out How to Open a Business Credit Card.

Capital One Venture X

We love this card all year round. You can read our full review of the Venture X here. In short, the $395 annual fee includes great benefits including:

• a $300 travel credit each year,
• lounge access for your whole family,
• a TSA PreCheck/Global Entry statement credit,
• cell phone protection,
• primary rental car insurance,
• extended warranty protection,
• trip cancellation and interruption insurances, and
• trip delay reimbursement

The Capital One Venture X’s current offer will get you 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 in 3 months. So what can 75,000 miles get you?

• $750 in travel through the Capital One travel portal or the travel “eraser”
• 5 nights at a one bedroom Vacasa vacation rental (Wyndham Rewards)
• 5 round trip tickets to anywhere within the U.S., including Hawaii (Turkish Airlines)
• 3 nights in Venice, Italy at the Hotel Aquarius (Choice Privileges)

Chase Sapphire Reserve

The Chase Sapphire Reserve is another premium card with a premium annual fee ($550). Like the Capital One Venture X card, the Sapphire Reserve also comes with some benefits that make it worth considering. You can read our guide to the Sapphire Reserve here.

We love that the Chase Sapphire Reserve earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points and can be redeemed through the Chase travel portal at 1.5x. What we really love about the Reserve card right NOW though is the welcome bonus. With a current bonus of 80,000 points, this is the highest offer we’ve seen since 2017 and, right now, it has a higher offer than the Chase Sapphire Preferred (one of our favorite starter cards).

Note that if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred right now or have received a bonus from either Sapphire card in the past 48 months, you will not be eligible for this offer.

A lot of the features we love about the Sapphire Reserve are the same things we love about the Capital One Venture X, including:

• a $300 travel credit each year,
• lounge access,
• a TSA PreCheck/Global Entry statement credit,
• primary rental car insurance,
• extended warranty protection,
• trip cancellation and interruption insurances,
• trip delay reimbursement,
• Instacart+ membership and monthly Instacart credits, and
• DoorDash DashPash membership and monthly DoorDash credits.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve’s current offer will get you 80,000 points when you spend $4,000 in the first three months of account opening. So what can 80,000 points get you?

• $1,200 of travel through the Chase travel portal
• $1,200 of statement credits (through December 31, 2022) for AirBnB purchases
• $800 of cash back
• 80,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards miles
• 80,000 United MileagePlus miles
• 3+ nights at an all inclusive Hyatt resort
• 22 nights at a Category 1 Hyatt hotel
• 3 round trip tickets from the West Coast to Hawaii (British Airways)
• 2-4 round trip tickets from the East Coast to Europe (+taxes and fees) on AirFrance or KLM (FlyingBlue)

Chase Ink Business Cash and Ink Business Unlimited

The Chase Ink Business Cash and Business Unlimited both have their highest welcome bonuses ever right now. Earn $900 bonus cash back (which can be converted to 90,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points if you have one of the Chase Sapphire cards or the Chase Ink Business Preferred) after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. These cards typically offer 75,000 points after spending $7,500 in the first 3 months.

We love these business cards because – not only do they earn Ultimate Rewards – they have no annual fee and they don’t count towards your Chase 5/24 score. Remember though, as a Chase card, you’ll only be eligible for one of these cards if you have not opened five or more personal cards in the past 24 months.

If you don’t have a fee-paying card that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards (Chase Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire Preferred or the Ink Business Preferred), you will not be able to transfer your bonus points to any of Chase’s 11 airline partners or 3 hotel partners. However, you’ll still be able to use your Ultimate Rewards for:

• $900 cash back
• $900 of travel through the Chase travel portal

If you do have a Sapphire or Ink Business Preferred card, you’ll be able to transfer your points to get the best value out of this bonus.

What can your 90,000 points get you when transferred?

• 90,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards miles
• 90,000 United MileagePlus miles
• 4+ nights at an all inclusive Hyatt resort
• 25 nights at a Category 1 Hyatt hotel
• 3 round trip tickets from the West Coast to Hawaii (British Airways)
• 4+ round trip tickets from the East Coast to Europe (+taxes and fees) on AirFrance or KLM (FlyingBlue)

Citi Premier Card

The Citi Premier Card typically has a welcome bonus of 60,000 points. The current welcome bonus of 80,000 miles after spending $4,000 in 3 months is the highest offer we’ve seen. Unlike the Venture X and Sapphire Reserve, the Citi Premier card has an annual fee of only $95.

The Citi Premier has great earning rates of 3x points for each dollar spent at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, and on air travel and hotels. Citi cards also offer the best extended warranty available at an additional 2 years of warranty on items that you purchase with the card. You can read our guide to the Citi Premier card here.

The Citi Premier card offers some good redemption options, with the sweet spot being Choice Hotels. Citi ThankYou points transfer to Choice at a rate of 1:2 (so 1,000 ThankYou points can transfer to 2,000 Choice Privileges points).

Put your holiday spend on this card and you can use your 80,000 points for:

• $800 in gift cards
• 6 nights at the Hotel Aquarius in Venice (Choice Privileges)
• 10 nights in Paris (Choice Privileges)
• 2-4 round trip tickets from the East Coast to Europe (+taxes and fees) on AirFrance or KLM (FlyingBlue)
• 5 round trip tickets to anywhere within the U.S., including Hawaii (Turkish Airlines)

Southwest Rapid Rewards Card

Now is the perfect time to be opening Southwest Rapid Rewards cards in order to earn a Companion Pass valid for 2023-2024! We aren’t recommending any one card since the cards you open will really depend on your strategy.

All the personal Rapid Rewards cards currently have welcome bonuses of 75,000 points! Pair any personal card with a couple referrals or a Southwest business card – and closely follow the timing outlined in Katie’s Companion Pass Trick post – in order to get the points needed to earn a Companion Pass in early 2023. This will allow you to choose a companion to fly with you for only the cost of taxes through 2024!

Fly anywhere with your loved one for up to 2 years? How’s that for a great Christmas present!?!

Sign up below to get the Companion Pass Guide with our recommended timelines and different card combinations.

AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard

The AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard is currently at its high offer of 80,000 miles. This card has a lower spend requirement to reach the bonus ($2,000 in 90 days) and a statement credit that will cover the annual fee the first year.

If you regularly fly American Airlines, this card will offer value in getting you preferred boarding and a free checked bag on domestic itineraries.

If you don’t regularly fly American Airlines, this card will get you 80,000 miles to pad your AAdvantage account for the next time you need to fly American. Since these points will transfer directly to your AAdvantage account, your points will remain in your account even if you close your card.

Make sure to provide your mileage account number whenever you apply for an airline card so that your credit card and mileage account are linked from the start. If you don’t have an AAdvantage account, sign up (it’s free) here before you apply for your card.

While most U.S. airlines have switched over to dynamic pricing for award tickets (meaning the number of points fluctuates with demand), American Airlines still has an award chart. See the chart below to find out how you can turn your holiday spend into free travel with this card!

JetBlue Business Card

If you fly jetBlue and qualify for a business card, this is a good card to get for a year. Since it’s a business card, it won’t count against your 5/24. After you spend $2,000 in the first 90 days, you will get a statement credit to cover your first year’s annual fee, along with 80,000 miles.

Unlike American Airlines, jetBlue does not have an award chart. This means that how many points a flight will cost will fluctuate based on demand.

JetBlue TrueBlue points are typically worth 1.1-1.5 cents each, so you should be able to get about $800-$1,200 in value from this sign up bonus! Your points don’t expire and, if you are short on points, jetBlue allows you to pay for any JetBlue operated flight with a combination of dollars and TrueBlue points.

Be sure to enter your TrueBlue number in when you open this card, and if you aren’t already a TrueBlue member (it’s free), sign up before you apply.

Hilton Honors American Express Business

Turn your holiday spend into free hotel nights! As a business card, this won’t count towards your 5/24, and the low annual fee will get you 10 Priority Pass visits per year. At $5,000 in the first 3 months, the spend on this card is a higher than our other favorites this holiday season, but may be more achievable if you have a lot of holiday and end of year expenditures!

If you spend $10,000 on this card in the first 6 months, you’ll earn a free night award.

If you are planning a trip in 2023 and would appreciate staying in a Hilton, this card may be a good option. This card will also get you complimentary Hilton Gold status, which will get you space available room upgrades and, depending on the hotel, may get you daily food and beverage credits (within the U.S.) or complimentary continental breakfast (non-U.S. hotels).

If you will be flying, just the 10 Priority Pass airport lounge visits make it worth the annual fee!

If you can’t meet the minimum spend or don’t qualify as a business (and remember, you don’t need an actual business to qualify for a business card), Hilton also has some personal cards you may want to consider.

Hilton Honors points are typically valued at about 0.5 cents per points, so this sign up bonus will get you about $650 in value.

Editorial Disclosure – Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.