What should I check before applying for an airline credit card?

The seven point checklist

Run through this list right before you submit an airline card application. Each item takes a minute, and any single miss can turn a good card into a wasted annual fee.

• check_circleFlight history: did you fly this airline at least two or three times in the last 12 months, or will you next year?
• check_circlePerk math: do the benefits you will actually use (checked bags, boarding, statement credits) add up to more than the annual fee?
• check_circleWelcome offer: can you hit the spending requirement with purchases you were making anyway?
• check_circleIssuer rules: does an application rule (like Chase's five cards in 24 months practice) or a repeat bonus restriction apply to you?
• check_circleFee timing: is the first year fee waived, and when does the full fee hit?
• check_circleOverlap: does a card you already hold give you the same perks or the same miles?
• check_circleExit plan: is there a no fee version you could move down to later if the fee stops making sense?

Start with your flight history, not the offer

Airline cards only pay off if you fly that airline. Pull up your last year of bookings before you look at any welcome offer. If most of your flights were on whichever carrier was cheapest, a card locked to one airline is usually the wrong tool, and a general travel card is the better fit.

Also check the airline's route map from your home airport. An airline card is strongest when the airline operates a hub where you live, because that is where its schedule, upgrade chances, and lounge network are deepest.

Price the perks you will actually use

Issuer marketing adds up every possible credit. Your math should only count perks you would have paid cash for. Checked bag fees on the big United States airlines now run roughly 35 to 50 dollars each way for the first bag, so a bag benefit is easy to price honestly.

Check issuer application rules before you apply

Chase generally declines applicants who have opened five or more personal credit cards from any bank in the last 24 months. That practice covers United and Southwest cards. Count your newly opened cards from every issuer before applying for a Chase airline card.

American Express usually offers each welcome bonus once per person per card, and Citi's American Airlines card offers carry their own waiting periods in the offer terms. Read the exclusion language on the application page. Applying when you are excluded costs you a credit check for nothing.

Confirm you can meet the spending requirement honestly

A typical airline card offer requires 3,000 to 5,000 dollars of purchases in three months. The United Explorer Card, for example, currently offers 50,000 bonus miles after 3,000 dollars in three months plus 10,000 more for adding an authorized user. Divide the requirement by three and compare it to your normal monthly card spending. If you would need to buy things you do not need, the bonus is costing you money.

Final checks at the moment you apply

• check_circleScreenshot the offer terms so you can hold the issuer to them.
• check_circleConfirm the annual fee and whether year one is waived. The Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select waives its 99 dollar fee the first year; the United Explorer waives its 150 dollar fee the first year.
• check_circleAdd your airline loyalty number to your profile so perks like free bags attach correctly.
• check_circleSet a calendar reminder for 11 months out to re-run the perk math before the fee renews.

Common questions

Keep reading