This month’s blog post is focused on Travel Credit Cards! Travel Credit cards are great for earning miles on items you already plan to be purchasing. If you do not already have any credit cards, I would first recommend getting one with a zero annual fee. I personally love my zero annual Discover It Credit Card because it has 5% rotating categories that rotate every three months. Alternatively, the Gateway level of the Chase United Line Credit Cards also has a zero annual fee and is linked at the end of this article. You can learn more about why I first recommend opening a zero annual fee credit card at the blog post here: https://stemchangemaker.org/2021/08/31/danis-declassified-guide-to-credit-scores/

Below I will focus on the first credit card I got that has an annual fee – the Chase United Explorer MileagePlus. This card has a $95 annual fee which I pay every July, though the first year was free.

Reasoning Behind Choosing this Card

I looked at a fair number of airplane partner cards and ultimately chose to go with United first (I do now also have an American Airlines Credit Card) for a few reasons. The first was that United is primarily what we fly to and from Denver and we go there usually once a year for snowboarding. Because one of their perks is a free first checked bag for both yourself and a companion, this was great for us since we need to check our snowboards and boots each way. The other perk that really sold this card was Global Entry or TSA preCHECK or NEXUS fee credit. For as long as you keep this card open, you get a credit of up to $100 every four years as reimbursement if you charge the application fee to your card. Ergo, every four years this perk alone offsets the price of the annual fee. There are many other benefits I use which I will explain below.

Benefits I have used

When I first got this card, I received a complimentary DashPass Membership for a one-year duration. At the time of publishing this post, this cost $9.99 a month, so if you use this service already, you will save approximately $119 that year.

You also get 2 United Club one-time passes each year you renew the card. As of May 2023, a United one-time pass costs $59 per person, so this is worth $118 each year if you use both of them. Note you do have to be flying United to use them. You will also get Priority Boarding on any of your United flights that you book using your United Credit Card.

As I mentioned previously, this card comes with a free first checked bag on each United flight for yourself and 1 companion! Based on current estimates, this saves you $30 each way since that is the price for the first bag for each person one way (as long as it is under 50 lbs.)

As a Chase card member, you also get access to https://www.lhrcollection.com/ which is their luxury hotel and resort partners. When you book using this site and your Chase card, several benefits may be included. The possibilities include Daily Breakfast for Two, A Special Benefit Worth Up to $100, Room Upgrades, Early Check-in and/or Late Check-out. For example, when we were in Hawaii at the Halepuna Waikiki By Halekulani, we got a free room upgrade, free daily Breakfast for two, and $100 Resort Credit which we used to get drinks by the pool. Anytime we are traveling, I now check this website first before booking any hotels since there can be some great perks!

^{My partner with our daily free breakfast}

Another more indirect benefit is the various Chase offers I will get throughout the year. In the app and online, you can activate between 5% and 25% cash back on various purchases in the categories of Groceries, Food & Drink, Gas & Auto, Shopping, Travel, Home & Pet, Entertainment, Health & Beauty and more! My personal favorites are On the Border and Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

You also get 2x miles on United® purchases, dining & hotel stay, so I love using this card when I travel. For all other purchases, you get 1 mile per $1 which is nice. During our first year with the card, my partner and I traveled round trip to Denver, CO for $11.20 each when we cashed in 40k miles that I earned through the card.

Benefits I haven’t used

The main benefit I haven’t used yet is 25% back on United inflight purchases because I don’t typically buy anything on flights, especially if we just use our United Club passes and just had free drinks and food before boarding. It is a great discount if I ever do want to buy something inflight!

If you are interested in this card or any other cars in the Chase United line, please visit: https://www.referyourchasecard.com/215N/MJZCW8GSFJ. Note this is an affiliate link.