Category

Which card earns most on flights

Every card we track, ranked by what it actually returns per dollar of flights spending — annual fee shown beside it, because a rate that loses to its own fee is not a good rate.

Rates re-checked against issuer pages; most recent check September 2, 2026.

Top of the table: Amex Business Platinum at 8.5¢ per dollar, against a $895 annual fee. Whether that beats a free card depends entirely on how much flights spending you actually put through it.

Flights — every card we track

#CardRateValue per $Annual feeNotes
1 Amex Business Platinum
American Express
8.5¢ $895
2 Amex Platinum
American Express
8.5¢ $895
3 Capital One Venture X Business
Capital One
$395 conditional
4 Chase Sapphire Reserve
Chase
7.2¢ $795
5 Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business
Chase
7.2¢ $795 conditional
6 Chase Ink Business Preferred
Chase
5.4¢ $95 conditional
7 Amex Business Gold
American Express
5.1¢ $375 cap $150,000
8 Amex Gold
American Express
5.1¢ $325
9 Capital One Spark Cash Plus
Capital One
5% $150
10 Chase Freedom Unlimited
Chase
5%
11 Chase Ink Business Premier
Chase
5% $195 conditional
12 Citi Strata Premier
Citi
4.5¢ $95
13 Atmos Rewards Ascent Visa Signature
Bank of America / Alaska
4.2¢ $95 conditional
14 United Explorer
Chase / United
3.9¢ $150 conditional
15 Bilt Obsidian Card
Bilt
3.6¢ $95
16 Bilt Palladium Card
Bilt
3.6¢ $495
17 Chase Sapphire Preferred
Chase
3.6¢ $95
18 World of Hyatt
Chase / Hyatt
3.4¢ $95
19 Capital One Venture
Capital One
3.2¢ $95
20 Capital One Venture Business
Capital One
3.2¢ $95
21 Capital One Venture X
Capital One
3.2¢ $395 conditional
22 Wells Fargo Autograph
Wells Fargo
23 Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus
Chase / Southwest
2.6¢ $99 conditional
24 Delta SkyMiles Gold Amex
American Express / Delta
2.4¢ $150
25 Citi Double Cash
Citi
2%
26 Bilt Blue Card
Bilt / Wells Fargo
1.8¢
27 Chase Ink Business Unlimited
Chase
1.5% 1.5¢
28 Hilton Honors Amex Surpass
American Express / Hilton
1.5¢ $150
29 Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select
Citi / American Airlines
1.3¢ $99
30 Amex Blue Cash Preferred
American Express
1% $95
31 Capital One SavorOne
Capital One
1% $39
32 Chase Ink Business Cash
Chase
1%
33 Discover it Cash Back
Discover
1%
34 Marriott Bonvoy Boundless
Chase / Marriott
0.7¢ $95

Cents-per-dollar figures use our standard point valuations, not transfer-partner rates. Transferring to an airline or hotel partner at the right moment can beat these numbers; routine redemptions generally will not. We publish the conservative figure on purpose.

Caps matter more than the headline rate for anyone who spends seriously in a category: a 5× rate that stops after $1,500 of spend is a different product from an uncapped 3×. Both are shown above.

This is a curated catalogue of the cards we track, not every card on the market. Rates can change without notice; confirm with the issuer before applying.

Disclosure — some Apply links pay us. Some of the cards listed here carry a referral link and some do not; each card’s own page says which. Where one exists, applying through it earns a referral reward for MaxMyPoints or for someone here, at no cost to you, and the offer through it is sometimes better than the issuer’s public one. Rates here are read from each issuer’s own published page, and the audit ranks cards on published rates and your own spending, and never reads which cards carry a referral link. These pages carry no application links.

All cards we track

This page ranks categories. Your statements know what you actually bought.

A table of published rates can tell you which card is best in theory. It cannot tell you what last year cost you, because it has never seen a line of your spending. The audit reads a full 12 months and prices every purchase against the card you used and the card you should have.

Start my audit