Airline credit card recommendations

[muskrat]

I will need to fly out of a small airport in the next few years that only has American Airlines on a reasonable frequency.  Does anyone have any travel credit cards they would recommend?  I clicked on the MMO link but it only had a Venture card with a $95/year fee.   

[Tasse]

There are several Citi AAdvantage cards with signup bonuses, with bigger bonuses for the cards with higher fees. IIRC, at least one of those cards will waive the fee for the first year. Over the years I have gotten two of these cards, then downgraded them when the annual fee was about to hit.

[NotJen]

Barclaycard also offers American Airlines credit cards.

I alternate between the Citi and Barclay cards (I don't like paying the annual fee) so that I almost always have free checked bags when I fly on AA.

Check out Doctor of Credit for more information about the different AAdvantage cards, and the various rules for applying at Citi and Barclaycard.

[Askel]

Not sure how competitive they are on points, but I like my Bank of America Travel rewards card. One of only a handful of cards that offers no fee foreign transactions with no annual fee and a nice sign up bonus.  Cashed in my rewards to fly out of our small regional airport using the credit card ticket service pretty painlessly.  But the flight ended up getting cancelled with a full refund, which got refunded as cash instead of points which left me with a -1100 point balance or something like that.  In effect, I was able to cash out points I didn't earn yet. Win, win, and almost a win if I didn't need to overcome that point deficit to earn points again.   

[tj]

Barclaycard also offers American Airlines credit cards.

I alternate between the Citi and Barclay cards (I don't like paying the annual fee) so that I almost always have free checked bags when I fly on AA.

Check out Doctor of Credit for more information about the different AAdvantage cards, and the various rules for applying at Citi and Barclaycard.

I prefer the barclay card because they always give you the miles for just one purchase, whereas Citi requires you to put meaningful spend on the card.

[NotJen]

Barclaycard also offers American Airlines credit cards.

I alternate between the Citi and Barclay cards (I don't like paying the annual fee) so that I almost always have free checked bags when I fly on AA.

Check out Doctor of Credit for more information about the different AAdvantage cards, and the various rules for applying at Citi and Barclaycard.

I prefer the barclay card because they always give you the miles for just one purchase, whereas Citi requires you to put meaningful spend on the card.

The Barclay card usually has a $99 fee, which means I'm paying $99 for the miles.  Still pretty cheap, but I like to avoid paying fees as much as possible.

I just lucked out and the fee was waived when I applied for the card yesterday.

[tj]

Barclaycard also offers American Airlines credit cards.

I alternate between the Citi and Barclay cards (I don't like paying the annual fee) so that I almost always have free checked bags when I fly on AA.

Check out Doctor of Credit for more information about the different AAdvantage cards, and the various rules for applying at Citi and Barclaycard.

I prefer the barclay card because they always give you the miles for just one purchase, whereas Citi requires you to put meaningful spend on the card.

The Barclay card usually has a $99 fee, which means I'm paying $99 for the miles.  Still pretty cheap, but I like to avoid paying fees as much as possible.

I just lucked out and the fee was waived when I applied for the card yesterday.

Doesn't the Citi card have an annual fee also?

[NotJen]

Doesn't the Citi card have an annual fee also?

Back when I was getting the Citi cards regularly (before the 48 month rule), the AF was always waived the first year.  Looks like that's currently the case, too.

[index]

I think you are better off getting a more generic card with a good travel bonus. The US Bank Altitude Reserve is my favorite - 3x points for travel and tap-to-pay mobile wallet redeemable for 1.5c:1pt so effectively 4.5% back toward travel. The Chase Sapphire card is 3x for travel and transfers to Southwest and Hyatt or redeemable at 1.25c:1pt through the travel portal - effectively 3.75% back toward the travel portal, 4.2% back toward Southwest, or 6% back toward Hyatt.   

[muskrat]

Thanks everyone for your help!