Best travel credit card for Europe

[jwilliams0215]

My wife and I are starting to plan a trip to Italy in March/April of next year. We currently have the Barlcays Arrival card which has a nice 2.2% cash reward credit on travel expenditures.

However, there are articles that pop up every now and then on getting significant discounts on travel by signing up for new cards prior to travel, utilizing the bonus (notably for flights), and then cancelling thereafter.

Would you recommend it and with what cards? Any tips would be appreciated!

[hexdexorex]

BAA is a good one..often times they run a promotional 100k miles on signup..

Otherwise arrival and venture both have 400-500 dollar travel bonuses (looks like you got the arrival one)

this is a pretty good list...I just signed up for the wellsfargo propel (looks like wellsfargo is finally getting into credit cards in a real way)

http://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/best-credit-card-sign-up-offers/

Also SPG is one people seem to love...I still have not signed up because I dont stay at hotels often..but you can transfer their milage to a ton of airlines...and their 30k offer thats going on right now only happens once a year it seems.

[Hugerat]

Don't forget to factor in foreign transaction fees, which can be quite hefty and can easily wipe out the rewards you are getting. Capital One does not charge foreign transaction fees on any (I think) of their cards. They also have some high rewards cards like the Quicksilver.

[Eurotexan]

Try to get a card with a chip rather than just a magnetic strip. They are slowly being introduced in the US, they have been around in Europe for years. I am from the UK and go back every summer, on numerous occasions I have been told that they can't accept my card because it doesn't have a chip, I end up having to use my UK card, not the end of the world but if I didn't have that I would have been stuck. If you are going to the main touristy places it shouldn't be an issue, it was only a problem for me off the beaten track but I was surprised at how often it happened.

Apart from that I second Barclays Arrival, I have that and love it! Also, don't forget to get your sales tax back when you leave Europe. This is for any goods, doesn't apply to services. Ask for the sales tax refund form when you purchase the item and then allow a little more time at the airport to claim the money back, they generally put it back on your credit card. In the UK at least I get about 10% back, after those pesky fees. Having written all that as Mustacians we shouldn't be shopping much, should we? Ha ha! Enjoy!

[renaite]

DH and I got a new Chase Sapphire for a recent trip to Rome and Paris, and they a huge signing bonus (in points) for spending $1500 on it in the first 2 months I think. No foreign transaction fees, has the chip in it, and their customer service was great when we called to notify them of the upcoming out-of-country charges. We racked up enough points to cover a future trip we had already been planning. I think there was even a bonus for adding me to his account. The rewards are great if you want to use them for other travel, but I haven't seen a cash back option.


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[blackomen]

United has a card that offers 50,000 miles for spending $2000 in the first 3 months (if you apply on their website, they only have the offer for 30,000 miles by spending $1000 in the first 3 mo.)

Then get a Chase sapphire: 40,000 Ultimate Reward points for spending $3000 in the first 3 months.

Use both cards for your regular credit card spending then once you get both rewards, transfer the Ultimate Reward Points to your United account.  You'll probably have enough points for 2 round trip tickets to Europe now.  If you're off by a few thousand points, use manufactured spending to get enough points (google for it if you want details.)

[hexdexorex]

Is there a easier manufactured spending strategy? Did it for a few weeks last year and it was kinda a pain...

I put most of the money on a target amex and took it out at a costco. Not really many walmarts around me to do bluebird.

[jwilliams0215]

United has a card that offers 50,000 miles for spending $2000 in the first 3 months (if you apply on their website, they only have the offer for 30,000 miles by spending $1000 in the first 3 mo.)

Then get a Chase sapphire: 40,000 Ultimate Reward points for spending $3000 in the first 3 months.

Use both cards for your regular credit card spending then once you get both rewards, transfer the Ultimate Reward Points to your United account.  You'll probably have enough points for 2 round trip tickets to Europe now.  If you're off by a few thousand points, use manufactured spending to get enough points (google for it if you want details.)

Great info, I'll have to look in to the manufactured spending so I haven't come across that before. Thank you for the response!

[daverobev]

BofA Travel Rewards - no forex fee, and they do them with a chip (though not PIN).

[former player]

Depends how you will be using it.  If it is for the rewards, go with what has been said above.  If you want something that you can use in the biggest variety of locations and which will be most use in emergencies, make sure you have chip and pin and a card which has the Visa or Access symbol on it.

Also, many outlets either won't take credit cards for small amounts or will charge an extra fee, because the costs imposed on them by the credit card companies take all the profit and more out of small transactions.  So have cash on hand for small purchases.

[Red Beard]

Depending on how recently you got your Barclay Arrival card, you should look into upgrading to the chip and pin card the introduced this past month. The upgrade is free (all cards will eventually be upgraded) and just takes a quick phone call - as others here have pointed out, the pin and chip can be vital in Europe.

The exact credit cards that will benefit you the most depend on where you plan on going. My advice would be to settle on a location, determine which airline and hotels will provide you the best options, and then plan your applications.

In the mean time, some good, flexible cards to look in to are:

-Chase Sapphire Preferred (transferable to airlines OR hotels) and has no forex fee
-Starwood Amex (for use at Starwood hotels but also transferable to airlines)
-Amex Gold/Platinum cards (Again, transferable to many airlines and hotels - if you go this route make sure to search for the best offer out there, as they some times offer 100k points plus)

[jwilliams0215]

Lots of great advice on here and further research to do. My Barlcays card was just upgraded to the chip card technology. I'm covered on that basis.

Now to determine if it's worth to go out of my way for additional credit card bonuses/award points to reduce the expense of the expensive flight to Europe.

My plan now is to see what the best flight options from Tampa are and build my case around that.

[Villanelle]

I live in Europe.  The only place I've had issue with needing chip and pin (which I don't have) is non-tourist areas in Germany.  Admittedly, most of my time in countries outside Germany has been near tourist places, since that's why I'm there, but it isn't nearly as big an issue as many make it out to be.  Unless you are going to be way off the beaten tourist path, I would just make sure you have the ability to withdraw Euro from an ATM without pays fees.  That's probably far more important, IMO, than getting chip and PIN.

Also, in Italy, you'll want some sort of body wallet. 

[Jags4186]

Chase Sapphire Preferred. Ultimate Rewards points are worth a minimum of 1.25 cents each. There is ample ample ways to earn over 1 point per dollar spent. For example I paid about 2.5k for 11 nights in Europe through hotels.com and received 12.5k points--so basically 6.25% cash back or more if used towards reward travel.


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[mrgrump]

We have been living in Belgium for about 8 months and use the chase sapphire preferred. No foreign transaction fees, pin enabled - you still have to sign but you have the added perk of confusing the hell out of the cashier and then staring at each other for a minute until they understand what they're doing. Oh the joys of a language barrier.