Whether it’s a super cheap domestic flight or an awesome international fare, everyone loves a good mistake fare. A few years ago, I remember getting anxious about mistake fares. Do I pay a relatively cheap rate for a premium cabin flight or just redeem miles I paid nothing for? I was a few years out of college, repaying student loans, so even spending $1,000 on a roundtrip first class flight didn’t seem like a “bargain”. Nowadays, there are way more options to off-set mistake (or really any paid) fares. So what’s the best credit card to charge a mistake fare to? There are several options, depending on which currency you prefer to earn/redeem:
Barclay Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard
The Barclay Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard is awesome for several reasons. First of all, it earns the equivalent of 2% travel cash on all spending. Yes, the $89 annual fee is annoying but you do get a 5% rebate on your travel redemptions and you have 120 days after a purchases posts to redeem miles. The best part? When you make a purchase, the miles post as soon as the transaction does. No more waiting around until the statement closing date. You get your miles within a day or two, speeding up the time period when you can put them to use.
So the Arrival Plus Card is a really a great option for mistake fares because you can earn the required miles quickly to offset the cost, you get 5% of them back, and you have 120 days to redeem miles towards your mistake fare purchase. The Arrival card also offers a 40,000 point sign-up bonus after $3,000 spent in 90 days. That’s $460 worth of travel cash! My co-worker was looking at a really great fare to Columbia recently. It was around $400 but then she factored in Airbnb costs and thought it wasn’t affordable. I suggested the Arrival Plus Card. She applied, got approved, requested expedited shipping, and got it a few days later along with a trip that cost her nothing but a 5-10 point credit score hit.
The only downside of this card? Travel redemptions must be a minimum of $100. Sometimes, mistake fares are lower than this, in which case you should consider the following alternatives…
Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card
The Chase Sapphire Reserve is a great card to charge mistake fares to. The card earns 3x points on travel and cardholders get an annual $300 travel credit. So not only would you earn 3x points per $1 spent on a mistake fare charged to the card, but if you could also redeem the travel credit towards the fare! Plus, Ultimate Rewards are an incredibly valuable currency I personally can’t get enough of. For more information on this card and others like it, head here.
Discover it® Miles Card
The Discover It Miles card has no annual fee and pays out 3 miles per $1 spent during the first year (1.5 miles thereafter). Cardholders can redeem miles as cash back (1 mile = 1% cash back) – either via bank transfers or statement credits towards travel. I personally treat my Discover It Miles Card as a travel piggy bank. There’s no minimum redemption required, so all my Uber and Lyft rides get charged to this card and if a great mistake fare comes around, it’s my go-to card. The fact that I basically get paid to keep this card via an annual $30 in-flight wifi credit is icing on the cake. For more information on this card and others like it, head here.
The Platinum Card from American Express
or
The Business Platinum Card from American Express OPEN
The Platinum Card and The Business Platinum Card from American Express OPEN are great options for mistake fare purchases. You can redeem points towards statement credits, make use of the $200 annual airline fee credit and, more importantly, you could also earn up to 5x on your purchase. The personal Platinum Card offers 5x Membership Rewards points on flights booked directly with the airline or American Express Travel. Meanwhile, The Business Platinum Card from American Express OPEN offers 5x points on travel booked through amextravel.com. So the best option really depends on how you’re able to book your mistake fare.
Citi Prestige Card
The Citi Prestige earns 3x ThankYou points per $1 spent on travel, which makes it a great card for mistake fare purchases. A great bonus is the fact that the card comes with an annual $250 Air Travel Credit, which can be applied towards airfare.
All of the above are great cards for mistake fare purchases. It really comes down to which card is in your wallet, which currency you prefer to earn, and whether you have any travel credits available. That being said, I’d like to hear from you: which credit card do you normally use for mistake fares?
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