3 Credit Card & Travel Deals That Won’t Last Forever

With travel credit cards and loyalty programs, nothing lasts forever.
Welcome bonuses, benefits and rules are in constant flux. The best deals can last for years or be erased in a matter of weeks.
With that in mind, I’ve identified three opportunities to take advantage of in 2026, all of which seem too good to last forever. If you’re looking for a travel- or credit card-related deal this year, it’s hard to go wrong with these:
This simple premium credit card
In 2025, we saw the release of several new premium credit cards and the overhaul of two luxury stalwarts: Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees) and American Express Platinum Card®. Both of these luxury cards were refreshed with increased annual fees and offset by new, complicated benefits.
When Amex increased the Platinum card’s annual fee to a staggering $895 (see rates and fees), it also added hundreds of dollars in new benefits — many of which require extra steps or careful timing to use. Even so, this hasn’t stopped new cardmembers: Account approvals doubled compared to pre-refresh levels, according to Amex’s Q3 2025 earnings report. If increasing the card’s cost and offsetting it with progressively complicated perks is good for business, it’s not hard to imagine this trend will continue.
That’s what makes the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card stand out. Its annual fee is $395, or less than half of what the most expensive luxury consumer cards charge. And the benefits are refreshingly simple. Each year, you receive a $300 travel credit that can be used to pay for Capital One Travel bookings, including hotels, flights, rentals, vacation packages and activities.
Normally, I don’t book through a card-issuer travel site, because I prefer to shop around for the best price. That said, I’m comfortable using the Venture X credit to book through Capital One Travel because it offers an excellent price match guarantee. I price-matched rental car bookings at least six times in 2025, and each time it only required a phone call of 10 minutes or less. As long as the lower price is publicly available for an identical reservation within 24 hours of your original booking, you’ll receive the difference as a travel credit. And for select flights, Capital One Travel offers price drop protection, where you’ll automatically receive a travel credit of up to $50 if the price decreases within 10 days of booking.
The Capital One Venture X also gifts you 10,000 bonus miles each account anniversary, which is worth at least $100 in travel. You can redeem these miles for 1 cent each toward travel (including Capital One Travel bookings) or transfer them to a long list of travel loyalty programs.
With just two benefits, the Venture X is more affordable for me to keep than its cheaper sibling, the $95 Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. It’s also one of the most affordable ways for me to access top-tier credit card travel insurance, such as trip delay coverage that applies to delays of six hours or more (instead of the standard 12-hour delay requirement), primary rental car insurance and travel accident insurance.
CNBC Select Rating
5.0
Spotlight
Earn your rewards in a cryptocurrency of your choice with over 60 to select from.
Credit score
Excellent740–850
Regular APR
19.74% – 28.74% variable APR
Annual fee
$395
Welcome bonus
Earn 100,000 bonus miles
Terms apply. Read our Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card review.
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is a premium credit card with a myriad of benefits and a lower annual fee than other high-end cards with similar features.
Annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Travel
10,000 bonus miles after every card anniversary
Unlimited complimentary access to 1,300+ airport lounges, including Capital One Lounge locations
Long list of valuable travel and shopping protections, including return protection, rental car coverage and trip delay reimbursement (Benefit(s) only available to accounts approved for the Visa Infinite card. Terms apply.)
Limited bonus spending categories compared to other premium credit cards
High annual fee
High credit score requirement (excellent credit)
Highlights
Highlights shown here are provided by the issuer and have not been reviewed by CNBC Select’s editorial staff.
LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn 100,000 bonus miles once you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 6 months from account opening – equal to $1,000 in travel
Receive a $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel, where you’ll get Capital One’s best prices on thousands of trip options
Get 10,000 bonus miles (equal to $100 towards travel) every year, starting on your first anniversary
Earn unlimited 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
Earn unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases
Enjoy access to 1,300+ lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
Use your Venture X miles to easily cover travel expenses, including flights, hotels, rental cars and more. You can even transfer your miles to your choice of 15+ travel loyalty programs
Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
Top rated mobile app
Balance transfer fee
$0 at the Transfer APR, 4% of the amount of each transferred balance that posts to your account at a promotional APR that Capital One may offer to you
Foreign transaction fees
$0
The Venture X also has some of the most generous airport lounge benefits. You can add up to four authorized users for no additional cost, and each cardholder receives the same lounge access as the primary cardholder. This benefit includes over 1,500 Priority Pass lounges and a growing network of Capital One Lounges.
However, in what feels like the start of the card’s decline, its lounge access perks are being devalued beginning Feb. 1, 2026. After that date, you’ll need to pay a $125 fee per additional card to grant authorized users lounge access, and all cardholders will lose complimentary guest access. You can unlock two complimentary guests at Capital One Lounges and one complimentary guest at Capital One Landings after spending $75,000+ in a year.
No-annual-fee airport lounge access
Airport lounge access and a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit are perks generally associated with credit cards that have annual fees.
The U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card bucks that trend by offering both benefits, albeit in a limited fashion. You’ll receive a Priority Pass™ Select airport lounge membership that includes four complimentary visits per year. Plus, once every four years, you can receive up to $100 back for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fees.
The lounge visits you get with this card are surprisingly useful, even if you already have unlimited complimentary visits with a different travel credit card. That’s because you can use these passes to receive Priority Pass restaurant credit (typically around $28 per pass), a feature that’s been removed from the lounge access you get with most other credit cards.
U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card
CNBC Select Rating
4.8
Information about the U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card has been collected independently by CNBC Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer prior to publication.
CNBC Select Rating
4.8
Information about the U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card has been collected independently by CNBC Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer prior to publication.
Credit score
N/A
Regular APR
See terms
Annual fee
See terms
Welcome bonus
See terms
*See rates and fees, terms apply.
Intro APR for balance transfers
Global Entry and TSA PreCheck® application fee credit
Limited to four free lounge visits per year
You cannot transfer points to travel programs
Those benefits are already substantial for a no-annual-fee card, but the U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect also features trip delay reimbursement, trip cancellation and interruption insurance and two additional, easy-to-overlook perks: SmartDelay and a complimentary GigSky mobile data plan.
The SmartDelay benefit grants lounge access to the cardholder and up to three travel companions when a flight is delayed by 120 minutes or more. You just need to register at least two hours before your flight departs. The lounge passes are emailed when you have an eligible delay.
GigSky is an eSIM service that keeps you connected while abroad. All U.S.-issued Visa Signature and Visa Infinite cardholders can receive a complimentary 15-day plan with 3GB of data for Visa Infinite cards and 1GB for Visa Signature cards. The Altitude Connect is a Visa Signature, but it exceeds the standard benefit for both cards by offering 5GB of data for 15 days at no cost to cardholders. There is no limit to the number of 5GB/15-day plans you can receive; you just need to wait until the previous plan has expired before enrolling in another.
The enhanced GigSky perk is slated to end in November 2026, although the benefit’s expiration has been extended in the past.
American Airlines partner award chart
Over the years, one airline after another has shifted from fixed award prices based on zones or distances to dynamic pricing, making it harder to know exactly how much a flight will cost. American Airlines made this shift a few years ago, but its variable award pricing applies only to American Airlines flights. It still has generous fixed reward prices for partner airlines, and many of these flights are shockingly good deals.
You can redeem American Airlines AAdvantage miles for flights on world-class airlines or to far-flung destinations. This includes bucket-list awards with Etihad, Qatar Airways, Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific and many more.
You can explore American Airlines’ partner prices on its site. Some of the most tantalizing options include:
22,500 miles for off-peak economy flights from the U.S. to Europe
57,500 miles for business-class flights from the U.S to Europe
70,000 miles for business-class flights from the U.S to the Middle East
115,000 miles for first-class flights from the U.S to the Middle East
60,000 miles for business-class flights from the U.S to the Asia 1 region, which includes Japan and Korea
80,000 miles for first-class flights from the U.S to the Asia 1 region
To give you a sense of how favorable these prices are, you can usually earn between 50,000 to 100,000 AAdvantage miles from a single American Airlines co-branded credit card bonus. Right now, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® has a bonus of 70,000 miles after spending $7,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
A one-way Qatar Airways business-class flight from Dallas, Texas, to Doha, Qatar, can easily cost $5,000+ — so with one welcome bonus, you could unlock over $5,000 in value. On top of that, the taxes and fees for these award flights are usually reasonable compared with what other airlines charge for the same flights.
Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®
CNBC Select Rating
4.3
On Citi’s site
CNBC Select Rating
4.3
On Citi’s site
Credit score
Good to Excellent670–850
Regular APR
19.49% – 29.49% variable
Annual fee
$595
Welcome bonus
Earn 70,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles
See rates and fees. Terms apply.
The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® is one of the best ways to get access to American Airlines’ network of Admirals Club® airport lounges.
Access to nearly 100 Admirals Club® and partner airport lounges
Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® application fee credit
High annual fee
Additional fee for authorized users
No bonus rewards outside of American Airlines purchases
Highlights
Highlights shown here are provided by the issuer and have not been reviewed by CNBC Select’s editorial staff.
Earn 70,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending $7,000 within the first 3 months of account opening.
Admirals Club® membership for you and access for up to two guests or immediate family members traveling with you
No Foreign Transaction Fees on purchases
Earn 1 Loyalty Point for every 1 eligible AAdvantage® mile earned from purchases
First checked bag is free on domestic American Airlines itineraries for you and up to 8 companions traveling with you on the same reservation
Balance transfer fee
5% of each balance transfer; $5 minimum
A potential American Airlines partner award devaluation in 2026 is pure speculation on my part, but something happened in 2025 that has me on edge: AAdvantage miles became easier to earn.
American Airlines has long been the lone major U.S.-based carrier not to partner with a transferable travel rewards program. Outside of a brief partnership with Bilt and a previous limited-time option to transfer Citi ThankYou® Points to American Airlines, the only way to accumulate AAdvantage miles with a credit card was by having a co-branded Citi or Barclays American Airlines card.
However, Citi is taking over as the sole issuer of American Airlines credit cards. Along with this change, it has also added the American Airlines AAdvantage program as a ThankYou® Rewards transfer partner.
American Airlines cards are generally subpar for earning rewards on non-American Airlines purchases, but Citi offers several highly rewarding cards. You can earn up to 2% cash back (earned as 2X ThankYou® Points) everywhere with the Citi Double Cash® Card (1% as you buy and 1% as you pay) and 5% cash back (earned as 5X ThankYou® Points) on up to $500 spend on your top eligible category each month with the Citi Custom Cash® Card (then 1%).
Further, the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card earns 6X points at restaurants on Friday and Saturday nights (6 p.m. to 6 a.m. ET) and 3X points at restaurants any other time. Plus, it has a 100,000-point welcome bonus after spending $6,000 in the first three months.
While I love having access to more AAdvantage miles, rewards — like money — can lose value over time due to inflation.
CNBC Select Rating
5.0
Spotlight
Receive a 0% intro APR for 18 months on balance transfers.
Credit score
Good to Excellent670–850
Regular APR
17.49% – 27.49% variable
Annual fee
$0
Welcome bonus
Earn $200 cash back
See rates and fees, terms apply.
Read our Citi Double Cash® Card review.
The Citi Double Cash® Card is one of the best no-annual-fee cash-back cards thanks to its straightforward rewards structure.
Long intro-APR for balance transfers
High flat-rate cash-back rewards structure
No annual fee
Has a foreign transaction fee
Intro APR doesn’t apply to purchases
Rewards
Earn 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases.
To earn cash back, pay at least the minimum due on time.
Plus, earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked with Citi Travel.
Balance transfer fee
There is an intro balance transfer fee of 3% of each transfer (minimum $5) completed within the first 4 months of account opening. A balance transfer fee of 5% of each transfer ($5 minimum) applies if completed after 4 months of account opening.
Foreign transaction fee
3%
CNBC Select Rating
4.5
Spotlight
With the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card you can earn 100,000 bonus Points after spending $6,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.
Credit score
Good to Excellent670–850
Regular APR
20.49% – 28.49% variable
Annual fee
$595
Welcome bonus
Earn 100,000 bonus Points
See rates and fees. Terms apply.
The Citi Strata Elite℠ Card aims to brings premium restaurant rewards and travel benefits to users, including an annual hotel benefit of $300.
High rewards rate on travel
6X on restaurants
Can transfer points to American Airlines at a 1:1 rate
Up to $200 annual splurge credit
High annual fee
Limited rewards categories
Rewards
Earn 12 Points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com and 6 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com
Earn 6 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services on CitiNights℠ purchases, every Friday and Saturday from 6 PM to 6 AM ET. Earn 3 Points per $1 spent any other time
Earn 1.5 Points per $1 spent on All Other Purchases
Balance transfer fee
Balance transfer fee applies with this offer 5% of each balance transfer; $5 minimum.
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