The $100 Annual Fee Credit Cards: THE Keys to Unlocking the Most Travel Rewards Value

After almost a decade of pursuing travel rewards, it has become clear to me that the best return on routine spending is through credit cards that offer flexible points. Because these flexible points can be transferred to many domestic and international airlines, cardholders can choose the most valuable redemption for a particular itinerary and date. Points can also be transferred to hotel chains although it can be harder to get solid redemptions. Last April, I was excited about the launch of the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey credit card as it added to the list of existing flexible points programs offered by Chase, American Express, Capital One, Citi, and Bilt. The Autograph Journey card stood out for offering excellent spending bonuses, especially for hotel and airline purchases. At the same time, a chief concern was that the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card had a limited number of transfer partners (five airlines and one hotel group) compared to the other flexible points cards. My hope was that the Autograph Journey would add more transfer partners after launch to increase its potential usefulness. Wells Fargo suggested that they were seeking more partners and planned to add them soon. After almost one year, Wells Fargo has added Virgin Atlantic Flying Club/Virgin Red as a transfer partner, but unfortunately, that is all. While it is disappointing that the Wells Fargo transfer partner list is not as versatile as those offered by rival card issuers, there is still a place for this card in the wallet of some travelers. While we do not recommend it to many clients, there is a solid rationale for some to sign up for this card. What We Like About This Card Overall The Autograph Journey card offers a 60,000-point bonus for making $4,000 in purchases in the first three months. The cash value of this bonus is $600. However, with point transfers to the right airline partners or for certain itineraries, the value can be much higher. The annual fee for the card is $95. Spending Bonus Structure The Autograph Journey is clearly oriented toward travel spending as travel categories will net you the best spending bonuses. The card is especially strong for its hotel and airline spending bonuses. 5X spending bonus for hotels – Aside from bonuses on co-branded hotel cards, this is the highest generic spending bonus for hotels of which we are aware. 4X spending bonus for flights – This is also an excellent bonus rate even compared to what is offered on many co-branded airline cards. While the best generic flight bonus is the 5X bonus with an American Express Platinum card, that card has an annual fee of $695. 3X spending bonus for dining – This is solid and competitive with other travel cards. 3X spending bonus for “other travel” – Again, this is solid and competitive. 1X for all other purchases Importantly, none of these bonuses requires that you spend through a Wells Fargo (or any other) portal. Other Benefits This card offers some travel-related benefits. A $50 per year credit for a $50 minimum airline purchase $1 million in travel accident insurance Trip cancellation/interruption protection Lost baggage reimbursement Cellular telephone protection Potential Transfer of Points to Airlines and Hotels While it is easy to get $600 in cash value out of this $95 card from its welcome bonus, there is greater potential value in transferring the points to airline partners. Airline partners include: Air France (Flying Blue) Avianca LifeMiles British Airways Executive Club Aer Lingus AerClub Iberia Plus Virgin Atlantic Flying Club/Virgin Red These points can also be transferred to Choice Privileges, a hotel program that includes brands like Radisson, Clarion, and Rodeway Inn. Who Might Benefit? There are several types of travelers who might find this card useful. Flyers who already participate in the loyalty programs of the six airline transfer partners. Those interested in travel to the United Kingdom or Europe as well as those who want to use Avianca (which is based in Bogota, Colombia and serves Latin America). Travelers who are not brand loyal to airlines and hotel groups and can benefit from the 3-4X category bonuses. Travelers who frequently stay in hotels that are not part of any major chain or hotel group. Travelers who want cash rewards and can benefit from the travel category bonuses. Points and miles enthusiasts who are blocked from getting signup bonuses from other cards (Ex: beyond he Chase 5/24 limit). At some point in the future, Ms. Optimizer or I might apply for the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey. It would make sense for us because, in recent years, we have been travelling to places that are not well served by the hotel groups we tend to use. The Autograph Journey would generate a 5X bonus for any non-chain hotels we book which is better than the 3X bonus we get for hotels from a Citi Premier or a Chase Sapphire Reserve card. For us, the Wells Fargo points would be put to good use by being transferred to Air France. The $50 airline credit would effectively reduce our annual cost for this card to $45 annually. Conclusions Overall, it is great to see another option for those interested in flexible point travel cards. Competition is good for those of us in the points and miles community because it gives us options and it will keep the banks who issue proprietary points from becoming complacent. While it is disappointing that Wells Fargo has not expanded the list of transfer partners for the Autograph Journey card very much, the card can still be useful for some points and miles enthusiasts. Going forward, I will continue to watch for developments in this card, especially regarding transfer partners, and will keep you apprised. The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card might or might not fit into an optimized travel rewards plan for you. Our job at Travel Rewards Optimizer is to keep track of changes and opportunities in the world of points and miles so we can provide our clients with guidance to get the most value out of their travel rewards programs. When we design a custom Travel Rewards Optimizer plan for you, we take your travel goals, travel habits, spending patterns, and preferences into account. We want to ensure that the cards we recommend for you can quickly generate free travel and provide relevant benefits while keeping your annual card fees under control. We are ready to help you turn your routine credit card spending into the travel of your dreams.

When Ms. Optimizer and I take trips, I like to report on how the travel rewards game fit into our plans and how we benefited from it. After all, if I am going to dispense advice about turning credit card spending into free travel, I need to lead by example and show actual results. At the end of last year, we took a trip to New York City to visit family, see some museums, and take in the tree at Rockefeller Center and other holiday decorations in Manhattan. Our hotel was close to Grand Central Terminal, where we could catch a commuter train to Connecticut to visit family and friends. The hotel was also located a short walk from the Museum of Modern Art and close to the bus lines that ran to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum. Naturally, points and miles played a key role in this trip, both for reducing costs and for increasing comfort. We were able to utilize World of Hyatt points and Delta miles to lower our costs as follows: For our flights to and from JFK, we used 30,400 Delta miles for two round trips. With a value of $436 for the tickets, this worked out to a redemption of 1.4 cents per mile which is solid for a Delta redemption. For our hotel, we used 145,000 World of Hyatt points for a five-night stay at the Grayson Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. With a total cash rate of $3608 for those nights, we got a return of 2.5 cents per point, another solid redemption. Overall, the miles and points we utilized for this one trip saved us over $4,000. Additionally, the use of travel rewards credit cards yielded additional benefits that enhanced our trip. Because we have one Amex Delta Gold card, we got a 15 percent discount when redeeming miles for the round-trip tickets to JFK. This card also allowed us to check bags for free. Through the Amex Platinum Card, we were able to use the Delta lounge at our departure airport as well as for our return trip from JFK. Our Chase Hyatt card includes “Discoverist” status which allowed us to check in early upon arrival. We used Uber so we were able to take advantage of a monthly Uber credit that comes with the Amex Platinum card. For this trip to the Big Apple, like other trips we have taken in recent years, the well-planned use of miles and points played a significant role in our travel by not only saving us thousands of dollars, but also by enhancing our experiences with more comfort and convenience. Whether you are interested in checking out some of the greatest museums in the world, hunting down the perfect bagel or pastrami sandwich, shopping til you drop, or any other type of travel adventure , we are prepared to design a custom Travel Rewards Optimizer plan for you that will quickly generate free and reduced cost travel while keeping your annual card fees under control. We are ready to help you turn your routine credit card spending into the travel of your dreams.

An interesting opportunity for those who fly American Airlines is that they can apply for credit cards from two banks that earn American miles and offer significant welcome bonuses. First, there are several cards offered by Citibank that range from a no annual fee card to a deluxe card that includes access to American Airlines’ Admirals Clubs. These are the most familiar and account for the largest share of American Airlines’ co-branded card business. However, there are also cards offered by Barclays Bank with some having similar features to the Citibank products. In a September post , I warned that after a decade of this co-existence between Citi and Barclays, Citi and American Airlines were having talks about forging an exclusive co-branding relationship. Based on a recent announcement, it is indeed the case that, starting in 2026, Citi will be the only issuer of co-branded American Airlines credit cards. The two-card arrangement has been great for people who want American miles, and I sometimes recommended the two cards for Travel Rewards Optimizer clients who need a “crash program” for getting some quick miles. The Barclays card is unique in that a new cardholder only needs to make one purchase (in any amount) and pay the $99 annual fee to get a 60,000-mile sign-up bonus (SUB). Most credit card sign-up bonuses usually require spending several thousand dollars at a minimum. While this unique loophole in the points and miles game will be missed, it is still available (at least for now). Anyone who is potentially interested in the Barclays card should apply for it soon. Going forward, I do not know if these Barclay American Airlines cards will be closed or converted to Citi products. Although the American Airlines credit card “double play” is going away, the exclusive relationship between Citi and American Airlines might offer a new opportunity for those wishing to accumulate American miles and fly this airline. A joint press release from the organizations stated that “the agreement creates an innovative alignment between the Citi ThankYou and AAdvantage card programs.” The Citi ThankYou card program has cards that generate proprietary ThankYou points that can be used as cash, turned into gift cards, or transferred to airline partners. A key weakness of this program is that, while is has many airline partners, it does not currently partner with a major domestic airline (American Express partners with Delta; Chase with United and Southwest). This “innovative alignment” mentioned in the joint press release suggests that Citi’s ThankYou program might add American Airlines as a transfer partner. Simply adding a major airline as a transfer partner alone goes a long way in making the ThankYou program cards more attractive. But, even better, some of the ThankYou cards, such as the Citi Strata Premier, allow you to accumulate ThankYou points at an accelerated rate. More details will emerge and we will keep you posted. This development with Citi and American Airlines is another example of how the points and miles landscape changes constantly. Opportunities appear and disappear every week. Let us create a comprehensive Travel Rewards Optimizer plan for you so that you can get the most impact from your credit card usage. We are ready to help you turn your routine credit card spending into the travel of your dreams.

Citibank and American Airlines discuss an exclusive co-branding arrangement

Card issuers might want you to do this but, it is completely unnecessary for travel rewards

A new credit will offset the annual fee hike for some cardholders

In some cases, these benefits can provide an upgraded experience at lower cost

Points and miles greatly reduced the cost of this alpine adventure

Be sure that hotel credit cards and loyalty programs match your travel goals