Southwest airlines carries the most passengers in North America.

• Their points are among the easiest to earn, plus they have solid value.
• They’re partnered with Chase Ultimate Rewards, our favorite point partner ecosystem.
• Southwest’s boarding is polarizing (though it is updating to reserved seating in early 2026)
• Southwest Rapid Rewards aren’t the most glamorous, but they’re the utility points that just work.

American Airlines is a great utility point system.

• Points are relatively easy to collect, though we don’t love the bank partners or transfer options as much.
• We love direct flights, and American can be a good option for finding those with points.

Chase Ultimate Rewards is our most valued point system.

• These points are the most flexible of any credit card points. You can book travel items directly through the Chase portal, including cruise, car rental, or speciality hotel. (Or transfer points to their partners).
• The quality of their transfer partners (Hyatt, United & Southwest) is unmatched. As is the value you can get when you transfer.
• You can get a “multiplier effect” (either 1.5x or 1.25x) on your Chase Ultimate Rewards points when you have either of Chase’s Sapphire cards.
• We view Ultimate Rewards as the points “savings account” to top off a partner reward system for a flight or hotel. Or to book travel items directly through the Chase travel portal.

Delta is a good point system for both domestic and international flights.

• Delta offers many cards making initial collection relatively easy. But Amex’s “one bonus per card per lifetime” limits that ability over time.
• Delta is part of the Amex partner reward system and is a decent transfer value.
• We save Delta points for specific flights, perhaps direct domestic or best value international.
• We use easier-to-collect point systems such as Southwest and American ahead of Delta.

Amex points are great in theory. We just find them harder to collect and more expensive to hold than Chase points.

• If you’re in the points game long enough, you’ll dabble in both main systems (Chase & Amex).
• Amex has a one card bonus per lifetime rule, so ultimately, there will be more of a limit to how many you can collect via sign-up bonuses. Plus you’ll need to keep a “fee” card to hold them.
• Delta and Hilton are solid transfer values and having Amex points gives you top-off flexibility if you are invested in either of those systems.
• We do find Amex travel a higher quality of service over the Chase travel portal.

United is our favorite point system for international flights, especially for business class.

• United has ample cards for collecting large sums of points.
• International business class seats can be found for as low as 120,000 points.
• They’re a partner in our favorite rewards system, making top offs from Chase Ultimate Rewards both easy and a good value.
• United is also a decent option for domestic flights and standard international fares, but we generally use Southwest, American or Delta for those.
• We save our United points for those long international flights where business class is a difference maker.

JetBlue is particularly attractive if you live in New York City and it’s a convenient hub to your frequent destinations.

• More limited routes that all run through one hub make it a less attractive utility airline option than American or Southwest.
• Points are relatively easy to collect with good transfer options and a nice airline. We just hate layovers.

Capital One is a flexible point system that we like to reserve for items other systems don't cover

• Car Rentals, cruises, and vacation home rentals top our list of uses for Capital One Miles
• Partner transfers are more niche than mainstream
• Points are so similar to cash that they can be less satisfying for the hobbyist
• Capital One is particularly attractive to businesses with large spends