Best Cards For Flights To Australia

Of course the Sapphire cards make this list. They make pretty much every list, earning big with Ultimate Rewards. Rewards are transferable to many different partners, with United MileagePlus by far being a fave for getting to Australia. Award seats are easy to book without paying big for taxes and fees. You can go straight for the comfy business class or book economy and use miles to upgrade. The Chase Sapphire Reserve comes in top, but if you already have this one or if you're working with a spouse, then the Sapphire Preferred is a great option as well. Remember that you can’t get 5 cards within 24 months (5/24) with Chase, but if you want Ultimate Rewards with another card, you can go for the Ink Business Unlimited, Ink Business Preferred or one of Chase's Freedom cards. All of the above will earn you those valuable Ultimate Rewards.

British Airways is partnered up with OneWorld Alliance, meaning you can use your Avios to book flights on partner airlines, including Qantas -- which happens to be Australia’s national airline. Qantas has round-trip economy seats for 90,000 points or business for 190,000+ points, which takes some work but is not impossible. Qantas offers direct flights to Australia, from Chicago, Texas & California, so you don’t have to make a stop over in Europe and can avoid the costly fuel surcharges and taxes if you were using Avios through British Airways. You will have to still pay the surcharges and taxes through Qantas, but it will be a fraction of what British Airways would charge you. Fun fact about Qantas: they do offer around the world flights using OneWorld Alliance points, meaning your stop in Australia can be just that, a stop while you're traveling the globe.

United is great for a few different reasons. It’s super easy to earn United Miles; the booking process is straightforward and pretty simple; and there are no fuel surcharges on most flights. While we’re still sorting out the details on their new awards chart, as of now it seems that award travel booked through partner airlines hasn’t been affected, which is why it’s still a great option for getting to Australia. Plus the $75 close-in booking fee has now been eliminated, so if you find that saver award seat and it’s within 21 days of travel, you won’t be charged the extra $75 anymore. Get the United Explorer Visa card for quick, no-hassle miles after spending only $2,000 in 3 months, or collect with the United Explorer Mileage Plus Business Credit Card or the United MileagePlus Club Card that requires more spending but comes with a few more miles and more card benefits. 

We had to throw American Airlines on this list because of a personal experience with them. Recently, their web special included flights to Australia and New Zealand for 5,000 miles one way. And one of the departure cities happened to be ours in upstate NY, which was such a steal. Web specials are a beautiful way to use miles and are in addition to the Reduced Mileage Award Program. So even if you miss out on the web special, there are other ways to get you flights for discounted rates. There’s a lot of controversy with AA miles because they use a region-based award chart. But if you’re flexible with your dates, you can get some outstanding deals. The Aviator Red card is a great Barclay card, especially because the sign-up bonus is generous and the annual fee is only $95.

Capital One Miles are great especially when heading to Oceania. With the Venture card, you get 2x miles on purchases, and there’s no fine print or surprise changes. Most transfer partners are instantaneous, and one of their partners happens to be Qantas, who offers a nonstop flight between Sydney and Dallas, Los Angeles or San Francisco for 45,000+ miles one way economy. Capital One offers transfer bonuses throughout the year that you can take advantage of, too. Just be keen to when they’re happening and you can get 20% more value out of your rewards. Another fun option to use your Capital One rewards is as a statement credit towards travel if you're savvy and want to book your own cheap flight you found while scouring the internet. Earning rewards are easy with the Venture card that seems to be the most beloved currently, but we have other options as well, like the Capital One Spark Miles Business, coming in as a close second, and the Capital One Savor.

There are a couple of reasons why Delta SkyMiles are great for Australia. The first is that Delta has routes to Australia with award seats in Delta One Suites, which translates to a pretty comfortable 15+ hours in the air. Another tactic with Delta points is transferring them to Virgin Atlantic and using those points to book flights on Virgin Australia. The trick with Virgin Australia is that you have to book for business class seats either 3 days or 330 days in advance. No real middle ground here, so if you want a business or first class seat, you either need to be a super planner or a spontaneous traveler. Or, another option is using your Virgin Atlantic points to book on Hawaiian Airlines. You'll leave from Hawaii, of course, but the business/first class is only 40,000 points one way for the direct flight to Sydney, so not a bad option, especially if you live in Hawaii or if you want to extend your Hawaiian vacation and go a little further.

American Express Rewards are very useful. You can transfer them to Delta, Asia Miles to use on Cathay Pacific Airways or consider ANA as an option. You won’t actually be flying All Nippon Airways, but you can use these points from their site to book very reasonable round trip tickets to Australia. You will probably be flying either United or Air Canada, which would be just fine given that Air Canada is well known for their superior cabins, and taxes with either partner will be around $10-$50, which is kinda incredible. American Express rewards can be stacked up with a number of their cards. We like the American Express Platinum Personal, with some great perks to offset the big annual fee along with the substantial sign-up bonus.

United Airlines has a few non-stop flights to Australia from the west coast and Texas. While you can still book from the east, it will probably have a lay-over. They also partner with Hawaiian Airlines and Air Canada. Having more partners adds more routes. Plus, United doesn't charge fuel surcharges on most flights, so what you see is what you get. Booking is super easy through United.com, and earning points is very straightforward as well. You can get points through Chase brand cards like the United Explorer Card, which offers a big sign-up bonus with the annual fee waived the first year. There's also the United Explorer Business Card and the United MileagePlus Club Card. Ultimate Rewards are transferable to United Airlines, so if you have any Chase card that racks up Ultimate Rewards, they can be automatically transferred at a 1:1 ratio.