Best Airline Credit Cards for DFW Residents

Friends and family often ask me what credit card they should get to earn free flights with airline miles. The answer largely depends on which airport you fly out of and where you want to travel.

Because I live in the Dallas area, this advice is for folks who live in the DFW area. However, these cards can also be useful to people flying out of other airports as well.

Using Credit Cards to Earn Airline Miles

When people ask me about getting a new travel rewards credit card, my advice comes with some caveats. Credit cards are not for everyone.

First of all, if you want to start earning miles responsibly for free travel, you must always pay off your credit card balance in full every month. Interest rates on reward credit cards are high. If you keep a balance, the interest and fees you pay will negate the value of your rewards.

Also, don’t spend extra money just to get airline miles. Only use your credit card to make purchases you would be making anyway, like groceries and regular monthly spending.

Keep in mind that in most cases you can earn more miles by a new card’s sign-up bonus than you can earn through reward rates on daily spending. For example, many cards come with 50k-100k sign-up bonuses after spending $3k-$5k in the first three months. That’s more miles than most people earn over the remaining months by getting 1X – 3X miles on each purchase.

Lastly, if you have a spouse or partner, you can each sign up for a new card to get double the bonus. See Free Travel: It’s All About Sign-up Bonuses and the Power of Two.

Note: We earn a commission when you sign up for certain cards through our links. See How This Blog Makes Money.

American Airlines and Southwest Airlines Dominate Dallas-Fort Worth Flights

American Airlines has over 5000 flights a week from DFW and accounts for 85% of passengers out of DFW airport. AA has direct flights from DFW to many places within the U.S. as well as several international destinations like Paris, Dublin, Beijing, Cancun and Rome. AA also has many partner airlines you can fly with your AA miles.

Southwest has over 1100 flights a week from DAL and accounts for 94% of passengers out of Dallas Love Field. It has direct flights to many domestic cities and will start connecting flights to Hawaii later this month. Southwest has limited international flights through connections in Houston to cities in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Since award flights on Southwest are based on the cash price, you can sometimes book award flights for fewer points compared to AA award bookings.

Based on those stats, DFW residents should focus on credit cards that accrue miles and points for American Airlines and Southwest Airlines in order to have the most chance at award redemptions and direct flights.

Note: If you live in a different city, check your local airport’s website for flight stats, or check FlightsFrom.com.

Credit Cards for American Airlines Miles

Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard: This card is currently the easiest and fastest way to accumulate AA miles. To get the bonus of 60k AA miles, you just need to purchase one item and pay the card’s annual fee of $95. If your spouse/partner also applies, you could get 120k AA miles for paying annual fees of two cards.The business version of the card also has a bonus of 60k AA miles after spending $1000 in the first 90 days. See this post for more details.

Citi/AADvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard: This card currently offers 50k bonus AA miles after spending $2500 within the first three months. The annual fee is waived the first year. If you own a small business, the business version currently has 60k bonus miles. While this card requires more spending than the Barclay version to get the bonus, it costs you less to get the miles since the annual fee is waived. If you’ve had this Citi card in the past, make sure to read about the restrictions for new applicants.

Both the Barclaycard and Citi AA cards have similar benefits for cardholders when you fly on AA. These benefits include preferred boarding and free checked bag for you and your travel companions.

Chase British Airways Visa Signature Card: British Airways Avios (miles) are a great way to fly for free on American Airlines since it’s a partner airline. British Airways uses a distance-based chart, so some domestic flights under 1151 miles only cost 7500 BA Avios instead of 12,500 AA miles for the same flight on AA metal. Currently, the bonus on this card is 4X Avios per dollar spent during your first year up to 120,000 Avios. For most people, I recommend waiting to get this card until the bonus returns to 50k – 75k Avios for a fixed spending amount within the first three months. The card has a $95 annual fee that is not waived the first year and is also subject to Chase’s 5/24 rule.

Credit Cards for Southwest Rapid Rewards Points

Chase Sapphire Preferred: This is the #1 card I recommend to newbies in the miles and points world. This card earns Ultimate Rewards points that you can transfer to travel partners like Southwest and Hyatt. You can also use the points to book travel on Chase’s online travel portal. The current bonus is 50,000 points after spending $4000 in the first three months. The card’s annual fee is waived the first year. You won’t qualify for this bonus if you’ve received it in the past 48 months, and this card is subject to Chase’s 5/24 rule.

Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Card: Chase offers three personal Southwest cards that come with an annual fee of $69-$149, although Chase only allows you to have one personal card at a time. All three cards currently have sign-up bonuses of 40,000 Rapid Rewards points after spending $1000 in the first three months. I recommend waiting to get this card until the public bonus goes up to 50k or 60k points, as it has been that high in the past. The business version of this card currently has a 60k bonus after spending $3000 in the first three months.

If you have a small business, you can apply for both a personal version and the business version. If you earn 110,000 Rapid Rewards points in a calendar year, you earn a Southwest Companion pass. This pass lets you fly a companion for free on every flight you take, regardless if you booked your flight with cash or points. Keep in mind that these cards fall under Chase’s 5/24 rule.

Bottom Line

DFW residents have several credit cards to choose from when it comes to earning airline miles, and this isn’t an exhaustive list of all the possibilities. Before you jump into a new card, think about your travel goals and determine which airline currency will help you the most. Make sure you have the financial discipline to use new credit cards responsibly. And most importantly, enjoy the trip planning and the joy of traveling for less money!

Click here to view various credit cards and available sign-up bonuses