Looking for the Best Credit Cards for Family Travel? Check These Choices

We’ve gotten deeper into traveling with points and miles, but I’ve realized something critical: many resources out there don’t do a great job of tweaking their best travel credit card strategies to account for traveling with kids. Especially in light of some big changes over the last few years, it’s time to round up my suggestions here.

We love our kids and love exploring the world with them, but they are definitely takers rather than givers when it comes to the money side of travel. When you’re trying to figure out the best credit cards for family travel specifically, there are a few pain points to consider since kids can’t get their own credit cards (and can’t even be authorized users until they’re teens in some cases):

• Kids can’t earn miles through credit card sign ups or spending, so adults need to earn twice as many
• You’ll have to find award flights with enough seats for the whole family
• Many hotels outside of North America only have rooms with occupancy of 2 or 3 – and they’re strict about it
• Lounge access may only apply to the card holder (sometimes with one guest allowed)

So what’s a family to do? Be very strategic in choosing the best travel credit card for families and often have each adult in the family open the same card. In the list below I’ll share some of my top picks and which families they’re best for. Some of the best credit card for travel options have low or no annual fee, while some come with a hefty fee that can make sense if you’ll use the included benefits.

It’s good to keep in mind that the people who are constantly jetsetting around the world for free with points and miles are doing that by opening multiple new credit cards per year – and paying them in full every month. Every card they open comes with a huge sign up bonus in exchange for meeting a minimum spend within the first few months. Some of the minimum spends are higher or lower than others, so be honest with yourself about your finances and never spend more than you have or can afford just for the sake of earning rewards.

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Chase Sapphire Preferred

If you’re just getting started with points and miles, the most natural place to start is with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. For years this card was pretty no-frills – its real value was just getting you into one of the most valuable points ecosystems around, Chase Ultimate Rewards. But Chase gave it a serious refresh in June 2026, and it’s a much better card than it used to be for the same $95 annual fee.

Here’s what you get now:

• A hotel credit that doubled from $50 to $100 – and it’s usable on basically any hotel booking through Chase Travel, even budget-friendly ones
• A TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fee credit every few years (now the cheapest card with this credit)
• A free Apple TV subscription
• Beefed-up travel protections, including emergency evacuation coverage
• 3x points on gas and vacation rentals, on top of the existing 3x on restaurants, streaming and online grocery orders (including if you shop in person but pay using the store’s app!)

That’s a lot of value packed into a $95 card, especially if you’re newer to points and don’t already have other cards covering things like TSA PreCheck or hotel credits.

The card also comes with solid travel protections (even better since the refresh), including primary coverage for rental cars.

❗Many Chase credit cards earn Ultimate Rewards points, which are amazing. You can get great value by transferring them to partners like United, Southwest, KLM, British Airways, Hyatt and a dozen more. The flexibility to transfer to so many different programs is absolutely invaluable – often there’s availability on partner airlines like using British Airways to book discounted tickets to Hawaii on several US carriers or you can book Delta flights via Virgin Atlantic for example. Mind blowing, right? There’s also the option to redeem them directly in Chase’s own travel portal, but that’s not usually the best way to use them.

There is one real downside to know about, though: starting in October 2026, transfers from the Sapphire Preferred (and the Chase Ink Business Preferred) to World of Hyatt drop from a 1:1 ratio down to 4:3. If your family loves Hyatt for hotel stays like we do, that’s a big hit to the value of the program – it’s part of why I ended up upgrading to the Sapphire Reserve myself, which I’ll get into in the next section.

One more thing worth knowing before you apply: Chase now limits you to earning each Sapphire card’s welcome bonus once in your lifetime, rather than every 48 months like it used to be. So if you or your spouse already had this exact card years ago, don’t count on a fresh bonus showing up.

Overall I think Chase has done a great job building a card that works for typical families that are taking one or two big trips per year. One really nice feature is that everyone who lives in the same household can combine their points into one pool, and you can also combine points with the free higher-earning Chase Freedom Unlimited or one of the free Chase Ink Business credit cards. You are still required to have the Sapphire or Ink Preferred to be able to transfer to partners – that said, a lot of our family’s spending goes on our Freedom cards and the majority of my business spending goes on Ink cards.

This is a great choice for a first travel credit card if you’re hesitant about paying big fees or if you don’t anticipate using lounge access very much and aren’t looking for complicated coupons. Even plenty of experts crown this as one of the best credit cards for travel!

🎧 Listen up! Want to hear more about how to get started traveling with your family on points? Check out my podcast episode:

After you’ve listened to that one, this quick tip episode will help you level up:

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Chase Sapphire Reserve

And now we go from simple to… complicated. The Chase Sapphire Reserve was my top recommendation for the best family travel credit card if you’re constantly on the move, and it was our workhorse when we traveled full time. My husband and I actually downgraded away from it back in 2023 – at the time you could only hold one Sapphire card, and we wanted to be eligible for an elevated welcome bonus on the Sapphire Preferred instead. But as of summer 2026 I’m back, and the card has only gotten more compelling for our family since the refresh.

First, here’s the overall package of travel benefits that most families will be interested in:

• Priority Pass Select lounge access for the card holder and two guests
• Top-notch travel insurance
• Primary rental car insurance (which kicks in before your regular insurance)
• TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fee reimbursement every four years
• Earn triple Ultimate Rewards points on dining and four points per dollar on flights and hotels booked directly (so not through Expedia, Airbnb, Viator, etc.)

It also comes with a healthy bank of points to start you off once you meet the minimum spending requirement – you can check the current offer here. Just know that, like the Sapphire Preferred, this welcome bonus is now once per lifetime per card – so if you’ve held the Chase Sapphire Reserve before (even a decade ago, like my husband and I), don’t count on getting it again. Womp womp.

The annual fee is now a hefty $795, however your first $300 in travel expenses are automatically credited back on your statement every single year. That brings the annual fee down to $495 – and that’s really just the starting point, because there’s now a really useful stack of additional credits worth digging into:

• $150 twice a year for Sapphire Reserve Tables – automatic credits at a growing list of partner restaurants (Chase keeps adding new cities, so it’s worth checking if yours has one now)
• $250 twice a year for The Edit, Chase’s own luxury hotel collection, on stays of two nights or more – plus a bonus $250 “Select Hotels” credit for 2026 that can stack on the same booking
• $120 per year toward Peloton membership ($10/month)
• $150 off StubHub twice per year
• $10 per month toward Lyft

There are also credits for things like DoorDash and Apple TV+/Apple Music that I didn’t even factor into the math above. Be sure to read through all of the current credits offered and think honestly about which ones actually match how your family spends – if you can realistically use even a few of them, the math can work out heavily in your favor.

One more piece worth knowing about: when you redeem points through Chase Travel, you’ll usually only get 1 cent per point – except on select bookings (including almost everything in The Edit), where a feature called Points Boost bumps that up to somewhere between 1.4 and 2.5 cents per point. That’s a big improvement in value, and coupled with transfers to Hyatt it’s part of why I now think of the Sapphire Reserve as the hotel card for our family. I wrote up exactly how I used The Edit and Points Boost together to book two rooms in Amsterdam for 100,000 points and about $50 cash so that you can see the real-world math in action.

That last point matters even more now that the Sapphire Preferred’s transfer ratio to World of Hyatt has dropped to 4:3 (details in the section above). If your family is serious about hotel points – especially Hyatt – the 1:1 transfer ratio and Sapphire Reserve’s stronger Points Boost and The Edit credits make it a much easier card to justify than it used to be, even without a welcome bonus (though of course it’s better with the welcome bonus). It’s still the pricier and much more complicated option, so it’s not where I’d point a family just getting started – but if you’re a few years into points and miles and know you’ll use some of these credits, it’s worth a serious look. I go into a lot more detail on my own decision to bring it back in this post.

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Southwest credit cards

While they may not be the most exciting or flexible travel options, if you’re a family that likes to travel within the US, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean you need to look at Southwest credit cards. With enough points earned during the year, you’ll be awarded a Southwest Companion Pass that allows you to bring a guest of your choosing on every single flight for just the cost of taxes.

Spring break in Hawaii? Just $5.60 each way for my daughter’s ticket! President’s Day weekend at the beach? $5.60 for that too. Couples getaway to Nashville? I brought my husband for the same $5.60. There’s no limit to how many times you can use your companion pass and you can change your companion a few times per year.

Obviously this incredible deal is only relevant if Southwest serves an airport close to you. If it does, you should learn more about the Southwest Companion Pass – and here’s some reassuring news given how much else about Southwest has changed lately: the Companion Pass program itself has had no negative changes announced. It’s still every bit as good as it’s always been.

The 30 second summary of how to earn your companion pass is that you generally need to open two Southwest credit cards, first a business card and then a personal card. Based on the current offers, which card you choose from each set does matter now: if you want to earn your companion pass purely off sign-up bonuses with no extra spending or flying required, you’ll want the Performance Business card paired with the cheapest personal option, the Plus card. The less expensive Premier Business card’s bonus doesn’t quite clear the points threshold on its own anymore, so Performance Business is the one to get even though it carries a higher annual fee.

The good news is that combo also covers you on the perks side. Southwest moved to assigned seating in January 2026, and pairing the Performance Business card with even the cheapest Plus personal card gets you standard or preferred seat selection at the time of booking, the possibility of an extra-legroom upgrade, and a checked bag for every passenger on your itinerary plus your companion.

Get the Performance Business and Plus cards here

It’s best to wait until ~November/December or the beginning of the year to apply for these cards, and be sure not to hit the spending requirement until the beginning of the year. That’ll get you basically two full years of free flights!

If you’re a two parent family with two or more kids, you can each do this and then bring the kids for free on every family vacation for almost two years!

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Capital One Venture X

Until recently, the Capital One Venture X held the crown as the best credit card for family lounge access. Sadly that changed in February 2026: complimentary lounge access is now limited to the primary cardholder alone, with everyone else – guests and authorized users – paying to get in. We’ll get to that downside in a minute, but first I want to address the upsides.

The Venture X is a premium card at a much more reasonable price tag than the Sapphire Reserve. The annual fee is currently $395 per year, which includes a $300 annual travel credit (which has to be redeemed through Capital One’s travel portal), a 10,000 point anniversary bonus every year, a TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credit, primary rental car insurance and more. I typically use my travel credit to book Hertz rental cars through Capital One’s portal since that allows me to benefit from the included top-tier Hertz status (enrollment required) and the price is usually similar to what I can find elsewhere. You can also use it to book vacation rentals, typically at the same price as Airbnb (which I just did last week).

Capital One gives you one of the simplest earning structures of any card: every purchase earns two points per dollar, all day every day. You don’t have to worry about your spending category, time of day or rotating bonuses. The exception is Capital One Travel, which earns a very healthy 5-10 points per dollar.

When you meet the spending minimum on the Venture X you’ll get a juicy sign up bonus (current offer here) that can be transferred to some unique airline partners like Japan Airlines, TAP, Qantas, Turkish and more. As with Chase Ultimate Rewards, these flexible points can give you great value when you transfer them, even allowing you to book domestic flights through international partners – for example, I booked a one-way flight from Ohio to Alaska on United by transferring just 10,000 Capital One points to Turkish Airlines! The Capital One transfer partners aren’t quite as strong for families as Chase (no Southwest, United or Hyatt) but still very good and you can get some fantastic value if you’re willing to do some digging.

While it’s not the most valuable way to use Capital One points, a lot of families like the simplicity of the “purchase eraser” option: after you make any travel purchase on your Venture X credit card, you can use your points to cover the cost within 90 days. That can be really helpful if you find a good deal on a cash airfare (let’s say on Allegiant or Frontier), but there’s another great use for families… Disney! While purchasing Disney tickets directly falls into the entertainment category, if you buy either a hotel and ticket bundle through Disney or you buy your tickets through an online travel agency like Undercover Tourist then you can use your points to erase the purchase. The nice thing about this option is that you don’t have to cover the whole purchase, you can cover as much or as little as you want.

Now, about lounge access – here’s where things have gotten more complicated. As of February 2026:

• Guests at Priority Pass lounges now cost $35 per person (rarely worth it). At Capital One’s own lounges (which I absolutely love), adult guests cost $45 and kids ages 2–17 cost $25 – still well worth it in my opinion, given the food quality and space they offer.
• Authorized users no longer get automatic lounge access either. If you want to add your spouse or another family member as an authorized user, you’ll now pay $125 per year, per authorized user, to unlock their lounge access. That’s a huge negative change.
• If your family spends $75,000 or more on the card in a calendar year, you’ll unlock free guest access for that year and the following one – a nice consolation for high spenders, though not realistic for most families and that spend is probably better spent toward another welcome offer.

If you have a small business, go for the Venture X Business instead – I put a lot of my business spend on this card because it earns 2 points per dollar on everything (including charges like health insurance that aren’t a “bonus” category anywhere). The annual fee and benefits are basically the same as the personal version, and – good news – the business card still gets two complimentary guests into Priority Pass lounges, unlike the personal version. For our family, I carry the Venture X Business and my husband carries the personal Venture X, which gets us all into Priority Pass lounges with no authorized user fees.

It’s also incredibly easy to pool points with anyone who has a Venture card. We recently combined our Capital One points with a quick phone call, which gave us enough to cover everyone’s flights to Portugal on TAP Airlines. We couldn’t have gotten that deal with any other major credit card, as no other card offers transfers to TAP. That just goes to show you how important it is to diversify your points earnings after you’ve gone through some of the foundational steps.

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IHG One Rewards Premier

If your family travels a lot in the US, especially to places like National Parks, you might love the IHG One Rewards Premier card – and the nifty features it offers. In case you aren’t familiar with IHG, that’s the parent company of huge brands like Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express. They’re everywhere! Everyone has stayed at a Holiday Inn before, and they’re a solid choice for families thanks to free breakfast, rooms that accommodate the whole crew and usually pools on site.

The IHG One Rewards Premier card stays true to the brand’s value roots. For just $99 per year you get:

• A big sign up bonus to start you off (the amount varies but it typically enough for at least four nights)
• Platinum Elite status (which landed us in a two-room suite on our Michigan road trip!)
• 4th night free when you redeem points for 3 nights
• Free night certificate every anniversary – you can combine with the 4th night free to make a 5 night trip
• TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fee reimbursement every four years

These are serious benefits for a card that only costs $99 per year! You can stretch your points at a Staybridge Suites in the US or splash out at an Intercontinental overseas (though often with only two people per room in other countries). This would also be an ideal credit card for travel sports families, as those costs add up quickly and you can almost always find an IHG hotel near weekend tournaments.

If you plan to fly anywhere, this almost ties the Chase Sapphire Preferred as the cheapest credit card that covers TSA PreCheck. Each adult needs to have their own PreCheck, so it could make sense for them to open their own IHG One Rewards Premier card at least for the first year. But plenty of miles and points experts rate this card a “hold” thanks to the free night certificate you’ll receive on every anniversary. I have held both the personal and business versions of this card and recently used the two free night certificates so send my husband and his best friend to the Intercontinental New York!

But be warned… sometimes the welcome offer for this card is a set of free night certificates. I would not personally open the card if that’s the offer, as the certificates don’t give you nearly as much flexibility as points and you can’t take advantage of the 4th night free deal.

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More options for credit cards for family travel

While my top picks for the best credit card for travel with kids are listed above, there are a few others worth considering in some circumstances. Consider these my personal “runners up” for the best credit cards for families who love to travel. We don’t have them yet but they’re on my radar.

• United Explorer card – All the stuff I mentioned about transferrable points and partner bookings above still holds true in 2026… however, United is changing the calculus a lot. They’re holding back their best award inventory and prices for travelers who have elite status or hold one of their paid credit cards and aren’t releasing it to partners.
  
  If your family flies United often, you definitely want to look into the Explorer card. The $150 annual fee is waived for the first year and it also includes monthly rideshare credits, two $50 United Hotels credits, free checked bags and two United Club passes (though sadly every traveler needs their own pass over age 2).
  
  My husband holds the Explorer card and is often targeted for extra bonuses. Just in the last few quarters we’ve had offers like 5 points per dollar on gas, groceries and restaurants; earn 8,000 extra points for $3000 in spending; and earn 10,000 bonus points for adding an authorized user (even if it’s a child who never sees the card). I recently upgraded my no-fee Gateway card back to the Explorer to get a 15,000 point bonus, and I also have the Quest (probably downgrading to a Gateway) and the United Business cards (which earns an extra 5,000 per year for holding it along with any personal version).
  
  By holding the card, we’re usually able to find flights to Europe for 35,000 points each in Economy or 45,000 points each in Premium Economy, and often even 72,000 points in Polaris Business class – with just $5.60 in taxes. It’s not the absolute cheapest around, but reliably decent coming from Ohio.
• Alaska Atmos Ascent – If you live in a market dominated by Alaska Airlines (or even if you don’t) this card can be extremely valuable. Despite its low annual fee, it’s easy to earn a Companion Fare that lets you bring a buddy – or your child – with you for just $122. Sometimes sign-up promotions bring that down to only $23.
  
  Even though I live in a market with just one route on Alaska Airlines, my Alaska card is one of my favorites and I go out of my way to use it when it makes sense. Why? Because Alaska can be used to book domestic flights on American Airlines for rock bottom prices. Specifically, you can book AA economy flights of 700 miles or less for just 4,500 Alaska points. That’s basically pocket change! Sometimes economy isn’t available so I splurge on first class for 9,000 points. That’s not a typo. It generally takes fewer Alaska points than AA miles for those short to medium routes, and they’ll count toward your Alaska status.
  
  The downside is that Alaska charges $20 per person for partner award bookings. I get around that by holding the more expensive Alaska Atmos Summit card. The annual fee difference is worth it for me because we redeem Atmos points for American flights at least a few times per year for four or five people, though if you’re a less frequent traveler then the cheaper Ascent may be a better fit.
• Amex Gold card – This is a mid-level card that doesn’t offer tons of travel-specific benefits, but it earns 4 Membership Rewards points for every dollar you spend at restaurants and US grocery stores and offers a healthy sign up bonus as well. Membership Rewards points are also incredibly flexible and have great transfer partners, just like Ultimate Rewards points. This card also has monthly credits for Uber and tons of restaurant partners. If you decide to prioritize the Amex ecosystem, this card is a must-have. A lot of families like to transfer Membership Rewards to international airlines to book flights – like Virgin Atlantic or Air France for Delta – or to book overseas award tickets. Alternatively, you can use them to book Hilton hotels like we did on São Miguel or using the strategies I outlined in this article.
• Amex Platinum card – Many consider this card to be the “big Kahuna” of travel rewards cards, though it has pros and cons for families. First, the big downside: the $895 annual fee. YIKES. You do get some good value from that fee, like CLEAR Plus membership for one person and access to both Amex and Priority Pass lounges – but the Amex lounge access is only for the cardholder.
  
  My favorite unique benefit is a $600 in annual credits for Fine Hotels and Resorts ($300 every 6 months), which allows you to book a really nice hotel at a discount and get elite perks on that booking. There’s also another $200 toward airline incidentals (which I used for unaccompanied minor fees this year), $240 toward Disney+ or Hulu, $200 Uber cash and more. You can pretty easily recoup the annual fee with all those credits plus you’re earning Membership Rewards points. But honestly, managing all those credits can be exhausting!

💡 Important tip for Amex cards: American Express has some really great personal credit cards, but you must get them in the right order. If you start with some of the more expensive cards, you’ll be blocked from the less expensive ones! In the Membership Rewards family, start with Gold and then conquer Platinum (if you can stomach the annual fee) – Amex’s Green card has recently disappeared from their lineup, possibly ahead of a refresh, but ordinarily that would be the first in the series.

Want to turbocharge your earnings? Sign up for Rakuten and link your account to an Amex card. Since Amex points are easily worth 2 cents each when transferred to airline partners, you can get amazing value. For example, if Rakuten advertises 10% back on Viator you’ll get 10x points… which can be worth close to 20%!

The next step to maximize your savings is to learn how to get discounted rental cars every time you travel. There are tons of great strategies!

For more tips on making family travel affordable, but sure to read our budget travel articles. They’re loaded with actionable tips to help you travel more while spending less!

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