Many prime travel rewards cards provide bonus rewards whenever you ebook flights, resorts and rental automobiles via the issuer’s journey portal.
For instance, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) presents 5 factors per greenback spent on journey bought via Chase Journey℠ however simply 2 factors per greenback spent on different journey, together with flights booked instantly with airways.
So, you would possibly contemplate reserving flights via a bank card journey portal whenever you plan your subsequent journey. Nonetheless, many vacationers imagine you will typically pay extra for flights when reserving via a bank card journey portal. Plus, you’ll be able to earn bonus rewards on choose airline credit cards in the event you use them to ebook instantly with the airline.
However are flights actually costlier whenever you ebook via a bank card journey portal? We collected after which crunched over 800 knowledge factors to seek out out.
What knowledge did we gather?
For this story, we collected 804 knowledge factors to find out whether or not flights are costlier on common whenever you ebook via a bank card journey portal. Particularly, we collected fares throughout 134 round-trip flight itineraries.
For every itinerary, we outlined the precise flight numbers, journey dates and cabin class, after which requested TPG staffers to gather fares throughout the next reserving strategies as shortly as doable (all the time inside a four-hour window):
Half of the journey dates for our itineraries have been about two months out, whereas the opposite half have been about six months out. All of the itineraries we thought-about originated within the U.S., with 37% of our knowledge factors being home flights and 52% being flights inside North America. Now, let’s dive into what we discovered.
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Key takeaways
When you’re solely within the highlights, here is a abstract of an important takeaways:
- Not each itinerary is bookable via every bank card journey portal.
- Capital One Journey offered the very best share of the itineraries we searched; Amex Journey offered the bottom.
- In comparison with reserving instantly, fares are, on common, about the identical via Capital One Journey, barely costlier via Bilt and Chase Journey, considerably costlier via Amex Journey, and rather more costly via Citi Journey.
- Capital One Journey returns the identical fare as reserving instantly greater than half the time. Bilt, Chase Journey and Citi Journey return the identical fare as reserving instantly lower than half the time. Amex Journey returns the identical fare as reserving instantly lower than a fifth of the time.
- To get the perfect flight worth, you need to verify every portal you’ll be able to entry and examine these charges with what the airline fees for direct bookings.
We discovered lots extra fascinating issues whereas analyzing our knowledge. So, learn on for extra statistics and a deeper evaluation of what we discovered.
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Is it costlier to ebook flights via a journey portal?
Reserving flights via a bank card journey portal is typically costlier, however generally cheaper. We crunched knowledge from 134 round-trip itineraries and calculated the common distinction between every portal’s pricing and reserving instantly. Here is what we discovered:
- Amex Journey portal: 10.32% costlier than reserving instantly
- Bilt journey portal: 6.50% costlier than reserving instantly
- Capital One Journey portal: 0.76% costlier than reserving instantly
- Chase Journey portal: 5.94% costlier than reserving instantly
- Citi Journey portal: 14.59% costlier than reserving instantly
Here is a take a look at the variety of itineraries that have been equal to, costlier than or cheaper than what you possibly can ebook instantly with the airline.
| The variety of itineraries that had … | Amex Journey | Bilt journey | Capital One Journey | Chase Journey | Citi Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The identical fare via the portal and when reserving instantly | 26 | 57 | 81 | 50 | 35 |
| A costlier fare via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 61 | 47 | 26 | 42 | 60 |
| A fare a minimum of 1% costlier via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 56 | 37 | 20 | 36 | 53 |
| A fare a minimum of 10% costlier via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 41 | 29 | 9 | 26 | 34 |
| A cheaper fare via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 16 | 13 | 19 | 16 | 24 |
| A fare a minimum of 1% cheaper via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 14 | 5 | 11 | 8 | 17 |
| A fare a minimum of 10% cheaper via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 9 |
As you’ll be able to see, the Capital One Journey portal featured probably the most itineraries with the identical worth as reserving instantly. The variety of itineraries a minimum of 1% costlier via the Capital One Journey portal, in comparison with reserving instantly, was just like the variety of itineraries a minimum of 1% cheaper. Plus, we discovered itineraries via the Capital One Journey portal have been on common simply 0.76% costlier than reserving instantly.
In the meantime, fares for 61 itineraries have been costlier via the Amex Journey portal than reserving instantly. In 41 cases, the Amex Journey portal returned costs greater than 10% greater than you’d get reserving instantly. One such itinerary concerned flying Air Canada in economic system between New York and Toronto in December. This itinerary via Amex Journey prices $382, whereas reserving instantly would value $210.
Now, let’s focus on a few of these metrics when taking a look at subsets of our dataset. Specifically, we’ll focus on home, worldwide and economic system flight tendencies.
Tendencies for home flights
The common distinction between every portal’s pricing and reserving instantly for the 50 round-trip home itineraries we thought-about is as follows:
- Amex Journey portal: 6.10% costlier than reserving instantly
- Bilt journey portal: 4.00% costlier than reserving instantly
- Capital One Journey portal: 0.05% cheaper than reserving instantly
- Chase Journey portal: 4.14% costlier than reserving instantly
- Citi Journey portal: 2.77% costlier than reserving instantly
Here is a take a look at the variety of home itineraries that have been equal to, costlier than or cheaper than what you possibly can ebook instantly with the airline.
| The variety of home itineraries that had … | Amex Journey | Bilt journey | Capital One Journey | Chase Journey | Citi Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The identical fare via the portal and when reserving instantly | 13 | 31 | 36 | 22 | 13 |
| A costlier fare via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 18 | 15 | 8 | 12 | 19 |
| A fare a minimum of 1% costlier via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 16 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 16 |
| A fare a minimum of 10% costlier via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 11 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 4 |
| A cheaper fare via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 7 |
| A fare a minimum of 1% cheaper via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 8 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| A fare a minimum of 10% cheaper via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
In our exams, home fares via the Capital One Journey portal have been 0.05% cheaper than reserving instantly, with three fares even being 10% cheaper. Certainly one of these fares was for a round-trip United Airways itinerary from Los Angeles to New York in December. We might ebook this itinerary via Capital One Journey for $312.
In the meantime, reserving instantly or by way of Bilt journey carried a fare of $412 and reserving by way of the opposite portals carried a fare of $427 or greater.
Tendencies for worldwide flights
The common distinction between every portal’s pricing and reserving instantly for the 84 round-trip worldwide itineraries we thought-about is as follows:
- Amex Journey portal: 12.89% costlier than reserving instantly
- Bilt journey portal: 8.12% costlier than reserving instantly
- Capital One Journey portal: 1.26% costlier than reserving instantly
- Chase Journey portal: 6.91% costlier than reserving instantly
- Citi Journey portal: 20.35% costlier than reserving instantly
Here is a take a look at the variety of worldwide itineraries that have been equal to, costlier than or cheaper than what you possibly can ebook instantly with the airline.
| The variety of worldwide itineraries that had … | Amex Journey | Bilt journey | Capital One Journey | Chase Journey | Citi Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The identical fare via the portal and when reserving instantly | 13 | 26 | 45 | 28 | 22 |
| A costlier fare via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 43 | 32 | 18 | 30 | 41 |
| A fare a minimum of 1% costlier via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 40 | 26 | 14 | 27 | 37 |
| A fare a minimum of 10% costlier via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 30 | 22 | 7 | 20 | 30 |
| A cheaper fare via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 8 | 13 | 15 | 12 | 17 |
| A fare a minimum of 1% cheaper via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 11 |
| A fare a minimum of 10% cheaper via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
Amex Journey, by far, had the fewest itineraries for which the fares via the portal have been equal to these discovered instantly with the airline. The Amex Journey and Citi Journey portals additionally confirmed fares a minimum of 10% costlier via the portal than reserving instantly for 30 itineraries — 36% of the worldwide itineraries we thought-about.
In the meantime, Capital One Journey had by far probably the most itineraries for which the fares via the portal have been equal to these discovered instantly with the airline. The Capital One Journey portal had 18 itineraries costlier than reserving instantly and 15 cheaper, with common fares that have been simply 1.26% costlier via the Capital One Journey portal than reserving instantly.
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Tendencies for economic system flights
The common distinction between every portal’s pricing and reserving instantly for the 83 round-trip economic system itineraries we thought-about is as follows:
- Amex Journey portal: 17.14% costlier than reserving instantly
- Bilt journey: 9.92% costlier than reserving instantly
- Capital One Journey portal: 0.14% costlier than reserving instantly
- Chase Journey portal: 8.59% costlier than reserving instantly
- Citi Journey portal: 11.52% costlier than reserving instantly
Here is a take a look at the variety of economic system itineraries that have been equal to, costlier than or cheaper than what you possibly can ebook instantly with the airline.
| The variety of economic system itineraries that had … | Amex Journey | Bilt journey | Capital One Journey | Chase Journey | Citi Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The identical fare via the portal and when reserving instantly | 6 | 33 | 52 | 25 | 17 |
| A costlier fare via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 49 | 36 | 15 | 29 | 36 |
| A fare a minimum of 1% costlier via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 46 | 33 | 12 | 26 | 32 |
| A fare a minimum of 10% costlier via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 36 | 28 | 5 | 21 | 21 |
| A cheaper fare via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 5 | 5 | 12 | 11 | 17 |
| A fare a minimum of 1% cheaper via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 5 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| A fare a minimum of 10% cheaper via the portal in comparison with reserving instantly | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 |
Economic system fares via Capital One Journey have been the identical as reserving instantly 63% of the time. In comparison with different bank card journey portals, Amex Journey featured the fewest economic system itineraries with the identical fare as reserving instantly and greater than triple the best-performing portal’s variety of economic system itineraries that have been costlier when reserving via the portal.
Forty-nine of the economic system itineraries — 59% of the economic system itineraries we thought-about — have been costlier via the Amex Journey portal than reserving instantly with the airline.
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What’s the finest bank card journey portal for reserving flights?
There is not one finest bank card journey portal for reserving flights. Nonetheless, I admire the Capital One Travel portal’s price drop protection on flights for which the platform recommends reserving instantly, and I’ve gotten worth from Amex’s International Airline Program.
Fares
Our knowledge confirmed that Capital One Journey was, on common, the perfect at offering fares with the least markup in comparison with reserving instantly. Capital One Journey supplied decrease fares for home itineraries than reserving instantly with the airline. The Capital One Journey portal additionally supplied the identical fares as reserving instantly on 60% of itineraries, the very best share obtained by any portal we examined.
The opposite 4 portals — Amex Journey, Bilt, Chase Journey and Citi Journey — all supplied fares that have been, on common, greater than these out there when reserving instantly with the airline.
Nonetheless, whereas the distinction between reserving instantly with the airline and utilizing a portal was, on common, much less when utilizing the Bilt journey and Chase Journey portals in comparison with the Amex Journey and Citi Journey portals, the Amex Journey and Citi Journey portals featured greater percentages of itineraries that have been cheaper than reserving instantly by greater than 1%.
And, we discovered 9 itineraries via the Citi Journey portal that have been cheaper than reserving instantly with the airline by greater than 10%.
So, the Capital One Journey portal is finest in order for you the perfect probability of getting a fare near what you possibly can ebook instantly with the airline. However, our knowledge confirmed the Amex Journey and Citi Journey portals are almost certainly to supply a fare that is 1% lower than (in addition to 1% higher than) reserving instantly with the airline. It could even be value checking these portals to see in the event you can snag a decrease price.
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Bookable itineraries
The primary downside of Amex Journey is that it doesn’t have each itinerary you possibly can ebook instantly; that is extra ceaselessly the case with Amex Journey versus the opposite portals we thought-about.
Throughout the 134 round-trip itineraries we thought-about, 31 weren’t out there via Amex Journey, 25 weren’t out there via Chase Journey, 17 weren’t out there via Bilt, 15 weren’t out there via Citi Journey and 7 weren’t out there via Capital One Journey.
In some circumstances, this was as a result of portal not supporting a particular airline. For instance, Amex Journey, Chase Journey and Citi Journey do not provide Spirit Airways and Frontier Airways flights. And Chase Travel is the only portal that offers Southwest Airlines flights (in addition to the Capital One Enterprise Journey portal, which we did not take a look at).
In different circumstances, the portal solely confirmed some itineraries for airways it in any other case helps.
Whereas the Citi Journey portal included each American Airways, United Airways and Delta Air Traces itinerary we searched, Amex Journey did not present choices to ebook eight of the 72 itineraries we looked for these airways. Moreover, Chase Journey did not present seven of those itineraries and Bilt and Capital One Journey did not present 4 of those itineraries.
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Incomes charges and card advantages
It is usually value contemplating the additional rewards you’ll be able to earn when reserving via bank card journey portals with choose rewards credit cards.
For instance, I will generally ebook flights via Capital One Journey with my Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card to make use of my card’s $300 annual Capital One Travel credit and earn 5 miles per greenback spent on the a part of my fare that the credit score does not cowl.
Some playing cards earn rewards at the next price whenever you ebook flights via the cardboard issuer’s journey portal. Here is a take a look at the incomes charges when reserving flights with some in style journey playing cards:
Lastly, keep in mind that some credit cards offer travel protections whenever you use them to ebook flights. These protections can be found no matter whether or not you employ your card to ebook instantly with the airline or by way of a bank card journey portal.
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Redemption charges
You can too redeem rewards when reserving flights via bank card journey portals. Some portals provide low redemption charges, although. Here is the redemption price you’ll be able to count on to get when redeeming for flights via the portals mentioned on this information:
- American Categorical Journey portal: 1 cent per level
- Bilt journey portal: 1.25 cents per level
- Capital One Journey portal: 1 cent per mile
- Chase Journey portal: 1 to 2 cents per level
- Citi Journey portal: 1 cent per level
So, the Bilt journey portal and Chase Journey portal are finest if you wish to redeem your rewards for flights that you simply ebook via the portal.
Nonetheless, keep in mind that TPG’s November 2025 valuations peg the worth of every of those currencies greater than what you will get when reserving via the portal. So, you will normally wish to switch your rewards to switch companions as an alternative of redeeming for flights via the portal to get extra worth out of your rewards.
Backside line
On common, the Capital One Journey portal supplied fares closest to what you possibly can ebook instantly with the airline. In the meantime, the Citi Journey portal was about 14% costlier on common than reserving instantly, and the Amex Journey portal was about 10% costlier.
This does not imply you need to decide one reserving methodology and keep away from checking different choices, although. I used to be shocked by how a lot costs various between the portals — and when in comparison with the airline’s web site — whereas amassing knowledge for this story. Processing the information and scripting this story made me notice greater than ever the significance of checking every bank card journey portal you’ve gotten entry to and the airline’s web site earlier than reserving a flight.
So, subsequent time it’s good to ebook a flight, begin on Google Flights to evaluate your choices. You may additionally wish to open up your favourite award search tools when you have transferable rewards.
Then, in the event you resolve to ebook a paid fare, open up all of the bank card journey portals you’ll be able to entry by way of your rewards playing cards and seek for the flights you need.
Lastly, examine the charges throughout the portals with reserving instantly with the airline to find out which can provide the perfect worth.
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