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travel rewards credit card
Hi all,
I know from lurking that many of you are skilled in the art of credit card reward points, so I know this is a good place to go for advice. A bit of background: my H and I are reliable credit card users with high FICO scores (over 800). We typically charge at least $2,000 per month (often more, depending on what we have going on in any given month in terms of vacation or home renovations) and pay it off in full each time and never accrue interest. We currently have a Discover card that I've had for over 10 years (H is an authorized user and has his own card on the same account) with over $1800 in cash back that we've accumulated over a long period of time. We recently booked a Mediterranean cruise for next July which starts and ends in Barcelona. It's certainly within our means to pay for the two round-trip tickets, but since we've got almost a year and charge a lot each month (a good portion of what we charge is groceries, gas, and eating out), we thought we'd investigate a new card that specifically gives travel rewards and be as strategic about what we use it for as possible, in hopes of getting at least one (hopefully both!) of the tickets paid for with points. My research so far has Chase Sapphire Preferred and Capital One Venture Rewards as the two top contenders. I was curious if any of you have experience with either of these cards and/or if you have perfected a specific strategy that helps you rack up the most points possible. If it's helpful at all, it looks like the two airlines that fly direct from the airport we'd use to Barcelona are United and Lufthansa. Thanks in advance! 
Re: travel rewards credit card
-Points accrued become available within a few days, as opposed to within a billing cycle.
-Complete flexibility on how to spend the points. We've used them for airfare, hotels, car rental, even campsites. Since everything looks like a "regular" booking on the vendor's side, there are never any blackout dates. If a seat is available, you can have it.
-Good customer service whenever I've had to deal with them.
-No foreign transaction fees.
-Card has a chip, and a believe you can get a pin too.
That's what's the most appealing to us about this one! How have you redeemed your points in the past - do you use the Purchase Eraser? It sounds so easy - have you found it to be that way?
That's what's the most appealing to us about this one! How have you redeemed your points in the past - do you use the Purchase Eraser? It sounds so easy - have you found it to be that way?
Yes! It is absolutely as easy as described. You just click a button within 45 days of your purchase and that amount is deducted from your balance. No hassle about reward seats or anything like that. All travel-related purchases, even down to things like bus tickets and uber rides, show up on a list and you can chose what to erase.
I will agree with the PP who said the annual fee version is worth it if you'll use the card a lot. I wish we'd gone that way.
Thanks so much for the thorough response! The Ink card unfortunately isn't an option for us since we don't have the business link. Although we do live near a United hub, I don't like the idea of being tied down to a specific airline either, which is why these two cards were the most appealing.
Question for you on redeeming the points - how exactly did you go about booking the trip? That's the part I can't quite wrap my head around in my research. Did you transfer your points through United and then book through them, or did you do it through Chase? If you did it through Chase, did the 60K points per flight still apply?
On the issue of searching for European airfare, though I also like Kayak, I've found it omits some airlines. We got our cheap flights to Amsterdam on Aer Lingus, which I found through Travelocity. Depending on where you're flying out of, Icelandair also offers great rates to many cities. Try a few different website searches to cover your bases.