Which Business Credit Card Is Best? We’ve Done the Research!
INSIDER SECRET: Using a small business credit card for business expenses is an incredibly easy way to reward yourself with travel, or earn cash back to put toward your bottom line!
Wondering what’s the best business credit card? We’ve carefully examined all the top offers! Here we’ll help you easily choose the best business credit card for travel, browse through the best business credit cards with no annual fee, and more!
Pick the Best Business Credit Card to Match Your Style
Folks with small business credit cards have lots of ways to earn miles, points, and cash back. Besides valuable welcome bonuses, business credit cards typically have excellent bonus spending categories. This means you can earn points faster when making purchases for your business.
Now we’ll help you pick which business credit card is best for YOU!
Best Business Credit Card
- Best Business Credit Card Overall: Ink Business Preferred Credit Card
- Best Business Credit Card for American Airlines Travel: CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Mastercard®
- Best Business Credit Card for Alaska Airlines Miles: Alaska Airlines Visa® Business credit card
- Best Business Credit Card With No Annual Fee: Ink Business Cash Credit Card
- Best Business Credit Card for Easy Rewards: Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business
- Best Business Credit Card for Travel / Airport Lounge Access: The Business Platinum® Card from American Express
Here’s a quick breakdown of each card’s bonus offer, best perk, and annual fee.
| Intro Bonus Offer | Best Perk | Annual Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card | 80,000 Ultimate Rewards points after making $5,000 in purchases in first three months of account opening | 3x Chase Ultimate Rewards points on up to $150,000 in combined eligible purchases in select categories each year (then 1X afterwards) | $95 |
| CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Mastercard® | 70,000 American Airlines miles after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first four months of opening your account | 2x American Airlines miles on purchases at telecommunications merchants, cable and satellite providers, car rental merchants and at gas stations | $99, waived the first year |
| Alaska Airlines Visa® Business credit card | 40,000 Alaska Airlines miles after you spend $2,000 on purchases in the first 90 days from account opening | Alaska Companion Fare each year from $121 ($99 plus taxes and fees from $22) | $75 |
| Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card | $500 cash back bonus after spending $3,000 in purchases within the first three months of opening your account | 5% back (5x Chase Ultimate Rewards points) on the first $25,000 spent on combined purchases at office supply stores and on cellular phone, landline, internet and cable TV services each cardmember year | $0 |
| Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business | $500 cash bonus after you spend $4,500 on purchases within the first three months from account opening | Unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases | $95, waived the first year |
| The Business Platinum® Card from American Express | Earn up to 75,000 Amex Membership Rewards points. You'll earn 50,000 Amex Membership Rewards points after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. And an extra 25,000 Amex Membership Rewards points after you spend an additional $10,000 on qualifying purchases within the same timeframe. Terms Apply. | Up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year on a selected airline for incidentals such as baggage fees, lounge day passes, & more. And up to $200 in annual Dell statement credits. Terms Apply | $595 annual fee (see rates and fees) |
How We Selected the Best Small Business Credit Card Offers
Gosh, there are SO many different business credit cards! We filtered through them all, investigating appealing categories like airline miles, all-purpose travel miles, cash back, no annual fee and which business credit cards are suitable for a new business.
We examined …
The Bonus Offer: Credit card companies make money every time you use their card and when you pay them interest (so pay those bills on time!). To entice you to become their customer, they give you an opportunity to earn a ton of miles or cash when you first open the new card. Some bonuses are VERY generous – but some are not! We deleted all the cheapskate welcome bonuses and kept only the cards with big offers.
Minimum Spending Requirement: So what’s the “catch” to the bonus offer? You have to spend a certain amount on your new card within a certain time frame. Smaller spending requirements that make it easier for you to unlock the bonus make the card offer more favorable in our opinion. At Million Mile Secrets we want you to earn that bonus!
It’s so awesome to see how regular business owners like you get to travel First Class, stay in luxurious hotels or earn lots of cash using our tips and tricks. I loved the story of our reader Darren who owns a property management company. He treated his family of six to Greece, Egypt, London, Montreal and New York City using travel miles. And they flew in Business Class! Nice.
Ongoing Bonus Opportunities: We prefer business credit cards that KEEP rewarding you, even after you earn the initial big intro bonus.
Benefits: These can be a difference maker! Airport lounges, no foreign transaction fees, TSA PreCheck … perks can save you money AND time.
Having a small business card is also a terrific way to stay organized, because you can separate personal and business expenses, which makes it easier to track your spending.
We ranked the best business credit cards by category to help you decide which is a good fit for your situation.
Who Qualifies for Business Credit Cards?
Qualifying for a business credit card might be easier than you realize. You don’t need to own a huge multi-million dollar corporation. In fact, you don’t even need to be officially registered as a business on a local or state level, or even with the IRS, to qualify for the best small business credit card offers.
But you’ll have to show the bank that you’re operating a for-profit venture. This can be any side income you generate for performing a service or selling goods whether it’s working as a freelancer or selling items on Etsy. And anything you do as an independent contractor may also count, especially if you get a 1099 form for it!
Plus, you can apply for a business credit card as a sole proprietor by using your social security number on the application! I’ve done this. And team members Harlan, Jasmin and Meghan have too.
The good news is most banks do NOT have any minimum business income requirements for opening business credit cards. And remember that having a business banking relationship is NOT a requirement for getting a credit card! So you’re eligible to apply for business credit cards even if you don’t make deposits for your business at the bank that issues the card.
Keep in mind, some folks keep multiple business credit cards open at the same time. This means an opportunity to earn multiple intro bonuses!
Now that you know how to make yourself eligible for business credit cards, let’s take a look at our picks for best business credit card offers!
Best Business Credit Card Overall
Apply Here: Chase Ink Business Preferred
Read our review of the Chase Ink Business Preferred
The Official Offer: Earn 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
What You’ll Get: This is a fantastic welcome bonus and a big reason why the Chase Ink Business Preferred is our #1 pick!
If you like basic cash back, the 80,000-point bonus offer is worth $800.
Prefer to trade in your points for super easy travel? Good idea! Because in the Chase Travel Portal (it looks and works just like Expedia or Travelocity) your Chase Ultimate Rewards points with the Chase Ink Business Preferred are worth 1.25 cents each instead of 1 cent each. So the bonus brings you $1,000 worth of airfare, hotel stays, car rentals and more.
I use the Chase Travel Portal and found flights to be the same price as booking other places including on the airline sites. Hotel stays are also very close in price. For car rentals, shop around. But often the Chase portal has the best price too.
But what about fancy Business Class flights to Europe and Hawaii and New Jersey? Now here’s where it gets REALLY fun.
With the Chase Ink Business Preferred card, you can transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to awesome travel partners. For example, your 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points can become 80,000 United Airlines miles or 80,000 Hyatt points.
Now think of the possibilities! 60,000 United Airlines miles is enough for a one-way Business Class flight to Europe from the US. 60,000 United Airlines miles is also enough for a round-trip flight to Europe in coach. Remember, you’ll be earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points on all your spending. So as your points pile up, you get closer to awesome travel.
Another cool secret is that when you have United Airlines miles, you do NOT have to fly on United Airlines! Crazy, right? United Airlines has partners. For instance, I flew on LOT Polish (a Star Alliance partner of United Airlines) from New York to Warsaw. And I flew on TAP Portugal (another Star Alliance partner) to visit Lisbon.
Ongoing Earning Potential:
- 3x Chase Ultimate Rewards points for every dollar you spend on travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines (up to a maximum of $150,000 in combined purchases per account anniversary year)
- 1x Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on all other purchases
What counts as travel with this card is very broad! With the card you’ll earn triple points on:
- Airlines (including tickets, baggage fees, change fees, etc.)
- Hotels, motels, timeshares, campgrounds
- Vacation rentals like Airbnb
- Car rental agencies
- Cruise lines
- Travel agencies
- Discount travel sites like Orbitz and Expedia
- Trains like Amtrak, subway, and metro tickets
- Buses like city bus tickets, Greyhound, Megabus
- Taxis, limos, ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft
- Ferries
- Toll bridges and highways
- Parking lots and garages
I have a buddy who advertises his frozen yogurt shop on Facebook. With the Chase Ink Business Preferred you earn 3x points per dollar for this type of paid marketing.
Using Your Points: You’ve got three great options.
1. Transfer to Chase’s terrific travel partners like British Airways, United Airlines, Southwest, Hyatt, Marriott, Singapore Airlines and more!
2. Use your Chase Ultimate Rewards points in their travel portal. This is quick and easy.
3. Cash back.
Perks:
Cell Phone Protection: You get up to $600 per claim in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage for you and your employees listed on your monthly cell phone bill when you pay it with your Chase Ink Business Preferred credit card. There are a maximum of three claims in a 12 month period with a $100 deductible per claim.
Extended Warranty: When you buy stuff with your Chase Ink Business Preferred, they add one extra year when the warranty is three years or less.
Note: The extended warranty protection is up to the amount charged to your card less shipping and handling fees, with a maximum of $10,000, and no more than $50,000 per calendar year. So sorry, your business yacht is not covered.
Rental Car Insurance: Cardholders are covered when you rent a car with your card and decline the car rental agency’s collision damage waiver.
Rental car insurance is primary when renting for business purposes in your country of residence or outside of the country. Otherwise, this coverage is secondary. This could save you big bucks when renting a car!
Baggage Coverage: If your baggage is delayed for more than six hours, you could be reimbursed for emergency purchases of essential items (i.e. clothing, toiletries, cell phone charging cables, and more)
You can get up to $100 per day for a maximum of five days. So if the airline loses your luggage, you don’t have to attend that important business meeting in your Hawaiian shirt!
Lost Luggage: This benefit covers the cost to repair or replace lost luggage and personal items inside. You can be reimbursed up to $3,000 per person each trip with a limit of $500 for items such as jewelry and electronics. So no, don’t pack your original Picasso painting.
Trip Delay Protection: If your trip is delayed for more than 12 hours, you could be reimbursed for up to $500 per ticket for reasonable expenses (meals, lodging, toiletries, medication, and other personal use items).
This is so important for when life happens! When there’s bad weather or the airline screws up you do NOT want to be sleeping overnight in the airport with only the “generous” $25 airline voucher to fuel your hunger.
No Foreign Transaction Fee: I simply refuse to use any credit card outside that US the slaps on an international fee. Nope. The Chase Ink Business Preferred doesn’t do that to you.
Employee Cards at No Additional Cost: By adding employee cards to your account, you can set individual employee spending limits for greater control and earn rewards faster. You’re not a greedy control freak of a boss. You simply are careful with employee spending while slurping up their travel miles to use yourself. Kidding! Thank you for creating jobs.
Is the Chase Ink Business Preferred Worth the Annual Fee? Yes. It’s $95 for all the above. It’s a no-brainer.
Chase Ink Business Preferred Bottom Line: You can’t go wrong with this card. It’s impossible. In the absolute worst case, you earn the intro bonus and take home $800 minus the annual fee. Best case, you are flying to your dream destinations and staying at luxury hotels.
Apply Here: Chase Ink Business Preferred
Best Business Credit Card for American Airlines Travel
Apply Here: CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Mastercard®
Read our review of the CitiBusiness AAdvantage
The Official Offer: For a limited time, earn 70,000 American Airlines miles after making $4,000 in purchases in first four months of account opening the CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select.
What You’ll Get: 70,000 American Airlines miles is plenty ’nuff to take a couple of domestic award trips round-trip in coach (nearly three, actually!). All you’ll pay is the taxes and fees, which are ~$6 each way.
Plus, American Airlines has amazing oneworld travel partners like Cathay Pacific, Japan Air Lines and LATAM, with excellent rates to Asia, South America and beyond.
That amount of miles is worth a trip or two in coach, or a luxurious First or Business Class seat, depending where you want to go. These flights can easily cost thousands, so using American Airlines miles instead can be a huge money-saver!
Nearly everyone on the MMS team has had an American Airlines card at some point, and for good reason – the miles you earn are extremely valuable, especially when you have a travel goal in mind!
Ongoing Earning Potential: You’ll earn:
- 2x American Airlines miles per dollar spent on American Airlines flights
- 2x American Airlines miles per dollar spent at telecommunications merchants, cable and satellite providers, car rental merchants and gas stations
- 1x American Airlines mile per dollar spent on other purchases
Using Your Points: Luckily, it’s easy to book award flights directly on the American Airlines website. Just enter where you want to go and your dates, and be sure to check the “Redeem miles” box and you’re golden. You can even book most partner award flights!
The exceptions are Cathay Pacific, Etihad and Japan Air Lines. For those partners, you’ll need to call American Airlines at 800-433-7300 to book.
You can easily filter for nonstop flights, explore the monthly calendar and find prices for all classes of service, using simple tools built into the search engine.
Perks:
First checked bag free: You’ll get the first bag checked for free on domestic American Airlines flights for you and up to four companions on the same reservation. Considering it costs $30 to check a bag each way, this can add up to a huge savings!
Preferred boarding: Right now, they call it “Group 5,” but I call it getting on the plane quicker and getting overhead bin space.
25% off food, drinks, and Wi-Fi in-flight: Use your card to pay for a refreshment or internet access, and you’ll get 25% of the cost credited back to your account.
Companion certificate: When you spend $30,000 or more in purchases during your card year and renew your card, you’ll earn a companion certificate.
After purchasing qualifying airfare, you’ll pay a $99 companion ticket fee plus ~$22 to ~$43 in taxes and fees to add a friend or loved one to your flight. There are blackout dates, but if you can make it work, you stand to save much more than the card’s annual fee!
Is the CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select Worth the Annual Fee? If your small business spends a lot in the 2x categories, or if you can make good use of the companion certificate, then absolutely!
Chase CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select Bottom Line: American Airlines miles are among the hardest to earn, so earning double in several popular categories is an easy way to get an award ticket that much quicker. If this card fits with your small business spending, you can do well to get lots of travel on American Airlines and many top-notch oneworld partners.
Apply Here: CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Mastercard®
Best Business Credit Card for Alaska Airlines Miles
Apply Here: Alaska Airlines Visa® Business credit card
The Official Offer: 40,000 Alaska Airlines miles, plus a Companion Fare from $121 ($99 fare, plus taxes and fees from $22) after making $2,000 in purchases within the first 90 days of opening your account.
What You’ll Get: Domestic award flights start at just 7,500 Alaska Airlines miles, but you’re in no way limited to just flying on Alaska Airlines. That’s because they have partnerships with over a dozen international airlines, like Fiji Airways, Korean Air and Qantas – and the award chart is surprisingly generous, though it varies by partner airline.
Alaska Airlines miles are another tough currency to earn, and this welcome offer is as high as we’ve seen it!
Ongoing Earning Potential: You’ll earn:
- 3 Alaska Airlines miles per dollar spent on eligible Alaska Airlines purchases
- 1 Alaska Airlines mile per dollar on everything else
Using Your Points: When it’s time to use your miles, simply head to the Alaska Airlines website. There, you can book all partner awards online, with the exception of Cathay Pacific and LATAM.
Perks:
Companion Fare: Each year you renew your card, you’ll get a $99 companion fare ticket to use with no blackout dates. Just pay the taxes and fees from $22, and you’re all set. This is an especially good deal if you use it to fly to Hawaii, or other markets that tend to have seasonal price jumps.
Free checked bag: When you fly on Alaska Airlines, you’ll get a free checked bag for yourself and up to six travel companions.
Is the Alaska Airlines Visa Worth the Annual Fee? For $75 a year, if you use the companion ticket and check bags on a trip or two, you’ll come out way ahead. Plus if you fly Alaska Airlines regularly, you’ll earn 3x miles on ticket purchases, which is an easy way to earn more miles.
Alaska Airlines Visa Bottom Line: The intro bonus is unlikely to go higher than it is now. In the past, it’s been as low as 30,000 miles as a standard offer.
Alaska Airlines is unique in they’re not part of an airline alliance. But the domestic routes and bevy of excellent partnerships make these airline miles worth collecting.
Apply Here: Alaska Airlines Visa® Business credit card
Best Business Credit Card With No Annual Fee
Apply here: Ink Business Cash Credit Card
Read our review of the Ink Business Cash Credit Card
The Official Offer: With the Ink Business Cash welcome bonus, you’ll earn $500 cash back (50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points!) after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.
What You’ll Get: Earning $500 in cash from a business credit card with no annual fee is a fantastic deal!
Ongoing Earning Potential:
- 5% cash back (5x Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar) on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on phone, internet and cable TV services each account anniversary year
- 2% cash back (2x Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar) on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year
- 1% cash back (1x Chase Ultimate Rewards point per dollar) on all other purchases
I’ve had this card for many years. It’s great. I rock it at office supply stores and to pay my internet and cable bills. And whenever I have a business meal, I use it to earn double points. Secret: Oftentimes, your business beer and cocktails earn 2x points too! Because those bars and lounges code as restaurants to the credit card company. Cheers!
Using Your Points: If you ONLY have the Chase Ink Business Cash credit card, you’ve got one option: cash.
But … if you ALSO have the Chase Ink Business Preferred (yes, you can totally have both cards) OR the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card OR the Chase Sapphire Reserve you have powered-up from small Mario to Super Mario.
Because you can move the Chase Ultimate Rewards points you earn with the Ink Cash to one of those cards. And from there you have access to all the great travel partners I talked about in the Chase Ink Business Preferred section!
Perks:
Many are the same as the Chase Ink Business Preferred. And for $0 in annual fees! So you see why I love this business credit card!
Here are the perks you get: primary rental car insurance (when renting for business purposes), extended warranty, delayed baggage and lost luggage protection.
You can check all the details of the fantastic benefits when you get to the Ink Cash card offer page.
When I bought my semi-fancy office chair at Staples with my Ink Cash (to earn 5x points!), they tried to sell me some nonsense extended warranty. I laughed! Ha! Chase has my back!
Is the Chase Ink Business Cash Worth the Annual Fee? Yes. Because there is no annual fee! But this card DOES charge foreign transaction fees, which is why I instead use my Chase Sapphire Preferred when I travel abroad.
Chase Ink Business Cash Bottom Line: I have this card. I love this card. You will too. It costs nothing to own.
Apply here: Ink Business Cash Credit Card
Best Business Credit Card for Easy Rewards
Apply Here: Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business
Read our review of the Capital One Spark Cash card
The Official Offer: When you apply for the Capital One Spark Cash card, you’ll earn a $500 cash bonus after spending $4,500 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
What You’ll Get: After you meet the spending threshold, you bank $500 cash to use however you like. It’s a very good deal!
Ongoing Earning Potential: Unlimited 2% cash back per dollar you spend on all purchases.
Using Your Points: This card earns cash back, which you can use to request a check or statement credit any time with NO minimum redemption amount!
Perks:
Purchase Security and Extended Protection: They will replace, repair or reimburse you for eligible items of personal property up to $10,000 per claim for 90 days from the date of purchase in the event of theft or damage.
And extended protection doubles the time period of the original manufacturer’s written US repair warranty up to one full year on warranties of three years or less when you purchase the item entirely with your Capital One Spark Cash card.
Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver: You receive primary coverage, at no additional cost, for damage due to collision or theft when you charge your entire rental transaction to your Capital One Spark Cash card and decline the rental company’s collision damage waiver.
So that saves you money when you rent a car for business! This is overall a good deal but always read the fine print. For instance, this benefit doesn’t cover Bentley or Ferrari vehicles, even if you’re James Bond on international spy business.
Lost Luggage Reimbursement: Your checked or carry-on luggage is covered up to $3,000 if lost or stolen when you charge your entire common carrier ticket to your Capital One Spark Cash card.
No Foreign Transaction Fee: Bring this card to Europe! Visa is widely accepted.
Free Employee Cards: Add employee cards at no additional cost, and earn all the rewards from their purchases!
Is the Capital One Spark Cash for Business Worth the Annual Fee? Without a doubt in year one because the $95 annual doesn’t kick in until AFTER your first year with the card. At ~10 months with the card, look over your spending habits to see if the card makes sense for you to keep.
Whenever I have to cancel a credit card (which I don’t do often) I’ve found it to be very easy and painless.
Capital One Spark Cash Bottom Line: If you like Capital One and you like this business credit card, it’s definitely worth getting. In general, I’ve had great experiences with Capital One.
Apply here: Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business
Best Business Credit Card for Travel / Airport Lounge Access
Apply Here: The Business Platinum® Card from American Express
Read our Amex Business Platinum review
The Official Offer: When you apply for the Amex Business Platinum card, you’ll earn:
- 50,000 Amex Membership Rewards points after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening
- 25,000 Amex Membership Rewards points after you spend an additional $10,000 on qualifying purchases within the same time frame
That brings the total bonus to 75,000 Amex Membership Rewards points.
What You’ll Get: The main reason we don’t rank this higher is because you’ll have to spend $20,000 to earn the full bonus. If that’s not a problem for you, you’re going to love this business card.
You can get thousands of dollars worth of travel from 75,000 American Express Membership Rewards points when you take advantage of their travel partners like Delta, British Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, Singapore Airlines and more!
Or you can get nearly $1,400 worth of travel using the easy Pay With Points system instead.
You want to keep it dead simple? OK. You can use the 75,000 Amex Membership Rewards points (remember, you’ll earn AT LEAST 20,000 MORE points by meeting the minimum spending requirement to unlock the big welcome bonus) to grab $950 worth of gift cards through the Amex portal.
Ongoing Earning Potential:
- 1.5x Amex Membership Rewards points per dollar on single purchases of $5,000+ (up to 1,000,000 bonus points per calendar year)
- 5x Amex Membership Rewards points per dollar when you book airfare and hotels through the Amex travel portal
- Terms Apply
Using Your Points: You’ve got three fun ways …
1. Transfer to American Express partners
American Express has a cool transfer partner called Flying Blue. Flying Blue partners with an airline you’re familiar with … Delta!
As an example, you can fly one-way from Minneapolis to Honolulu on Delta with just 15,000 Flying Blue miles. So think about flying to Hawaii for 15,000 American Express Membership Rewards points versus using 15,000 American Express Membership Rewards points for $150 worth of gift cards. This is the greatness of American Express travel partners!
Another example:
You can transfer your Amex Membership Rewards points to fly back and forth to Europe. The trick? You transfer your points to Air Canada. Hang on … magic coming … Air Canada miles give you access to United Airlines and Star Alliance airlines!
You could transfer 70,000 Amex Membership Rewards points to partner Air Canada to book a first-class flight on Lufthansa (great airline in the Star Alliance) from Germany all the way to Los Angeles. That same ticket typically costs $11,000!
Again, when you do all your spending to earn the 75,000-point bonus, you’ll have at least 95,000 American Express Membership Rewards points. That’s more than enough for a round-trip coach flight to Europe when you transfer your points to Air Canada and fly on partner airlines.
2. Use the super easy Pay With Points rebate benefit
When you use Amex Pay With Points, you get 1 cent per point towards your ticket. And Amex Business Platinum cardholders can get a 35% points rebate. You’ll get:
- 35% of your points back for ALL First Class or Business Class flights booked through the Amex travel portal
- 35% of your points back for all flights, including coach tickets, booked with your selected airline through the Amex travel portal
3. Gift cards through the American Express portal
Perks:
Airport Lounges: This business card is the absolute best for airport lounges. It’s a great all-around business card for travel too.
Before I got into this hobby I had never been in an airport lounge. Now I wonder how I survived airports before! I’ve lost touch with my fellow humans who have to suffer overpriced dining options, constant loud announcements and lack of electric charging stations! Just kidding. I am still the common man who enjoys the all-you-can-eat buffet and only buys socks when they’re on sale. But I do enjoy the heck out of airport lounges.
Whether you’re a frequent traveler looking to escape airport chaos or just want to treat yourself to a better airport experience, having a card with lounge access is a fantastic perk!
Cardholders can access:
- Amex Centurion Lounges
- The International American Express Lounges
- Airspace Lounges
- Delta Sky Club lounges when you have a same day flight with Delta
- Escape Lounges
- 1,000+ Priority Pass lounges
American Express Centurion Lounges are the best airport lounges in the US. So if any of these are your home airport (or you’ll fly there frequently) this business card was made for you:
- Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)
- Denver (DEN) – coming soon
- Houston Intercontinental (IAH)
- Las Vegas (LAS)
- Los Angeles (LAX) – coming soon
- New York-La Guardia (LGA)
- New York (JFK) – coming soon
- Miami (MIA)
- Philadelphia (PHL)
- San Francisco (SFO)
- Seattle-Tacoma (SEA)
My buddy in Las Vegas loves the Centurion Lounge there. He’s constantly bragging informing me of how great it is.
With American Express Business Platinum you are also granted access to Priority Pass lounges around the world. In my experience these lounges range from wonderful to meh. But my mathematical calculations conclude that having lounge access is always greater than not having lounge access.
For example, in Helsinki the Priority Pass lounges are pretty good. I’ve had my fill of name-brand vodka and pasta salads. At London Heathrow, man, the Priority Pass lounge saved us a small fortune. Our flight was delayed for HOURS. And we ate, drank and were merry, and even had comfy beds on which to lay our weary heads.
Airline Statement Credits: Up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year for airline incidentals with your selected airline (luggage fees, in-flight food & drink, etc.).
For example, if you are approved for this small business card in June, you get the statement credit once this year and AGAIN next calendar year. Meanwhile, you only pay ONE annual fee from June to June. Cool. Anyhow, this perk immediately makes the card more affordable. I mean, if you’re not traveling enough to use this perk (luggage fees are expensive!) you probably want to give this card a skip.
Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts: Booking hotels this way gives you some sweet perks. You get daily breakfast for two people, guaranteed 4pm late check-out, noon check-in when available, and complimentary Wi-Fi. And sometimes these deals include things like a $100 credit to use at the hotel restaurant, a room upgrade and more.
Amex Premium Roadside Assistance: When you’re approved for the card you can check out all the details, but in short, you get, at no additional cost, up to four times per calendar year: towing up to 10 miles, winching, jump starts, flat tire change when Card Member has a workable spare, lockout service when the key is in the vehicle and delivery of up to two gallons of fuel. So for some of you, this could replace your AAA membership fee. Do you know what winching is? I don’t. That’s why I like this perk. Because they will winch for me.
Amex Offers: This program is fun. I love it. Whenever I log into my American Express account on my computer machine, I scroll down to see all these money-saving offers. I’ve saved many hundreds of dollars on everything including great restaurants, hotels, shoes and liquor.
Rental Car Status: You get elite car rental status with Avis, Executive status with National Car Rental and Gold Plus Rewards with Hertz.
Hotel Elite Status: You get complimentary Hilton Honors Gold elite status which entitles you to free breakfast and upgrades when available. You also are bestowed Marriott Bonvoy Gold elite status. In general, the hotel chains try to take care of you with extras when you have a higher level of status.
Internet in the Air: This card grants you 10 Gogo inflight Wi-Fi passes each calendar year. This allows you to get more business accomplished while on your flights and also do important things like look at golden retriever puppies on Instagram. They’re the best!
Speed on the Ground: Hate is a strong word. And it describes how I feel about that ridiculous line to get through airport security. I know, I know, safety. But I’m very thankful for my TSA PreCheck and Global Entry that puts me on the speedier path to my flight. With the Amex Business Platinum you receive a statement credit every four years (4.5 for TSA PreCheck) after you apply for Global Entry ($100) or TSA PreCheck ($85).
Secret: Apply for Global Entry because with it you almost always get stamped for TSA PreCheck!
Another Secret: Do you already have this? Buy it for someone else and you’ll get refunded because you used your card to pay for it!
No Foreign Transaction Fees: You’re all set! (See Rates & Fees)
The Business Platinum® Card from American Express Bottom Line: This is a “Platinum” card that is actually worthy of the name. This is always a strong pick, especially for frequent travelers.
Apply here: The Business Platinum® Card from American Express.
Which Business Credit Card Is Best? The Bottom Line!
We’ve dug into the details of the best business credit cards. Based on our analysis, these are the best business credit card offers:
- Best Business Credit Card Overall: Ink Business Preferred Credit Card
- Best Business Credit Card for American Airlines Travel: CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Mastercard®
- Best Business Credit Card for Alaska Airlines Miles: Alaska Airlines Visa® Business credit card
- Best Business Credit Card With No Annual Fee: Ink Business Cash Credit Card
- Best Business Credit Card for Easy Rewards: Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business
- Best Business Credit Card for Travel / Airport Lounge Access: The Business Platinum® Card from American Express
What’s the best business credit card in your opinion? Sound off in the comments!
For rates and fees of the Amex Business Platinum card, click here.
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