10 Best Business Credit Cards for Travel 2022

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After comparing fees, rewards, bonuses, and more, we found that Capital One’s free Spark 1.5X Miles Select card offers the best value for the most business owners. We’ll tell you all about why we like Spark 1.5X Miles Select―and about nine other cards that might be a good fit―in the article below. 

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Capital One’s Spark 1.5X Miles Select is our favorite travel business credit card for most business owners.

So what makes it a standout? It starts with the annual fee―or rather, the fact that Spark 1.5X Miles Select doesn’t have one. In fact, it’s the only travel-focuses business card we’ve found with no annual fee. That makes it a great value for all business owners, including those who don’t do enough travel to offset high fees.

We also like that Spark 1.5X Miles Select earns flat-rate rewards. It doesn’t matter if you’re traveling to a conference, buying your team lunch, or just getting more printer paper. No matter how you spend, this card lets you earn a decent amount of miles.

Now, other cards do let you earn more miles. So if you’re really trying to maximize your miles, Spark 1.5X Miles Select may not be the card for you. But if you want to earn miles without planning your spending, this card does the job.

Likewise, Spark 1.5X Miles doesn’t have a ton of travel perks. Capital One will tell you if flight prices drop (and even refund you after you book), and you don’t pay foreign transaction fees. But don’t expect free checked baggage, a travel lounger, or other top-tier perks.

All the same, Spark 1.5X Miles offers a simple way to earn miles for travel―without worrying about an annual fee. That makes it flexible enough for most business owners, which is why Spark 1.5X Miles is our top business credit card for travel.

Like the idea of a flat rewards rate, but want to earn even more? Then Spark 2X Miles could be your perfect business credit card.

Spark 2X Miles lets you earn miles at a flat rate, just like Spark 1.5X Miles Select. But Spark 2X Miles earn more miles per dollar, meaning you’ll rack up free travel faster. Plus, Spark 2X Miles gets you some added perks. You’ll get a credit to put toward Global Entry or TSA Precheck, for example. And you get access to Capital One airport loungers, including two free visits each year.

Of course, you will have to pay more to get all these benefits. Spark 2X Miles has an annual fee (after your first year), though it’s a pretty affordable one. You’ll also pay a high APR if you carry a balance on your Spark 2X Miles card, so we highly recommend paying this one off each month (which is a good practice for all business credit cards).

But simply put, Spark 2X Miles earns you plenty of flat-rate miles and gives you other travel perks―without breaking the bank.

Looking for a great balance of travel perks and price? Then check out the Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business Card.

Aside from earning miles on your purchases, the Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business Card rewards you with some great travel benefits. You’ll get a free checked bag on Delta flights, for instance, along with priority boarding. Plus, you’ll save on travel. The Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business Card gives you a $100 Delta flight credit each year (after you spend $10,000) and offers a 20% discount on in-flight purchases.

But this card does have an annual fee (aside from your first year), so make sure those benefits outweigh that cost. And keep in mind, while this card has nice perks, it’s not a super high earning card. You max out a 2X miles for Delta, restaurant, shipping, and advertising purchases. Everything else? Just 1X miles.

All the same, the Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business Card offers a nicer travel experience with a reasonable annual fee.

If you don’t always want to redeem rewards for travel, Chase’s Ink Business Preferred® credit card can give you more flexibility.

The Ink Business Preferred® credit card earns points instead of miles (and luckily, you can earn them at a pretty high rate for travel, shipping, advertising, and more). You can redeem those points for travel, if you want. In fact, Chase gives you 25% for each point when you redeem for travel. But if you’d rather get cash one month or merchandise the next, the Ink Business Preferred® credit card gives you that option.

Like other cards on this list, the Ink Business Preferred® credit card has an annual fee―and its fee never gets waived at all. So as always, do some math before committing to this card and its fee. And note that this card comes with a generous welcome bonus, but you have to spend a lot ($15,000) to get it. In other words, this card works best for bigger spenders.

If that meets your business needs, though, the Ink Business Preferred® credit card can give you more flexibility than a travel-specific credit card.

Prefer to get straight up cash? The U.S. Bank Business Leverage® Visa Signature® Card is a cash back business credit card―but it has a couple extras to reward your travel.

With the U.S. Bank Business Leverage® Visa Signature® Card, you earn 1% on most purchases, but you get 2% cash back in your top two spending categories. Those categories can include travel-related ones like airlines, car rental, gas stations, and hotels. But U.S. Bank gives you 5% cash back (an excellent rate) on prepaid hotels and prepaid car rentals―rewarding you even more for your travels.

The catch? You have to book those car rentals and hotels through U.S. Bank’s Travel Rewards Center―not the most convenient way of doing things. And the U.S. Bank Business Leverage® Visa Signature® Card is another card that has an annual fee after your first year, so you’ll want to make sure you travel enough to get your money’s worth. 

But for basic cash back―with a little extra for travel―the U.S. Bank Business Leverage® Visa Signature® Card is a solid option.

Haven’t seen the right credit card for your small business yet? Then maybe one of our five honorable mentions will interest you.

We’ve already shown you that American Express has some great deals for Delta customers―but what if you fly American Airlines? In that case, take a look at the CitiBusiness®/AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®.

The CitiBusiness®/AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® earns extra miles for American Airline purchases―plus it saves you 25% on in-flight purchases. As you might expect, it also gets you a free checked bag and preferred boarding. And if you spend $30,000 with your card in one year, you earn an American Airlines Companion Certificate.

You will have to pay an annual fee after year one, so make sure you travel enough on American Airlines to justify the CitiBusiness®/AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®.

Looking for a high-limit business credit card? Then we think American Express’s Business Gold Card will interest you.

With the Business Gold Card, you don’t have a strict credit limit. Instead, American Express gives you an adaptable spending limit. It automatically adjusts based on your card usage (and repayments), meaning you can get more buying power without calling to ask for a credit limit bump.

The Business Gold Card earns points, not miles. But you can earn a 4X rate in your top categories (like airfare), and you can get points back for booking travel through American Express. That just might make the $295 annual fee―the highest so far―worth it. 

If you like the idea of earning flexible points (like with the Ink Business Preferred® credit card) but you want the highest possible rate, you need American Express’s Business Platinum Card®.

The Business Platinum Card® earns up to 5X points on flights and hotels, making it one of the top-earning business credit cards. Plus, you can usually get a generous welcome offer that earns you even more points. And to sweeten things further, this card gets you access to American Express airport lounges, gives you a baggage fee credit, and has several other travel perks.

Those benefits come at a high cost, though. The Business Platinum Card® is the most expensive card on this list, with an annual fee of almost $700. So it’s not right for all business owners―but it can get you a very high points rate.

If you’d rather get a top-notch rate on miles than points, then you’ll like the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business Card.

Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business Card earns up to 3X miles on travel through Delta. And like other American Express cards, it offers great welcome bonuses when you open your card. This Delta-branded card also gets you travel benefits like priority boarding, a free checked bag, and (paid) access to the Delta Sky Club. You even get a companion certificate each year when you renew.

But as you can guess from seeing other AmEx cards, this one has a hefty annual fee. And while the 3X max rewards rate is great, it only applies to travel. So if you want a high rate on everyday spending, you may prefer a different credit card.

Our final pick is only for very frequent fliers. But if that’s you, the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business Card has all sorts of great benefits.

For starters, you earn 3X miles on travel. Rather than having a welcome bonus, though, this card lets you earn 15,000 bonus miles whenever you spend $30,000 in one year. You can even earn that bonus more than once a year. You’ll also enjoy travel perks like complimentary airport lounge access, a companion certificate, concierge assistance, free checked bags . . . and so on.

In other words, the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business Card offers some of the best travel perks we’ve seen. But with a $550 annual fee, only regular travelers will be able to justify this pricey business credit card.

The Spark 1.5X Miles Select credit card from Capital One is our top business credit card for travel. It has no annual fee, earns flat-rate rewards and starts you off with a (with a 16.99%–26.99% variable APR after). That means it provides plenty of value for all kinds of business owners.

To earn even more miles at a flat rate, you can upgrade to the Spark 2X Miles card from Capital One. For airline-specific perks, we suggest American Express’s Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business Card. Business owners wanting more flexibility than simple miles will like the points rewards from Chases’s Ink Business Preferred® credit card. And the U.S. Bank Business Leverage® Visa Signature® Card offers basic cash back while giving you extra rewards for your travel.

Safe travels!

Found the right travel card for your small business? Find out how to apply for a business credit card and start earning those miles.

We analyzed more than three dozen credit cards to find the best business credit cards for travel. We narrowed things down by looking for business cards that offered miles rewards, travel perks, or extra value for redeeming travel. Then we scored those credit cards based on their fees, purchase APR, rewards rate, and more.

While we do like the Spark 1.5X Miles Select card for many business owners, you should know that there’s no one-size-fits-all business credit card for travel. (In fact, there’s no one-size-fits-all small-business credit card at all.) Instead, you need to find the card that works with your business needs and habits.

So as you shop for a travel credit card for your business, think about these questions:

Frequent travelers may want lots of perks for their trips―like lounge access, companion passes, priority boarding, and more. If you travel enough, a $550 annual fee might feel worthwhile to get those perks.

But for business owners that travel every once in a while, a lower-fee card with fewer perks might be a better fit.

Consider what airlines you use. If you mostly use American Airlines, for instance, getting the CitiBusiness/AAdvantage Platinum Select card could make a lot of sense. But that card won’t offer as much for Delta customers. Instead, they should get an American Express Delta SkyMiles card.

On the other hand, travelers that don’t fly as much may prefer a flat-rate card (like the Spark cards from Capital One) that reward you just as much for car rentals, hotels, and other traveling expenses.

It’s great to get miles for free travel, but maybe you’d rather get a more flexible kind of reward. In that case, you can look for business credit cards that reward you with cash back or points.

Some of these (like Chase’s Ink Business Preferred) still give you some nice rewards for traveling, but they give you more options for using those rewards.

Disclaimer

At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.