Many high journey rewards playing cards supply bonus rewards whenever you e book flights, accommodations and rental automobiles by way of the issuer’s journey portal.
For instance, the Chase Sapphire Most popular® Card (see charges and charges) presents 5 factors per greenback spent on journey bought by way of Chase Journey℠ however simply 2 factors per greenback spent on different journey, together with flights booked straight with airways.
So, you may take into account reserving flights by way of a bank card journey portal whenever you plan your subsequent journey. Nonetheless, many vacationers imagine you may typically pay extra for flights when reserving by way of a bank card journey portal. Plus, you may earn bonus rewards on choose airline bank cards in case you use them to e book straight with the airline.
However are flights actually costlier whenever you e book by way of a bank card journey portal? We collected after which crunched over 800 knowledge factors to seek out out.
What knowledge did we accumulate?
For this story, we collected 804 knowledge factors to find out whether or not flights are costlier on common whenever you e book by way of a bank card journey portal. Particularly, we collected fares throughout 134 round-trip flight itineraries.
For every itinerary, we outlined the particular flight numbers, journey dates and cabin class, after which requested TPG staffers to gather fares throughout the next reserving strategies as rapidly as potential (at all times 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
For those who’re solely within the highlights, here is a abstract of an important takeaways:
- Not each itinerary is bookable by way of every bank card journey portal.
- Capital One Journey bought the best share of the itineraries we searched; Amex Journey bought the bottom.
- In comparison with reserving straight, fares are, on common, about the identical by way of Capital One Journey, barely costlier by way of Bilt and Chase Journey, considerably costlier by way of Amex Journey, and way more costly by way of Citi Journey.
- Capital One Journey returns the identical fare as reserving straight greater than half the time. Bilt, Chase Journey and Citi Journey return the identical fare as reserving straight lower than half the time. Amex Journey returns the identical fare as reserving straight lower than a fifth of the time.
- To get the perfect flight worth, it’s best to examine every portal you may entry and examine these charges with what the airline expenses for direct bookings.
We realized loads extra fascinating issues whereas analyzing our knowledge. So, learn on for extra statistics and a deeper evaluation of what we realized.
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Is it costlier to e book flights by way of a journey portal?
Reserving flights by way of a bank card journey portal is usually costlier, however typically cheaper. We crunched knowledge from 134 round-trip itineraries and calculated the common distinction between every portal’s pricing and reserving straight. Here is what we discovered:
- Amex Journey portal: 10.32% costlier than reserving straight
- Bilt journey portal: 6.50% costlier than reserving straight
- Capital One Journey portal: 0.76% costlier than reserving straight
- Chase Journey portal: 5.94% costlier than reserving straight
- Citi Journey portal: 14.59% costlier than reserving straight
Here is a take a look at the variety of itineraries that have been equal to, costlier than or cheaper than what you may e book straight with the airline.
| The variety of itineraries that had … | Amex Journey | Bilt journey | Capital One Journey | Chase Journey | Citi Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The identical fare by way of the portal and when reserving straight | 26 | 57 | 81 | 50 | 35 |
| A costlier fare by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 61 | 47 | 26 | 42 | 60 |
| A fare at the least 1% costlier by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 56 | 37 | 20 | 36 | 53 |
| A fare at the least 10% costlier by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 41 | 29 | 9 | 26 | 34 |
| A cheaper fare by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 16 | 13 | 19 | 16 | 24 |
| A fare at the least 1% cheaper by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 14 | 5 | 11 | 8 | 17 |
| A fare at the least 10% cheaper by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 9 |
As you may see, the Capital One Journey portal featured probably the most itineraries with the identical worth as reserving straight. The variety of itineraries at the least 1% costlier by way of the Capital One Journey portal, in comparison with reserving straight, was just like the variety of itineraries at the least 1% cheaper. Plus, we discovered itineraries by way of the Capital One Journey portal have been on common simply 0.76% costlier than reserving straight.
In the meantime, fares for 61 itineraries have been costlier by way of the Amex Journey portal than reserving straight. In 41 cases, the Amex Journey portal returned costs greater than 10% larger than you’d get reserving straight. One such itinerary concerned flying Air Canada in economic system between New York and Toronto in December. This itinerary by way of Amex Journey prices $382, whereas reserving straight would value $210.
Now, let’s focus on a few of these metrics when taking a look at subsets of our dataset. Particularly, we’ll focus on home, worldwide and economic system flight tendencies.
Developments for home flights
The typical distinction between every portal’s pricing and reserving straight for the 50 round-trip home itineraries we thought-about is as follows:
- Amex Journey portal: 6.10% costlier than reserving straight
- Bilt journey portal: 4.00% costlier than reserving straight
- Capital One Journey portal: 0.05% cheaper than reserving straight
- Chase Journey portal: 4.14% costlier than reserving straight
- Citi Journey portal: 2.77% costlier than reserving straight
Here is a take a look at the variety of home itineraries that have been equal to, costlier than or cheaper than what you may e book straight with the airline.
| The variety of home itineraries that had … | Amex Journey | Bilt journey | Capital One Journey | Chase Journey | Citi Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The identical fare by way of the portal and when reserving straight | 13 | 31 | 36 | 22 | 13 |
| A costlier fare by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 18 | 15 | 8 | 12 | 19 |
| A fare at the least 1% costlier by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 16 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 16 |
| A fare at the least 10% costlier by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 11 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 4 |
| A cheaper fare by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 7 |
| A fare at the least 1% cheaper by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 8 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| A fare at the least 10% cheaper by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
In our exams, home fares by way of the Capital One Journey portal have been 0.05% cheaper than reserving straight, with three fares even being 10% cheaper. One in all these fares was for a round-trip United Airways itinerary from Los Angeles to New York in December. We might e book this itinerary by way of Capital One Journey for $312.
In the meantime, reserving straight or through Bilt journey carried a fare of $412 and reserving through the opposite portals carried a fare of $427 or larger.
Developments for worldwide flights
The typical distinction between every portal’s pricing and reserving straight for the 84 round-trip worldwide itineraries we thought-about is as follows:
- Amex Journey portal: 12.89% costlier than reserving straight
- Bilt journey portal: 8.12% costlier than reserving straight
- Capital One Journey portal: 1.26% costlier than reserving straight
- Chase Journey portal: 6.91% costlier than reserving straight
- Citi Journey portal: 20.35% costlier than reserving straight
Here is a take a look at the variety of worldwide itineraries that have been equal to, costlier than or cheaper than what you may e book straight with the airline.
| The variety of worldwide itineraries that had … | Amex Journey | Bilt journey | Capital One Journey | Chase Journey | Citi Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The identical fare by way of the portal and when reserving straight | 13 | 26 | 45 | 28 | 22 |
| A costlier fare by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 43 | 32 | 18 | 30 | 41 |
| A fare at the least 1% costlier by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 40 | 26 | 14 | 27 | 37 |
| A fare at the least 10% costlier by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 30 | 22 | 7 | 20 | 30 |
| A cheaper fare by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 8 | 13 | 15 | 12 | 17 |
| A fare at the least 1% cheaper by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 11 |
| A fare at the least 10% cheaper by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
Amex Journey, by far, had the fewest itineraries for which the fares by way of the portal have been equal to these discovered straight with the airline. The Amex Journey and Citi Journey portals additionally confirmed fares at the least 10% costlier by way of the portal than reserving straight 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 by way of the portal have been equal to these discovered straight with the airline. The Capital One Journey portal had 18 itineraries costlier than reserving straight and 15 cheaper, with common fares that have been simply 1.26% costlier by way of the Capital One Journey portal than reserving straight.
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Developments for economic system flights
The typical distinction between every portal’s pricing and reserving straight for the 83 round-trip economic system itineraries we thought-about is as follows:
- Amex Journey portal: 17.14% costlier than reserving straight
- Bilt journey: 9.92% costlier than reserving straight
- Capital One Journey portal: 0.14% costlier than reserving straight
- Chase Journey portal: 8.59% costlier than reserving straight
- Citi Journey portal: 11.52% costlier than reserving straight
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 may e book straight 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 by way of the portal and when reserving straight | 6 | 33 | 52 | 25 | 17 |
| A costlier fare by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 49 | 36 | 15 | 29 | 36 |
| A fare at the least 1% costlier by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 46 | 33 | 12 | 26 | 32 |
| A fare at the least 10% costlier by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 36 | 28 | 5 | 21 | 21 |
| A cheaper fare by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 5 | 5 | 12 | 11 | 17 |
| A fare at the least 1% cheaper by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 5 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| A fare at the least 10% cheaper by way of the portal in comparison with reserving straight | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 |
Financial system fares by way of Capital One Journey have been the identical as reserving straight 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 straight and greater than triple the best-performing portal’s variety of economic system itineraries that have been costlier when reserving by way of the portal.
Forty-nine of the economic system itineraries — 59% of the economic system itineraries we thought-about — have been costlier by way of the Amex Journey portal than reserving straight 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 respect the Capital One Journey portal’s worth drop safety on flights for which the platform recommends reserving instantly, and I’ve gotten worth from Amex’s Worldwide 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 straight. Capital One Journey supplied decrease fares for home itineraries than reserving straight with the airline. The Capital One Journey portal additionally supplied the identical fares as reserving straight on 60% of itineraries, the 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, larger than these out there when reserving straight with the airline.
Nonetheless, whereas the distinction between reserving straight 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 larger percentages of itineraries that have been cheaper than reserving straight by greater than 1%.
And, we discovered 9 itineraries by way of the Citi Journey portal that have been cheaper than reserving straight with the airline by greater than 10%.
So, the Capital One Journey portal is finest if you need the perfect probability of getting a fare near what you may e book straight with the airline. However, our knowledge confirmed the Amex Journey and Citi Journey portals are probably to supply a fare that is 1% lower than (in addition to 1% higher than) reserving straight with the airline. It could even be price checking these portals to see in case 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 may e book straight; that is extra often 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 by way of Amex Journey, 25 weren’t out there by way of Chase Journey, 17 weren’t out there by way of Bilt, 15 weren’t out there by way of Citi Journey and 7 weren’t out there by way of Capital One Journey.
In some circumstances, this was as a result of portal not supporting a selected airline. For instance, Amex Journey, Chase Journey and Citi Journey do not supply Spirit Airways and Frontier Airways flights. And Chase Journey is the one portal that gives Southwest Airways flights (moreover the Capital One Enterprise Journey portal, which we did not check).
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 e book 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’s also price contemplating the additional rewards you may earn when reserving by way of bank card journey portals with choose rewards bank cards.
For instance, I am going to typically e book flights by way of Capital One Journey with my Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card to make use of my card’s $300 annual Capital One Journey credit score 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 a better price whenever you e book flights by way of the cardboard issuer’s journey portal. Here is a take a look at the incomes charges when reserving flights with some standard journey playing cards:
Lastly, do not forget that some bank cards supply journey protections whenever you use them to e book flights. These protections can be found no matter whether or not you utilize your card to e book straight with the airline or through a bank card journey portal.
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Redemption charges
You can even redeem rewards when reserving flights by way of bank card journey portals. Some portals supply low redemption charges, although. Here is the redemption price you may count on to get when redeeming for flights by way of 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 just e book by way of the portal.
Nonetheless, do not forget that TPG’s November 2025 valuations peg the worth of every of those currencies larger than what you will get when reserving by way of the portal. So, you may often need to switch your rewards to switch companions as an alternative of redeeming for flights by way of 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 may e book straight with the airline. In the meantime, the Citi Journey portal was about 14% costlier on common than reserving straight, and the Amex Journey portal was about 10% costlier.
This does not imply it’s best to choose one reserving methodology and keep away from checking different choices, although. I used to be shocked by how a lot costs assorted between the portals — and when in comparison with the airline’s web site — whereas gathering knowledge for this story. Processing the information and penning this story made me notice greater than ever the significance of checking every bank card journey portal you will have entry to and the airline’s web site earlier than reserving a flight.
So, subsequent time it’s worthwhile to e book a flight, begin on Google Flights to evaluate your choices. You might also need to open up your favourite award search instruments in case you have transferable rewards.
Then, in case you determine to e book a paid fare, open up all of the bank card journey portals you may entry through your rewards playing cards and seek for the flights you need.
Lastly, examine the charges throughout the portals with reserving straight with the airline to find out which is able to supply the perfect worth.
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