Compare the Features and Benefits of Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card and
Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card

With an affordable $95 annual fee and a great introductory bonus to boot, there are many ways to justify keeping the Alaska Airlines card in your wallet. In fact, there are two types of travelers who would benefit from this airline credit card: one who’s loyal to the West Coast-based carrier and wants extra perks when flying, and the other who wants an easier way to earn Alaska Airlines miles for bucket-list, premium cabin redemptions.

Let’s talk about the first type of traveler: Alaska Airlines frequent flyers. To start, you get a free checked bag on every Alaska flight and get to board the plane soon after elite status holders. While potentially less utilized, the 20% discount for onboard purchases and a $100 statement credit toward a Lounge+ membership can still prove to be beneficial if you frequently fly on Alaska Airlines network.

Now, let’s discuss the second traveler: the travel optimizer. That’s because Alaska’s Mileage Plan loyalty program allow you to redeem miles at a reasonable rate for a broad range of global airline partners beyond just Alaska. From Oneworld alliance partners to highly-rated carriers like Singapore Airlines and Starlux, Alaska miles are easily some of the most valuable airline miles out there.

As well, Alaska miles can be quite difficult to earn compared to other airline miles — unless you open the Alaska Visa to earn both the bonus offer and miles on eligible card purchases. Fortunately, the Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card comes with a solid earning rate on Alaska flights and purchases (3x miles); everyday purchases including eligible gas, EV charging, cable, streaming services, and local transit (2x miles); and a standard 1x miles pr dollar spent on all other purchases.

No matter what your travel goals are with this credit card, the final component to discuss is Alaska’s famous companion fare, which you’ll earn as part of the welcome bonus — assuming you meet minimum spend from account opening. Essentially, you’re able to score a round-trip companion ticket from $99 (plus taxes and fees starting at $23), which can provide excellent value to many destinations. Best of all, cardholders get the opportunity to earn another companion ticket every single year by spending at least $6,000 on card purchases in the prior anniversary year.

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The market for premium travel rewards cards is crowded, and every major card issuer has a product with an annual fee of $95, or close to it. While not a creative name for a card in this class, the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card appeals to those who want the cardholder benefits of premium card, but are happy to earn cash back rewards instead points that can be transferred to frequent flier miles or points with hotel programs.

This card earns double points on all travel and dining purchases, and 1.5 points per dollar spent everywhere else. But rather than being just travel rewards points, these points can be redeemed for one cent each as statement credits, bank deposits, gift cards or travel reservations.

So far, this is pretty similar to the no-fee Bank of America Travel Rewards card. But what makes this card “premium” are its benefits.

To start off with, you receive up to a $100 credit towards the application fees of TSA PreCheck or Global Entry, which includes PreCheck. These services are used by frequent travelers to speed themselves through the lines at the airport.

You also receive up to a $100 credit towards airline incidental fees. These are the charges for things like luggage or seat selection that everyone hates, and those who use this fee each year will completely offset this card’s $95 annual fee.

It also includes an entire range of travel insurance policies such as trip delay reimbursement, trip cancellation and interruption coverage, and lost or delayed baggage reimbursement. It even comes with emergency evacuation insurance, a feature only found on a fraction of the top credit cards with annual fees over $500.

Purchase protection and extended warranty coverage are also included.

In the end, you have a card that offers a fairly simple cash back rewards program, similar to what you would find on a no fee card. But at the same time, it has all the fee credits, travel insurance and purchase protection features you’d expect to find on a much more expensive credit card.

Anyone who travels regularly, even if not frequently, will find these benefits to be worth its modest annual fee.