What’s the Best Card for Airport Parking?

Million Mile Secrets

9 years ago

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Million Mile Secrets reader, Ali, tweeted:

Which is the best credit card to use to pay for airport parking?

When you travel frequently, airport parking gets expensive! So it’s a good idea to make sure you’re getting rewarded for your spending by paying with the right card!

If You Pay for Your Parking With the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, You’ll Earn Points in My Favorite Rewards Program!

Find out why I recommend using the Chase Sapphire Preferred card to pay for parking and what other cards give you bonus points for parking expenses!

What’s the Best Card to Use for Airport Parking?

Link: Chase Sapphire Preferred

Link: My Review of the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card The best card to use for your spending is typically the card you’re working to finish the minimum spending requirements on. That’s because credit card sign-up bonuses are almost always worth the most. Ali, as you get more advanced in our hobby, you’ll often find yourself working on a new sign-up bonus.

That said, if you are NOT working towards your next sign-up bonus, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great option for your parking expenses.

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, Ali will earn 2 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per $1 he spends on parking.

Plus, he’ll also earn 2X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on his flight, hotel stay, meals, and more while he’s traveling!

Here’s a look at benefits you get with this card:

50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points when you spend $4,000 on purchases within the 1st 3 months of opening your account
5,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points when you add an authorized user who makes a purchase within the 1st 3 months of opening your account
2X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on travel (including parking) & dining
1X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on all other purchases

There’s a $95 annual fee, but it’s waived for the 1st year. This gives you the chance to try out the card for ~10 months to see if it’s worth the annual fee. I’ve gladly paid the annual fee on this card for many years!

And if you decide to cancel, you don’t have to worry about a lot of hassle. It’s as easy as a quick call or you can send a secure message through your online account.

Chase Ultimate Rewards is my favorite rewards program because it’s flexible. You can redeem the points you earn for:

Cash back at 1 cent per point
Travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal at 1.25 cents per point
Or transfer to airline and hotel partners for Big Travel with Small Money!

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is the only personal card that gives you the ability to transfer to Chase Ultimate Rewards travel partners like United Airlines and Hyatt.

We’ve used our Chase Ultimate Rewards points to stay in luxurious hotels at destinations like Paris, Sydney, and Maui!

Paying Airport Parking Fees With the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Can Get You to the Hyatt Regency Maui Where You Can Park on Your Private Balcony and Take In the Incredible Views!

Other Cards That Earn Points on Parking

You can also earn miles, points, and cash back on parking with cards such as:

Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard – 2 Barclaycard Arrival miles per $1 spent on all purchases (2.1% cash back when redeemed for travel purchases of $100+). This is good for folks who plan to spend at least $100 at a time on airport parking and prefer a statement credit.

Citi ThankYou Premier Card – 3X Citi ThankYou points on travel (including parking, airfare, hotels, gas, and more!)

This is more than the 2X Chase Ultimate Rewards points you’ll earn with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. But not all points are worth the same amount! For most folks, Citi’s travel partners aren’t as useful as Chase Ultimate Rewards partners.

But if you intend to redeem the points to buy flights at 1.25 cents per point through the Citi portal, this beats the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s 1.25 cents per point through the Chase portal because you’ll earn 3 Citi ThankYou points per $1 spent instead of 2 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Bottom Line

If you have to pay to park your car at the airport when you’re traveling, using the Chase Sapphire Preferred card can earn you 2X Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

The great thing about Chase Ultimate Rewards points is there are so many ways to redeem your points. And with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you can transfer to airline and hotel partners for Big Travel!

And cards like the Barclaycard Arrival Plus and Citi ThankYou Premier will also give you miles or points on parking.

Thanks your question, Ali!

Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)