With more than 50 million redeemed miles under her belt, Becky Pokora is a rewards travel expert. She's been writing about credit cards and reward travel since 2011 with articles on Forbes Advisor ...

Here are some of our top picks: Best for United Airlines: United℠ Explorer Card Best for Delta: Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card Best for Southwest Airlines: Southwest Rapid ...

The United℠ Explorer Card is an excellent mid-tier airline credit card. It has a reasonable annual fee and airline-specific perks that United MileagePlus members can easily extract value from.

This card gets you solid ongoing rewards, free checked bags, two airport lounge passes per year, reimbursement for Global Entry or TSA Precheck application fees and primary car rental coverage.

As a frequent traveler, I have and use a credit card with a high annual fee. However, I've paired it with the United℠ Explorer Card, which has a much lower annual fee of $0 intro for the first ...