Best cards at Lufthansa

Good to know at Lufthansa

Lufthansa doesn't restrict which card networks it accepts in our data, so the question is purely which card in your wallet earns the most on airfare. The top spots go to general travel cards rather than a Lufthansa card, led by The Platinum Card from American Express at 5x, capped at $500,000 a year with 1x after that. Second is the U.S. Bank Altitude Connect Visa Signature Card, at 4x on travel with no annual fee.

The ranking is the same whether you book on Lufthansa's site or pay in person, so there is no channel game to play. Four cards tie at 4x behind the leader, and fees and caps separate them: the U.S. Bank Altitude Connect Visa Signature Card costs nothing, the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Visa Card costs $95, Chase Sapphire Reserve costs $795, and the U.S. Bank Business Altitude Connect Visa Signature Card costs $95 after a $0 first year and caps its 4x at $150,000 a year combined, then 1x.

The two big fees, $895 a year for The Platinum Card from American Express and $795 for Chase Sapphire Reserve, are hard to earn back on airfare alone: Chase Sapphire Reserve earns the same 4x as the no-fee U.S. Bank card, and the leader's extra point per dollar covers its fee only past about $89,500 a year. For plain 3% cash back with no annual fee, the AAA Travel Advantage Visa Signature Card and the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi both qualify, though the Costco card requires a paid Costco membership.

The math

Spend $250 a month at Lufthansa and The Platinum Card from American Express returns about $150 a year at our valuations — a flat 2% card returns $60.