I have been using the SW Rapid Rewards Visa for the past 10 years or so. I've really liked it and I fly for free quite often, but I'm looking to make a switch. The SW Christmas debacle and lack of international options on SWA are the main drivers. I have accounts with both AA and United, which have been great and all but it takes an eternity to get enough miles to buy a flight, even if it's as short as Houston to Dallas.

I'm pretty flexible on which airline. I live in Austin, so it's not a major hub like IAH or DFW. However American recently made AUS one of its secondary hubs so there are a good amount of flight options on them. United pretty much always involves a connection at IAH, DEN, or EWR. I'd love to fly Delta more, but they have such a limited presence in Texas.

TIA!

Alot depends on what part of the world you are interested in when you say "international". American is going to fly alot of their routes to the Caribbean through Miami, which is a terrible experience to come back through for customs. United has great service to Asia and the Pacific out of Houston. Latin America is kind of a wash, as American is going to fly alot of those routes through DFW and United through IAH. I have a United Club card and they did a pretty big bonus point promotion for those cards last spring. I want to say we got something like 150,000 points as a bonus with a minimum spend in the first few months.

I have dropped all my airline specific credit cards and now solely use Chase Sapphire Preferred, which is brand agnostic. I did this mostly because I have moved around a lot in the past several years, and not all the nearby airports had great routes with the carriers I had normally used. Also, with the shifting devaluation of points across loyalty programs, I didn't want to hitch my wagon to one or two specific airlines.

That being said, I would just go with the one or two airlines you fly most or offer the best routes for your preferred destinations. I just canceled my Alaska Airlines visa, even though I was pretty happy with the perks (3x points on travel, annual companion fare and free checked bag - even though I rarely check a bag). We're moving to an area with limited Alaska routes.

Pretty much everywhere. If i had to pick, I'd say Europe, Asia, Latin America, in that order. SW already flies to a few vacation destinations in Latin America/Caribbean. I'm more interested in exploration and visiting new places. Luckily, DFW and IAH have plentiful flights to all of these continents. AUS has some flights to Mexico and Europe but they are mostly on international carriers, I think.

If AUS has more American Airlines direct flights then get an American Airlines credit card. Barclays and Citi both have AA cards, just see which one has the higher sign up bonus and sign up for that one, or both.

Or you can do the Chase Sapphire Preferred that transfers miles to United and Southwest directly.

Amex Platinum if it makes sense for your lifestyle (crazy dues but lots of travel perks), 5x points per dollar for airfare.