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There’s a wealth of “points earning” credit cards out there, and we’re often asked which we consider to be the best for someone new to the world of airline miles and hotel points. It can be quite daunting for a beginner to work out which offers best value. Our answer is always the same – and we’d recommend it without hesitation to both new starters and seasoned travel hackers: It’s the Amex Gold.

American Express bonus points aplenty, and free too – why we love the Amex Gold card

The American Express Gold credit card is widely seen as one of the very best value “travel-related” credit cards available in the UK.

The reasons are clear:

• It remains free for the first year, and you can cancel without quibble at the end of this year.
• If you spend £3,000 on it in your first 3 months, you will get 20,000 Amex Membership Rewards Points. These convert to 20,000 airline miles in a number of schemes, including Avios. It’s also double the standard bonus these days.
• You get two free airport lounge visits each year with the card.

If you want to earn 22,000 American Express bonus points (rather than 20,000), sign up to the card via this link.

But you said “28,000 reasons”?

Yep!

To trigger the 22,000 sign up bonus points, you need to spend at least £3,000 within the first three months. You will earn 1 point per £1, so that’s at least 3,000 more points.

In addition, Amex is also currently offering 3,000 bonus points for adding a free supplementary cardholder to an Amex Gold account.

Add that all together, and you can quickly and easily earn 28,000 points in total.

Need an easier life? Consider the BA Amex

While it may not equal the enormous benefits of the Amex Gold, the BA Amex has a few advantages of its own:

• it’s free at the standard level
• it offers 6,000 Avios for a lower spend of £1,000 in the first three months
• it allows you to get a “buy one get one free” voucher on BA flights – and we show you how to make the most of this here.

While £1000 is a lower spend target in 3 months, 6,000 Avios is considerably less enticing than the number of Amex Gold Membership Rewards Points available, which, among many other things, can be redeemed for Avios.

If you already have a personal Amex card (of any sort), always remember to double check whether you are still eligible for the sign up bonus of the card you’re thinking of getting.

What’s your favourite travel-related card in the UK?