Travel
Travel cards worth the annual fee
Forex markup and lounge access are worth different amounts to different travellers. Here is how to work out your own number.
By Ana Mathew1 min read4,120 readers1 Sept 2026
A travel card's annual fee is a fixed cost. Its benefits are variable and depend entirely on how often you fly and how much you spend abroad.
Work out your markup cost first
Most standard cards charge between 3 and 3.5 percent on foreign currency transactions. Travel cards typically charge between 0 and 2 percent. The saving is the difference multiplied by your annual foreign spending — a number most people overestimate.
Lounge access, honestly valued
A domestic lounge visit is worth roughly what a meal and a coffee cost at the airport, not what the lounge charges at the door. Count the visits you would realistically make, not the ones your allowance permits.
The renewal trap
Fees are usually waived in year one and charged in year two, by which point the card is embedded in your subscriptions. Set a reminder for month eleven and reassess with a year of real spending data.
The arithmetic
Add your markup saving to your realistic lounge value, subtract the fee. If the result is negative, a no-frills card with zero forex markup beats a premium card with benefits you do not use.
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