Wells Fargo announced the new Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Visa® Card earlier this month, the bank's first true crack at a travel rewards card designed for frequent travelers. And as of this morning, it's officially available to new applicants online and in branches nationwide.
The Autograph Journey card comes with an awesome 60,000-point bonus for new card members who spend $4,000 in the first three months of opening the card. On top of the card's big welcome bonus, you'll earn 5x points on hotels, 4x points on airfare, 3x points on travel and dining, and 1x points on all other purchases.
The card's $95 annual fee is partially offset with an annual $50 airline credit that will be automatically applied to your first airfare purchase each year. On top of all that, the card comes with additional travel protections like lost luggage reimbursement, trip cancellation coverage, roadside assistance, and even cellular telephone protection.
The other exciting news with this new card is that Wells Fargo is adding a list of travel partners such as Air France/KLM Flying Blue, British Airways, Avianca LifeMiles, and more. This means that anyone with the new Autograph Journey Card or the no-annual-fee Autograph Card, among others, can transfer points to partners to book hotels and flights for greater value. This new redemption option is set to come online on April 4.
Read on for everything you need to know about the new Wells Fargo Autograph Journey and the bank's new transfer partners.
Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card Overview
So why is this new card from Wells Fargo so exciting?
For starters, the Autograph Journey card comes with a solid welcome offer for new cardholders: 60,000 points are worth a bare minimum of $600 and perhaps much more if you transfer those points to one of Wells Fargo's new travel partners.
It'll be easy to rack up even more points beyond the initial welcome bonus, too. The Autograph Journey card earns an unlimited 5x points on hotels, 4x on flights, and 3x on travel and dining. That's pretty much unheard of for a card in this price range, especially compared to the 2x points you'll earn on travel purchases with the *chase sapphire preferred* or even the 3x points you'll get on airfare and hotels with the *Citi Premier* – two cards with identical $95 annual fees.
Here's a closer look at all the Autograph Journey card has to offer:
- Welcome Offer: Earn a 60,000-point bonus after spending $4,000 in the first three months of card membership.
- Earn 5x points on hotels
- Earn 4x points on flights
- Earn 3x points on travel
- Earn 3x points on dining
- Earn 1x points on all other purchases
- $50 Flight Credit: Get an annual $50 statement credit for airfare purchases.
- Travel protection benefits, including trip cancellation, which allows you to get reimbursed up to $15,000 for lodging, flights, and activities if the trip is canceled for a covered reason
- Cell Phone Insurance: Get up to $1,000 of cell phone protection against damage or theft. Subject to a $25 deductible.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Annual Fee: $95
All information about the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card has been collected independently by Thrifty Traveler and has not been reviewed by the issuer.Â
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Welcome Offer
The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey comes with a big 60,000-point bonus for new applicants who spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of opening the card. Since each point can be redeemed for one cent towards travel, statement credits, gift cards, cash back, and more, that makes the current welcome offer worth a minimum of $600 – but you can likely do far better by taking advantage of the bank's new list of transfer partners debuting in early April.
Earning Points
When it comes to earning points, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better option for your travel spending than the Autograph Journey. The card earns 5x points on hotel purchases, 4x points on airfare, and 3x points on dining and other travel purchases such as car rentals and cruises. You'll earn 1x points on other purchases.
Annual $50 Airfare Credit
Each year, you will receive a one-time $50 statement credit applied to your account when your card is used for your first airline purchase of at least $50. This credit will be available from the day your account is opened and then renews annually on the first of the month following your account anniversary date. For example, if you opened your card on April 15, you'd have a new $50 airfare credit available each year on May 1.
Travel Protections
The Autograph Journey card comes with up to $15,000 of Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection for lodging, flights, and activities if your trip is canceled or cut short for a covered reason.
You'll also get up to $3,000 in luggage reimbursement per trip if your bags are lost due to theft or misdirection by a common carrier while traveling.
Additionally, the card comes with secondary car rental insurance and up to $1,000 of cellular telephone protection – subject to a $25 deductible.
Fees
The card charges a $95 annual fee – but over half of this can easily be offset each year by taking advantage of the card's annual $50 airfare credit. If you're traveling abroad, you won't have to worry about paying any foreign transaction fees with the Autograph Journey card as the card doesn't charge a foreign currency conversion fee.
New List of Transfer Partners
Beyond the new travel rewards card, Wells Fargo is also giving cardholders access to hotel and airline partners where they can transfer their points beginning April 4. And they're not just for the new Autograph Journey card, either: Travelers who hold the no-annual-fee Autograph card can transfer points to these airline and hotel programs to book flights and hotels, too. If you've got one of Wells Fargo's cash rewards credit cards, you can even transfer your cash back to points in conjunction with either of the Autograph cards.
While the initial list of transfer partners is quite small, the bank has promised that more will continue to be added throughout the year. Here's where you can move your points starting April 4:
- Aer Lingus AerClub
- Air France/KLM Flying Blue
- Avianca LifeMiles
- British Airways Executive Club
- Choice Privileges
- Iberia Plus
Points will transfer to each of these partners on a 1:1 basis, except for Choice Privileges which is a 1:2 ratio. None of these partners are particularly ground-breaking as they're all currently available with other transferable points programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Capital One Miles – but that doesn't mean they're not still valuable.
Iberia provides one of the most affordable options for getting to Europe in lie-flat business class seats and Avianca LifeMiles can be extremely valuable for booking Star Alliance awards (like United Airlines) without paying high surcharges. Flying Blue is a great choice for SkyTeam awards to Europe and elsewhere – and some awards even got cheaper as KLM and Air France recently lowered the price to fly business class to Europe.
With the ability to combine Avios between British Airways and other airline partners, you'll also have access to Oneworld carriers like American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. Or you could book one of the best business class seats in the world, Qatar's Qsuites with your Avios.
Choice Privileges is an interesting hotel option for those traveling to Scandinavia or Japan. Choice has a lot of hotels in these two regions and they can be quite affordable when using points. The fact that Wells Fargo points transfer 1:2 to Choice will make for an even better deal.
It will be interesting to see who else Wells Fargo adds as transfer partners throughout the year. I'd have to imagine Virgin Atlantic is on the shortlist as the U.K.-based carrier currently partners with all the other transferable point programs. If the bank could add a domestic airline or hotel partner it would really set Wells Fargo up to compete with its peers.
Bottom Line
The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Visa® Card is officially open to new applicants online and in branches nationwide. The card comes with a generous 60,000-point welcome offer and earns bonus points in many popular spending categories like hotels, airfare, travel, and dining – all for a $95 annual fee.
In addition to the new card, Wells Fargo is also introducing hotel and transfer partners, which will be available starting April 4. With these new travel partners, card members can get even more value out of their Wells Fargo points.
All card images courtesy of Wells Fargo
Why go to all the trouble of doing a travel card if you’re not going to add anything that distinguishes from the others? No extra points for groceries or gas, no American Airlines (that would be a coup), nothing. Why bother.
If the card is canceled after the first year what happens to the miles? If they remain mine, do they expire?
Hi Dirk. As is the case with all points issued directly from a bank and not into a co-branded airline or hotel account, you would lose them if you closed the card and they were still in your account. That said, you can always use them or transfer them to one of the available transfer partners before you were to cancel.
I have a Wells Fargo private bank by invitation Visa card. Are those miles transferable?