Key link: British Airways Visa: up to 100,000 point signup bonus
Chase has announced that the most lucrative credit card bonus this year gets pulled at 5pm Eastern on July 17. (It could well last a few minutes or hours past that, but that’s the stated time at which the offer is supposed to be pulled.) So this is your last chance to grab the biggest credit card signup bonus out there.
The offer is:
- 50,000 points after first purchase
- 25,000 points after spending $10,000 on the card within a year
- 25,000 additional points after spending the next $10,000 on the card within that year
There’s a $95 annual fee, spending earns 1.25 points per dollar, and the card has no foreign currency transaction fees.
After $30,000 in spend within a year they award a free companion award ticket – the second passenger travels on an award booked on British Airways flights for no additional points (though both passengers are charged taxes and fuel surcharges). And of course there are plenty of ways to goose your spending to get there.
(There’s also good discussion in the comments to this post about how to get the offer without having to make the minimum spending, although you have to wait a full year to get the second half of the points and which triggers a second annual fee.)
Keep in mind that you can pool points between members at the same address. This means that the British Airways Visa signup bonus really leverages up by allowing multiple family members to get the card and combine bonuses towards one person’s award. A husband and wife each get the card, and get two bonuses. Get kids or parents involved and pool the bonus points as well. It’s 50,000 points after first purchase so even if you aren’t going to meet the spend requirement for 100,000 points, two people getting the card will still get 100,000 miles and those can be used for one award if you wish.
Those that do put $30,000 spend on the card within a year will earn the companion award ticket, so you get to spend those pooled points twice (for two passengers on the same award itinerary).
Given fuel surcharges, some folks think of it as buying a discounted, non-points earning coach ticket and having a confirmed upgrade. Since BA is a 4-class airline, in the case of a first class award, that’s a confirmed three-cabin upgrade.
The British Airways card is clearly a card that most folks should grab for the signup bonus. At up to 100,000 points on offer, it’s the most lucrative signup bonus out there. By a wide margin, in my opinion. And they’ve let us know exactly how long we have to get that bonus. There’s just one week left.
Bear in mind, 100,000 points is enough for business class travel from the US to London (some cities in the US it’s less than 100,000). It’s also enough for two passengers to fly roundtrip in business class from New York or Miami non-stop to most cities in South America (without fuel surcharges).
This is a great example of how a credit card and some focused spending can send you off in a premium class of service.
(I do receive referral credit if you use my link for the British Airways Visa, and I appreciate it greatly.)
I realize that the following offer would give no credit to your blog as there is no affiliate link, but in all fairness, I think you should make it available to those that won’t/can’t spend $20K in the first 2 years. Seems like you still get 100K miles for a max of $150 in card fees. (not sure if the $75 is waived the first year)
Offer 2 (better for people with less than $100k spend per year):
•50,000 Avios on your first purchase
•50,000 Avios after your first purchase in the second year of holding the card
•no annual fee for the first year, but you will have to pay a $75 annual fee to keep the card for a second year and earn the second tranche of 50,000 Avios
Steps to get to the offer
1. Go to BA.com, and search for a oneway flight from New York to London for October 1.
2. Select any flight and hit Continue as if you are going to buy the ticket.
3. On the passenger details screen, enter your true details and select that you are the name on the card you are paying with.
4. You will come to a screen that offers the chance to Earn 100k Avios. If you do not, then there is a problem. Return to step 1 and choose different cities or date.
5. Choose “Yes, I’d like to pay for this flight using my new card.” You will NOT actually have to pay for the flight. Click on apply now.
6. You will be shown the details of your flight along with its price. Again, you will not have to purchase this flight! Select “Continue to credit card application.”
7. After you complete the application, you will be be told that you are approved or that you will be notified of a decision soon. You will be redirected to the payment page for your New York to London flight. Close that page. Your application for the credit card is in, and you never bought the flight!
Oops, did not see the discussion on the other string.
Please disregard, Gary. I think you do a fabulous job of keeping people informed.
I make the other offer clear and available as well.
But I contend that the goal isn’t $20k in spend on the card in order to get the full 100,000 point bonus and get it in less than a year.
I believe the goal is $30k in spend to get the 100,000 point bonus AND a companion award ticket so that you can spend all of the points TWICE. That’s effectively a 200,000 point bonus which is HUGE.
And $30k in spend isn’t that hard to do IF you follow the tips I provide in my post on goosing your spend. There are ways to spend money on your cards at little or no cost.
Does anyone know if this Chase card is churnable? I had this card previously, and canceled it in Nov of last year. Any chance of getting the sign-up bonus again?
@Scott – some people report success, but there are only a few data points