British Airways Visa: up to 100,000 point signup bonus
The most lucrative current credit card signup bonus is scheduled to be pulled June 7.
The public 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.
The unique selling proposition for putting high amounts of spend on the card is that after $30,000, 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).
(Some folks have luck making a mock booking on the BA.com website and getting an offer for 50,000 points now and 50,000 in a year – two annual fees but no minimum spend, and of course no companion award ticket if you don’t do the spend.)
The British Airways Visa leverages up by allowing multiple family members to sign up for the card and pool signup bonuses towards one person’s award, and for folks who put $30,000 spend on the card within a year to earn the companion award ticket, there’s the opportunity to use those 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.
But I make the point frequently that there are three different types of credit cards — those you get for the signup bonuses, those you get for the benefits of having the card, and those you get because they’re lucrative to actually put spending on.
The British Airways card is clearly a card you get for the signup bonus. At up to 100,000 points on offer, it’s the current most lucrative signup bonus on the market. And that goes away June 7, so worth jumping on now.
From the signup page:
“…Did you know that for just 80,000 Avios and approximately $1100 in taxes, fees, and surcharges, you can fly roundtrip in business class from New York to London?”
Wow $1100.00 — I knew there were costs associated with LHR awards but I’m shocked. I wonder if you can depart from the US and terminate elsewhere in Europe and save hundreds in “taxes, fees, and surcharges?”
@PittDoc if you do not depart from the UK (just connect) you save on the premium cabin departure tax (air passenger duty)
is this offer working for those who already did the prior 100k BA signup?
@J no, it likely will not
Useful for short hops in N America though as posted many times before…cheaper than AA.
I’m tempted, but due to the fuel charges, I’d most likely be redeeming for domestic short hauls within the US on AA. Gary, what’s your gut feel as to whether these redemptions are likely to remain free of surcharges over the next couple of years?
@swag I believe they will remain free of surcharges because British AIrways charges those fuel surcharges which would apply on a paid ticket, and paid domestic tickets don’t include fuel surcharges. Now, if the fare structure of domestic US flights changes, the award redemption cost could change of course. But it’s based on a procedure not a whim so I don’t expect it to simply change…
Do Avios make sense for ‘local’ Europe travel? We are considering a TA cruise next May. We’d stay for a week, which would make it beneficial to be able to do a couple of short haul flights like CDG -> GAT on points (or mostly so).
I’m wondering if the intra-Europe flights are free of fees like the intra-US flights. Unfortunately the Avios calculator just says “+ taxes, fees, charges and surcharges”…
@Mikes Avios are great for short-haul non-stops especially, including within Europe, and when your account is active BA even caps the intra-European fuel surcharges
Does Avios allow connecting flights on a single award? or does it cost more to connect because they’ll add the miles needed for each segment?
@Tao They allow them, but you pay the cost in miles for each segment, all added up.
@Tao they charge separately for each segment
I’ve just taken on Sapphire and Ink in the past 4 months or else I’d jump on that offer. I’m sure there’ll always be some offer that makes me go DANG NABBIT, missed it!
I applied online and was accepted! I’m fairly new at the point game and just wanted to clarify that the BA Avios points can be used on the other OneWorld carriers. The small print says it can’t be used on American Airlines London-NY flights but didn’t say anything beyond that.
@brian Avios can definitely be used on other oneworld carriers including american airlines.
Gary this is great. I just started with American on their frequent flyer program a few months ago and got a few thousand points. The BA card will be a HUGE jump for me. Do the carriers know of each others programs and combine points if they are in the same alliance???
@brian you cannot combine miles from different programs in an alliance, but you can use British Airways miles to fly on American and vice versa
FYI, I had the BA card a few years ago (also 100K, IIRC) and closed the account when the year was up to avoid the annual fee.
I applied for this card in order to get the chip and hoping for the points. So far, I can tell you that it was issued and that both appear on my Chase web page (the former closed, but statements still searchable). I made a charge and payment, but it is still too soon for anything to post.
@Steve – good luck!!
Gary, thank you for this and all your previous posts. Fun stuff trying to collect all these points!