South American oneworld airline LAN has a distance-based award chart, no fuel surcharges, and Starwood points transfer at 1 to 1.5 (40,000 Starpoints yield 75,000 LAN points).
That’s all interesting as far as it goes. And U.S. Bank issues the LANPASS Visa Signature® Card here in the U.S.
It comes with 20,000 bonus points with first purchase ($0 introductory annual fee the first year, $75 thereafter) and 4000 points each year with card renewal.
What struck me as interesting is that they’ve added a new benefit to the card:
- 20% discount on LAN purchase (up to $1,000) 1 time per year
- 25% flight miles bonus
- 3 one-way upgrade coupons per year
These would seem to make it a really strong card for actually flying on LAN (and not just redeeming miles for short-distance oneworld airline awards).
Now, the upgrades need to be earned based on $15,000 spend in subsequent years. They’re electonic, are redeemed online based on availability between 2 and 48 hours prior to flight, and “some routes may require more than 1 coupon and the payment of a minimum fare.”
Nonetheless, I think this is a fascinating addition.
Many airline co-brand cards offer priority check-in and boarding, a free checked bag, and perhaps benefits like access to upgrades when traveling on award tickets for elite frequent flyers (United Explorer). Others may offer a credit for reimbursement of ancillary fees.
But I cannot think of cards that provides upgrade certificates as such, and not limited to elites, or such a generous credit on flight purchase, as well as bonus miles for flying.
Credit cards have long been an engine of frequent flyer program and thus airline profitability. Airlines adding revenue requirements for elite status are at least in part waiving those requirements for customers who meet spending thresholds on their co-brand credit cards. Banks are the largest airline customers in most cases, through the bulk purchase of miles.
So there does seem to be a gradual increase in benefits being offered to cardholders.
- The US Airways co-brand card, when first introduced by Juniper Bank (since acquired by Barclaycard), included talk of upgrades based on availability after Silver Preferreds were accommodated.
- The United Explorer card, as mentioned, lets elites become eligible for domestic upgrades on award tickets.
- The Delta Reserve Amex offers upgrade priority within fare class and elite tiers.
And now the LAN card actually comes with upgrade certificates.
Are there other examples? It certainly seems like credit card holders are themselves airline elite frequent flyers, at least in some measure.
(Note that cards in this post offer credit to me if you’re approved using my links. The opinions, analyses, and evaluations here are mine. The content is not provided or commissioned by American Express, by Chase, by Citibank, US Bank, Bank of America, Barclays or any other company. They have not reviewed, approved or endorsed what I have to say.)
- You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
SPG transfer rate of 1 to 1.5 does not get you 40,000 to 75,000 LAN pts. something wrong with how you put it. math puts it 40,000 to 60,000
If anyone is wondering, 3 coupons are good for a 1-way upgrade between US/Canada and Chile/Argentina/Uruguay.
@M for every 20k points received you get 5k bonus
40k SPG -> 60K LAN + (3*5k bonus) = 75k
A couple words of caution: I applied and was accepted but only for the lower level card with no upgrades an I tried reconsideration with no success. I thought their customer service sucked, to the point of being confrontational. Also, you can only use the upgrades at the airport and not in advance and have never seen LAN have any space on their SCL, LIM or UIO flights out of MIA.
Those are kilometers, not miles. 1 mile = 1.7 kilometers. So you are getting less than a mile per starpoint!
@AL, 1 mile equals to 1.6KM. SPG used to have a extra lucrative rate of 1:2 to LAN, it’s such a pity they decided to adjust it few months ago.
I don’t think the upgrade coupons are a new benefit…
It’s sure new to me..
I realize that it’s not a particularly aspirational product, but I think that the AirTran card has been offered with business class upgrades.
My dad got the Signature card last year. He was able to apply the 3 upgrade coupons on the return of a paid economy fare from JFK to SCL, and he was ecstatic. The Lan Premium Business product on the 767 and 787 is fantastic. A couple of notes: you must buy a flexible fare (about $100 more each way) to be eligible to use the coupons, but the coupons do work on a reward redemption also; 3 coupons only works for a one-way on a North America to Southern South America flight. Availability using Lan kilometers is much better than trying to get Oneworld space using Avios or American miles.
One of the Chase UA cards used to come with 750 mile upgrade certs. I remember using a paper one on BWI-ORD, maybe five years ago or so.
Brian – You said your dad used 3 coupons for JFK-SCL one-way. I think you mean 3 coupons were consumed to upgrade 1 person on a one-way. Is that correct? Or do you mean 3 passengers were upgraded? Thanks.
@Nun Yes, your first statement is correct. I took 3 coupons to apply an upgrade for 1 person on the JFK-SCL one-way flight.
@nun 3 coupons to apply an upgrade for 1 person on the SCL-JFK one-way flight. It was also subject to availability 1-hour prior to departure. His upgrade came through, but it’s not guaranteed. I’ve also personally used a one-coupon upgrade for a SCL-EZE flight, short but sweet in the 767 lie-flat seats.
They have been doing that with argentinian issued cards (Bank BBVA issues the LAN-associated card there).
For their top product, they give you permanent Gold frequent flyer status, 6 coupons per year, access priority, 40% extra miles for purchases done with the card, 25% bonus km when flying, 12 Priority Pass accesses free each year (and non limited access to the LAN lounge in Bs As).