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British Airways is sending out an email to some Executive Club members with an offer you may also be able to trigger via a dummy booking that improves upon the public offer of 100,000 total Avios by tacking on a $200 statement credit when you book a British Airways flight at ba.com using your card within 12 months of opening it.
The Offer
- Targeted email (and possibly dummy booking) offer for 100,000 bonus Avios + $200 statement credit when opening a new Chase British Airways Visa Signature card and meeting the following criteria:
- Get 50,000 Avios when you spend $3,000 in your first three months
- Get an additional 25,000 Avios if you spend $10,000 on purchases within 12 months of opening your account
- Get an additional 25,000 Avios if you spend $20,000 on purchases within 12 months of opening your account
- Get a $200 statement credit when you book a British Airways flight on ba.com using your card within your first 12 months
- Note that the email says this offer expires December 15, 2018
Key Card Details
| Card Name w Details & Review (no offer) |
|---|
FM Mini Review: Good choice for a nice intro bonus. Award rebate makes the card a keeper if you frequently book awards from the US to Europe. $95 Annual Fee Earning rate: 3X British Airways. Iberia, Aer Lingus, and LEVEL ✦ 2X hotel accommodations booked directly with the hotel ✦ 1X elsewhere Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa card, you’ll earn a Travel Together companion Ticket good for two years. Noteworthy perks: Up to $600 per year in award fee rebates ✦ 10% off BA flights originating in the US. ✦ No foreign transaction fees |
Quick Thoughts
This is a nice increase over the standard offer. I don’t see any requirement as to the cash price of the ticket you book on ba.com — that is to say that the way it is worded, I would expect any booking on British Airways should trigger the $200 statement credit. Since intra-European flights can be pretty cheap, I would assume you could book something like London to Bordeaux for $38 and collect the $200 statement credit whether or not you intend to fly the segment.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a direct link. I received the email from British Airways Executive Club. It’s possible that a dummy booking may produce the same offer.
Oddly, the bullet points in the email make it sound like you must spend $30,000 to earn the 100K Avios (the final bullet says you must spend an additional $20K to earn the final 25K bonus), but reading the terms in the fine print at the bottom of the email it is clear that this is not true — it’s the standard 100K offer that requires a total of $20K in purchases in year 1 to trigger the full bonus.
As is the case with most Chase personal cards, the new cardmember bonus is not available to you if you have received a welcome bonus on this card in the past 24 months. This card is not subject to the Chase 5/24 rule (it will add to your 5/24 count, but the rule is not applied in approval decisions for this card). That said, keep in mind that shut downs have increased a bit this year and a new Chase account has precipitated shut downs in some instances if a customer opens a new Chase account after opening many other new accounts in the past year (See: Why Chase shutdowns have increased and how to avoid them.)
If you’re eligible and haven’t been too aggressive in opening other accounts this year, this could be a nice bonus, especially assuming a cheap British Airways booking triggers the full $200 credit.
H/T: Doctor of Credit
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[…] 100K + $200 statement credit on British Airways Visa [Targeted] (Expires 12/15/18) […]
What kind of dummy booking are people doing to see this offer? It’s not working for me.
Unfortunately, with the exception of short-haul domestic flights on AA booked thru BA.com, I don’t find Avios very compelling at all. Lingus and Iberia have painfully shallow award availability, and awards on BA flights almost cost more in fuel surcharges than just paying cash.
Am I missing something?
Like many things in this game, it depends on how you travel. It’s a distance-based chart. Sometimes short or even medium-haul flights can be an outstanding deal. If you only book flights to/from North America, Avios probably won’t excite you. But if you want to book flights around a region — say around Asia on Japan airlines or Australia on Qantas or between Australia and someplace like Bali on Qantas, Avios can be a very strong value. When I travel, I usually try to combine a few destinations into one trip and I find Avios very useful in those situations.
Btw, if you move them to Iberia, you aren’t limited to short-haul direct domestic flights on AA. Iberia prices cumulatively. For example, if I fly from Albany to Charlotte to Myrtle Beach and back, British Airways would charge me 30K Avios (7500 for each segment. Iberia would charge me 17K because they add up cumulative distance rather than pricing each segment individually. Flights from southern parts of the US to Mexico and the Caribbean can be an excellent deal with Avios since AA considers those separate regions from North America (and thus charges more than for domestic flights), whereas BA and IB just care how far you’re flying, not which region you’re visiting.
Finally, British Airways is great for infant tickets if you’re traveling with a lap infant. They charge 10% of the adult mileage price. If I want to fly Japan Airlines first class, I’ll pay more Avios than I would American miles or Alaska miles — but paying 10% of the mileage price beats paying 10% of a $15K one-way flight to fly with an infant on your lap.
I’d likely never use Avios to fly on British Airways in business or first class. I rarely find that the best use of a currency is flying on the airline associated with that currency. I wouldn’t generally use United miles to fly on United (I’d use Avianca or Singapore miles in many instances or maybe ANA), I wouldn’t use American miles to fly on American (I’d use Avios or perhaps Etihad Guest or maybe Alaska depending on circumstance), etc. That isn’t a firm rule — some airlines have good charts for their own flights — but many do not. In the case of BA, the fuel surcharges are outrageous in most instances as you note, so I wouldn’t open this card with the aim of flying on British Airways with the Avios.
Example: Business Class Melbourne to Sydney for 9000 Avios plus $13.30 each for my wife and me… Economy was 4500 Avios, but Business was much more available.Pick your spots, and, Avios are very useful.