Chase kills Ritz Visa Infinite airfare benefit without notice

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The Chase Ritz-Carlton Visa Infinite airfare benefit is no longer available. While it seemed the writing could be on the wall when the CNB announced that the Crystal Visa Infinite was losing this benefit, I definitely didn’t expect Chase to kill this without any notice whatsoever.

a close up of a credit card

Visa Discount Airfare benefit totally dead

For those unfamiliar, the Chase Ritz-Carlton card came with an airfare benefit that enabled cardholders to get a $100 discount when booking round trip domestic economy class airfare for 2 or more people. There was no cap on how often you could use this benefit. The portal did not include low-cost carriers and eventually dropped JetBlue, but as of a few days ago you could still book flights on Alaska, American, Delta, and United and get $100 for two passengers. Since this even worked on basic economy fares, it was sometimes possible to book airfare dirt cheap for two passengers.

a screenshot of a blue and white screen
We had even found some itineraries that were under $20 round trip for two passengers after the discount.

However, when you go to the Ritz Visa Discount Airfare website now, all you see is the following plain-text message:

Effective 1/15/20, your Ritz Carlton Visa Infinite card no longer offers the Visa Discount Air Benefit. Air itineraries booked via the Visa Discount Air Benefit prior to 1/15/20 will still be honored and valid for travel. For full Terms & Conditions and FAQs please visit www.visa.com/discountair. If you need servicing on your existing Visa Discount Air itinerary, please contact the airlines directly for assistance as Concierge will no longer have access to your itinerary. Thank you

Again, while I’m not shocked that this benefit isn’t continuing in perpetuity, I am surprised at the complete take-down of the website with no notice and no continuing service for those with existing reservations. That is disappointing.

Unfortunately, it seems that this benefit was too generous. It probably didn’t make sense to continue to offer such a valuable benefit on a credit card that they aren’t marketing and is no longer available to new applicants. Still, CNB gave cardholders notice two months in advance when they were ending the benefit. I’m disappointed that Chase didn’t give cardholders any notice at all either before or after killing this valuable benefit.

R/T: A reader via email

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