Jan 16, 2017, 9:36 am
Last edit by: Dr Jabadski
Before applying, please note
B of A's restrictions (2-3-4 rule, UPDATED: as of Sept 28,2019 possibly 3/12 for new customers and 7/12 for existing customers. See thread for ongoing discussion) on approving applications:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cred...24-months.html
Nestled in the terms and conditions of all of the personal Alaska Airlines credit card offers:
"This card will not be available to you if you currently have or have had the card in the preceding 24 month period. This does not apply to the business credit card product."
More info on the COMPANION FARE cert can be found here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alas...-fare-faq.html
This thread is a continuation from THIS discussion (2012-2016)
Concurrent discussion here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alas...017-later.html
As additional resources for these cards, see the following threads in the Alaska Airlines forum
Please do not delete non working offers because sometimes they start working again. Instead move them to the prior offers section.
PERSONAL CARDS
Current offers:
All offers below are DEAD
72K offer: 72K offer
70K offer: https://www.alaskaair.com/content/cr...B&gclsrc=aw.ds
70K + $100 statement credit: click on the direct link to offer in the DoC article...https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-...0-miles-offer/
Prior offers:
50k miles + companion fare, $75 AF, $2k spend (Live Jan 2021 to May 2021)
40k miles + $100 + companion fare, $75 AF, $2k spend
As of December 2018, Bank of America no longer gives you a lower bonus if you're approved for Platinum instead of Signature.
Make sure to opt-in to "Partner Offers" within your Mileage Plan account if you wish to be targeted for single-use application links with increases bonuses.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check Personal Card application status online here:
https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit...status-form.go
Personal card Recon Lines:
1-800-354-0401 (8am-7pm ET Mon-Fri) direct, referring agent from another BofA line called it their "credit department"
or 888-230-6262
================================================== =======================
BUSINESS CARDS
Current offers:
Now 50k $95 AF $100 Stmt credit $4k spending https://www.alaskaair.com/content/cr...-business-card
Prior offers:
40K>70K
Read post 844 for tips on being approved for the business card.
It may be easier to get approved for a new business with 0 years and $0 gross income.
Also see the Applying for Business Credit Cards [Consolidated] thread (not-BofA-specific) for general tips on applying for business cards.
Business card Recon Line:
April 2024: BOA Biz Recon (Small Biz Lending, Credit Analyst) 888-782-7717, 888-569-4439 (M-F 8am-7pm EST), both answered by live human in 2-4 minutes. (Both numbers confirmed multiple times in the past 2-3 days.)
866-695-6598 (8-7pm EST M-F)
Biz card status line: 888 663 6262 (not working)
Biz Card credit analyst line: 888-782-7717
Biz card expedited shipping: wait 24 hours after approval for a card number to generate then call 800-901-9830 and a person will answer. If 1st Rep says "no" ask him/her to ck. with a supervisor. This worked for me.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Credit Inquiries
Credit Inquiries for Personal cards come from BofA. Inquiries for business cards come from FIA.
Credit bureaus usually merge inquiries from the same requester made on the same day.
Inquiries from BofA and FIA will not be merged.
Does one have to call BoA to lower a card's credit limit?
Yes, there is no longer any way to contact BOA online. Phone is the only method currently.
When do the initial bonus miles post? You will get the miles after the statement closes for the cycle in which you meet your minimum spend. Usually AS points show up the Sunday evening after your statement closes, but sometimes it takes an additional week.
If there's a statement credit, when does it post?
It seems to be batch-processed. It will post automatically. Can be on the same statement or the next statement. It does not appear to be based on the statement close date.
Can you send a secure message through your account online?
No. BOA has removed the secure message functionality, even for Preferred members. The only way to contact BOA now is to call them.
Can I apply for another personal Alaska card if I have one open already?
Some people still can, but these days many people get denied. If you don't want to risk getting denied, it's probably better if you close any existing personal Alaska cards before applying for another one. But be sure to lower credit limit as low as possible at least a few business days before you close the card (though the earlier you can do it the better), because credit limit that's left on the card when you close it stays unavailable to new card applications for a year or more (while credit limit that's lowered as a separate step becomes available to new card applications much sooner)!
.................................................. .................
Use or earn Mileage Plan miles with Alaska's Global Partners
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...tners-overview
B of A's restrictions (2-3-4 rule, UPDATED: as of Sept 28,2019 possibly 3/12 for new customers and 7/12 for existing customers. See thread for ongoing discussion) on approving applications:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cred...24-months.html
Nestled in the terms and conditions of all of the personal Alaska Airlines credit card offers:
"This card will not be available to you if you currently have or have had the card in the preceding 24 month period. This does not apply to the business credit card product."
More info on the COMPANION FARE cert can be found here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alas...-fare-faq.html
This thread is a continuation from THIS discussion (2012-2016)
Concurrent discussion here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alas...017-later.html
As additional resources for these cards, see the following threads in the Alaska Airlines forum
- Alaska Airlines Visa
- Retention/conversion offers & discussion thread
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alas...017-later.html
Please do not delete non working offers because sometimes they start working again. Instead move them to the prior offers section.
PERSONAL CARDS
Current offers:
All offers below are DEAD
72K offer: 72K offer
70K offer: https://www.alaskaair.com/content/cr...B&gclsrc=aw.ds
70K + $100 statement credit: click on the direct link to offer in the DoC article...https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-...0-miles-offer/
Prior offers:
50k miles + companion fare, $75 AF, $2k spend (Live Jan 2021 to May 2021)
40k miles + $100 + companion fare, $75 AF, $2k spend
As of December 2018, Bank of America no longer gives you a lower bonus if you're approved for Platinum instead of Signature.
Make sure to opt-in to "Partner Offers" within your Mileage Plan account if you wish to be targeted for single-use application links with increases bonuses.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check Personal Card application status online here:
https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit...status-form.go
Personal card Recon Lines:
1-800-354-0401 (8am-7pm ET Mon-Fri) direct, referring agent from another BofA line called it their "credit department"
or 888-230-6262
================================================== =======================
BUSINESS CARDS
Current offers:
Now 50k $95 AF $100 Stmt credit $4k spending https://www.alaskaair.com/content/cr...-business-card
Prior offers:
40K>70K
Read post 844 for tips on being approved for the business card.
It may be easier to get approved for a new business with 0 years and $0 gross income.
Also see the Applying for Business Credit Cards [Consolidated] thread (not-BofA-specific) for general tips on applying for business cards.
Business card Recon Line:
April 2024: BOA Biz Recon (Small Biz Lending, Credit Analyst) 888-782-7717, 888-569-4439 (M-F 8am-7pm EST), both answered by live human in 2-4 minutes. (Both numbers confirmed multiple times in the past 2-3 days.)
866-695-6598 (8-7pm EST M-F)
Biz card status line: 888 663 6262 (not working)
Biz Card credit analyst line: 888-782-7717
Biz card expedited shipping: wait 24 hours after approval for a card number to generate then call 800-901-9830 and a person will answer. If 1st Rep says "no" ask him/her to ck. with a supervisor. This worked for me.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Credit Inquiries
Credit Inquiries for Personal cards come from BofA. Inquiries for business cards come from FIA.
Credit bureaus usually merge inquiries from the same requester made on the same day.
Inquiries from BofA and FIA will not be merged.
Does one have to call BoA to lower a card's credit limit?
Yes, there is no longer any way to contact BOA online. Phone is the only method currently.
When do the initial bonus miles post? You will get the miles after the statement closes for the cycle in which you meet your minimum spend. Usually AS points show up the Sunday evening after your statement closes, but sometimes it takes an additional week.
If there's a statement credit, when does it post?
It seems to be batch-processed. It will post automatically. Can be on the same statement or the next statement. It does not appear to be based on the statement close date.
Can you send a secure message through your account online?
No. BOA has removed the secure message functionality, even for Preferred members. The only way to contact BOA now is to call them.
Can I apply for another personal Alaska card if I have one open already?
Some people still can, but these days many people get denied. If you don't want to risk getting denied, it's probably better if you close any existing personal Alaska cards before applying for another one. But be sure to lower credit limit as low as possible at least a few business days before you close the card (though the earlier you can do it the better), because credit limit that's left on the card when you close it stays unavailable to new card applications for a year or more (while credit limit that's lowered as a separate step becomes available to new card applications much sooner)!
.................................................. .................
Use or earn Mileage Plan miles with Alaska's Global Partners
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...tners-overview
Bank of America Alaska Airlines card
Apr 17, 2017, 7:24 pm
#242
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,933
Way off dude. Yes, the 50,000 points can be turned into $500 cash, but it can also be used towards flights, on ANY airline. 25,000 points gets you a flight up to $500. So, you can get up to $1,000 in flights. I just booked my wife and her friend using 50,000 miles for an itinerary that would have been $1005 if paid with cash.
In my case, I'm tall and I can't sleep sitting up. And so I want to fly in business class (with flattish sleeper seats) for longhaul international, and that's rarely "affordable" with cash, so that's what I use miles for. I pay for most domestic flights, but most of those are under $500, often way under $500. I hate the kind of scheme that, for example, US Banks' Flexperks has, where you only get good value at certain redemption amounts [in their case, just under $400 IIRC) and get poor value at most other redemptions points (because you pay the same number of points for a $1 flight as a $399 flight).
And there can be a problem with using bank-specific-points cards for business class flights: You need oodles more points than one signup will give, but it's harder to combine signup bonuses from multiple cards (in the same program) to buy one $3000 or $4000 or $5000 flight. While it's no problem combining bonuses from multiple AS cards with miles from AS flights, miles from AS dining, miles from AS shopping, etc, etc, until you get to a longhaul business (or first) class redemption amount of AS miles.
Generally, business class flights can be 4x or 5x or even more the cost of economy class flights in cash (and thus in cash-equivalent points from cards like Merrill+), but they tend to be only 2x or 2.5x, maybe 3x, the cost of economy class flights in miles. So the comparison between paying cash and using miles that works for economy class may not work for business class.
Last edited by sdsearch; Apr 17, 2017 at 7:32 pm
Apr 17, 2017, 9:47 pm
#243
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,762
Way off dude. Yes, the 50,000 points can be turned into $500 cash, but it can also be used towards flights, on ANY airline. 25,000 points gets you a flight up to $500. So, you can get up to $1,000 in flights. I just booked my wife and her friend using 50,000 miles for an itinerary that would have been $1005 if paid with cash.
The Merrill+ card is significantly better than the AS card, IMO. It has a MINIMUM redemption of 1 CPP. Are 30,000 AS miles worth more than $500? Or, in reality, are you able to get $1000 in value out of 30,000 AS miles? Because that is VERY easy to do when traveling domestic and using Merrill points.
Along with that, there are very few other banks outside of Chase that have a sign up bonus worth $500 in cash like this card. If you're over 5/24, this is a great card. And there is no annual fee.
The Merrill+ card is significantly better than the AS card, IMO. It has a MINIMUM redemption of 1 CPP. Are 30,000 AS miles worth more than $500? Or, in reality, are you able to get $1000 in value out of 30,000 AS miles? Because that is VERY easy to do when traveling domestic and using Merrill points.
Along with that, there are very few other banks outside of Chase that have a sign up bonus worth $500 in cash like this card. If you're over 5/24, this is a great card. And there is no annual fee.
As sdsearch pointed out - most folks who want the miles than cash do NOT care to pay for a flight that is only a few hundreds. It is the international long haul FLAT BED flights that they want.
Try to price an international business class flight using google flight, on any random city pair, and see for yourself just HOW MUCH CASH you would need to buy that flight, not to mention that many times the reward tickets can be one-way not a r/t - that makes the flights even more expensive.
Here is an example for you - price out this itinerary JNB-HKG//HKG-LAX-SEA-SLC, in business and first class. See how much cash you need to buy this. Hint: between $7K to $16K.
FWIW, the ticket costs 70K AS miles $134 taxes and fee from the airline, plus $12.50 partner award fee and $15 AS phone booking fee, for the total cash outlay of $167.
If you are going for cheapo domestic flights, you are far better off to get a 2% cash back card.
Last edited by Happy; Apr 17, 2017 at 9:54 pm
Apr 18, 2017, 4:45 pm
#246
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 4,166
Apr 19, 2017, 3:38 pm
#249
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,933
You didn't answer my $250 fare question before, and I looked up, and I can see why you didn't answer, because my question showed the big flaw in the M+ card:
where DoC writes:
Anytime, Anywhere Air Rewards
This is how you can get up to 2¢ per point for airfare.
So M+ signup does not get you $1000 worth of flights if your average flight cost is $250 or $300 or even $350. You have to pay the same 25000 for a $250 flight as for a $500 flight. What's the value in that??? This is how you can get up to 2¢ per point for airfare.
- You must redeem a minimum of 25,000 points for $500 in airfare (including taxes & fees). If your airfare exceeds $500 then you will pay an additional 1 point per 1¢.
- Points cannot be used for misc costs imposed by the airline (e.g baggage fees)
- Anybody can be desginated as the user of your Air Reward
Oh, and if I read that correctly (and it's correct), then there's even a problem with $750 flights. You only get 2c for the first $500, but then 1c for the next $250? Yuck!
So it's because you settle for coach international flights at or slightly above $1000 that it works for you. But for those of us who either buy cheap domestic tickets, or use miles for business class for longer flights, the M+ card looks pretty useless.
Meanwhile, on an ongoing basis, the M+ card is (the equivalent of) only 1% cashback unless you use it exclusively on airfares, and then it's up to 2% cashback (much less if you never do anything close to $500 flights). But the Citi Double Cash card is 2% cashback no matter what you use it for.
So IMHO the Citi Double Cash card beats the M+ card on everything except the signup bonus, and the M+ signup bonus is as little as $500 if you only fly $250ish airfares paid (in which case there's little to no advantage in using it just for airfares).
Last edited by sdsearch; Apr 19, 2017 at 3:44 pm
Apr 19, 2017, 10:27 pm
#251
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH
Programs: DL DM, Hyatt Ist-iest, Stariott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 12,790
The Alaska card for most of us is about scoring intl J/F redemptions, not getting from airport to airport in the Lower 48.
Apr 20, 2017, 8:27 am
#253
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: DCA
Posts: 818
As I reported on March 26:
I was expecting to get the 5k (on each card) miles with next statement date, which was 4/10. Nothing has shown up in my AS account. So I logged into BofA to look at the statements to see if they had "reported" the miles to Alaska, but no statement had been generated (since these cards have been sock-drawered for months). Do I need to put a small charge on each of them in order to generate a statement and get the retention 5k miles to post?
Just called to cancel 2 AS biz cards with the idea to churn them again in a few months. Had already lowered CL to around 1k on each after getting the bonus. Rep offered 5k miles to keep open, and what he said was an annual fee waiver in perpetuity. Offer was available on both accounts; I accepted and will probably close in another couple of months.
Apr 20, 2017, 11:08 am
#254
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 327
The personnel recon line has gone really downhill? The reps sounds like more of a generic customer service rather then credit analysts. All they did to reconsider was to put in a system for reconsideration and said denied due to the same reason as before.
No offer to move lines around / close cards or anything like that. I volunteer to close one of the existing card and still no approval.
It used to be very friendly recon line earlier.
No offer to move lines around / close cards or anything like that. I volunteer to close one of the existing card and still no approval.
It used to be very friendly recon line earlier.