Thinking of picking up 2 Chase BA cards - is it worth it?
I'm thinking of applying for 2 Chase BA cards, 1 each for myself and my wife. As most of you know I should be able to earn 275,000 points and 2 companion tickets with $60,000 in spend. Here's the million dollar question: is it worth it? My rudimentary math tells me I could pick up 2, maybe 3 business class flights for my wife and I to Europe. Even with the crap fuel charges that's a fairly significant savings when you look at the actual cost of those tickets. My big dilemma is could I do better for 60,000 in spend if my end game is to get to Europe 2 or 3 times?
My apologies for not posting this in the mega BA thread, but I didn't want this loss in the mix.
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Posts: 27
Manny
I think it's worth it. I got mine in Oct met the min spend and am now waiting for the companion award. Since I signed up prior to the 100k bonus I sent an email and Chase matched it for me. So I ended up with 132k points, plus companion.
So if I use that for 2 bus tickets I still have 32k points left, then in a year I repeat the spend and earn another 32k points, then throw in some UR points and now I can repeat the trip, still using some of the points earned from my initial sign up. since I'm using the award travel in bus class, I don't mind paying the fees I find value in that class of travel.
Husband just signed up and will complete his spend by April, so we will have enough for award+comp to be used in summer 2014 for two adults and two kids.
That really is the million dollar question isn't it? We booked our companion ticket(s) for may and are traveling in F to Germany and Italy. True we had to pay $2K in taxes... but the tickets would have cost us almost $30K out of pocket if we had purchased them outright. That is something we could never afford to do so for us it is well worth it to experience the luxury that is F. Keep in mind with the companion pass your are essentially getting a ticket for "free" (plus taxes). You aren't going to get that with another airline.
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Not when you consider the opportunity cost of maybe not getting other Chase cards that are really much better deals-Sapphire Preferred, Ink, etc.
Plus, they don't waive the annual fee for the first year and there are those insane surcharges.
I got one a couple of years ago and still have all the miles (well over 100K) because using em is not so easy.
Finally, BA screwed its miles holders when it severely devalued its miles and the whole program. They did it before and they are likely to do it again. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice ...
Get a couple of Sapphire Preferred Cards, UAL cards and forget BA.
BA Chase cards have their place. I have finally come to look at the usurious fuel charges as the equivalent of paying for coach and actually flying F. I have found it easier to get 2 BA F seats on the same flight than 2 LH F . In fact, LH F has become near impossible to book til just days before travel. I prefer BA F, the complete package of ground and sky, to that of UA.
There are also enough sweet spots in the Avios program to intrigue me. They are great to use on nonstop AS flights. San Diego is becoming a mini hub for AS, and I have booked several tickets. You need to be willing to fly coach, as F is 3x Y. I've also used Avios for nonstop fights in southern Africa and in Japan.
Programs: UA 1K 2MM, Starwood Platinum, Hilton Diamond, AA EXP, Flying Blue Gold, Kimpton Inner Circle
Posts: 736
its worth it . you get 50k at the very least with NO spend requirements. I don't know many cards that give you 50k airline miles with no spend requirements.
You also get 10% of BA purchased tickets in addition to the extra 50k miles based on spend and the companion ticket
Programs: Marriott Plat, PC Plat, Hyatt Plat (for now), SPG Gold, Hilton Gold, Club Carlson Gold.
Posts: 401
Yes.
1) 100k is always worth it. I jumped on the BA last year x2 and flew around asia in cathay F and been all over South America. Worth it? Yes.
2) what's better anyways? United 60k offer, Sapphire 50k. And I got those aswell... I also got two southwest cards, Priority Club visa, and the Marriott in the last year or two. Chase still loves me. I have other cards too like the freedom.
And the reality is this card is better than all of em except a great united offer, a great sapphire and the ink bold. I might still take 100k BA over 55k United... But you dont have to choose. It's simple IMHO.
That really is the million dollar question isn't it? We booked our companion ticket(s) for may and are traveling in F to Germany and Italy. True we had to pay $2K in taxes... but the tickets would have cost us almost $30K out of pocket if we had purchased them outright. That is something we could never afford to do so for us it is well worth it to experience the luxury that is F. Keep in mind with the companion pass your are essentially getting a ticket for "free" (plus taxes). You aren't going to get that with another airline.
that $30k isnt what you are saving youre saving Only what the price of the tkts you would have purchased would have cost. Ive flown BA in FC and its nice but I was connecting onward to a 2nd long haul flight. You will be connecting onto a short European haul flight so theres no FC and the CW (Biz) seat is the same as a coach seat . Now if you are flying say SEA or SFO or LAX to LHR thats 1 thing but if youre flying NY or PHL or BOS etc to LHR your flight is so short that personally being NY based I dont even bother with anything but Y to Europe If you want to Experience a true F you need to fly on SQ or EK or similiar , BA is far from Luxury sorry to tell ya,
So since you are Cali based I assume you will be flying LAX-LHR non-stop and will get alot more out of the Flight then someone based on the EC but someone EC based wont get the same experience as you will.
Keep in mind that using the Chase BA card to pay for ba.com flight purchases attracts the 10% discount, no matter whether it's fares or taxes, fees, and surcharges, another benefit of the card. Also keep in mind that to get the companion certificate, the $30K spending must occur in a calendar year, not one year from the date you get approval or start spending on the card.
From the other end of the spectrum, however, I like to purchase a WT+ ticket during one of the regular BA sales for approximately the cost of the taxes and fees of a First award (or the full price of an in-season coach award) and upgrade using Avios to Club World (one-class upgrade only, unfortunately, so no First if you use this method and about $300 in upgrade fees). The Avios you earn from the WT+ purchase (approximately 9K for the flight and 1.25K for buying with the BA card) will offset some of the Avios used to upgrade (probably 35K if you're connecting through London to the Continent). Don't upgrade on your flight from London to the Continent (I apply my domestic rule on first class here--no need to upgrade if the flight is less than four hours) and get some status with BA, you may find that you'll come out even or a little ahead as a result of a status bonus (mid-tier Silver results in a 100% bonus). Sort of a perpetual replenishing of the Avios pot--albeit with a dollar cost.
Let's put it this way: if you and your wife each do a two-browser trick to get AA cards, you'll get a little less than 220K AAdvantage miles (including miles earned through spending). That won't be enough for two tickets to Europe in First (125K each way), plus if your AA redemption to Europe involves BA flights, you'll still get stuck with the taxes, fees, and surcharges BA imposes. And even if you move some SPG points to AA or do some extra spending on the Citi AA cards to get you to the 250K, it'll all be blown with one award redemption. With the BA cards and the companion certificate, you'd still have 120K Avios.
BAEC is not a free flight program so it's not for everyone. If you've got a cash budget to spend on traveling, I've found BAEC a wonderful way to get champagne on a beer budget.
that $30k isnt what you are saving youre saving Only what the price of the tkts you would have purchased would have cost. Ive flown BA in FC and its nice but I was connecting onward to a 2nd long haul flight. You will be connecting onto a short European haul flight so theres no FC and the CW (Biz) seat is the same as a coach seat . Now if you are flying say SEA or SFO or LAX to LHR thats 1 thing but if youre flying NY or PHL or BOS etc to LHR your flight is so short that personally being NY based I dont even bother with anything but Y to Europe If you want to Experience a true F you need to fly on SQ or EK or similiar , BA is far from Luxury sorry to tell ya,
So since you are Cali based I assume you will be flying LAX-LHR non-stop and will get alot more out of the Flight then someone based on the EC but someone EC based wont get the same experience as you will.
+1, no one in their right mind would pay $30k for plane tickets (except for those whom it is pocket change), so that number is completely irrelevant.
To add (maybe) the original posters question, I recently did a month ago exactly what you and your wife are going to do. We plan to visit Europe but I have AA miles that I will use for that or pay for them outright if I don't fly first. I'm not a big fan of the fees costing what a economy flight would cost from another airline.
Is there a way to use the companion pass without the fee's? I assume for the companion pass it has to be on BA metal and if so, I don't know if I have a use for it again because of the fee's. Unless there is someway to use it that I'm missing.
My plan is to hit the 40K of spending (20K on each) get my 100,000 miles and use it for domestic travel and other programs for going out of the US. Again, unless someone can tell me what I'm doing is the wrong way to go about it. Hawaii is on our radar for BA miles...
that $30k isnt what you are saving youre saving Only what the price of the tkts you would have purchased would have cost. Ive flown BA in FC and its nice but I was connecting onward to a 2nd long haul flight. You will be connecting onto a short European haul flight so theres no FC and the CW (Biz) seat is the same as a coach seat . Now if you are flying say SEA or SFO or LAX to LHR thats 1 thing but if youre flying NY or PHL or BOS etc to LHR your flight is so short that personally being NY based I dont even bother with anything but Y to Europe If you want to Experience a true F you need to fly on SQ or EK or similiar , BA is far from Luxury sorry to tell ya,
That is why I said that the 30K would be something that we never could afford. We can easily afford to pay for coach... and a little extra for taxes when redeeming a 2 4 1. To me flying in F on BA is considered luxury... especially if we get the NF on our flights. I agree for a "short" flight from NYC to LHR... it's probably not worth it, but as I said everyone has their own opinions on what they value points at.
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Join Date: Jun 2003
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
...You need to be willing to fly coach, as F is 3x Y.
Bear in mind that some AA domestic routes have a business cabin -or- the first class cabin marketed as business (because they are continuations of international flights), and BA's system should price those at 2X rather than 3X the coach level.
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I got the 100K offer back in 2009 and got a companion ticket thanks to my business travel the following year. I found it pretty easy to get Business level tickets if you plan early enough (flew out of LAX, only daily 3 flights). Granted the fuel surcharge sucks but my girl and I spent flew LAX to LHR (business) and one way LHR to VIE (business) for less than $2K. In the end we spent 21 days in Europe for less than $5K this pass October which we thought was a good value (obviously used some priority club points for hotels). Currently the plan is to pay for most of our wedding on the card next year and get another companion ticket to go back to Europe in the coming years.
