Originally Posted by
kay sedia
I have switched RBC products numerous times now and always got whatever bonus was advertised. I've have maintained BA for about 5 years for the first/business class companion pass and also rotate between Avion(15000), WestJet($250 westjet dollars + companion pass, and Shoppers(free but comes with optimum points)). In my opinion the value of BA has really decreased and am going to focus on Avion due to transfer bonuses to American who has way lower taxes than BA, or to BA if you want. I would actually cancel my BA but I have trips booked and the terms state that you must have a card in good standing at time of travel. Depends what you are redeeming for I guess, but at $165.00/yr the taxes are brutal, availability is terrible unless you book a year out that it is less and less attractive. 30000 points is way easier to get with a free Amex gold card for 25000 and an Avion which will give at least 15000 for $120/yr plus a 50% transfer bonus regularly. Looks like you would get 47500 for $120 with more flexibility.
Thanks for the data points and info.
Btw, you can have the Avion FYF by calling in, but I would assume that would only be on new applications. If it were physically possible to get more MR points, I would, trust me
I value Avios @ 2cpp even given the taxes. Obviously I would never fly on BA metal. The key with BA is short haul redemptions on partner airlines. Namely AA/US. You can fly LGA/JFK-MIA for 15k + $11 tax. Great deal. You can also fly YYZ-LGA/JFK for 9k + $65 tax. Also a great deal.
The main factor with the BA card is that there would be no impact to my credit score. So it is effectively buying 30k @ 0.55cpp. I agree that there are many cards out there that provide much better than that (i.e. Amex Gold 25k @ FREEcpp) however, you can't compare this to that as that requires a new inquiry/tradeline and this does not.