flightsofideas

Tried calling a few times to try and change my BofA Alaska Air that's been open for 3 years to a Better Balance Rewards. I figured I'd be denied. Asked if I could switch to any no fee card and was told that I'd have to apply and cancel my Alaska VISA. Is this standard practice for BofA now?

sdsearch

Do you have the personal or business version of the Alaska card? I ask because a business card probably cannot converted anything other than maybe another business card, which I'm not sure BofA even has.

But given that is FlyerTalk, did you HUCA? (Hang Up, Call Again.) It's a standard acronym around FlyerTalk because in some many cases if you talk to a different agent you may get a different answer.

Another option is to ask to speak to a supervisor, who may be able to provide a reason if it's really not possible.

But unless your credit history is short overall, three years doesn't seem like a long enough time to worry about product converting vs just cancelling, given all the people who apply for and cancel 3 or 4 BofA Alaska cards every year (earning 25k, now 30k, miles each time), with no appreciable ding to their credit.

flightsofideas

It was a Personal Visa. HUCA x 3 without success. Didn't ask to speak to a supervisor. I'll give it one more shot and then will cancel. Thanks!

gnomey

i am also looking to PC my BOA AS Personal Visa to BBR. But i heard it is super tough to do so right now. I didnt know they also make it difficult to PC to any other no-fee card.

but then i still hear random, rare stories of people being successful in PC-ing to BBR

so i dont know.

progapanda

Same experience as you a earlier in the summer. I pushed back politely and asked the rep. check with a supervisor, and was able to push through a PC to BoA Cash Rewards (no BBR as a change option).

BoA's online tools are usually sufficient (thankfully), but their telephone customer service is even worse than Barclays when it comes to getting them to do anything out of the ordinary.

Occasionaltraveler

I have quite a few Alaska Air FF mi since I haven't been able to use them lately, but I plan on using them in the next 1-2 years. However, I don't want to continue the $75 annual fee for the CC. Can I d/c the CC and still keep my miles?

philemer

Welcome to FT! We have a thread dedicated to this card but your answer is "yes". I'd cancel and then apply for a new card for another 30K miles. Links on alaskaair.com

Madone59

Welcome to Flyertalk Occasionaltraveler^ Hopefully you post more than occasionally .

On thing to think about is that is if you don't travel much an airline CC keeps accounts fresh so miles don't expire. It may be worth the $75.

Per AS.com: A Mileage Plan™ account inactive for 24 months is deactivated and requires a fee to reactivate and reinstate the miles. An account inactive for 36 months will be deleted, and miles cannot be reinstated.

jinglish

The credit card is far from an essential part of Mileage Plan, so you'll be fine. Just keep in mind that your entire balance of miles will expire if you don't have any activity (i.e., flights, credit card miles, redemptions, etc.) for two years.

AJDem

Applied for the Alaska Airlines $100 Credit and 30K points.

Was approved for Platinum Plus instead of Premier, which has a completely different bonus, only 5k points and no credit??? The difference apparantly is the credit limit, which has to be 5K or over for Premier, which is the one with the original offer.

I feel like I screwed myself over, because I just opened 3 other cards as well, and racked up 15K (7.5K each) of credit limit on two BoA cards right before I applied for the Alaska Airlines. The alaska Airlines card only got a 1.2K limit.

I just talked to a csr and she said she could transfer my credit line from the other two cards, but can't request the promotional offer.

Is there any way to get the 30K + $100 credit offer for the Alaska Airlines card applied retroactively? Can I transfer credit limits from the other two BoA cards?

If getting the promotion is not possible, can I get the 5K points on this version, and then product change to BBR or something without paying annual fee? Want to get the most out of this I can

sdsearch

You're approaching this wrong. You shouldn't be asking if you can get the 30k offer. You should be asking if you can have your Plat card changed to a Signature card (which requires a minimum of 5k credit limit). Read the offer landing page very carefully. It explains that if you only get approved for a Platinum card, you will get the smaller offer, and that the bigger offer is only available with a Signature card.

This has been endlessly discussed in the main thread about this card, which is at:
You need to call back again and find out if you can transfer enough credit limit to have at least 5k on this card, and upgrade back to the Signature card you applied for. It may or may not be too late, I'm not sure.

Btw, even if they approve upgrading you to Signature, the whole process take about two months, because per federal law they have to send you a letter explaining that your annual fee will go up by $25 (from the $50 AF on the Platinum to the $75 AF on the Signature), and the letter will give a deadline for declining the upgrade. Only after that deadline has passed can they actually upgrade the card. And that's the process takes about two months.

In the future, make sure you reduce credit limit on any cards you get to the minimum needed ASAP at BOA, and especially make sure you reduce credit limit before you cancel, or else you'll endlessly get Platinum cards any more you apply for Alaska personal cards.

gnomey

i m planning to apply for the BOA AS Business this week.

for those who successfully got approval as a sole proprietor with "business", how much $ gross income do you put in your application?

i do have ebay business but not to the extent of hundreds of thousands per annum.

jeepie

...the Truth!😎

dayone

It's encouraging that there are others who believe that is the only acceptable answer.

spamman808

^