[Speculation] What Do You Think of BofA AS Credit Cards?
 

Selfishly, I would prefer amex be the issuer so I can transfer my points to Mileage plan

Delta would go, "sorry, but no". Given that Delta's deal is vastly more important to AMEX's bottom line than anything Alaska could reasonably offer, it is exceedingly unlikely.

I'll take any bank aside from BoA at this point. They're so ... lol and boomer.

Did I miss something?

As for the CC, I would like a card that is worth using for anything other than inflight snacks on days other than Nov 5, 2022.

Really super unlikely. AMEX isn’t ditching Delta. Chase isn’t going to happen because they have United AND Southwest. Citi, Barclays, and Capital One are irrelevancies in AS’s core markets (WA/OR/AK). This leaves you with US Bank (considerably smaller size than BofA) and BofA.

The way FT does credit cards is just not how normal people do them. Having an actual corporate presence (banking and airline) in PNW markets is actually part of the BofA-AS relationship.

Curious why you discount Chase, who also has BA in the US.

I'd say that BoA/AS signed a co-brand agreement until 2030 would be the big reason why nothing is going to change here. That's exactly why I dropped the card - BoA treated us terribly and I was done with that relationship.

FWIW Chase has numerous cobrand relationships with airlines - UA, WN, BA/IB/EI, and AC. I would doubt any of those relationships would prevent a future Chase/AS linkup - Chase doesn't seem to care for exclusivity. Similarly Barclays has HA/AA/F9/B6/EK. BoA has the NK card. The only two issuers that are airline exclusives in the US that I can think of are Citi (AA) and AMEX (DL).

Because BA isn’t a US airline, and Chase doesn’t need a US airline given a relationship with United and Southwest. Why would they outbid BofA for a regional airline?

Barclays has zero presence in PNW markets. BofA does. There really isn’t a compelling reason to hook up. Which is why AS and BofA have been at it for 20 years or so.

"Alaska Air Group Inc.and Bank of America [...] announced an extension of their co-branded credit card agreement through 2030. The renewed agreement strengthens a powerful industry partnership that has endured over decades..."

The only uses for my AS card besides also using it for AS airfare purchases at 3x.

I use if for airfare purchases when I have to (companion ticket, don’t have wallet credit). Otherwise I generally prefer 3X UR or 5X MR for flexibility reasons.

I ditched the card because the companion fare was too hard for me to use. I'd jump on it again if there was a no annual fee/no companion pass option and just use it for flights/in-flight snacks.

I never suggested as much. I only cited Barclays as an example of an issuer that doesn't care about airline exclusivity - they are happy to cobrand with anyone that wants to. Citi and AMEX are the only two that I'm aware of in the US that partner with a single airline.

I would argue, however, that physical presence of branches nowadays means far less than it did 20 years ago. AMEX has zero branches but yet Delta doesn't seem to care that there's no AMEX brick and mortar "bank" in Atlanta or any of their hubs. Barclays has zero branches but none of the carriers aligned with it seem to care. Citi, for that matter, despite having a very long relationship with AA, has a very weak presence in the Dallas market.

Money is the biggest mover, and whoever offers Alaska the best combination of the biggest slice of the pie and the best opportunity for growth will get their cobrand business.

… in 2031 :)