GarudaSoars

I received an email from Bank of America today titled, "Your Credit Card Legal Notices Are Now Available." Normally this is just yearly jargon but not this year! The notice talks about changes to my card:

Annual Fee Change:
Effective March 2023, the Annual Fee will increase to $95 on your next account anniversary. You can reject the above change on or before February 28, 2023, by calling 866.300.5392. If you reject it, your account will be closed, and you’ll need to continue making at least your minimum monthly payments until your balance is paid in full.

NEW: Alaska Cardholder Benefits — effective immediately!
2 Miles Earn Category NEW — Even more ways to earn miles on everyday purchases. 2 miles for every $1 spent on: • Gas1 • Local transit including ride share1 • Cable1 • Select streaming services1

Relationship Bonus NEW — Earn a 10% rewards bonus on all miles earned from purchases if you have an eligible Bank of America® account.2

Priority Boarding NEW — Enjoy an earlier boarding position and get a better shot of scoring coveted overhead bin space when your tickets are purchased with your Alaska card.3

Alaska Lounge+ Membership NEW — Enjoy $100 off one Alaska Lounge+ Membership annually when purchased with your Alaska card.4

Priority Boarding and First Checked Bag Free eligibility for all authorized cardholders NEW — Now when traveling without the Primary Cardholder, authorized users and co-applicants will also be eligible for a Free Checked Bag and Priority Boarding when the Alaska Airlines Visa® card is used to purchase Alaska tickets.

Changes to Benefits — effective March 2023
First Checked Bag Free To receive the first checked bag free for you and up to 6 additional guests traveling on the same qualifying reservation, you will be required to pay for the tickets with your Alaska Airlines Visa card.5

Alaska Lounge Day Pass Day pass discounts are being replaced with a Lounge+ Membership discount above. The card will no longer feature a day pass benefit.

Benefits you will continue to enjoy
Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare™ every year Receive an annual companion fare which allows you to book a companion flight from $122 ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23).6

How you earn miles Continue to earn: • 3 miles per dollar spent on eligible Alaska purchases6 • 1 mile per dollar spent on all other purchases6

20% Inflight Rebate 20% Inflight Rebate on Food, Beverage and Wi-Fi onboard purchases when you pay with your Alaska card.6

My Thoughts:
I am happy my companion fare has been retained without the rumored $6,000 annual spend criteria. Without this benefit, both my partner and I would have canceled our Alaska cards.

The loss of the Lounge Day Pass discount is a huge bummer. I think they could have better offset this by offering a greater relationship bonus to higher tiers of customers in the BofA Preferred Rewards program just like their other BoFA cards.

snsec

So they are changing it so you only get free checked bags if you pay with the card now

flymonthly

I wonder if that includes award tickets where you pay the fees with the card.

drseagrass

Hopefully the new $100 discount on an Alaska Lounge membership can be bundled with the existing MVPG+ discount. That would help take the sting out of the annual fee going to $95 as well as the termination of multi-year Lounge memberships, which has significantly increased the annual cost of the Lounge. Most of the other supposed benefits (free luggage, earlier boarding) are redundant with already existing elite benefits. We have done well with the companion tickets, buying expensive tickets to outlying destinations in Alaska or traveling to Hawaii from the East Coast, particularly when U class space is available, so the credit card for the time being still seems worthwhile to keep.

ziggy29

Mixed feelings here. Glad the $6K spend for the Companion Fare didn't make it, but it looks like there is really no more Lounge benefit at all unless you travel enough to justify a membership (I know the elites will like that to reduce crowds, I just ain't one.)

And maybe I should open a BofA savings account for the minimum amount allowed to get the 10% bonus.

notquiteaff

I have zero interest in opening a BofA checking/savings account. So no relationship bonus for me.

I have zero interest in paying for an AS lounge membership. So no $100 credit for me.

My goal is to buy as little gas as possible (main driver is EV), and Chase keeps giving me 5X offers for gas on various cards. So not much value in 2X on gas.

Streaming is either prepaid (Netflix, with discounted gift cards) or reimbursed/paid for with Amex plat. So no new value there.

Am I missing something? If not, I guess I get to pay $20 more for my companion pass. So it’s now about $200+ for a companion ticket.

My wife and I each have the personal card and I also have the business card. I am leaning towards canceling my personal card to cut my overall credit card cost by $95. I might reapply at a later time for a new SUB.

selkirks

It's interesting to me that the benefits list never calls out the annual AS discount code, which almost offsets the annual fee.

notquiteaff

Discount code? You mean the companion ticket?

selkirks

Maybe it's because I'm on an earlier version of the card or there's something else going on, but I seem to get a $75 discount code and the Companion Fare.

philemer

I've had an AS BofA Visa card a long time and have never seen a $75 discount code.

dayone

There are concurrent discussions of these changes in this and the CC master thread, so I'll close this one. I'll hold off on the merge to give these changes some additional visibility.

Please continue the discussion here: Alaska Airlines Bank of America Visa (Personal and Business) - 2017 and Later - FlyerTalk Forums

dayone, AS Moderator