BizClsDreaming

I'm with moondog on this one. Since I've paid for the 12 months, and you earn 1.25 miles per $ spent, I'm using this as my "go to" VISA until month 11, then pay that statement and cancel it before the next fee is assessed. Then back to my other free visa from Chase.

Happy

It is almost as good as SPG card when you are looking at the miles redemption, especially if the partner awards work for your travel plan. Of course this is the perspective from someone who regularly accumulate miles and points for travel rewards.

You have to remember this BA card has lured in many many people who have never had a travel reward card, or even reward-earning card. Those folks do not have the forward-looking view in their mind.

Happy

The BA fuel surcharge on BA metal has been discussed Ad nauseum on this thread.

If you have to use BA metal, making LHR as a transit point with a final destination somewhere in the Continent would shave off the London airport tax.

Do a search of Steve in Olympia's posts to learn about how this work.

But you will still have to pay the BA fuel surcharge because if you insist to fly BA for TATL from East Coast - about the least value you can get from these miles - you have to pay the fuel surcharge.

FYI, the other partners you can use to fly TATL are AY and IB. AA is 100% excluded. IB fuel surcharge is only slightly lower than BA's. AY flies to HEL before you can connect to elsewhere in Europe.

Also FYI, Europe in BA program is separated into Zones - each zone has different mileage requirements. Details found on BA website under "spending BA miles", as well as posted many times on this thread.

flytiger001

yes I agree on that. but I what I want to know is - will I loose any unused BA points when I close the card at the end of 12 months ? if I am going to loose them then I'll have to think of spending it soon

philemer

JFK-Hawaii on AA.

fly1346

sorry for the noobness, I've searched, but dont seem to come up with aynthing,
how would I be able to book with someone like RJ, for a JFK-AMM?

BizClsDreaming

I doubt they'd take back unused miles, just because you didn't renew. The potential 6 month window makes sense to prevent churning, but if at the end of the first year you decide not to renew, Chase has made their fee from you, BA has a new FF member, all should be happy.
BA would want you to keep your miles: carrot-and-stick way of trying to get you to fly on them (or another OW carrier) so you can accrue more miles with them.

Counsellor

You shouldn't lose any BA miles that have actually been credited to your BA Executive Club account. There's no requirement to have a BA credit card to collect miles in the BA Executive Club account.

BizClsDreaming

This might not be the best bet, but this is what I've done looking for flights to AMM:

Either just try a dummy booking with BA (LON-AMM leg is on BMI, I think), or a dummy booking on AA, which routes you via ORD or NYC (can't remember off the top of my head) on RJ. Once you know who flies from where, and on what days, and where they connect, etc. you can try a reward booking on BA, selecting partner airlines, etc.

Happy

Use OneWorld interactive route map to see the possible routing. Then call BA to check if there is inventory.

RJ's reservation system does not talk well to other members of OneWorld, including AA's. It is a pain to book award seats on RJ but can be done.

Go to AA forum to do your search you would find more useful information regarding checking award seats on RJ.

animalj7

FYI...I don't know if anyone else got a call from Chase CS for a brief survey. But during the survey they made a point to highlight all of the features of the card. When discussing the companion voucher, the rep told me that even if I didn't spend the $30,000 to earn one in the fastest way, I would receive one on my 1 year account anniversary.

JIMCHI

What !! Has anyone else been told this?? This would make a big difference !

broadwayboy

I am not sure if this or BA forum is the best place to ask the question, but for those who have been a BA member for a while... Does BA release more premium seats closer to the date of travel? I've been looking for LHR-SIN (one way) for July and availability is not great (only 3 dates out of 31).

If so, when's the best time to check back? 30 days? A week? 4-5 days before travel?

BOShappyflyer

I have not heard of it either and it's not in the t&c. I think the rep may have been misinformed. Unless it's Chase way to keeping card members for another year, it doesn't seemed very realistic. They would have to issue out a lot of these certificates; those who spent 30k in a year would not be happy, and the value of those certificates would be high (if those are the " award "companion certificate and not those useless companion certificates).

Anyway, that's my take. I haven't heard otherwise but it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

cdm115

Just wanted to say that after applying for the card it took about 2 weeks to get the card. 3-4 weeks after getting the card the first 50,000 points were posted. I believe this coincides with the closing of my first statement since I have a posting of miles from my statement too.