slider34

Thanks for the reply! I always assumed (and I guess wrongly) that if you could find an award flight on AA you simply can use your BA miles to book a flight with the same miles. I didn't realize there was a seperate pool.

lwildernorva

If you're booking with Avios, you must find MileSAAver award availability, not the higher redemption cost AAnytime award bucket. There isn't a separate pool for BA redemptions; you just can't use both AA award pools.

Boraxo

The whining never ceases to amaze. Basically this is the best deal out there, offering roughly double the signup bonus of any current offers. The $20k spend ($1600/mo) over 12 months is not that difficult to achieve, and will earn another 25k Avios. BA miles are incredibly easy to spend on C/F travel compared with UA saver awards, not to mention DL. And finally there is the 2-for-1 cert that effectively doubles the value of your Avios should you wish to travel from USA to Europe (via LHR). And since they are good for 2 years, you could earn 1 cert in 2012 and 2013 and then fly a family of 4 to Europe in BA's superb business class for about 1/2 the mileage cost on a competitor (assuming you could find the seats on the competitor).

Basically the only downside to this offer are the heinous "fuel surcharges" and LHR luxury taxes that you will incur on award tix that transit LHR. Specifically about $600-1000 per person for a C/F roundtrip. But given the obnoxious "co-pays" that UA, DL and AA charge to use your miles for TATL and TPAC upgrades (roughly $1000 roundtrip pp) this is not such a bad deal. And of course the fuel surcharge can be avoided entirely if you prefer to use your Avios for AA tix within the USA or to Latin America.

Those who expect something for nothing, i.e. not even a minimal spend, should look elsewhere - Chase is already giving away the store here.

jmw2323

I did just that. I have 2 certs. However, with other vacations planned and paid for (including 2 x BA-F this June), just can't see spending another $4400+ to fly the 4 of us to europe in CW (or 2 F + 2 C). Not whining as the avios will come in handy for non TATL

acesflyerSFO

Good luck finding 4 award CW or F seats on BA... Very difficult during desirable periods.

And with $4400 cost it's like paying for 2 discounted biz seats and getting two for the miles you used...do really a poor deal!!!!!

AMRivlin

Just want to chime in, I got this card/offer back in December 2009. For a year I put about 35-40k on it and earned the 2-4-1 voucher.

I just booked the following
JFK-LHR in First
BCN-LHR-YVR in Club World (aka business)
Taxes/fees were 800 per pax.
125,000 miles

I have used the other bit of my pot on flights between YVR and LAX on Alaska.

Is the card going to fly you to Sydney and back in F with 8 of your best friends? Probably not. Will it get you + 1 to some BA and OneWorld destinations, for sure.

I recommend the card, just understand what you are getting into.

Boraxo

No trouble finding 4 seats from SFO/LAX via LHR when I looked 9 months out. Summer is obviously more difficult. At the time the BS fees were roughly $800pp - a bit more now. But try finding those $2200 all-in seats from the west coast. I have, and they are usually closer to $3k all-in, on the non-ref sale fares. So that's $6k for 2 people. For peak season advance purchase more like $10k.

It's not for everyone. If you are looking for totally free tix then BA is not for you. If you are looking for miles you can actually use to book a vacation well in advance of travel (not 2-4 weeks out) then UA and DL are not for you unless you want to spend 240k miles per C ticket.

As others have noted above, BA+Chase are essentially offering me a C/F TATL seat for the price of a super-discounted economy ticket. So that's basically the same award that most of us have been trying to get for years except now using 100% miles instead of buying economy and upgrading with miles (an award that is much less desirable with the advent of co-pays). The BA lounge and in-flight experience is also superior to most of the US-based alternatives.

I hate the BS "fuel surcharges" and LHR luxury taxes as much as the next FTer. Nor do I think that Chase adequately disclosed these charges back in 2009 to the average customer (they clearly do on the latest app - no doubt due to quite a few complaints). But that doesn't eliminate the value of the proposition.

jmw2323

surprised by the YQ. Haven't been able to find anything under $950

amolkold

Just looked these routes up out of curiosity ... JFK-LHR in F had $412 in taxes, BCN-LHR-YVR in CW was $279. No APD since it's departing BCN and not LHR, but still lower than I thought. I thought it'd be because it's arriving in Canada, but a BCN-LHR-SEA itinerary is only $30 more.

AggieTraveler

I could use some advise. I just applied for the Chase Sappbire Preferred and Amex Platinum January 25, and got the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer February 16. Before that, I hadn't gotten a card in 2-1/2 years.

I have a good credit score, but I can't check the exact score right now because I have a fraud alert out with the CRAs and the score reporting sites aren't cooperating. I just closed on my house in January.

I really want this card. I'm usually meeting up with tours when I travel, so I don't have much flexibility on dates. I'm willing to pay more in fees in order to get better award availability (I've always had good luck on finding award availability on BA). It's still cheaper than paying for business class (which I have been doing).

Is it too soon to apply?

lwildernorva

You're probably OK, but unless you're in a rush, I'd be tempted to hold off for a couple of weeks to put some distance between your last two applications and this one.

I realize it appears that Chase has quickly pulled some offers recently, but most of those, associated with the Sapphire Preferred, look as if they were links turned up by creative web research by dedicated FTers rather than officially supported offers. A variant of this offer has been made for the last several springs and has remained available for a number of weeks. Most of the bloggers are pretty good about giving advance warning when they're about to pull their affiliate links, which is a reliable sign the end for a particular offer is near.

psyflyer

What never ceases to amaze me is the BA apologists, truly stunning. Hey, if you think this is the best deal since sliced bread, knock yourself out.

mike2200

+1 (used miles for flights to SJU and OGG) plus have 40k left

show_me_the_points

Not sure if this has been mentioned before , but these BA miles are great for short-haul domestic US trips, just 4500 for each way from Chicago to DC. You can book it all online and just costs $2.50 . Also since I am AA gold, I can log into AA.com and find this itinerary and select my exit row seat...

AggieTraveler

Thanks! I wasn't sure how long the offer stayed around previously. I'll probably wait at least until next week, since that'll put me over 60 days since my last app. I'm going back to Europe in late May, so I'd like to get it before I leave since I don't currently have any cards with an EMV chip (and yes, I do realize its just chip-and-sig, but it's better than nothing). I appreciate the input.