progapanda

Yes, simply replace your BAEC membership number with your Aadvantage number on your Avios reservation (once a PNR has been created). Search the forums for the "Finnair trick"

thetravelabstract

yup. just make sure you get your AAdvantage # attached to your flight and get a record locator created for AA.

I did this recently and was able to get the Preferred Plus seats and everything.

oceandreamer

Long time lurker here. Thanks for the heads up on this great deal. Instant approval and no purchase required (completed) as mentioned.

updawg

I'm not familiar with 'Avios.' Can someone inform me what a typical redemption rate is from, for example JFK-LHR or IAH-LHR? TIA ^

aviator8

very bad redemption there. Check out the BA forum for some detailed explanation. There are some niche areas where you can find good redemptions for these miles. long haul to Europe is NOT one of them!

muji

I couldn't find a thread on FlyerTalk giving examples, but I did find this recent article http://thepointsguy.com/2012/04/maxi...axes-and-fees/ which shows an LAX-LHR award round trip in economy as costing 50,000 points and $655 in taxes and surcharges.

aviator8

Scott Grimmer at milevalue has a really good 4 part writeup on the avios program and redemptions. He outlines where the good and bad values are in the program and how to search and determine where you will get the biggest bang for your mile.

start here:

http://milevalue.com/how-much-are-av...-avios-part-1/

Tavoludo

For me, the redemption rate has been great for my needs, 18,000 avios miles and 66 dlls in taxes for a roundtrip ticket to Monterrey Mexico from the US. ^

Dmitry

A week ago I was able to apply for this offer on BA.com without purchasing a ticket. But, unfortunately, that was some 10 min or so after I already applied and got approved for the other Chase 100K offer. So, this one was denied.

At the time, I called Chase rep to try to switch the offer. That rep said to call back the next day and ask to cancel both applications, then resubmit the new offer. She said they wouldn't switch an offer unless I got a direct mailing.

I haven't done this yet, but called today and again tried to switch the offer. Today's rep transferred me to "supervisor" and she then claimed that this whole BA offer is "invalid" since they don't offer $75 fee card anymore.

My question is - should I go ahead and cancel both applications and resubmit? Or am I better off just sticking with the 100K for $95 with $20K of spend to be safe?

(Btw, I did confirm today that they will grant miles as part of the deal, even though I had this same card in the past)

arcticbull

This worked great, instant approval. It's true, once you've been approved, there's no need to proceed with booking the flights. Instant approval gets you to a screen that says:

Congratulations, your application has been approved.
You have not yet paid for your flights.

At this point you can probably close your browser, but there's a button at the top that says Click here to use an existing payment card. Thanks, guys! This frees up a lot of cash ($10-20k) to use towards other minimum spend!

ExpatExp

See:

thetravelabstract

Welcome to FT Dmitry,


When did you apply for card? Cancel date?

Did you get the 100k Bonus before as well or something less?

All data points are welcome!

muji

From that article regarding the taxes/fees/surcharges imposed: “US-Europe can be $600-$1000– less on partner airlines. US-Asia is about $300. US-Australia is $500. US-Africa can be over $1000. The bright spots are within the US, $0, and US-South America, less than $100. Because of this crippling fuel charges, the only good value Avios flights will be within the US, US-South America…”

bergo

I finally got approved. It took 2 days before the people at the reconsideration line could access my denied application. The lady asked me to explain why I had so many credit card apps, and said she didn't see why I need 6 chase cards on top of all my other cards. I asked if she could adjust the credit limits to make room for the new card, and she said no, but that she could close an account and swap in the BA card. Not optimal, but I opted to swap out my Marriott card for the new BA.

flyingFable

I just cannot have the reconsider line approve this for me. I have tried 5 times with 6 different reps. I got approved for the UA Explorer and Sapphire both at the beginning of April and that's the reason they won't approve this one.

The first two times I called they were giving me a generic "your application is being processed, it may take up to 30 days to get a decision". The other 3 times they told me straight out that since they haven't established if I can handle my recently opened cards well, they cannot approve this one right now.

They said that they can reconsider the same application up to 30 days after it has been submitted. I will probably call them after I have made my first payments on the Sapphire and Explorer.

Any ideas, comments are welcome