Changes to USAirways/BofA Visa Cards
 

I received a letter today regarding changes to my BofA Platinum Visa Card. As of June 1st, there will be a substantial change in the benefits. Here's a summary, as listed in the letter:

Mileage per dollar spent: REDUCED from 1.2 miles/dollar to 1 mile per dollar (double miles are still earned for USAirways charges)

A new benefit is that if you spend at least $25,000 in a calendar year, the first 10,000 will be TIER MILES!

Annual Fee: REDUCED from $125 to $90 (a pro-rated credit will be given for those of us who were charged $125 before 05/01/01)

Companion ticket: $99 on a ticket of $350 or more. INCREASED to two from one.

They also promise to offer periodic mileage reduction awards of at least 5,000 miles off the regular redemption rate, two exclusive online offers per year, and one complimentary USAirways Club pass.

All other features and benefits remain the same. I'm interested in seeing what the changes will be to Gold and Silver to decide whether we want to downgrade.

Are "tier" miles actually "bonus" miles? I called and was told that if you charged $25K/year, you'll receive a 10K bonus. So you'd get 35K miles for spending $25K, or 1.4 miles/dollar.

I wonder if the benefits listed above will transfer over to UA if the merger takes effect? And if so, should all of us UA junkies immediately sign up for the US Airways Platinum Visa card?

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danville 1K

This is terrible, I am calling to cancel and can not ge ough after a half hour because the lines are SO busy. The "benefits" that they are offering are allusive at best and likely be taken away at any UA merger. Such a shame --- this was a great card while it lasted.

Apparently the tickets issued under the $99 companion promotion are no longer upgradable. Although the certificate itself does not say that, it seems this was instituted in February. This is a tough card to begin with. While most B of A credit cards have a 25 day payment window, this one is purposely set at 20...and the meter starts running when they cut the statement, which takes nearly a week to get to you. They also seem particularly slow at posting payments. If you factor both of those things in,there is probably about a 7 day window to remit.

mktozd, why cancel your card? Family Flyer's math shows us that our miles earned rate is actually increasing, plus the annual fee is dropping. Sounds like great news to me! Keep those miles rolling in my monthly statement http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I am curious to the 10k tier mile bonus. If one spends 25k during a calendar year, how does the 10k bonus really work?

PointJunkie states that you will receive the first 10k of the 25k dollars spent as tier miles. Family flyer says that you will be getting an additional 10k bonus miles making your total miles earned, 35k. I am reading this as just an additional 10k in bonus miles with none of these miles being preferred.

Which one of these scenarios is correct? Or, here comes my pipe dream http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif , could both posts be accurate? You not only get an additonal 10k bonus but these miles are counted toward preferred miles as well.

And as danville 1k points out, I too wonder how this all pans out with the UA merger looming.

Bill
Upstate NY

When I called, I asked three times: If I charge $25K, how many miles will I get? I was told 35K. I was also told that they were preferred miles, but I didn't press this point because I was only concerned with miles per dollar - not what kind of miles they were.

The rep I spoke with was wrong. If you spend $25K, you don't get a 10K bonus. Instead 10K of your 25K spending are preferred miles, good toward preferred status.

I apologize for the inaccuracy.