Card has $79 annual fee. They used to waive it for the first year (and then, upon request, usually for subsequent years). But the offers I see now don't say "fee waived for the first year." If I call them up, will they waive the fee for the first year? Just wait until they offer "first year free"? Or is that over?

Fee Waiver - I am not aware of anyone getting the initial fee waived by either calling, first year free offer, and/or other method.

If you do decide to apply for a Barclays USairways card, carefully review the offer and ensure that you apply for the offer that provides the maximum (25,000 bonus miles) without having to do a balance transfer.

Currently, my favorite card is the US Airways Professional MasterCard, $79 Annual fee (of course, close before 12 months and re-apply).

* 25,000 bonus miles** with your first purchase
* Earn 2 miles for every $1 spent on US Airways
purchases
* Earn 2 miles for every $1 spent on all restaurant, hotel,
car rental, and gasoline purchases
* Earn 1 mile for every $2 spent on all other purchases�
* Earn 10,000 Preferred miles every year with
qualified spend�
* A complimentary US Airways Club Day Pass
* $79 Annual Fee

Based upon my experience (and some others), if you already have even one Barclays USair card, Barclays does not want to open a new account. I closed all my accounts before applying for a new account.

In my opinion, paying Barclays $79 to get 25,000 Dividend Miles is a good bargain.http://www.usairways.com/awa/content...s/default.aspx

Rather than paying Barclays $79 for 25,000 Div. Miles, why wouldn't I just take the same # of miles on a "first year free" basis from Chase Saphire or Starwood? (I guess one answer is if you value the other benefits of the Barclays Mastercard -- the companion certificate, etc.).

Chamor,


1. Sorry, I am not familiar with "Chase Saphire or Starwood".

2. If "Chase Saphire or Starwood" offer free USairways Dividend miles, certainly you should accept them.

3. Next is a matter of goals, if you only want 25,000 Dividend Miles, then the "Chase Saphire or Starwood" clearly meet your goals. For me, and many other FT'ers, we want as many miles as possible by whatever means. Therefore, the opportunity to obtain 25,000 Dividend Miles for $79 is a good value. 2 times $79 = 158, buys a ticket to South America (or almost), Europe, and parts of Asia (a deal in my mind). My perspective is that I need to get 4 to 5 international economy tickets a year (220,000 - 350,000 miles per year) and simply getting one 25,000 bonus does not meet my goals.

4. Can you provide some guideance/specifics as to how I can get 25,000 Dividend Miles with "Chase Saphire or Starwood"? I would definitely like to pursue more miles.

Chase Saphire is here:

http://www.chasesapphire.com/chase-s...er-details_500

Starwood here:

https://www201.americanexpress.com/c...c0u6wXLR00O3eQ


(In each case, you initially get their "points" rather than miles, but those are convertable to US Air -- or other airlines -- miles, generally at 1:1 ratio, or occassionally better)


Of course, I agree that more miles is better -- but if you don't want a huge number of hard pulls on your credit report, it sometimes requires choosing between cards that give you miles, rather than just taking every card that gives some miles.

1. The Chase Sapphire Preferred is new and appears to be an appealing card.
2. I have now reviewed the Chase Sapphire Preferred program and I can find no reference to USairways as a partner. I checked the thread in FT and Fatwallet. Can you provide a reference to shows how Chase Sapphire Preferred can be transferred to USairways Dividend Miles. All the FT and FW posts indicated otherwise although no one seems to be able to get a lot of information on the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
3. Hard pulls - Most FT'ers know the situation regarding hard pulls, a 2-5 point reduction of your credit score for six months for each hard pull. As I have addressed this situation earlier, I make about 6 hard pulls within each six month period. Therefore, the impact is a 12-30 point reduction in my credit score. Since my credit scores range from the mid to upper 700's, one more pull has little impact on me.

Most importantly, thanks for the tip on Chase Sapphire Preferred, I will do the due diligence and likely apply. If you have any personal experience, let us know.