100K Chase Visa/BA back again
 

I know there was a couple of threads on the Chase BA Visa, but I couldn't find them. Mods feel free to move.

Anyhow, here's an email my wife got today:
Under the T&C's:Does not appear that the annual fee is waived.

Anyhow, here's the signup link.

I probably don't read all the mail I get from Chase/BA closely enough, have they changed the Companion Award, wasn't it $25k previously?

It's been $30K for as long as I can remember (granted that I have a pretty short memory), but I think it's been that way for a couple of years now.

Ok, guess I just misremembered!

Better than dismembering. :)

Hmmm. If the FFP catches you fiddling with the program and they throw you out, are you dismembered?

Hmm... don't see the sign-up bonus on the landing page... just have to trust it and hope for the best...?

Good of you to post this, OP. But anyone who isn't familiar with the BA program should be aware that it charges very high fees for award redemptions that involve flying to or especially connecting through LHR. My wife and I used this deal, including the companion ticket to fly SFO-LHR-DXB a few years ago, with a stopover in LHR. IIRC, cost us over well over $3,000 plus the points. Of course, you can view that as using the miles for a de facto economy ticket, but it nevertheless adds up to the BA awards costing more than almost any other program.

Redemption cost$ for partner airlines not going through LHR are not as bad, with using Avios to Latin American being very low. But of course you only way you can used the companion ticket is on BA, which means you'll pay through the nose to avail of the companion ticket option.

Yep. All that is known, or should be, but thanks for bringing it up for the un-initiated.

I tend nowadays to use Avios on the BOS-DUB run (25K/50K Y/J) which is a great deal, and domestic AA trips can be had for as little as 4500 Avios OW.

Also, of course, the same 4500 Avios redemption rates ex-London to quite a bit of Europe is also a good deal.

Long haul (e,g., ORD/SFO/LAX/SEA/etc. - LHR) is still killed with the YQ. OTOH, from where I live, YYZ-LHR is available 40K/80K/120K Y/J/F so, if I can scrape up the YQ, it can be a pretty good deal to Europe, riding up front.

YMMV, as usual.

It was $30k when I first heard about the 100k BA sign-up bonus some years ago. While it's possible that it may have been lower for the companion award at some point, I don't recall seeing it lower than that.

Ironically, most of the companion awards my family and friends got for reaching $30k in spend in a calendar year did not use the companion awards -- instead we mostly have used the BA miles for intra-Americas AA and LA flights or AB flights. Companion awards are only applicable for roundtrips on BA metal with its very high "fuel" scam surcharges, so don't find them as useful as I had anticipated at some point.

Single-segment domestic/intra-Americas flights are a good use of BA miles for my circle of friends and family.

International award tickets in premium cabins where a lap-child infant is involved is also a very good use of BA miles for my circle of friends and family given it's just 10% of the adult miles + taxes/fees/surcharges.

Given there are no last-minute award redemption surcharges when using BA miles, that is also something that helps out BA award redemption customers who don't have elite status-based waivers for sub-21-day bookings in other programs.

Another upside of BA redemptions is cancellation penalties for domestic US or US-originating itineraries can be very low if cancelled more than 24-hours in advance.

The 4,500 mile and 7,500 mile one-way BA award ticket for AA flights is my staple reward as of late. The upside for some on such redemptions is that AA seems to be handing out some elite status benefits such as Priority Access status to such bookings even to those who have no airline/partner elite status.

BA miles are also good for AS flights, right?

This outrageously high BA surcharges---reminds me of "shipping & handling" fees for some TV merchandise offers. It's like "Wow, buy one get second free, just pay separate shipping & handling fee," but then the company ends up sending both in the same darn package. I wish companies would have more integrity. BA, for example, why doesn't it just get rid of these ridiculous surcharges and just be honest, and jack up the amount of Avios miles required so it's perfectly clear how little Avios are worth for BA metal flying through LHR?

The first thing you need to know is that MilesBuzz is no longer a place where credit card offers are discussed. That's now all in the Credit Cards Forum.

Nest, at the top of the Credit Cards Forum is a sticky with the hottest offers:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...scription.html

That shows:
which links to post 334 in this thread (also in the Credit Cards forum, but not necessarily always on the first page):

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...20k-spend.html

Continue discussion in existing thread here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...-spend-23.html