November 6th, 2009
What You Need To Know Before You Run To Sign Up For BA’s 100,000 Mile Credit Card Offer…
Gary points to a seemingly incredible offer from Chase: Sign up for a $75/year British Airways card and you’ll get 50,000 BA miles. Spend $2,000 on the card within 3 months and you’ll get another 50,000 miles. Plus you get 1.25 miles per dollar spent. In addition if you spend $30,000 on the card in a calendar year you get a voucher for a free companion award ticket when you book another award ticket.
Sounds incredible, no?
Ahh…but what Gary doesn’t mention are their outrageous fuel surcharges on BA award tickets.
BA Fuel Surcharges (not including actual taxes) per longhaul segment (A Round-Trip JFK-LHR-TLV is 4 segments):
Economy (Under 9 hours): $107
Economy (Over 9 hours): $141
Premium Economy (Under 9 hours): $128
Premium Economy (Over 9 hours): $177
Business/First (Under 9 hours): $157
Business/First (Over 9 hours): $205
Other taxes and fees that BA charges will typically add more than $100 to the award ticket in addition to the fuel surcharges.
A Business Ticket from LA to Tel Aviv will cost 130,000 miles plus over $800 in fuel surcharges and other fees and taxes!
I think I’ll stick with Continental’s BusinessFirst, at 115,000 miles and $50 in taxes.
AA’s card may only get you 30K miles, but it is easily churnable and you won’t have to shell out hundreds of dollars in taxes for an award ticket…plus AA has a sweet OneWorld chart with awards that cost less miles than BA and have no fuel surcharges.
Now that you’re equipped with the rest of the story you can decide whether this card makes sense for you. 100,000 miles is indeed an incredible offer, but I personally stay far away from programs that charge such high fuel surcharges…I enjoy free award flights, not discounted flights.
November 6th, 2009 at 12:38 am
You have failed to mention that you can avoid much of those exorbitant fuel charges with the ability of booking award seats on AA or AS with your BA miles. That changes the game a little don’t you think?
November 6th, 2009 at 12:39 am
Plus word is that that are only approving high income people, and giving most people the second card….
November 6th, 2009 at 12:45 am
@jjoyce:
Are you sure that BA doesn’t charge a fuel surcharge when redeeming on AA? Most international airlines that charge a fuel surcharge on their own award tickets also charge a fuel surcharge on partners. However I’m not familiar enough with the BA program to know whether or not they charge a fuel surcharge on AA award tickets.
Also be sure to bear in mind that you can’t use BA miles to fly on transatlantic AA flights to or from the US.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:04 am
i used ba miles a few times for a domestic flight on aa and all there is a $5 booking fee plus you can also book one way for 12500 miles
November 6th, 2009 at 7:32 am
Which second card ?
November 6th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Would it be possible to convert these airline miles to AA or a different airline? Even at a 2-1 ratio you are comming out ahead of the game?
November 6th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Can BA miles be used for the OneWorld 130,000 miles Business Class “Under-20,000-miles-flown” award? I assume yes, and therefore even with the Fuel surcharges, it may be worth it. And if they don’t charge fuel surcharges on non-BA flights that would be awesome.
November 6th, 2009 at 9:23 am
BA’s term state…
This surcharge is only applicable on British Airways mainline operated services.
…And BA Mainline is British Airways and BA CityFlyer.
I don’t know for sure, I’m just saying that that’s what it says.
November 6th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Lets be fair here, Gary doesnt only think about getting to TLV, he probably doesnt even think of TLV at all.
Now I HATE the fuel surcharge, but Id take BA over CO any day of the week. BTW it gets uglier as the Departure taxes from LHR are a killer and it gets more as you move up in Class, so a Biz tkt costs more then a Coach in the taxes
Heading to London next month for afew days on AA and the taxes alone were $131
The key is to use the BA miles on AA, which means you cant fly to or via Europe as TATL is not allowed BA on AA , or AA on BA
So $1000 for abiz tkt to TLV overall isnt a bad deal. And getting 100k on CO isnt as easy as getting it this 1 time on BA. BTW reg coach on BA isnt that good.
The cheapest way of cause would be by getting 4-5 AA Citi CCs and 30k per card, but then youd be flying ElAl
also keep in mind BA for the winter seems to have gone to its 2 class 767 to TLV so its not lie-flat seats in Biz, and alot less seats at that , so finding a free tkt was hard enough before they switched aircrafts
November 6th, 2009 at 10:41 am
@sruly:
Good to know, I rarely usually use miles foir domestic tickets, but at least there’s some good in BA’s program.
@sean:
No, generally speaking miles can’t be converted to other miles without a ~90% loss or so.
@Eli:
You’re referring to AA’s Oneworld chart which only applies to redeeming AA miles.
At any rate I’d be very surprised if they don’t charge fuel surcharges on other OneWorld flights.
Every OneWorld airline besides AA charges a fuel surcharge on reward tickets. AA simply doesn’t collect the fuel surcharge as they never do, but I’d be surprised if BA doesn’t collect a fuel surcharge for travel on Oneworld carriers like Cathay Pacific which charge a substantial fuel surcharge.
Also as you can’t fly AA on a transatlantic flight there probably isn’t a way to avoid a fuel surcharge to Europe or Israel.
@Eli:
I read that as this surcharge listed below only applies to BA flights, it just doesn’t say how much the surcharge will be on other Oneworld carriers that also charge a fuel surcharge on award tickets.
But I may be wrong here…if anyone knows about a fuel surcharge for using BA miles on airlines like JAL or Cathay Pacific let us know!
@steve2:
Fair enough, Gary isnt referring to TLV, but no matter where you go there will be hefty furl surcharges. And those BA fuel surcharges will be on top of the $131 in taxes that you paid to AA.
Seems like using BA to London in Business would mean paying at least $450.
Not a bad deal at all, but it’s not free travel anymore, and it’s something that should be pointed out.
Mind you that in economy it would probably be about 50K miles+$350, making it a mostly pointless use of miles to get a small discount on the ticket.
I don’t even know how those airlines are allowed to advertise free travel, sure the seat is free but you need to pay for your own gas.
The fuel surcharges on these international airlines has gotten out of hand, I’m surprised there’s not more of an uproar over them.
November 6th, 2009 at 10:42 am
So…I live in Dallas and buy 10-15 AA tickets a year to fly my family to NY. Can I use these BA miles on AA and get 5 Tickets!!! on AA without the high fuel surcharges etc..
November 6th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Although it true that citicards are easy to churn, one thing that you have to consider before applying for a card is that now it is impossible to consolidate 2 cards together and therefore you’ll have to cancel with all the implications that come with it.
November 6th, 2009 at 10:50 am
@Yehuda:
It would be 25,000 miles per RT ticket, and seemingly you don’t pay the surcharge when flying AA.
@AA:
Yes, but you can move the credit line so you won’t take a hit to your total available credit or your utilization percentage.
November 6th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Virgin-Atlantic has similar outrageous fuel surcharges.
The had a JFK-LON for 25,000 miles.
Other charges over $400.00
November 6th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
did you ever hear of the chase ink card? what do you think?
November 6th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
I have booked AA from BA many times and you do get charged fees. Maybe not as much as ba metal but they are still there, and higher than reg aa fees
November 6th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
@w:
Interesting, so now we have conflicting reports…
How much were your fees when you used BA miles for travel on AA?
November 6th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
@Dan
AA has fees also such as $20 if you are booking via an agent, which a person must do if they arent flying AA metal only. So BA might do the same
The real question is does BA charge its fuel surcharges on a free tkt where there wont be even 1 flight segment on BA metal or any OW Carrier that also has fuel surcharges, eg IB or AY (Finair)
November 6th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
@steve2:
AA and LAN appear to be the only OneWorld carriers without a fuel surcharge on award tickets…
But there have been conflicting reports about fuel surcharges for booking on AA with BA miles.
November 6th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
@Dan/Ctownbochur:
Are you sure that BA doesn’t charge a fuel surcharge when redeeming on AA?
Sure. O/W ticket SEA-JFK 1 day before the flight (!) cost me 12,500 and $2.50 in taxes. Now try South America
November 6th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I have a AMEX business card but i need a visa/mc too. any suggestions?!
Thanx
November 7th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I wanted to get a mileage ticket on continental and they want 140,000 miles for economy to tlv so I asked if all the 75,000 was taken and they replied it was never available on those flights. Can they not provide a certain amount of mileage tickets at the lower rate?
November 7th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
@rosie
No Airline has to have even a single free tkt (any class) to any Destination, according to the T&Cs of the programs.
In plain English, if CO wishes it need not offer any space for award tkts at all on its TLV flights
As for your flight itself, its very possible that the # (if any) of Saver Award tkts were already taken before CO switched from SkyTeam to StarAlliance. If that was the case then those tkts cost those who got them 90K. They went down to 75k only after CO became a member of *A. So its very possible that no one on that flight got their free tkt for 75k but paid 90k, so the rep wouldnt have been lying, just I dont know how they would have knwon that, but maybe theres a way for them to see it
It might not be so convient but Id call CO back and ask if they can get you on USAirs flight non-stop Philly to TLV or on anyone via Europe. Theres 9 different *A Carriers that fly into TLV. Could be AirCanada has availability, so youd fly via Toronto but AC is down to I think 4 flights a week
November 8th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
I’ve used BA points many times to fly on AA. If you book enough in advance (~7 days I believe) the fees are minimal. I piad $140 for 4 tickets YYZ – MIA.
The taxes charged often vary widely if you book on-line (yes, you can book AA tickets via BA points on line) and if you call. Its a bit of a strange program, but overall if you fly AA enough I think this promo to get 100k BA points can be very valuable.
November 9th, 2009 at 10:09 am
@Dan/Ctownbochur:
Dan can you please explain how to move the credit line rather than just closing the account? Also what is the hit to you credit report if you just close the account ? Why is it better to move the credit line.
Thanks.
November 11th, 2009 at 11:45 am
@Mark:
I’ve got to add that I too have used BA miles on domestic AA flights and was only charged the $2.50 tax (each way). There is another huge advantage when using BA miles on AA and that is that you CAN book within 7/21 days of travel and you WILL NOT pay the $100/50 award fee!! On principal I will NEVER use my BA miles on BA metal; I save them for domestic AA flights. As Dan put it, I cannot believe that they are allowed to advertise “free” tickets when LAX-TLV would cost you $800!!!
DAN, I’m sure you do once ina while use miles for a domestic reward when tickets are sky high…
November 13th, 2009 at 11:26 am
just called and found out I got the card and it should arrive within the next week
100k here I come
great deal IMO
November 13th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Signed up for this offer, too. ? about using miles on BA. For ex. could you buy a WT+ fare, upgrade w/miles to CW/business and then use the earned ($30K) companion fare for another business class ticket?
Thanks
November 28th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
does anyone know how much 100,000 BA miles sell for
December 14th, 2009 at 3:53 am
So I just activated the card and thought I should add a detail that the rep told me over the phone: in order to get the second 50k bonus one needs to spend $2k in a SINGLE TRANSACTION.
December 14th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
@JP Hes wrong, BA website clearly says “To qualify and receive your bonus, you must make qualifying transactions totaling $2,000 or more during the first 3 months from account opening. Qualifying transactions include purchases, balance transfers, and any checks that are used to access your account, and exclude cash advances.”
Either way, I think the deal is DEAD!!
December 15th, 2009 at 1:01 am
Avi, is that screenshot still available?
Looks like they are only offering 30k miles now for new signups (but we should be grandfathered under the old offer).
30,000 bonus BA Miles and
$50 off every British Airways ticket
with the British Airways Visa Signature® Card1
from Chase
December 15th, 2009 at 9:24 am
@JP
Unless you already applied under the 50k, you wouldnt be grandfathered in.
This link http://www.mychasecreditcards.com/britishairways/ will show the the 50k promo, I got the 2k spending info form the fine print below, however the link is dead.
December 16th, 2009 at 11:17 am
This 50k + 50k link is still alive.
If you apply, its probably best to print one out so you have proof.
December 17th, 2009 at 10:59 am
But of course it doesnt let you copy the section on the side showing the 50K…
December 17th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
@Avi:
take a screenshot
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:01 am
Can i still get in ?
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:02 pm
@yitzy Dont think so
January 8th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
The BA 100K miles deal is back on! Just did the 30 second application process, should know within 15 days. What’s chance of my wife also getting it?
January 11th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
erik where did you apply? I can not find a link that works