British Airways / Chase VISA - 100,000 Exec Club miles signup bonus

American Express in 2008 offered a gold card at no fee for the first year and 50,000 miles if one charged $500 in the first six weeks. Sure did jump on that one.

This offer does look interesting.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm checking it out now. That is a great offer!

awesome

One correction: apparently it's $75 annual fee.

I 'm not sure, but I think this offer is accompanied by a doubling in the number of miles required to get a free ticket. We just joined the British mileage plan last June, and used the bonus miles (then only 20,000 miles for signing up for the credit card) for upgrades.I thought it was 50,000 miles for a business class ticket then---now it's 100,000.

That bonus makes it a lot easier to get those miles, except for those of us who already have a card! Maybe I should ditch my old card and get a new one.

BA makes it almost impossible to redeem miles for tickets lately. I have 100,000 miles in my account and have not been able to use them for the past 6 months!

will you post the link here when it is available to sign up...pretty please
PJ

I've been an Executive Club member with BA for years, but whenever I try to use my miles to upgrade it's extremely difficult to find available flights given even a generous time frame and using various departure and arrival dates. At the begining of October (the absolute earliest I coud do so), I managed to get upgraded for a flight this coming September, but I'm almost certain it would have been a problem had I waited much longer. I still plan on sticking with BA, but one should realize it's not easy to redeem miles, and it can also be costly since for Club World ( business class) you need to purchase a ticket for World Traveller Plus, no cheap fares/tickets. BA adds quite a hefty sum in taxes etc. A good offer but one should be aware of these problems.

Just another side of the 'miles to upgrade' story - I disagree with historytraveler and avalon. I travel several times each year to Europe and onward on BA and have never had a problem using miles to upgrade, provided I can be a bit flexible with dates.

In the past two years I've done Seattle-Heathrow-Johannesburg, with open-jaw return from Cape Town; Seattle-Heathrow-Marrakech; Seattle-Heathrow-Istanbul; Seattle-Heathrow-Rome; and Seattle-Heathrow-Prague. Upcoming I have bookings for Seattle-Heathrow-Dubai in January and Seattle-Heathrow-Rome in May.

In each case, travel for the entire route were upgrades to Club (business class). Most of these trips were with my husband, and in each case I used miles for free travel in Club for him. The only trip we booked 10 months out was to South Africa, and then we had to adjust our dates by a few days.

And thanks to advice from Julia1, I was able to get 4 business class tickets for our family trip to Italy next June. Two were mileage tickets and 2 were upgrades. So it is possible to book award flights.

But maybe now that they are making so many miles available it will be more difficult.

Julia1, am I correct in thinking they have doubled the number of miles required to book award flights? Wasn't it previously (as of last June) only 25000 for an upgrade, or 50000 for a business class ticket?

Thanks Rex for posting this and to those who replied. I received this offer by email, but will probably pass now that I have read about the difficulty of finding flights.

The consensus on flyertalk.com is that the 2-for-1 voucher is what makes this really worthwhile. Whether we'll make that spending threshold remains to be seen.

But even without it, NYC-HNL in first class can (sometimes?) be had for only 70,000 miles from a BA Exec club account.
Not bad for what could ne (very nearly) a freebie.

I took advantage of the 50K for the new AmEx card and that was a great deal. I will look into this immediately. Thanks Rex.

The offer is available on Friday and I will definitely apply. I joined BA's FF club in 1997 and I used it for about 10 years until they made some new rules I didn't like. I kept the membership anyway and I'm glad I did.

enzian, I do remember when you were posting for help about getting your family to Italy next year in business class. Congratulations on scoring 2 mileage tix and 2 upgrades! Glad I could be of help.

I believe an upgrade to Club World (business class) is still 25,000. There was a time or two in the past 6-8 years when the offer was 2-for-1 upgrades, 2 people travelling together upgraded for 25,000. My husband and I took advantage of that to spend a week in Paris in February about 5-6 years ago or so. And as I remember, the upgradeable Traveller Plus fare was about $900!

As far as getting an award ticket in Club for 50,000 miles, I can remember a few times in the past 10 years or so when this might have been offered as a special promotion, in the middle of winter or after 9/11 perhaps. But other than a special promotion, it's been 100,000 for some years now.

I looked through my desk for an old BA Miles Table and found one dated July 1, 2003, and it lists miles required for a Club award ticket at 100,000. I think I remember it being 80,000 back before they added the first generation lie-flat beds in Club. I took my husband and kids to London for the holidays in 2000, and I'm pretty sure the upgrades were 80,000 miles each then.

I applied for my BA Visa this morning. Thanks again Rex, you are the coolest Fodorite of the day.

Can someone tell me how to apply. I've looked on Chase's website and on the BA Executive Club site but haven't seen anything about this promotion. Thanks, Kathy

I'm with Avalon and Historytraveler. Booking reward miles thru British Airways is difficult, even when one is flexible as to one's dates. I've been trying for LIS and CDG for May 2010 for the last couple of months without success. Return flights are usually not available.

In addition, their fees do tend to run a bit high, compared to other airlines, I believe. A R/T to CDG would run 50K miles and $289, last I checked. Considering I flew from PHX to Buenos Aires via AA for 40K and $140 earlier this year, this doesn't seem like much of a deal.

RedStater, I can't imagine why you're not having success booking reward flights on BA from Phoenix to CDG - I checked and found availability on 20 of the 31 days in May 2010. For the return, there is reward availability on 29 of the 31 days in May 2010. The same, more or less, for Phoenix - Lisbon. Perhaps you need some assistance? You might want to telephone BA.

Curious, Julia. I rechecked the BA website seconds ago....PHX-CDG I'm seeing 18 dates available only, and no return flights available at all in May 2010. PHX-LIS it shows three outbound dates available and one date inbound only.

Perhaps it would be worth a call to BA, as you suggest.

how are you getting the 100.000 bonus please post link, thank you!

I logged into my Executive Club (frequent flyer) account and it brought me to the 100K offer. Maybe you have to join first to get that offer. Click Executive Club, then Join the Executive Club and go from there.

Or if you prefer call first and ask. 1-800-452-1201 They might not be open today as it's Sunday.

Just FYI--I called the number above and they are open today.

has anyone gotten this, I called and they said it starts tommorow...just curious
thanks pj

According to the article rex provided it opened first to existing members of the Executive Club. That's probably why I was able to apply on Saturday but non-members were not.

I can now see the offer on the website, but it says 30,000 miles, not 100,000. Perhaps becasue I already have a BA Visa card?

That could be the problen enzian, I think it's only being offered to new cardholders. When I applied it distinctly said 100K.

It took me about 5min to become an ExecClub member, then I could take advantage of the 100k offer.

It looks like I can use the BA miles on partners as well, including AA domestic US - not sure about the 2fer offer that comes later.

For those who care about such things, every time you apply for a new credit card it dings your credit score.

hopefully it works, I am excited!

Got my offer in the mail Saturday and filled out the form tonight. I've been a BA FF member since 1994 and I've managed to pass up every offer until this one--too good!

Also, I've used my miles many times to upgrade and never had a problem with my chosen dates.

I applied for the FF program and was then able to apply for the card. Actually I applied for one for myself and one for DH so that we can both take advantage of the 100k each. Haven't received any in the mail yet but hopefully soon! I, too am excited!

Got my cards today. Won't take me more than a few weeks to get the 100,000 bonus. The 2fer is for $30,000 in a calendar year - QED.

ooh, hopefully that means I should get mine anyday!

I already have a British Airways card thru Chase, but decided to apply for a new account based on the 100K miles spiff.

The new card arrived today, but Chase informs me that they do not give a new rewards to an existing BA Executive Club account. So, kiss the idea of 100K free miles goodbye.

Anyone else run into this?

RedStater, what you said applies only to existing cardholders, not to existing members of the Executive Club. I have been a member of Executive Club for 12 years but I got rid of my visa card about 5 years ago. I just got the new card and they said I would get the 100K points.

are we having a "1st to 100k & 2fer" contest?

To answer my own question, it's not a contest I aspire to win, but current balance shows me well on my way......

Wow - - I thought that this was a pretty good "something for (almost) mothing" deal.

Doesn't hold a candle to what a few people have been able to rack up, courtesy of the US Mint.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126014168569179245.html?mod=djemseat#printMode

I have known about the US Mint deal for quite a while, but I never knew that it was "used" in this extreme fashion until I read this!

<< To answer my own question, it's not a contest I aspire to win, but current balance shows me well on my way...... >>

Just a reminder... the 30k spend per year requirement is a CALENDAR year requirement, so your "odometer" goes back to zero on January 1.

FWIW, I got my first statement today, and the 50k signup bonus has posted to me BA Executive Club account. I met the $2k spending requirement on the first statement, but I guess the second 50k will not post until I actually pay my bill.

Good luck using those miles! And the taxes, which you have to pay, are sometimes almost as much as a ticket purchased would be!

This deal appears to be over. They are now offering considerably less mileage. But I found an online application form still living on the Web (just not on the Chase home page), filled it out, and they are processing it currently. I was assured, on Dec. 12, that I'll get the 1000,000 award. We'll see...

Both the 50k sign up and 50k usage bonus showed last week, so there is now 100k & change total in my BA account. I think the requirement was $3k in 2mo, not $2k.

Correct, the 30k requirement is calendar year.

I called Chase yesterday to ask about the meaning of "calendar year" and was told that the year starts not on 1 January but when you receive the card.

I think maybe you're right. $3k.

For better or worse, I met that requirement also. But I'll use their float at least for the next two weeks and pay it in the regular monthly cycle of paying bills.

(errr... truth be told.. I think that's what my wife will do... she knows better than to trust me with paying the bills <g>... )

avalon- I've always had GREAT luck using my miles.

Just this week I used miles for tix Seattle to Rome and return in Club in May, and the taxes were $294. A purchased ticket in Club at lowest fare class would have cost $5207! And there is still plenty of availability for reward tix in May, if you can be a bit flexible with your dates.

Actually, I'm flying in Club World for less than half what a purchased ticket in economy would have been!

I also have flights on miles coming up in January to London and Dubai.

It's not really as bad as you think it is.

I just called Chase Visa and they told me the requirement was to spend 2K in 3 months.

Congrats julia1!! I've been fortunate enough to fly biz class in BA twice (due to free upgrades for screw-ups) and it's wonderful.

Now comes the fun part of figuring out how to use my BA miles. The tricky part is fees charged by BA. The fun part is figuring out how to maximize my miles / minimize cash outlay using OneWorld alliance partners. I have lots of AA miles, and am steadily accruing BA miles (seemingly fast enough to revive the US economy).

Let's say I want to take 2 trips.
NYC to London & NYC to SFO.

Option 1
BA to London 50,000 BA miles and $313.
AA to SFO, 25,000 AA miles and $0

Option 2
AA to London using 60,000 AA miles + $83
AA to SFO using 25,000 BA miles and $0 (or maybe $5 9/11 fee)

It would be a curious twist if I ended up using the BA miles for domestic US flight, and my AA miles to fly to London but it might be the best use of miles and $.

Oneworld partners and the ability to book one-way FF awards on AA opens up lots of options for a family summer 2010 or 2011 trip.

Follow up (specifically, a question to J62 - - when did you get your card, and when was your billing cycle that fulfilled the spending requirement?)

I met the spending requirement sometime in December with a billing cycle due date in the first week of January, and we paid it right after the beginning of the New Year (i.e., over two weeks ago). The statement for that period shows the full amount paid.

No (second) bonus yet - - perhaps it will appear in another few weeks (it seems like 4 to 6 weeks is often cited for these kinds of bonuses).

Anyone have any different (or similar) experiences?

I got my card in November and I met my spending requirement in early January. The billing cycle cut around Jan 17 and I have already received the full 100K. I bet your bonus will come soon.

I started using mine 11/11, 1st statement was 12/10 (with enough $ to meet the 2nd bonus). Both 50k bonuses were posted within days on my BA account.

Follow-up: the second bonus did finally post (about a week ago, if i recall correctly). Now to figure out how I might be able to use these miles! As others warned... not all that easy.

I think Hawaii on AA may never be available, but I will keep looking, trying to be mindful of the 335-day thing (I think that's right).

Right now, it looks like (a) flight(s) with value(s) of around $1600 (in some cases, with spending about that much, if not more to achieve the savings) is about the best I can find - - nothing to sneeze at, since the cost is $79 for the card (plus foregoing miles on my AmEx Membership Rewards program, since that's what I would normally be using for these credit card charges)...

But the big kahuna still looks do-able to me... to spend $30k in the requisite time period (1/1 to 12/31? or is it 12 months from the date of issue... still a little unclear) - - and thus, qualify for the "two-for-one" award certificate (plus my balance will be, by definition over 130k FF miles by then). With 130k (miles) and a "two-fer" deal, it seems like this really can be a $5000 "free gift" from Chase - - though it may be that the redemption might not be possible until sometime in spring 2012 (assuming the certificate is earned in Nov or Dec 2010, awarded in spring 2011... then looking for the best available seats 335 days out from that).

Here's the BA website with details of the companion ticket award.

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/red1trav2tcs/public/en_us

They state a year is defined as 1/1 to 12/31.

With BA fees and taxes the "free" tickets may turn out to be more like $250-$300 each. Since the accrual rate is 1.25mi/$, once I hit $40k I'll have 150k miles and a 2fer. Four flights to Europe for a total of $1079 (give or take) is still a heckofa deal though.

More or less my final follow up on this promotion. It seems rather close to bragging - - but seeing how others are doing something similar... well, hopefully everyone likes to hear about getting a good bargain. Or at least I hope that most do.

I was antsy about actually getting the two-for-one certificate; I was tracking the BA miles accumulated... forgetting that they post 1.25 miles per dollar spent - - so we were well above 148,000 miles (100,000 for the sign-up bonus... almost 5000 pre-Jan 01/2010 for the inital spend requirement) when our spending rolled above $30k for calendar 2010.

One funny thing... my wife has had a bit of a chip on her shoulder about this whole thing... viewing it as (Chase VISA) "stealing" our loyalty from AmEx (and thus, very few Membership Miles gained in 2010). Once we actually got the certificate (posted to our account in October, I think), she was eager to throw the BA Visa away and go back to AmEx.

But I started looking into the specifics of where we might go with our windfall. Western Europe seemed like a "waste" when we could go somewhere that would typically cost much more (if purchased outright). I tried a couple of different itineraries, but we had trouble getting excited about many of them. We never could find any seats to Dubrovnik (scanning virtually all of 2011)... Russia? Hungary? I decided to set the idea aside, but told her that we should keep using the card. Something might just come along that would entice us at the REALLY high award levels.

It surely meant that I paid more attention to ideas outside our usual (Western Europe) comfort zone. And we kept up the spending on the BA Visa card. After the Christmas bills were paid, we had hit 158,000 in our BA Executive Club account (one minor tip - - we made the BA Visa our defauly credit card for PayPal - - and there really ARE a lot of things, including donations to charities, that are effortless to do on PayPal).

So, what caught our eye came soon after Christmas - - though in retrospect, I have since learned that the trip was advertised even last fall - - our (Indiana University) Alumni Association is offering a pair of very special trips in September 2011: 12 days in South Africa and/or 12 days in Kenya... or both, for those who have the time and money. The trip is being led by the dean of our medical school (my alma mater, IU School of Medicine) and his wife.

Would we be able to get the tickets we wanted for this trip?

Well, short answer... yes - - though they are hardly "free" and we are going to have to jump through a few hoops.

1, Can only fly "BA metal" - - thus, we have to get to and return from a BA gateway airport. Not that big a deal. Chicago for the outbound, and we have chosen Boston for the return, to spend a night or two with friends we don't get to see often. So, that will cost us a little under $300 per person for that open jaw (to ORD outbound, back from BOS inbound). We would spend that much just to fly to Boston to see our friends, if we did that on a separate trip.

2. Taxes, fees and surcharges, on BOTH tickets of course. Close to $1100 per person. But these are (all business class, all segments) tickets that normally would cost over $7000 per person!. So, my earlier best estimate of "$5000 free money" is more like $10,000 (more below why it is not over $11,000).

3. We could have flown coach and had way more miles than needed. But who could resist doing all this business class? That meant an award level of 180,000 miles. We had to purchase the 22,000 miles we were short. About $650.

4. By our choice, we will have the expense of a two-night stopover in London. Of course, we can make that as cheap/expensive/good value or not as we wish.

5. NOT by our choice, we will stay in Nairobi one more night than the pre-planned trip requires. No award seat(s) available on the exact date we would have otherwise chosen. So we really should consider this an imposed cost.

6. And finally - - and my only real grumble; ten days ago, the exact return flight we wanted was available (LHR-BOS). But because we delayed our decision, there is now only ONE seat available (though there are plenty left for sale). We took the bird in the hand... a flight with an 11 hr layover, rather than the 5 hr layover of the better timed flight. What is annoying is that we can change back to the earlier flight if/when additional award inventory is opened up - - for a CHANGE FEE of $70 per person. Grrrrr...

Still, $14,000+ of value (if you believe that flying biz class for these four lengthy segments is worth its "real money" cost) and we are out of pocket slightly over $4000.

And we gave up the opportunity to earn about 40,000 AmEx Membership Miles. Worth $400? $800?

I call it a happy ending to the story.

Congratulations!

Another thing to note is that Chase no longer charges Foreign Transaction Fees on the BA Exec. Club VISA. That will be the card we take on our nest trips.

Congratulations!

Another thing to note is that Chase no longer charges Foreign Transaction Fees on the BA Exec. Club VISA. That will be the card we take on our nest trips.

Great story Rex. For better or worse I'm on track to get my 2nd 2fer by early Q2. Once we decide on & book a trip I'll go back to accruing my miles on Citibank AA, but I'm looking at the same kind of all-biz/how far can I go itinerary.

It seems the offer has changed a bit (less bonus miles)...but I have been searching for a card that doesn't change foreign transaction fees and you get no bonuses this intriguing from Capital One.
I cant tell if there is an annual fee associated with the card. I am also wondering if you can combine AA miles with the BA miles since they are both in the One World Alliance.

Here's the offer....
With the British Airways Visa Signature® card1 from Chase, you will have more opportunities to earn bonus BA Miles than ever before.
50,000 bonus BA Miles = 1 transatlantic or 2 domestic reward flights2

Earn 25,000 bonus BA Miles after your first purchase3 plus an additional 25,000 bonus BA Miles when you spend $2,500 in the first 90 days.4
2.5 BA Miles for every dollar spent on British Airways purchases5

Enjoy the finest service while receiving our highest level of BA Miles.
1.25 BA Miles for every dollar spent5

Earn BA Miles on everyday purchases, anywhere in the world.
Pay no foreign transaction fees when you travel abroad6

Think how much you’ll save. Plus, the British Airways Visa Signature Card is accepted at millions of places worldwide, making it the brilliant choice for international travel.
Redeem for 1, Travel for 2

Each and every year you spend $30,000, you will receive a flight redemption voucher, valid for 2 years.7 To use your voucher, simply redeem BA Miles for your travel, then let the voucher help you bring someone along in the same class of service for no additional miles. For more details, visit ba.com/redeemfor1travelfor2.
$50 off when booked online8

Receive a $50 discount on all British Airways round-trip transatlantic fares when you book using your British Airways Visa Card at ba.com/get50.

Our story is similar to rex's. Husband and I each signed up for the 100,000-mile offer and before we knew it we had an extra 200,000 miles in our BA-EC family account! This was on top of the 250,000+ we already had in the account. Then, out of the blue I received the spend-$30,000-in-a-year-and-get-a-2-for-1-voucher a year ago. Surprise, surprise! It hadn't even been on my radar but it was a very big year for expenses for us, and we had put everything we could, including college tuition, on one BA-Chase card in order to earn more miles.

The voucher was starting to burn the proverbial hole in my mental pocket - where to go and how to maximize the benefits? - when our son, who has lived and worked in Thailand for about 7 years now, informed us he was getting married in Chiang Mai in February 2011. This was in September 2010, so time was short. Would there be any seats left for an award ticket (using miles) plus a companion ticket (using the voucher), both in either First or Club?

I jumped on the BA website and began to search. Bangkok is tough, limited capacity, full flights, no or very few award tickets in premium cabins ever available, and they go fast. Telephoned too, no help there either. So I started looking for other BA cities in the Bangkok 'neighborhood' and ... Yes! First Class tickets for two, Seattle-London, then London-Hong Kong. I wasn't worried about getting from HK to BKK - it's a short flight and the route is well-served by a number of airlines.

Going the long-way round, transatlantic rather than transpacific, worked out well for us. Connections were good, we flew in comfort and managed to get lots of sleep, and actually spent only a few hours more in travel time than we would have using the Pacific routing. From HK to BKK we used Skywards miles to fly Business on Emirates on their Airbus A380, which was fun, and we spent a few extra days in HK on the return.

Taxes and fees add up, of course, especially if you fly through Heathrow, so the tickets weren't 'free' but at about $1400 total for the two of us, they still totaled less than we would have spent for two tickets in coach on any of the possible scenarios taking us across the Pacific from Portland to Bangkok. No way could we have afforded to purchase two tickets in Business, much less First.

We had a daughter's wedding here in Portland in 2010 and again put as much of our spending on the Chase-BA card as we could. Lo and behold, another 2-for-1 voucher for 2010 spending! It's good for 2 years, so I have some time to plan, but already it's starting to burn a hole ...

This could get addictive.