British Airways Credit Card Review: Get 100,000 Bonus Miles!
Whether you fly domestic or internationally, the British Airways Visa card has one of the best signup offers in the business: a cool 100,000 Avios that translates to 100k AAdvantage miles. Since both BA and American Airlines are part of the OneWorld Alliance, you can use the signup bonus on American to snag $1,000 worth of domestic travel that the AAdvantage card can’t even begin to compete with.
You get 50,000 Avios with your first purchase, 25,000 when you spend $10k in the first 12 months, and another 25,000 when you spend an additional $10k (that’s $20k total) in the first 12 months. It’s that time of year again when we have blowout bonuses, but I’d venture to say that the BA Visa’s will be the best among the airline credit cards: most specialized cards offer you only 25,000 miles. So that’s 100,000 miles that you can use flying to London on BA, Denver on American Airlines, Tokyo on Japan Airlines or any of the other partners – before you consider ongoing perks like companion tickets.
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Rewards: not just your average airline card
Using the British Airways card earns you 1.25 Avios for every dollar you spend across the board. For purchases made through British Airways, the rewards rate rises to 2.5 per $1 spent – and remember, you can redeem them at full value to American. This means that you actually earn 25% more AAdvantage miles with the BA Visa than you would with the AAdvantage cards.
By the way, as an astute reader pointed out, you can redeem your miles on American or other partner airlines, but you can’t transfer them. That is, you can’t combine 20,000 AAdvantage miles and 5,000 Avios for a 25,000-mile award flight.
If you’re a big spender, you can also benefit from the BA “Travel Together Ticket.” When you spend $30k on your card in a calendar year, you’ll earn a voucher allowing one companion to accompany you on the next flight you book with your rewards, good for two years. This is quite possibly the biggest perk of the BA Visa: you’re getting the cost of a ticket, for free. At a very conservative estimate, that’s worth at least $200, or 20,000 bonus points a year. And if you use your companion ticket for a first-class flight or a trip overseas, you could be looking at savings in the thousands of dollars.
Foreign transaction fees? What foreign transaction fees?
An essential for any international credit card, the British Airways has no foreign transaction fees. The standard 3% F/X fee adds up quickly: spend just $3,000 abroad and you’re out $90, nearly the British Airways Visa’s annual fee. Now you can explore abroad without having to worry about paying an extra 3% on all your purchases.
Don’t be deterred by the annual fee
The card comes with a $95 annual fee, and unlike many other rewards cards the BA card doesn’t let you off the first year. Should this stop you from getting the card? Probably not. We estimate that the bonus miles alone are worth at least $500. Combine that with free foreign transactions and a generous rewards rate, and you’re golden.
Can I book flights on American Airlines with British Airways miles?
As an “Executive Club” member, you will be able to redeem British Airways miles for flights on any of the OneWorld airlines, including American and its subsidiaries, which can get you flights domestically and around the world.
British Airways Executive Club members can now earn and redeem miles and earn Tier Points on all American Airlines flights. This includes transatlantic flights and British Airways codeshare services operated by American Airlines booked under the BA code.
The one caveat is that you have to book flights between the US and UK on British Airways, if possible. This prevents you from snagging the cheaper AA fare and going to London anyway, but you can still redeem Avios miles on partner airlines to any other destination. For details on how many miles are required to fly BA or their partners to different areas of the world, check out this table.
Not ready to commit to BA?
If you’re searching for a card to earn you miles on any airline, you may want to also take a look at the Capital One Venture. The card offers one of the best rewards rates out there: a solid 2 miles for every dollar you spend anywhere. Like the British Airways card, the Venture has no foreign transaction fee. In terms of annual fees, the Venture has BA beat, with an annual fee of $59 that’s waived the first year. However, in the signing bonus arena, CapOne’s No Hassle Miles are a far cry from BA’s blowout bonus. Plus, the companion ticket is worth quite a bit: if you’re booking first class, you easily save $10,000.
For a great general travel card, check out the Chase Sapphire Preferred. The card has a signup bonus of 40,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months.. The Sapphire earns 2 points for every dollar spent on travel and dining. Spending elsewhere earns you 1 point per dollar.
Like the BA card, the Sapphire has a $95 annual fee, but unlike the BA card, Chase waives the Sapphire’s fee the first year. The Sapphire also has no foreign transaction fee, and while this great card line-up may have you doubting the very existence of such fees, let us assure you that finding a card without them is a treat.
The OneWorld Alliance
- American Airlines
- British Airways
- Cathay Pacific
- Finnair
- Iberia
- Japan Airlines
- LAN
- Malev
- Mexicana
- Qantas
- Royal Jordanian
- S7 Airlines
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