[Expired]125,000 Points on British Airways from Chase

Expired Bonus Offer:  Receive 50,000 points after your first purchase, another 25,000 after spending $10,000 and a final 25,000 after spending $10,000 more. This is one of the few cards that will give you 50,000 points without even spending a dime (though you do need to spend at least one cent). After spending $20,000 you will net 125,000 Avios points (50,000+25,000+25,000+$20,000*1.25). That is 6.25 points per dollar spent if you spend exactly $20k — an extremely high yield for anywhere spending.

Ongoing Points: 1.25 BA miles for each dollar spent, double when spent on BA.

Bank:  Chase

Card Type: Visa Signature

Other Benefits:

• Smart Chip technology making it easier to use your card outside the US, though note that it is “Chip+Signature” which is not as useful as a “Chip+Pin” card if you are trying to buy a subway ticket from an automated dispenser in Europe
• No foreign transaction fees
• BA Companion ticket after spending $30k – this basically doubles your points allowing you to take a companion with you on an award flight, but do note that they will need to pay the fuel surcharge as well and you can only use on an actual BA flight (not partners). This is really only worth going after if you plan to use it for business or first class. The fuel surcharges for economy tickets on “BA Metal” makes them poor redemption options.

Catches:

• Check carefully the fees (especially their “fuel surcharge”) that BA charges to redeem their miles.  They are especially expensive if you are flying to or through London.
• Must have a US Address
• Must be your first BA Card
• Chase usually limits the number of cards they will approve in a given time frame (I have heard it is one per 60 days)

Avios advise: Either use your points for business or first class flights OR use them only on BA’s partners such as American. They are especially valuable for short-haul flights in the US. These flights use very few points. For example, New York to Chicago or Miami is 7,500 Avios points on American while the same flight would cost 12,500 AAdvantage points. Boston to New York is only 4,500 points, but why anyone would fly when they could take Amtrak (as little as 4,000 Chase points) is beyond me, though some may look at the value of a TSA caress differently..