It was once a marvel when airline credit card bonuses hit 50,000 points. Then the ante was occasionally upped to 75,000 and only once in a blue moon did the six-figure likes of 100,000 enter the chat. They come, but more often they go.
That’s all to set the table for today’s absolutely enormous bonus of 125,000 point bonus opportunity on the Chase British Airways Visa Signature Card. Expectedly for a record offer, there’s no blogger commission on this bonus, so rest assured this is us purely sharing good news.
It’s not ever day you get a chance to grab 125,000 points just as a welcome bonus.
Valuable British Airways Benefits Beyond Points
This card is really a no-brainer for US customers who frequent Europe or the UK. One reason is that the annual fee is only $95 a year, but you can save so much more than that by utilizing the cards many perks, such as the standing 10% discount on British Airways flights. The card offers..
- 10% off British Airways flights, uncapped and in all cabins
- Travel together ticket after $30k in spend, which is a companion voucher
- Up to $600 per year in credits when you use Avios for a reward flight
In other words, $95 a year may save you up to $600 in taxes and surcharges when you actually book flights with points — and 10% off all British Airways flights from the US with cash. That’s a compelling offer, not even factoring in the 125,000 Avios.
British Airways Visa Signature Card: Avios And More
Avios is the points currency used by British Airways, Iberia, Qatar Airways and soon Finnair as well. They’re increasingly useful, particularly after British Airways made significant reductions earlier in the year to the taxes and surcharges added to flights with points.
Basically, you need a few more points than last year, but a lot less cash to book a reward flight with British Airways. A one way in business class from most US regions to Europe will run 80,000 points and $350 in cash.
How The 125,000 Point Bonus Works
The bonus is a two tiered offer, where you’ll unlock 75,000 Avios after $5,000 in spending within the first three months of opening the account and then an additional 50,000 Avios after a total of $20,000 in spending in the first year.
The $20,000 in a year equates to $1,666 in a month, which these days in the United States can be done on coffee purchases alone. I’m only half kidding.
Bottom Line: As Good As It Gets
If you’re finding good points uses with Avios this is a great offer. Want 10% off all the British Airways flights you book from the USA this year? This is also a great offer.
125,000 points is enough to seriously kickstart a journey and with the fee credits when you use points up to $200 per passenger it makes the already palatable taxes and fees and really makes them competitive. You can check out the offer here.
In my experience AVIOS a PITA to use (at least on British Airways). Huge fees, difficult to book. Have been sitting on a couple hundred thousand avios for several years and no luck making use of them. May resort to paying for hotels with them to get SOME decent use out of them. MAYBE with the ability to transfer to Finnair or ???
I don’t quite get the “difficult to book” anymore. I understand where you’re coming from, but they now have reward calendars and guarantee a set number of seats in all cabins except first, on every single flight. As noted in the article, fees came down plus or mins 50% last year to more static and reasonable rates. I know not everyone sees the changes in real time, but i’d argue they’re worth a look. Finnair will be interesting and Iberia and Qatar already are.
If you are US based BA has a partnership with both Alaska and American.
Using a random date and random destination I found flights available Seattle to Hawaii, Seattle to Phoenix and Seattle to San Diego. The Seattle to Phoenix one even had business class availability.
I also saw availability London to the Canary Islands, Corfu and Athens. And for intra Australia flights and flights from Tokyo to Sinapore. I also found Seattle to London, but only premium economy. Saigon to London was even worse, premium economy and connecting flight in Doha. All these were without searching dates for the best available redemption.
I’m not claiming that Avios are the best mile currency, but only that they are useful and it’s relatively easy to find available flights.
Maybe your flight patterns just don’t match the easiest way to use Avios. If they don’t it could be that for you Avios aren’t useful.