US Airways Still Not Levying Fuel Surcharges On British Airways Award Redemptions

Since transitioning over from Star Alliance to OneWorld at the end of March, US Airways has been experiencing a number of hiccups when it comes to searching for and booking partner award tickets. One upside that I briefly touched upon in the previous post, however, is that the dreaded fuel surcharges on British Airways appear to be nonexistent when using Dividend Miles, despite claims by US Airways that they will indeed be levied on award tickets.

I assumed this was merely a software glitch, and would be fixed in a matter of days, if not hours. But I was pleasantly surprised to find out that fuel surcharges are still not being collected on British Airways award tickets as of this morning. I confirmed the total taxes and fees on both the American Airlines and British Airways website search tools, then compared them by calling into US Airways to price out the identical itineraries.

Here are the results for three different round-trip cases on random dates, all on British Airways metal in first class (note that US Airways charges an additional $50 award processing fee):

• SFO-LHR-SFO  (BA286/285)
  12/27/2014 - 1/6/2015
  BA: 150,000 + $1268.64
  AA: 125,000 + $1268.60
  US: 125,000 + $325.14 + $50.00

• JFK-LHR-JFK  (BA180/113)
  12/19/2014 - 1/7/2015
  BA: 120,000 + $1192.64
  AA: 125,000 + $1192.60
  US: 125,000 + $325.14 + $50.00

• LHR-JNB-LHR  (BA57/54)
  5/17/2014 - 5/25/2014
  BA: 150,000 + $1006.00
  AA: 100,000 + $1006.10
  US: 100,000 + $405.46 + $50.00

Clearly, US Airways is missing something here. Just to double check, I went onto ITA Matrix and broke out all the taxes, fees, and surcharges, and it appears that US Airways is not only missing the fuel surcharge, but a few other items as well:

ITA Matrix breakdown of taxes, fees, and surcharges

No one knows how long this will last, but I'm torn between saying "this is clearly a bug and US Airways will probably fix it very soon since they are leaving hundreds of dollars on the table", and "US Airways is notorious for flouting their own award booking rules and incorrect award ticket pricing, so this may go on indefinitely". I'm still leaning towards the former though.

Whatever the case is, if you've ever dreamed of trying out British Airways in first class (or any class for that matter) but balked at dropping thousands on taxes and fees, now is the best time to do so using your Dividend Miles!

Some Lessons From Today's US Airways & American Airlines Devaluation

If you haven't heard already, both American Airlines and US Airways made some unannounced changes to their frequent flyer programs overnight, the result of which was the elimination of some of the best "sweet spots" for both award charts. Gary over at View From The Wing wrote extensively about it here and here, while Ben from One Mile At A Time was far more scathing in his critique of the changes that were made without any advanced notice.

While I am just as upset over the lack of communication from American Airlines and US Airways, I am not as upset over the changes themselves. Yes, OneWorld Explorer awards are officially gone, as are the free stopovers at North American gateway cities, but I would venture to say that probably a minority of American Airlines customers actually took advantage of these benefits.

I'm far more heartbroken to see the long-expected demise of the 90k round-trip business class award to North Asia using US Airways Dividend Miles. This was by far the best value of any award program out there, and everyone knew it wouldn't last much longer. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to book this award, but coincidentally, I had just placed a round-trip first class award to North Asia on hold using only 120k Dividend Miles. Which leads me to a few lessons I learned within the past 24 hours:

• If you have an award in mind using AAdvantage or Dividend Miles, especially those in the remaining "sweet spots", book it now. As we've seen from the previous mergers, no good can ever come out of combining frequent flyer programs. Award charts will be gutted, and the American Airlines and US Airways award charts are absolutely next on the chopping block.
  
  Even worse, we now know they are willing to do it without any advance notice whatsoever, which makes redeeming your miles for the most valuable awards priority number one. Since I had just placed a first class award to North Asia on hold using Dividend Miles yesterday, imagine my shock when I awoke to news of the devaluation this morning. I was lucky that the first class mileage requirement didn't change. If it did, there is a good chance I would have had to pay the new rate... all because I waited. Don't wait.

• Related to the previous lesson: never, ever, ever place an award on hold using Dividend Miles. The infamous phone agents over at US Airways may not know much about geography (or their own award booking rules for that matter), but any advantages you glean from them will eventually be offset by that one agent who decides to conjure up non-existent issues just to make your life difficult.
  
  After learning of the devaluation, I immediately called in to ticket my itinerary. Unfortunately, the first agent who picked up decided that my routing was illegal (it wasn't), wouldn't let me hang up (she cut me off multiple times and put me on hold), and then proceeded to give me all sorts of reasons why my award wasn't "pricing out correctly".
  

  I was terrified she would dismantle my award or end up charging me more miles. After one hour and twenty minutes on the phone, I finally had my award ticketed for the original price. Something simple that should have taken ten minutes at most ended up almost imploding because of an incompetent agent.

• The next award set to disappear will be the 120k round-trip first class award to North Asia using Dividend Miles. This may be obvious, but it bears repeating. Anytime bloggers or the frequent flyer community point out an "amazing value" on any award chart, be ready for it to disappear. The 90k business class award has now increased to 110k (which is still a good deal...), and the first class award will soon follow. The fact that there is only a 10k-mile difference between the two award levels should be clear enough. It won't last.

All of that being said, I am super excited about the "round-the-world" first class award ticket I booked to North Asia this morning. One of the loopholes left in the US Airways transition from Star Alliance to OneWorld is that fuel surcharges still appear to be missing from British Airways redemptions. These charges can be massive (~$1,000 round-trip), so now is the time to try out business or first class on British Airways. I have no doubt the problem will be fixed within days, if not hours. My itinerary is as follows:

• SFO → LHR:  British Airways First Class
• LHR → FRA:  British Airways Business Class
• FRA → NRT:  Japan Airlines First Class
• HND → HKG:  Cathay Pacific Business Class
• HKG → LAX:  Cathay Pacific First Class
• LAX → SFO:  American Airlines First Class

Total cost was $131.21 plus $50.00 in award booking fees and 120,000 Dividend Miles. Since this will be part of a two-week journey to Myanmar over the holidays, I used British Airways Avios to tack on an additional leg from Hong Kong to Yangon on Dragonair. Total cost for this economy round-trip award was $79.67 and 20,000 Avios. I may also try to book a few AAdvantage awards over the next few weeks in anticipation of a more comprehensive award chart devaluation.

The Secret To Cheap Domestic Australia Travel Is British Airways Avios

Having been traveling through Australia for the past few weeks, I've really begun to appreciate just how useful British Airways' Avios are when it comes to domestic travel on obscure routes. Qantas has a virtual stranglehold on many of these non-stop flights, and as such, prices are sky high even for short hops.

Luckily, OneWorld partner British Airways has a distance-based award chart, with the best redemption values typically found on the shortest flights. Just for comparison, I did a quick search for the current cheapest prices on some of these Qantas-monopolized routes, and here are the results:

Hamilton Island (HTI) - Cairns (CNS):

Cheapest price online: $459

BA award redemption: 4,500 Avios

Cairns (CNS) - Uluru (AYQ):

Cheapest price online: $642

BA award redemption: 7,500 Avios

Uluru (AYQ) - Alice Springs (ASP):

Cheapest price online: $284

BA award redemption: 4,500 Avios

Alice Springs (ASP) - Perth (PER):

Cheapest price online: $549

BA award redemption: 10,000 Avios

When I booked this award last year, total taxes and fees for the four segments combined came out to $201.22. Compare that to the $1934 I would have paid out of pocket for booking the exact same flights with Qantas. That converts to a redemption value of more than 6.5 cents per mile, which is ridiculously good when it comes to economy tickets! 

Be aware that most of these flights are operated by individual carriers such as Eastern Australian Airlines and Sunstate Airlines under the QantasLink brand. QantasLink routes still do not show up on the British Airways website award search, so bookings need to be made over the phone, which will incur an additional fee of $25.

If you are in need of some extra Avios, British Airways and Chase are currently running a decent promotion for their co-branded Visa. You will receive 50,000 Avios after spending $2000 within the first 90 days of account opening, with the annual fee waived for the first year ($95). Here is the landing page. As always, this is not an affiliate link.

Easter Island/Santiago November 2012 - Introduction

***This post is part 1 of a full trip report. The index can be found here***

I never imagined I would ever step foot on Easter Island. It's always been one of those places people read about, but never actually visit. And understandably so - it's billed as the most remote inhabited island in the world (although residents of Tristan da Cunha would probably disagree). Airfare from North America routinely tops $1,500 round-trip for the best routes, and even then, it's difficult to get the exact dates you want due to limited flights.

More than one year ago, British Airways overhauled their entire loyalty program and massively devalued their award chart in the process. Rather than a region-based method of calculating the cost of an award ticket, the new system became distance-based. Many of their most lucrative awards, like North America to Asia or South America, immediately became their most expensive overnight.

Thankfully, they gave us several months of warning, and many people (myself included) were able to burn some of those miles prior to the revamp. One trip I knew I had to book was to Easter Island. Strangely enough, British Airways had categorized Easter Island as South America in its old award chart, and as such, traveling there from North America only cost 40,000 miles round-trip in economy. This was an absolutely fantastic deal. Immediately after the program change, the same itinerary I booked (SFO-LIM-IPC-SCL-LIM-SFO) would have cost 85,000 miles instead. Taxes and fees amounted to a reasonable $185.09, including a $70.00 fee I incurred due to a date change. In all, I estimated a redemption rate >$0.03 per mile, which is as good as it gets for the British Airways program.

Hotels, on the other hand, are notoriously lacking on the island. Unless you are willing to shell out close to $1,000 a night for one of the few all-inclusive luxury resorts, you are pretty much left with older, family-run, hostel-quality, bed and breakfasts. And even those don't come cheap. There are no international brands that I know of on the island, and therefore, no use of points. I settled on Kaimana Inn, which had great reviews on TripAdvisor, although I made sure to temper my expectations to Easter Island standards when booking.

I knew I wanted to include a stopover in Santiago as well since I had never been before. Luckily, Santiago has a much wider selection of hotels, though prices are very high as well. I decided to use a cash and points redemption for the Crowne Plaza Santiago, which is perfectly located within walking distance to many of the city's famous sites as well as the convenient metro system.

Total out-of-pocket cost for airfare and hotels combined amounted to $509.94 (with the hotels divided between two people), plus 40,000 British Airways miles and 30,000 Priority Club points. Without the benefit of miles and points, this trip would definitely not have been financially justifiable. Fortunately, I was able to go and experience some of the most beautiful and sublime scenery I've ever seen.

Sunrise at Tongariki

And I'm Off To Easter Island!

Just about one year ago, I took advantage of British Airways' final days of offering the ridiculously good redemption rate of 40,000 miles for round-trip travel in economy to anywhere in South America, including Easter Island (which technically should be classified as the South Pacific). On November 16, 2011, British Airways completely overhauled their award chart and scrapped their region-based method of calculating miles needed for redemption. In its place came their new currency, Avios, as well as a distance-based award system.

Hence, the routing below (SFO-LIM-IPC-SCL-LIM-SFO), which I redeemed for 40,000 miles round-trip in economy one year ago, would now cost a whopping 85,000 Avios. This is definitely one of those trips where, if it weren't for miles, I would never be able to justify in terms of actual cost. I don't think it has really sunken in yet that I'm headed to Easter Island tomorrow morning, but I'm sure it will once I come face to face with my first Moai. In addition to four days on Easter Island, I will also have a three-day stopover in Santiago, Chile. But for now, it's back to packing!

Hawaiian Airlines And British Airways Awards Now Bookable On American Airlines Website

This functionality has been available for a few weeks now, but I thought it was important enough to make a brief mention here. American Airlines has been steadily improving their online award booking engine for the past few months, first adding Alaska Airlines availability and direct online booking last year, and now adding Hawaiian Airlines and British Airways as well. They've also promised that this functionality will be expanded to even more airline partners very soon!

Airlines have been quick to add fees to just about every aspect of flying lately, so any step in the opposite direction is always a welcome change. By allowing online booking of award tickets on Hawaiian Airlines and British Airways, passengers can avoid the $25 phone booking fee per ticket. I know first-hand how frustrating this can be since I actually booked Hawaiian Airlines flights using AAdvantage miles for my parents and myself a few months ago. So in addition to the normal taxes associated with the award tickets, I also had to pay $75 just for booking over the phone. Now this fee can be easily avoided by booking online.

In addition, being able to search for and book British Airways award availability on the American Airlines website is a huge relief, since their own website is so incredibly clunky and bug-ridden. Now you can see an entire month and more of availability all at once, and jump directly to the date you prefer:

On the left side of the page, you can also select "Non-stop only" in the pull-down menu. For direct routes that are operated exclusively by British Airways, Alaska Airlines, or Hawaiian Airlines (and not American Airlines), only partner availability will then be displayed. Do note that the massive fuel surcharges imposed by British Airways will still be collected even if you book on the American Airlines website, as evidenced below:

Fun With Call Centers: Chase Reconsideration Line And British Airways Hell

I have spent a considerable amount of time on the phone these past two days speaking to credit analysts and customer service representatives, so I thought I'd share my stories in case anyone else runs into the same situation.

Earlier in the week, Chase sent out a warning that all affiliate links for their Ink Bold business card with the old sign-up bonus offer would have to be pulled by Wednesday morning at 10:00 am EDT. This is the same bonus I have linked to my blog currently: 50,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5,000 within 3 months. While my link (non-affiliate) still seems to be working, the new offer on the official Ink Bold website now advertises 25,000 bonus points after your first purchase, and the final 25,000 bonus points only after spending a whopping $10,000 within 3 months!

Since I've never owned an Ink Bold card before, I decided to jump on the gravy train and apply before the old offer is completely pulled. I had also planned to apply for the new United MileagePlus Explorer card for some time now, so I pulled the trigger on that one as well. As expected, I didn't get instant approvals for either of them (you should see the stack of old Chase cards I've owned). But no worries, many folks have shared their experience of calling the awesome Chase reconsideration line and gotten previous denials turned into approvals. I was determined to have the same outcome no matter what.

First, I called up the Chase personal credit analyst line (1-888-245-0625) and got a friendly female agent. I asked what the status of the United MileagePlus Explorer card was and she said unfortunately, it had been denied due to multiple applications. I explained to her my situation, saying that I had applied for the Ink Bold card at the same time, and also listed off the reasons why I actually needed the MileagePlus Explorer card. I told her my company has a partnership with United Airlines for all of our work travel, and that I would be putting the charges onto this card. She told me to hold for a minute, then came back and said that she could approve this card, but that I would have to close down one of my other Chase accounts first - my Priority Club Visa in this case. I debated for a minute and told her to go ahead and cancel that account and approve the United MileagePlus Explorer card.

This is where I realize I had made a mistake in the previous way I handled all of my Chase accounts. Every time I was approved for a new card, I would lower the credit limit to the minimum allowable. I did this because 1) I wanted to save more credit "space" in the future for more accounts and 2) I just didn't see a need for such large credit limits. Well, I realize now that a higher credit limit probably could have saved me from closing my Priority Club Visa account in this situation. She probably would have allowed me to just shift some of the credit line over to my new United MileagePlus Explorer card, but since the credit line for my Priority Club Visa (and all my other existing accounts) was already at the minimum, she was unable to do that. Oh well, live and learn.

Happy with the outcome with my United MileagePlus Explorer card, I proceeded to call the Chase business credit analyst line (1-800-453-9719) to ask about my Ink Bold application. I got a very gruff-sounding gentleman on the phone who was definitely no-nonsense. He said the application was still in process, but he could go ahead and take a look at it right now. After holding for a few minutes, he came back on the line and began asking a series of detailed questions regarding my business. Now, granted, you don't have to have a real business per se with high income and employees, but it's always to good to prepare yourself during these calls so you can answer their questions without hesitation. I told him what my business does, how long it's been active, how much expected income I'd have within the next 12 months (with how much of that being profit), expenditures, etc. Finally, after the quick grilling, he came back and said he'd gone ahead and approved my application!

The moral of the story is, never, ever just give up if you receive a denial from Chase. Always call their reconsideration line, but at the same time, be very well prepared to answer questions regarding why you need the card. Also, be ready to bargain for your credit line by moving them from existing accounts.

_______________________________________________________________

Next, I'll detail what happened when I called the British Airways Executive Club customer service line. First off, I have an Avios award booking on LAN to Easter Island this November. My one-way itinerary includes two legs: SFO-LIM and LIM-IPC. I have about a one-and-a-half hour layover in Lima, which is cutting it a bit close (especially given LAN's propensity for changes and delays), but I figured it should be fine.

Well, low and behold, last night, I received an email from British Airways stating that my LAN flights had a schedule change. The funny thing is they changed the time of my SFO-LIM flight so that it now arrives almost six hours after my LIM-IPC flight has already left! Needless to say, I would not be making it to Easter Island given my current itinerary.

On the email, it said to call British Airways Executive Club immediately, so that's exactly what I did. I told the gentleman my situation, who said he would have to check availability to make changes. I had already checked online first, of course, and noticed that I could move my SFO-LIM flight back by two days, enjoy a nice stopover in Lima, and then continue on to Easter Island. The British Airways website was showing the new flight as available as well.

Unfortunately, this agent could not see the new award seat. He insisted it wasn't there (not sure if the website was wrong or if he was wrong)... and then here's where it got good. He said I had two options, either wait it out to see if any award seats become available, or I could just cancel the booking. I found this slightly incredulous... so if an airline makes a seven-hour time change to a flight and renders it impossible for passengers to continue on their connecting flights, all those passengers are basically screwed? Even on award bookings, I've always had airlines accommodate me on a new flight - regardless of if an award seat was available or not - since this is really their fault, not mine.

I explained all this to the agent, but he was having none of it. He said it was not their responsibility to fix the itinerary if no other award seats are available. If anyone knows the official policy, I'd love to hear it, but his excuse just sounded completely illogical to me. Finally, I said to him, "so you're saying that because LAN changed their flight time, making it all but impossible for me to complete my itinerary, I have to cancel my entire vacation, hotel bookings, rental cars, etc?" His answer was "yep". Absurd.

I hung up and decided to call LAN directly. After a total of less than 10 minutes on the phone, the friendly agent reissued my ticket on the earlier SFO-LIM flight, allowing me to connect on the LIM-IPC flight two days later with no problem. Yet another lesson learned.

The Big List - Credit Card Bonus Offers Galore

It's always frustrating being out of the internet loop for an extended period of time. Case in point, I go on vacation for a week, and there are tons of new credit card bonus offers that have already come and gone. A flurry of credit card deals recently hit the market, some of them lasting only a few days or less. It's unclear if these were meant to be targeted only and thus were pulled prematurely, but many people were still able to sign up and have the bonus offers confirmed.

While some deals may have already expired, there are still many others out there for the taking. Therefore, I've gone ahead and compiled a list of what I feel is the best current bonus offers available. As always, I never use affiliate links, nor do I ever make money off of referring a credit card. Feel free to leave a comment if you know of better promotions!


Chase Ink Bold Business Card - 50,000 Bonus Points (EXPIRED)

I previously wrote about the Chase Ink Bold back in September of last year. Well, a newer version of this card has come out since then, with slightly modified earn rates. Here's the basic rundown on the offer:

• Earn 50,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5,000 within the first 3 months
• Earn 5x points per $1 on the first $50,000 spent annually at office supply stores, cellular phone, landline, internet, and cable TV services
• Earn 2x points per $1 on the first $50,000 spent annually at gas stations and hotels (when purchased directly with the hotel)
• Earn 1x points per $1 on all other purchases, with no limits on how much you can earn
• No foreign transaction fees
• $95 annual fee waived for the first year

Last week, for less than a day, there was a 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points offer with the same spend requirement floating around. Unfortunately, the website was pulled very quickly as news spread. Thus, the the offer I detailed above is still the best one that is currently available. However, Gary from View From The Wing just mentioned that even this may be pulled soon. The standard offer now gives you only 25,000 bonus points after your first purchase, and requires a $10,000 spend within the first 3 months to get the remaining 25,000 points. I would go ahead and apply via the link below before it gets pulled!

50,000 Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed for a $500 check or statement credit. If you book airfare directly through the Chase travel tool, 50,000 points can be redeemed for tickets worth up to $625. Otherwise, the best way of utilizing these points, in my opinion, would be to take advantage of the 1:1 transfer ratio and move them over to one of the many airline and hotel partners, including United, Southwest, British Airways, Korean Air, Hyatt, Marriott, or Priority Club accounts. There are a number of other (less valuable) ways to redeem your UR points through their website as well. Apply here.


Citibank American Airlines AAdvantage Card - 50,000 Bonus Miles
I previously wrote about the Citibank AAdvantage card back in December of last year. Unfortunately, those links have already expired. However, the same sign-up bonus still exists! Here's the basic rundown on the offer:

• Earn 50,000 bonus AAdvantage miles after spending $3,000 within the first 4 months
• Receive a one-time $150 statement credit after the first eligible American Airlines purchase you make within the first 12 months (there is no minimum purchase amount, so you can buy a drink on your next American Airlines flight and you should still receive the $150 statement credit)
• Receive 2 Admirals Club one-day passes
• Earn 2x miles per $1 on all American Airlines purchases
• Earn 1x miles per $1 on all other purchases
• $85 annual fee waived for the first year

In addition, it has been confirmed that Citibank has added a bunch of new benefits to all of their American Airlines co-branded cards starting April 2, 2012 (including existing cardholders):

• A 10% rebate on miles redeemed that will post each month, up to a maximum of 10,000 miles per year
• First checked bag free for up to four passengers on the same reservation
• $100 American Airlines flight discount after spending $30,000 on the card each year
• 25% off inflight purchases made with the card

Personal Visa
Personal American Express
Business Visa

There are also a number of other current Citibank AAdvantage card offers that vary in sign-up bonuses and benefits. Take a look at the first post in this Flyertalk thread for all the links. I do think the offer I detailed above is the best of the bunch, however.


Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Card - 65,000 Bonus Miles
I previously wrote about the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Card back in January of this year. That promotion has not expired, since if you log into your United account online, you should still be able to see the 60,000 bonus miles offer (as long as you have a balance of at least one mile). However, an even better deal is now available, giving you an extra 5,000 bonus miles and a $50 statement credit after your first purchase! Note: you must be logged into your United account when you click on the link below. Here's the basic rundown on the offer:

• Earn 50,000 bonus MileagePlus miles after your first purchase. Earn an additional 10,000 bonus MileagePlus miles after spending $25,000 within one calendar year
• Earn an additional 5,000 bonus MileagePlus miles for adding an authorized within 2 months
• Receive a $50 statement credit after your first purchase
• Earn 2x miles per $1 on all United purchases
• Earn 1x miles per $1 on all other purchases
• First checked bag free for you and a companion when you fly on United-operated flights
• Priority boarding privileges
• Two complimentary United Club passes every year
• $95 annual fee waived for the first year

Apply here


Chase British Airways Card - 100,000 Bonus Avios
Chase has offered a 100,000 bonus Avios promotion on it's British Airways card every year for the past three years. This year, the spend threshold has gotten significantly tougher though. Here's the basic rundown of the offer:

• Earn 50,000 bonus Avios after your first purchase. Earn an additional 25,000 bonus Avios after spending $10,000 within the first 12 months. Earn another 25,000 bonus Avios after spending an additional $10,000 within the first 12 months.
• Receive a Travel Together Ticket after spending $30,000 on your card in one calendar year. This is a free companion ticket that can be used when redeeming your Avios for an award flight. It is good for two years. Taxes and fees apply (and they are a doozy).
• No foreign transaction fees
• Earn 2.5x Avios per $1 on all British Airways purchases
• Earn 1.25x Avios per $1 on all other purchases
• $95 annual fee is not waived for the first year

Unless you are a high spender, this is actually a 50,000-75,000 bonus Avios offer. While nothing to sneeze at, do remember that British Airways massively devalued their awards chart last November. However, there are still some good deals to be found in short-haul awards on partner airlines that don't tack on fuel surcharges. Speaking of which, British Airways is known for the outrageous fuel surcharges they include on award tickets, even with partner airlines - so don't be shocked when you see more than $1,000 charged in addition to the Avios points redeemed for a business class flight from New York to London! Apply here.


Citi ThankYou Premier Card - 50,000 ThankYou Points
As I wrote in a detailed post about this card last October, Citibank ThankYou points have not interested me in quite some time. That being said, 50,000 points is still a huge sign-up bonus by any measure. Add to that a recent flurry of rumors that ThankYou points will soon be transferable to British Airways Avios and Singapore Airlines Krisflyer miles (with more airlines on the way) at a 1:1 ratio, and the program has suddenly become a lot more valuable! Here's the basic rundown of the offer:

• Earn 50,000 bonus ThankYou points after spending $2,500 within the first 3 months
• Earn 1.2x ThankYou points per $1 on supermarkets, gas stations, drugstores, commuter transportation and parking merchants
• Earn 1x ThankYou points per $1 on all other purchases
• Receive an annual anniversary bonus calculated as a percentage of the total ThankYou points earned from purchases, starting at 1% after your first year to 5% after your fifth year (increasing 1% every year). Beyond your fifth year, the bonus stays at 5%.
• $125 annual fee waived for the first year

You'll notice on the application that this card can be issued as a MasterCard or Visa. Many people have tried applying for both versions at the same time using two browsers, with some actually getting approved for both and earning 100,000 bonus ThankYou points. Your miles may vary, so proceed with caution.

Redemption is rather limited for Citi ThankYou points - you can redeem 50,000 points for $500 in various gift cards. Otherwise, if you book flights using the ThankYou Travel Center, you can get 33% more value for your ThankYou points, and your 50,000 points can be redeemed for $665 in airfare. However, as I mentioned above, the best value for redeeming points will come when airline transfer partners become a reality very soon! Apply here.

Bank of America Alaska Airlines Card - 35,000 Bonus Miles  (EXPIRED)
Last year, I wrote about the 40,000 bonus miles offer from the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature card. While that promotion already expired long ago, a new offer that's almost as good has recently surfaced. Here's the basic rundown on the offer:

• Earn 35,000 bonus Mileage Plan miles upon approval
• Receive a $99 (plus taxes and fees) round-trip companion ticket upon approval and every year on your account anniversary
• Earn 3x miles per $1 on all Alaska Airlines ticket and vacation package purchases
• Earn 1x miles per $1 on all other purchases
• Two complimentary Alaska Airlines Board Room lounge passes that can be used at select airports with an Alaska lounge presence
• $75 annual fee not waived for the first year

Although 35,000 bonus miles doesn't seem like much, there are two very big benefits that set this card apart from the others. First of all, many people on Flyertalk have reported applying for and receiving this card multiple times, and earning the sign-up bonus each time as well. Now, I would still be cautious and wait at least a few months between applications, but at the very least this is still one of the few cards left that can be churned. Second, the $99 companion ticket can be used on any published fare - even first class. And both tickets earn miles for the flight as well! Every other airline that offers these companion tickets heavily restricts the fares they can be used on, and even has blackout dates.

Now here comes the bad part. First, the annual fee of $75 is not waived for the first year like most other cards. In addition, Bank of America has a bad habit of sometimes automatically downgrading an application to a lower-tier card that offers significantly less benefits. For example, if I apply for the Visa Signature card, Bank of America may deem me "not qualified enough" for that card, but instead of an outright rejection, they will send me their Platinum Plus card, or even their Preferred card, which offers only 15,000 and 13,000 bonus miles, respectively. Definitely frustrating and not worth it in those cases. However, if you have excellent credit and high income, you should have no problem getting the Visa Signature card. Apply here.


Chase Freedom Card - 20,000 Bonus Points (EXPIRED)
First of all, I would not recommend applying for this offer. I'm only writing about the Chase Freedom card because while I was on vacation last week, a deal for 30,000 bonus points appeared, and then another for 35,000 bonus points! Unfortunately, those only lasted for less than a day before they were pulled by Chase. Since the 30,000 bonus points offer has appeared multiple times in the past few months, I would bet that it's going to come back sometime this year (perhaps even the 35,000 bonus points offer). However, if you're desperately in need of this card right this moment for some reason, the best deal is the 20,000 bonus points offer.

I've written extensively about the Chase Freedom card here, and I still say it is the best fee-free rewards card out there. You earn 5x Ultimate Rewards points per $1 on rotating categories every quarter (up to a maximum of $1500 spend in those categories per quarter), and 1x Ultimate Rewards points per $1 on all other purchases with no limits. The categories for 2012 are as follows:

January 1, 2012 – March 31, 2012 
      - Gas stations
      - Amazon.com 

April 1, 2012 – June 30, 2012
      - Grocery stores
      - Movie theaters

July 1, 2012 – September 30, 2012
      - Gas stations
      - Restaurants

October 1, 2012 – December 31, 2012
      - Hotels
      - Airlines
      - Best Buy
      - Kohl's
Apply here

===============================================================

Here is an additional list of links to decent credit card offers that I would highly recommend. However, the first two are just standard offers, and you may want to wait until a better promotion appears. Both the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the American Express Starwood Preferred Guest cards have had bigger sign-up bonuses in the past.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card - 40,000 Bonus Points
The standard offer had been 50,000 bonus points for most of the past year. But finally, Chase has reduced that amount to 40,000 bonus points. While not as good as before, 40,000 Ultimate Rewards points is still a fairly decent amount - worth up to $500 in airfare booked with the Chase travel tool, or transferable at a 1:1 ratio to many airline and hotel partners. The $95 annual fee is waived for the first year. Apply here.

AMEX Starwood Preferred Guest Card - 25,000 Bonus Starpoints
Each summer, the American Express Starwood Preferred Guest card seems to come up with a special sign-up offer for 30,000 bonus Starpoints. While we wait to see if they do it again this year, the standard offer still remains 10,000 bonus Starpoints after your first purchase, and an additional 15,000 bonus Starpoints after spending $5,000 within 6 month. The $65 annual fee is waived for the first year. I would be very happy to refer anyone for this card - I get 5,000 Starpoints per referral and you still enjoy the same standard bonus offer. Just send me your name and email address at milesglu@gmail.com. Or if you prefer, you can just apply directly from website. Apply here.

Barclays US Airways Premier World Card - 40,000 Bonus Miles
I've written extensively about this card in a previous post. This is the best current offer for the US Airways Premier World MasterCard, and the only one I know of that waives the $89 annual fee for the first year. There are actually some very good benefits offered with this card, so make sure you read my earlier post for all the details. Best of all, Barclays still allows churning on their cards, although you may need to call in to get multiple cards approved. Apply here.

Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Card - 50,000 Bonus Points
I've written extensively about this card in a previous post. Just when it seemed like all the 50,000 bonus points versions of this card were finally pulled, there appears to be one more working link to the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Card. 50,000 Rapid Rewards points translates into $833 in Wanna Get Away fares, which would more than pay for two round-trip flights. The $69 annual fee is not waived for the first year, but there is also no spend requirement to get the bonus points (just after your first purchase). Apply here.

50% Transfer Bonus From American Express Membership Rewards To British Airways Executive Club

This is the first great transfer bonus opportunity of the year. A few days ago, I posted about the US Airways 50% transfer bonus from hotel partners. However, the only partner worth transferring from was Starwood Preferred Guest... and even then, it made very little sense to trade in valuable Starpoints for Dividend Miles, despite the significant bonus.

In my opinion, the best value for Membership Rewards points is the airline miles transfer program, and the best time to do a transfer is when they run a promotion such as this one. From now until May 31, 2012, earn a 50% bonus when you transfer points from Membership Rewards to British Airways. There is no need to register, and you can transfer as many times as you like before the promotion ends. The smallest increment you can transfer is 1,000 points.

As you may already know, British Airways massively devalued their award chart last November, and I documented the aftermath in great detail here. However, despite the huge increase in Avios points required for long-haul flights, there is a silver lining to be found in short hops all around the world, especially when they involve partner airlines that don't tack on a fuel surcharge.

The highest yields can be found on popular tourist routes that are typically short in distance but high in cost. For example, the San Francisco to Los Cabos route is quite popular, and Alaska Airlines can charge upwards of $500 or more for this three-hour flight. However, only 20,000 Avios points are needed to book a round-trip award ticket, while using other frequent flyer programs typically will run you 35,000 miles. Likewise, flying Los Angeles to Honolulu on American Airlines costs only 25,000 Avios points. Even shorter flights such as San Francisco to Los Angeles, New York to Toronto, Miami to Cancun, Lima to Cusco, all only cost 9,000 Avios points round-trip! Read my previous post to find out how to price out specific award itineraries on the British Airways website.

If you have a large stash of Membership Rewards points just waiting to be used, I would highly recommend converting at least some into Avios points before May 31, 2012. Although others may disagree, I would do the transfer even if you don't have any award travel planned. Typically, transfer bonuses don't get any better or simpler than this. Membership Rewards did run another promotion last year where you could effectively earn a 67% bonus on Delta Skymiles transfers, but it turned out to be a logistical nightmare, and people had to wait months before they actually received the bonus points in the form of a rebate certificate. Plus, I have not seen any transfer bonuses higher than 50% for Membership Rewards to British Airways.

I don't doubt that another 50% transfer bonus promotion will occur sometime in the future, but I say take advantage of the offer now, and make use of those Avios points for high-value redemptions before another devaluation comes!

30% Bonus When Transferring American Express Membership Rewards Points To British Airways

From now through January 31, 2012, receive a 30% bonus when transferring your American Express Membership Rewards points into British Airways Avios points. There is a minimum transfer requirement of 1,000 MR points. So for each increment of 1,000 MR points you transfer, you will receive 1,300 Avios points in your Executive Club account.

It seems a bit strange that American Express would be offering a mediocre bonus like this since they have previously run 40% and even 50% bonuses for British Airways points transfers. Even more so when you take into account the huge devaluation that BA just announced on November 16th. I certainly hope that AMEX will up their bonus offers in the near future. They certainly need to after Continental ceased to be a transfer partner as of September 30, 2011, and Air Canada's Aeroplan started adding fuel surcharges to certain partner awards. Membership Rewards points have become severely devalued as of late, so I would say that the only time you should really make any transfer is when they are running large bonus offers.

As for this offer, unless you have an immediate need to book a BA award flight, I would say hold off until a better promotion comes up in the future. Still, a mediocre promotion is better than none at all.

American Airlines Award Search Engine Now Displaying Alaska Airlines Flights

Since November 11, 2011, the American Airlines award search engine has started to display Alaska Airlines award availability. This is great news since before this change happened, you had to call in to use your AA miles on Alaska Airlines flights, meaning an extra $25 per ticket issued over the phone. Now, you can directly search for and book your Alaska Airlines award tickets on AA.com without any additional booking fees. You can also continue to hold award seats for 5 days. Hopefully, this is a precursor to AA.com finally displaying some OneWorld partner award seats as well... though I'm not holding my breath.

In addition, if you still have some British Airways Avios points left after the devaluation on November 16, this is a great way to search for Alaska Airlines award seats since they are also a partner airline. BA's website currently does not display Alaska Airlines award seats in their search engine, so you will still need to call in to do the actual booking. But using the AA website, you can now see exactly which Alaska Airlines flights has partner award seats available before calling in, so you can plan out your itinerary accordingly. BA's award program has become distance-based now, so using your Avios points to book Alaska Airlines award flights might actually be quite a bit cheaper than using your AAdvantage or Mileage Plan miles!

British Airways Executive Club - The Aftermath

The smoke has finally cleared, and we now have a complete picture of what the new British Airways Executive Club looks like... and it's certainly not very pretty. For the most part, long-haul award flights departing from North America saw a massive increase in Avios points needed, and if you don't live in a gateway city for BA or one of it's partner airlines, you're in even worse shape. This is because BA now determines the points needed for an award flight based on each segment of your itinerary, not the entire route. So if you live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, you will have to pay extra points just to get to LAX, JFK, or any other large gateway city.

And even if you already live in a gateway city like I do (SFO), chances are any long-haul award flight you book will have an increased points requirement. Take, for example, the extremely popular route SFO-HKG-DPS on Cathay Pacific that many people took advantage of prior to the program change:

• Old BAEC program:  50/100/150K  BA miles + taxes/fees
• New Avios program:  95/190/285K  Avios points + taxes/fees

Or how about the other great value to Easter Island (SFO-LIM-SCL-IPC) on LAN:

• Old BAEC program:  40/80K  BA miles + taxes/fees
• New Avios program:  95/190K  Avios points + taxes/fees

The only exception seems to be departing from the East Coast with Europe as your destination, where the points requirement actually decreased on many routes. This is a result of changing the program over to a distance-based system, since the East Coast is actually quite close to Western countries of Europe. To illustrate this, let's take a look at the difference between traveling from the East Coast and the West Coast to Europe:

• JFK - LHR:  40/80/120K  Avios points + taxes/fees
• SFO - LHR:  50/100/150K  Avios points + taxes/fees

So departing from the East Coast actually decreased in points needed, while departing from the West Coast stays the same as the old program, which really isn't that bad. One very important note, however, is that this new distance-based system isn't altogether consistent across the board. For example, let's compare the non-stop routes of JFK-HKG (8072 miles) and LAX-SYD (7488 miles):

• JFK - HKG:  70/140/210K  Avios points + taxes/fees
• LAX - SYD:  100/200/300K  Avios points + taxes/fees

You would think since JFK-HKG is quite a bit farther than LAX-SYD, the points required should therefore be more. However, that is certainly not the case as seen above. I suspect the final determination of points requirements is still a combination of variables, including distance, carrier, popularity of route, etc.

One of the more positive changes to the Executive Club program, however, comes from shorter direct routes. The worst part of the U.S. legacy carriers' reward programs is that they charge 25,000 points to fly anywhere in the lower 48 states, no matter what the distance is. So a flight from SFO-LAX costs exactly the same as SFO-JFK, which makes absolutely no sense. But with Avios points, things become distance-based, so the short SFO-LAX hop now costs only 9,000 points roundtrip! That's a fairly good deal in my opinion since that route can run anywhere from $120 to more than $200 during certain times of the year. Using this method, you can also see some interesting routes that used to cost a lot more in the old program because they were in 2 different zones, but are actually quite close distance-wise (hence a decrease in Avios points requirements):

• IPC - PPT (2644 miles):  25/50/75K  Avios points + taxes/fees
• LAX - SJD (911 miles):  15/30/45K  Avios points + taxes/fees
• LAX - HNL (2556 miles):  25/50/75K  Avios points + taxes/fees
• MIA - CUN (531 miles):  9/18/27K  Avios points + taxes/fees

Similarly, you can find plenty of deals on short-haul flights all over the world - the cost has really come down. In Europe, BA has even created a category of awards called the Reward Flight Saver, where as long as you have earned at least 1 Avios point in the last 12 months, you can redeem award flights within Zones 1-3 for reduced points requirements and a flat fee, instead of paying the old exorbitant taxes/fees. In my opinion, short-haul flights are where the real value lies in the new BA Executive Club program. I know I will be using the rest of my 90,000 Avios points for these short hops in the future!

Additionally, Executive Club service fees have changed. A base fee of $40 is now charged for both changing the date/time of an award booking and for cancelling an award booking, whether it is done online or over the phone. Doing either over the phone, however, will incur an additional $25 fee (for a total of $65). There is still no fee for making your award booking online, while doing so over the phone will cost $25. Full details can be found here.

You can play around with the new Avios Calculator on the BA website to see how many points you will now need for each segment. Note that the calculator works for only direct segments, not routes. So if you wanted to look up how much SFO-HKG-DPS costs now, you must search for SFO-HKG first, then HKG-DPS, and then add up the points for each. It's a pain, but at least it's fairly clear and accurate. Or, the easier way is to just go ahead and search for the complete route using the award booking system. It's very similar to the old system, and it will add up each segment automatically for you. So far, I haven't noticed any huge glitches yet. Just click below, and then click on the "Book flights with Avios" link. You must be logged into your Executive Club account in order to use the award booking system.

Last Day To Redeem Your British Airways Executive Club Miles Before Devaluation

Today is the very last day to redeem your British Airways Executive Club miles before they officially become Avios points on November 16, 2011. For those of us living in North America, that means a massive devaluation to the program is imminent. As I mentioned in my previous post, BA has been extremely secretive about any changes to the program when originating outside of the U.K., and it's fairly obvious the reason for the lack of transparency is that the points requirements will be increasing by quite a bit. Gone will be the great deals like using only 50,000 BA miles for a roundtrip flight from North America to anywhere in East and Southeast Asia, or 40,000 miles for a roundtrip flight from North America to anywhere in South America, including Easter Island.

Unfortunately, I'm expecting roundtrip award flights to Asia to start at a minimum of 70,000 Avios points tomorrow, and South America at a minimum of 60,000 points. And these are just my wild guesses, the real award chart could be far worse - we'll just have to find out tomorrow morning.

So if you've been thinking about burning your BA miles for a trip sometime next year, I would strongly recommend booking your award flights today! The U.S. British Airways office (1-800-452-1201) has limited hours from 7:30 AM - 8:00 PM EST, and I fully expect them to be swamped with calls today. The better option is to book online, even though their award reservation system has a ton of bugs. I just finished booking an Easter Island trip for October 2012, but I had to call in since the online system wouldn't allow me to find the routing and stopover that I needed. I still had to pay the $20 phone booking fee in addition to the airfare taxes despite their website issues.

Also, remember that you can still change the departure date/time of your reservation all the way to November 14, 2012 since your award ticket is valid for one full year from the date of booking (today). Making changes to your itinerary date/time is free online, while doing it over the phone will cost you $70. Only reservations made online can be changed online. Those made over the phone must be changed over the phone, unfortunately.

Uh Oh... Devaluation To British Airways Executive Club Miles Coming?

I received an email this morning from British Airways Executive Club detailing some changes coming in November to their rewards program. My first thought was... oh no, it's finally here.

For those who aren't aware, British Airways partnered up with Chase and offered up literally millions (if not billions) of miles at 100,000 per credit card both last year and this year. While this was fine and dandy for all the American customers who took advantage of this deal, most of us had a feeling that with so many miles being handed out like candy, a massive devaluation in their awards chart was bound to happen sooner or later. And it looks like it's happened a lot sooner than expected.

First off, with the British Airways/Iberia merger, it makes sense that there would be some cosmetic changes to their joint frequent flyer program. So as of November, British Airways Executive Club miles becomes "Avios" points. In addition, on the BA website detailing a couple of the more positive changes coming, it states that for shorter flight out of LHR (specifically to zones 1-3), they will now be offering a Reward Flight Saver option, which allows for reduced points redemptions with a fixed flat fee. Avios points needed for travel on BA-operated flights will not change from the current miles requirements for the most part, and some routes (such as JFK-LHR) will actually see a slight decrease. Finally, BA will also now be offering hotel and car rental redemptions similar to what AA rolled out last year.

Now for the bad news... and it may be really bad. The single partner award chart is completely scrapped, along with the BA + one partner award chart. In their place will be one single unified award chart that will serve all three purposes: BA only award flights, BA + one partner award flights, and single partner award flights. One of the best values in the current BA award chart is redeeming for a single partner award flight from North America to Asia for 50k/100k/150k miles, or North America to South America (even Easter Island) for 40k/80k/120k miles. If they change this to what the BA only award chart looks like, North America to Asia will jump to 120k/240k/360k! Now, granted, the new award chart numbers probably won't be as astronomical (since most North Americans won't be flying through London to get to Asia). But even then, this means a massive devaluation for Executive Club miles is imminent.

Worst of all, from this Flyertalk thread regarding the coming "enhancements", it sounds like this new award chart won't even be released until November 16th, when the changes will already take place and it will be too late for us to determine exactly which routes will be hiked and by how much. Perhaps that doesn't even really matter since there is a 99.9% chance that some sort of devaluation will occur across the board for single partner award flights. With this ominous cloud hanging over everyone's head, I can only think of one thing to do between now and November: burn as much of your BA Executive Club miles as you can before the changes take effect!

Two Miles-Earning Opportunities With Hotel Stays

Many hotel groups have agreements with a number of different airlines, whereby stays within a particular chain can earn miles instead of their own proprietary points. Typically, you can opt to earn either miles or points, although a few programs such as Hilton HHonors allows the option to earn both on one stay. Throughout the year, hotels will run promotions offering bonus miles with specific airlines. There are two current promotions that may be worth a second look.

1) Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards bonus points at four different Starwood Preferred Guest hotel brands:

• Between August 1, 2011 and December 15, 2011, every eligible stay at all Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft, and Element hotels and resorts in North America will earn 1,000 bonus RR points. There is no limit to how many points you can earn.
  

• Remember that the bonus is given for every stay, meaning whether your stay is 1 night or 10 nights, you will earn the same 1,000 points. Thus, mattress hopping between different hotels in the same area for 1 night each will maximize your earnings.
  

• The best part about this offer is that the bonus RR points are in addition to the regular SPG points you earn on stays, which is 2 points per dollar spent, or 3 points per dollar spent if you are a Gold or Platinum Preferred Guest. If you have selected the Airline Direct Deposit earning method (and specified Southwest Airlines) instead of SPG points, you will still receive 600 RR points per eligible stay in addition to the bonus points from this offer.
  

• You must register for this promotion before October 15, 2011.

2) British Airways Executive Club bonus miles at any Hyatt hotel worldwide:

• Between August 1, 2011 and October 31, 2011, every eligible night at any hotel within the Hyatt group will earn 1,000 bonus Executive Club miles. A maximum of 30,000 miles can be earned with this offer.

• The bonus is given for every night, so you can stay at a Hyatt Place Hotel, for example, for 5 consecutive nights and you will earn 5,000 Executive Club miles.
  

• You must choose to earn miles for your stay and provide your British Airways Executive Club account number at check-in. This is one of the downsides of the Hyatt Gold Passport program. There is no way to register online so that you always earn miles; you must specify this each time you check-in at the hotel. In addition, keep an eye on your Hyatt Gold Passport account after your stay because sometimes they will still post points instead of miles, and you must call in to get it fixed.
  

• While not detailed in the terms and conditions, it does appear that you will continue to earn the normal 500 Executive Club miles per stay, in additon to the 1,000 bonus miles per night.
  

• Make sure you register prior to your first stay during the promotion period.

Given a choice between the two promotions (and if there are both Hyatt and Starwood properties nearby), I would go with Starwood, simply because SPG points have a much higher value than miles. In addition, British Airways imposes exorbitant fuel surcharges even on their award flights, making them less desirable in this case.

Big Transfer Bonuses From Membership Rewards

Membership Rewards is the proprietary rewards program for American Express charge cards (green, gold, platinum). While MR offers many ways to redeem for rewards, perhaps the best way to use these points is by transferring them to any number of participating airline frequent flyer programs. Currently, AMEX has agreements with Delta Skymiles, Continental OnePass, British Airways Executive Club, Air Canada Aeroplan, and many more (most at a 1000:1000 ratio). It's usually a good idea to keep your points in the MR program and only transfer when you actually have a need to book an award flight. And if for some reason you have an urgent need to transfer points, I would always recommend Continental Airlines, since OnePass miles are generally more valuable.

However, there are two great promotions going on right now for transferring MR points into Delta Skymiles and British Airways Executive Club:

• From now through 9/30/2011, transfer any amount of MR points into the Delta Skymiles program and receive a 50% bonus. Transfer 100,000 points or more and also receive 25,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQM) - enough to qualify for Silver Medallion status. MQMs are NOT redeemable for awards and are only used for status qualification. Silver Medallion status will give you bonus redeemable miles, waived baggage fees, seat upgrades and more when traveling on Delta. Note that this is for first-time transfers only!

• From now through 7/31/2011, transfer any amount of MR points into the British Airways Executive Club program and receive a 50% bonus. Note that the bonus is only applicable once during this period!

I must add a word of warning though... because I normally would not recommend either program as a means to accumulate miles unless there is a large promotion like in this case. Delta Skymiles is notoriously stingy about releasing saver awards, especially on international flights. I've done some searches before for fairly popular international routes that Delta flies, and have seen zero saver award availability for an entire year! Domestic routes through their main hubs tend to be slightly better... but still far behind the competition. So even though it is extremely easy to accumulate, you often will end up spending double or even triple the amount of miles you originally thought. Hence the term "Skypesos".

British Airways, on the other hand, actually has fairly good award seat availability, especially on their own metal. However, they also tack on an obscene amount of fuel surcharge fees to award flights. First class flights going through London can have upwards of $700 in fuel surcharges, in addition to the miles they deduct from your account! They even collect fuel surcharges on partner awards flights such as Cathay Pacific or Japan Airlines, whereas American Airlines never does that for award redemptions. Partner award fuel surcharges can run upwards of $400 roundtrip.

If you are interested in Membership Rewards, there is a thread on Flyertalk right now that details a promotion for 75,000 MR points after completing the spend requirements on an American Express Premiere Rewards Gold Card. I won't go into details about this here because this is not a straightforward application, and you may run into several obstacles trying to get the bonus points. Do read through the entire thread before deciding whether or not it's worth the risk!