This offer has expired.

Chase & British Airways is giving up to 100,000 Bonus Miles for signing up for their co-branded credit card. The offer is:

• 50,000 Bonus Miles on first spend (it can be for a dollar)
• 25,000 Bonus Miles for additional $10,000 in spend
• 25,000 Bonus Miles for the next $10,000 in spend

All for a $95 Annual Fee.

British Airways miles used to be very valuable. The Flight Deal team went to Easter Island and Chile in Business Class for 80,000 miles with their partner LAN Airlines, but with a recent devaluation, the program is really bad. It became distance based and since British Airways charges fuel for award redemption, redeeming for an award ticket is expensive. However, for short haul non-stop flights in the United States, British Airways miles can be valuable and cheap.

Take for example the New York to Toronto, Canada. Using British Airways miles to redeem for an American Airlines flight (British Airways and American Airlines are partners) would require only 9,000 miles roundtrip whereas with American Airlines miles, it would’ve required 25,000 miles. The fees for redeeming a flight to Canada on both British Airways and American Airlines is the same. The average fare from New York to Toronto is about $300. With 50,000 miles after first spend, you could redeem for 5.5 trips or approximately $1,650 in value or 3.3 cents per mile for a $95 investment (the annual fee). Good value.

British Airways miles are less valuable as distance becomes greater. For example, it requires 25,000 miles to fly from New York to San Francisco roundtrip, just like if you would’ve used American miles. We would never recommend anyone redeem for a domestic ticket if the fare is cheap. Often times you can fly across country for under $250. If you do that, at most, you would be getting $500 in value. Not a good return.

So if you have a lot of short haul travel and American serves it non-stop, this can be a very valuable card. To apply go here: Chase British Airways Visa Signature Card. This is not a referral or affiliate link, so we have no financial incentives to push this offer.

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