Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
This morning, British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus all came out with identical increased welcome offers on their respective credit cards. They appear to be targeted towards members of each airline’s rewards program. Each of the offers breaks down into two parts. The first is the same as the current public offer: 75,000 Avios after $5k spend within the first three months. However, each one also adds an additional 50,000 Avios after a total of $20k spend within the first twelve months. We’ve added all three of them into our Best Offers page.
The Offers and Key Card Details
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
100K Avios ⓘ Non-Affiliate Earn 100K Avios after $7.5K spend in 6 months$95 Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: Expired 7/4/22: 100K after $5K spend FM Mini Review: Good choice for a nice intro bonus. Award rebate makes the card a keeper if you frequently book awards from the US to Europe. Earning rate: 3X British Airways. Iberia, Aer Lingus, and LEVEL ✦ 2X hotel accommodations booked directly with the hotel ✦ 1X elsewhere Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa card, you’ll earn a Travel Together companion Ticket good for two years. Noteworthy perks: Up to $600 per year in award fee rebates ✦ 10% off BA flights originating in the US. ✦ No foreign transaction fees |
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
100K Avios ⓘ Non-Affiliate Earn 100K Avios after $7.5K spend in 6 months$95 Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: Expired 7/4/22: 100K after $5K spend FM Mini Review: Good choice for a nice intro bonus. Unless you fly Iberia often or intend to go for the big spend bonus, though, I don't see it as a compelling card to keep past the first year. Earning rate: 3X British Airways. Iberia, Aer Lingus, and LEVEL ✦ 2X hotel accommodations booked directly with the hotel ✦ 1X elsewhere Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your Iberia Visa card, you’ll earn a discount voucher good for $1,000 to use toward two tickets on the same flight Noteworthy perks: 10% off on Iberia flights when you use your Iberia Visa to purchase at iberia.com/Chase10 ✦ No foreign transaction fees |
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
100K Avios ⓘ Non-Affiliate Earn 100K Avios after $7.5K spend in 6 months$95 Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: Expired 7/4/22: 100K after $5K spend FM Mini Review: Good choice for a nice intro bonus. Unless you intend to go for the big spend bonus, though, I don't see it as a compelling card to keep past the first year. Earning rate: 3X British Airways. Iberia, Aer Lingus, and LEVEL ✦ 2X hotel accommodations booked directly with the hotel ✦ 1X elsewhere Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your Aer Lingus Visa card, you’ll earn an economy class companion ticket good for 1 year. Noteworthy perks: Priority Boarding on Aer Lingus flights departing from and returning to the US from Ireland ✦ No foreign transaction fees. |
Quick Thoughts
In terms of total Avios, these are the best offers that we’ve seen on all of these cards. The issue is the spend required to maximize the offer. The “increased” portion effectively gives you 50k bonus Avios for $15k in spend. The bonus categories on these cards are almost non-existent so, assuming you did that $15k at 1x, you’d be getting ~4.33 Avios/dollar for your $15k (for a total of 65,000 Avios). That’s a decent return, but you can actually do better, without even factoring in a sign-up bonus, by using the Ink Cash at 5x and then transferring the Ultimate Rewards to Avios.
Still, these offers are good enough to clock-in at #8 on our list of best consumer card offers in terms of first-year value. If you just want Avios fast, I’d still prefer to go for the more attractive 90k offers on the Ink Cash or the Ink Business Unlimited, the 150k Amex Platinum or the 90k Capital One Venture X. However, for those that don’t want to dip their toes into business cards and and already have the other options, there’s worse ways to bulk up your Avios fortune.
Best Uses for British Airways Avios
- Business class to Europe from 34K one-way via Iberia. This is probably my favorite Avios redemption and have one booked this year already. Iberia charges as few as 34K miles off-peak for one-way in business class on its own flights from New York, Boston, Chicago, or DC to Madrid during off-peak season. The fuel surcharges are quite reasonable and they also run seasonal promotions (usually during the Winter) where the prices drop down even further.
- Business class South America from 22K one-way via British Airways. I've used this once and availability can be tricky to find. But when you can find it, BA has excellent pricing for shorter distance non-stop American Airlines award flights.
- Long Haul Business Class on Qatar Airways. After Qatar's addition to Avios, BA lowered many of their award prices on Qatar. It's now possible to travel between the United States and Doha in business for only 70,000 Avios with minimal surcharges.
Things to Know
- Avios Purchases are processed by Points.com and DO NOT count as airfare.
- Avios can be easily transferred between Aer Lingus, Iberia, Finnair, Qatar and British Airways
- Avios expire after 36 months of no activity
- British Airways has near-extortionate fuel surcharges when flying on BA metal. It's best to keep Avios for use with partners or the Iberia Plus
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Fyi I received an email from Aer Lingus with this offer. Stated expiration of Dec 2. Who knows if that’s when it’ll actually expire or what.
Dear FM. If you’re reading this, you’ve seen the offer. And if you’ve spent 20K so far, maybe you’re willing to come a little further to 30K. You remember the companion voucher , don’t you?
Dear Chase, my business needs an Avios Card! I can think of 524 reasons why.
Respectfully and eagerly waiting….
“Business class to Europe from 34K one-way via Iberia. This is probably my favorite Avios redemption and have one booked this year already.”
Haven’t done this yet, because the Flyertalk board on cancelling Iberia Avios tickets and actually getting a refund are, to put it mildly, interesting (more like abandon all hope and consider any refund that you may ultimately receive as a gift from heaven). Does anyone at FM have any experience with cancelling an Iberia Avios ticket? Truthfully, that is what is holding me back. As best I can tell, it can’t be done electronically or by e-mail, and the best course of action is to call the Iberia telephone number in Madrid, which is a bit problematic for those of us who don’t speak Spanish.
I cancelled recently and it took about 5 weeks after calling to cancel, but I got my points back. I wouldn’t hesitate to book with Iberia again. I have done many trips using them now.
Also worth noting that oftentimes you can book the 34K IB flights to/from Madrid through British. They have higher cancellation fees ($55 I believe), but can be easier to work with. But IB has more availability on their own metal than BA has access to, so YMMV.