[Expired] Chase British Airways Visa Signature – Up to 100,000 Avios Offer is Back

Bonus has now expired and is 50,000 after $3,000 and an additional 25,000 after $10,000 in the first 12 months. Can now get a maximum of 75,000 points instead of 100,000.

Prior to mid-2016, the Chase British Airways Visa Signature card offer a signup bonus of 50,000 Avios after spending $2,000 within 3 months, an additional 25,000 Avios after spending $10,000 within 12 months, and an additional 25,000 Avios after spending $20,000 within 12 months—a grand total of 100,000 Avios after spending $20,000 within 12 months. Unfortunately, Chase then eliminated the additional 25,000 Avios tiers and upped the minimum spend to $3,000, which is the offer currently displayed on Chase’s website.

I don’t know when this reappeared, but if you go to British Airways’s website…

The Offer

Direct link to offer. (the “Apply now” button works and the application ID is different from the normal offer. I’d still take a screenshot, though!)

  • $95 annual fee is not waived.
  • Earn 50,000 Avios after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months of cardmembership.
  • Earn an additional 25,000 Avios after spending $10,000 in the first 12 months of cardmembership.
    • Earn a total of 75,000 Avios after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months of cardmembership AND a total of $10,000 in the first 12 months of cardmembership. (85,000 Avios counting the 10,000 Avios from spending.)
  • Earn an additional 25,000 Avios after spending $20,000 in the first 12 months of cardmembership.
    • Earn a total of 100,000 Avios after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months of cardmembership AND a total of $20,000 in the first 12 months of cardmembership. (120,000 Avios counting the 20,000 Avios from spending.)

Card Details

  • Chase’s 5/24 rule does not apply to this card.
  • Earns 3 Avios per $ on British Airways purchases
  • Earns 1 Avios per $ on all other purchases

Matching

As a general rule, Chase does match offers. Because the 50,000 offer on Chase’s website does not waive the annual fee, you shouldn’t have any trouble if you applied within the last 90 days and request a match via secure message. In the comments of our article on the old 100,000 Avios offer, there are a few year-and-a-half old data points of people being matched from 50,000 Avios to 100,000 Avios.

Our Verdict

British Airways is a oneworld partner with a distance-based award chart, and Avios is a transfer partner of both the Ultimate Rewards program & the Membership Rewards program (as well as SPG). All good, except that British Airways is notorious for its high fuel surcharges (though there are exceptions – see this MileValue post). There’s still plenty of value to be had in Avios, though, and 6 Avios per $ is generally considered to be a very good deal (spending $20,000 yields 20,000 base Avios and 100,000 signup Avios). You’ll likely want to delve into British Airway’s award chart, partner chart, and fuel surcharges to get a better idea of whether to go for the full bonus.

You should always use this offer if you plan to apply for the British Airways card, regardless of whether you plan to spend $20,000 within the first 12 months. You still get 50,000 Avios after spending $3,000 within 3 months, but you leave open the option to accrue more. And if you plan to hit the full 100,000 bonus, you may want to consider going for the additional spending bonus of a “Travel Together” ticket, which is awarded after spending $30,000 in a calendar year. (You should read more about Travel Together tickets on British Airways’s website – they aren’t very good, but it’s only another $10,000 in spending. And you’d have about 9 months from today, April 6, to hit $30,000 in spending.)

If you’re considering applying for this card, you’ll first want to read about these things everybody should know about Chase credit cards.

Questions, comments, etc.? Drop them below.

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TooManyCards
TooManyCards (@guest_444009)
July 21, 2017 12:45

Folks, even though this card is not under 5/24, I was denied. My TransUnion/Equifax is well north of 800. I called the reconsideration line and they told me I had too many cards opened (about 6 this year). So caveat emptor.

DFW1972
DFW1972 (@guest_389102)
April 13, 2017 17:19

Hi. I’ve never noticed the below language before? Is it standard language for Chase applications? I applied today (was not automatically approved, I think for the first time ever with Chase). I thought I would be ok since it has been over 24 moths since I last got the Avios bonus through another Chase card, but now I am not sure.

Replying to this offer: If you omit any information on the form, we may deny your request for an account. Chase cardmembers who currently have or have had a Chase credit card in any Rewards Program associated with this offer, may not be eligible for a second Chase credit card in the same Rewards Program. Chase cardmembers currently receiving promotional pricing, or Chase cardmembers with a history of only using their current or prior Chase card for promotional pricing offers, are not eligible for a second Chase credit card with promotional pricing. You must have a valid permanent home address within the 50 United States or the District of Columbia. The information about the costs of the card described in this form is accurate as of 3/21/2017. This information may have changed after that date. To find out what may have changed, write to us at Cardmember Service, P.O. Box 15043, Wilmington, DE 19850-5043.

sam
sam (@guest_386421)
April 9, 2017 13:38

How long this offer open? I want to apply before it closes. I didn’t see an end date on the website.

JD
JD (@guest_385967)
April 8, 2017 13:48

I got this deal a few years ago, when they were still paying out 1.25 Avios per dollar of spending. So, at the end of it, I had 125K of Avios burning a hole in my pocket. I quickly realized that Avios offer very poor value for long haul flights. Short haul is the way to go with Avios. In the end, I got 18 flight segments out of those Avios:

2 ORD-MCO RT for 30K
1 ORD-SFO RT for 20K
3 SYD-BNE-CNS RT for 72K

Chase has been in my dog house, because I got 5/24’ed out of the CSR 100K deal, but I have been waiting for this deal to come back for a while, so I will get one for my wife next month. Between college tuition for my daughter, and property tax payments, $20K will be easy to hit this year.

I have enough miles on hand for four long haul tickets for me and my wife, so it will be nice to get some more Avios in the kitty for a bunch of short hops.

Alex
Alex (@guest_385624)
April 7, 2017 21:43

Don’t recommend this card. Because of BA’s outrageous high fuel surcharges Avois are just not a great deal for anything other than US economy domestic flights. The “free companion ticket” is definitely not free(it’ll cost you $2500 plus the avois points to get your “free” business class tickets). Other Chase cards are a better value and have better points to accrue.

celeste
celeste (@guest_385525)
April 7, 2017 17:26

DP: Applied today (4/7/17) and was approved with 11/24. Husband was also approved today with 7/24.

Tim
Tim (@guest_385282)
April 7, 2017 11:09

So what’s the strategy for sending a new SM if I was denied the matching offer? Do I reply and say “I was offered this offer on the BA website so obviously I am eligible? Or do I send a new SM and pretend the first one happened?

“Thank you for contacting us about the sign up bonus offer
for your account.

Upon review, I can confirm that the offer on your account
is to get 50,000 Bonus Avios after you spend $3,000 on
purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
date.

Purchases do not include balance transfers, cash advances,
cash-like charges such as travelers checks, foreign
currency, and money orders, any checks that access your
account, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, or
fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable.

[name redacted], I regret to inform that your account does not
qualify for the 100,000 Avios offer and I regret to inform
that we are unable to extend the offer for your account. I
apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

We appreciate your business and thank you for being a
Chase customer.”

andy
andy (@guest_385411)
April 7, 2017 14:37

There’s several other match refused data points on /r/churning. I’m going to give it a few days and then see if I get any luck by calling in since the secure message folk clearly have a standard ‘no’ answer.

Matthew
Matthew (@guest_385001)
April 6, 2017 20:53

I did the last 100k offer. Is the first 50k considers the signup bonus? And I have to wait 24 months after that date? Or do I need to count the last 25k? Thanks!

William Charles
Admin
April 6, 2017 21:33

Good question and one I don’t know the answer to…

JD
JD (@guest_385605)
April 7, 2017 20:30

It’s 24 months since the last tranche of 25K points.

William Charles
Admin
April 8, 2017 02:45
  JD

Thanks, JD.

Matthew
Matthew (@guest_397240)
April 27, 2017 19:45

I SMed Chase and they said the sign-up bonus was the initial 50,000 points. Fingers crossed! I will be sure to keep this message as proof.

I didn’t mention the 25,000 at all, but I did say that I thought I received the bonus [50k] on X month, and they confirmed that and said I wouldn’t be eligible until 24 months after that cardmember bonus.

Does DoC think it’s worth the risk? Otherwise, it’s another 6-month wait. Hmm, didn’t realize I got those two additional 25k so quickly.

Matthew
Matthew (@guest_385917)
April 8, 2017 12:25
  JD

Thanks JD. How do you know this?

Any idea if I could SM Chase for them to give me an accurate date? I guess I could just try it.

JD
JD (@guest_385962)
April 8, 2017 13:37

I read it somewhere else, but I don’t have the citation. I also think I may have read about someone losing out on the bonus, because they didn’t wait a full 24 months from the last time they got a bonus on this card.

escot
escot (@guest_384912)
April 6, 2017 18:05

ps #2: I can already hear the snark that this was all my fault, that it should be obvious when my “card membership” date began. Actually, it wasn’t. There was over ten days between when I applied and when I received the card. (and no notice in between that I’d been approved…., and in all the paperwork and welcome materials I received, there was no indication of just when my membership “began.”)

In any case, bottom line, just be clear on this or any other card ….. in writing, when you spend-by-date is. This applies to cards with 3 month spend-by limits. In my experience, the policies from one bank to the next are anything but consistent. Some banks will even say, “within the first 3 full billing periods, after you get your card. As they say in this hobby, YMMV.

escot
escot (@guest_384892)
April 6, 2017 17:45

For anyone who goes for this offer, make sure….. make sure you know when the clock starts running on your 12 months. (and then hit your target long, long before the 12 months is up) Don’t presume your 12 month close begins the day you receive and activate the card and ends 12 months to the date later. (that would be too rational)

In my case, I was sooooo happy to have met that last massive spend to get to the 20K, and got it in just under the wire. (or so I figured) I didn’t realize until after the fact that chase starts counting the 12 months to the day I applied (not the day I received and activated the card…. about a ten day difference) I did have good chats with many lower level Chase reps, even supervisors, who much sympathized with what had happened, that I had met the 20K spending target, that I had reason to think 12 months meant 12 months from when you had the card in your hands…. Alas, somebody at a much higher level was blocking my appeals…. daring me to take them to court, daring me to call attention to a rather cold, nasty decision.

And yes, did consult with our legal beagle friend AB. I might in the end have a case, but might not have…. The problem for me was in the realm of not wanting to get on their bad side, to risk retaliation. Sure, I could have fought hard for that ripped off extra 25k….. and in the process risked my “relationship” with Chase on other deals…..

Sour grapes tale of woe — hope it might be one that helps others.

escot

escot
escot (@guest_384901)
April 6, 2017 17:56

PS: Get your spend by date IN WRITING. Do it by secure messages. Keep copies. Don’t rely on any assurances over the phone. (I do wonder if Chase has gotten around to improving how the 12 months is defined in the fine print on this offer, this time around. Multiple reps told me they could see the basis of my (embarrassing) lament last year — and would at least generate the input to “fix” the problem.)