Bank of America Asiana Visa Signature Review: 30,000 Mile Bonus + 10,000 Miles, $100 Rebate & Two Lounge Passes Annually

Bank of America recently launched their new Asiana Visa Signature card, there was a lot of interest in it – so a full review is in order! Here are the card basics:

• Annual fee of $99 not waived
• Earns at the following rates
  • 3x miles for every dollar you spend on Asiana Airlines purchases
  • 2x miles for every dollar you spend on gas and grocery store purchases
  • 1x miles for all other purchases
• Receive the following benefits annually:
  • Two lounge invitations
  • 10,000 bonus miles certificate
  • $100 rebate on Asiana ticket purchase
• 200,000 mile cap per year
• No foreign transaction fees

Application Information

Keep in mind, this is a brand new card so very little application information is available. Please share your data points in the comments at the end of this post.

What Credit Score Is Required

• Share datapoints in the comments

Common Reasons For Denial:

• Please share your denial reasons in the comments

What Credit Bureau Does Bank of America Pull For The Asiana Credit Card?

It depends on what state you live in, you can find out more information by clicking here.

What Credit Limit Will I Receive?

Minimum Credit Limit	Highest Reported Credit Limit	Average Credit Limit
N/A	N/A	N/A

Card Benefits

This card comes with three main benefits (as well as no foreign transaction fees which is becoming standard for most travel cards):

• Two lounge invitations
• 10,000 bonus miles certificate
• $100 rebate on Asiana ticket purchase

Let’s take a look at each benefit in some more detail

10,000 Bonus Miles Certificate

Unlike other programs that automatically deposit miles into your account, this benefit is a little bit more complicated. Every year in the month of your anniversary date (due to this wording, I believe you don’t get this in your first year. But this comment on Flyertalk says you get it in the first year as well) you’ll receive a certificate that is good towards:

• Asiana Airlines international or Korea domestic air ticket
• Cabin class upgrade (upgradable ticket must be purchased to use this)
• Excess bag allowance (for U.S. departure flights only, you must present the certificate and your card at the time of redemption)

To use the certificate for Asiana award travel or cabin class upgrades, you must fax the certificate  to the Asiana Reservation center at 213-380-1688. The name on invitiation, certificate and Asiana Airlines credit card must also match. Blackout dates might also apply (I’m unsure what these blackout dates are). You may also be issued a 1099 tax form for the value of this certificate, although they do say it has no cash value so I’m also unsure if they’ll actually send out this form or not.

Basically how this certificate is that you fax it along with the flights you want and it’ll reduce the cost of that flight by 10,000 miles. It’s only available on Asiana Awards and not Star Alliance partner awards. If your flight/upgrade/bag excess is less than 10,000 miless then you’ll lose the remaining value.

$100 Rebate On Asiana Ticket Purchase

This isn’t an instant $100 discount, but a rebate.  When you purchase an Asiana Airlines ticket you’ll receive a rebate of $100, to receive the rebate you must book through Asiana Airlines (e.g no third parties) and use your Asiana Airlines credit card. The $100 rebate will post within 1-2 billing cycles. You’ll be able to use this benefit in the first year your a cardholder. According to this comment on Flyertalk this credit is based on a calendar year, so you could use it twice (e.g now and then again in January 2017) and only pay the one annual fee.

You can also use it to pay fuel surcharges on award tickets.

Two Asiana Lounge Invitations

Every year in the month of your anniversary date you will receive two lounge invitations. You must present the lounge invitations along with your credit card to the Asiana check in counter to receive your complimentary pass. These passes are only valid for Asiana lounges operated in the U.S. It also seems like the lounge passes can only be used by the primary cardholder as you’re limited to one invitation per person per visit.

I’m unsure on if you’ll receive this in your first year or not, but I suspect you will.

Rewards Program

This card earns Asiana airline miles.

Earning Rewards

Standard Earning

This card earns at the following rates:

• 3x miles for every dollar you spend on Asiana Airlines purchases
• 2x miles for every dollar you spend on gas and grocery store purchases [Best credit cards for gas purchases & best credit cards for grocery store purchases]
• 1x miles for all other purchases [Best credit card for everyday purchases]

Sign Up Bonus

Current Sign Up Bonus

• August 29th, 2016 – Current: 30,000 Asiana miles after $3,000 or more in spend within the first 90 days of account opening

Sign Up Bonus History

This is a new card and has always had the same sign up bonus

Redeeming Your Rewards

Your miles can be used for award flights, seat upgrades and additional services (e.g lounge access and excess baggage). One of the nice things about Asiana is that you can pool you miles between up to five family members.

Asiana Award Chart

Here is the award chart for redeeming Asiana miles on Asiana. Remember you will need to book your award ticket on Asiana to use your 10,000 mile certificate.

Star Alliance Award Chart

This is their award chart for flights through their Star Alliance partners.

Our Verdict

Bank of America cards are extremely popular at the moment because of the ability to combine multiple cards applied on the same day into a single hard inquiry. The downside to Asiana is the fact they charge heavy fuel surcharges. The other issuer is that 30,000 miles (really a minimum of 33,000 miles) isn’t enough for any awards apart from internal flights in the USA and Canada. The bright side is that you can pool miles with family members. The only transfer partner is SPG, so there aren’t a lot of options there either.

This is obviously a really attractive card for people that have paid flights with Asiana as it’ll earn 3x miles on those purchases and the $100 discount covers the annual fee. That being said, at the moment it would make more sense to cancel the card after the first year to free up credit limit space with Bank of America for additional cards. This is nowhere close to being a must have, but I hope Bank of America sticks with this 30,000 mile bonus and even offers slightly higher temporary bonuses in the future (like they have with the Alaska card).

This card makes the more sense when you’re already applying for another Bank of America card. Let’s also hope that the bonus on the business card is increased from 10,000 miles (with Alaska, this was also increased after the personal card originally had it’s bonus increased).

[Read: 20 Things Everybody Should Know About Bank of America Credit Cards]

We Recommend This Card For:

• People with paid flights with Asiana

We Don’t Recommend This Card For:

• People looking for non travel rewards

F.A.Q’s & Tips

We will add to this section over time.