British Airways Visa Card Review I One Mile At A Time

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British Airways Visa Signature® Card

3x miles

on British Airways

2x miles

on Hotels

no foreign

transaction fees

Annual Fee: $95

Apply Now

The British Airways Visa Signature® Card is one of Chase’s popular co-branded airline credit cards. British Airways Executive Club is a great frequent flyer program, so in this post I wanted to take a closer look at this card, especially in light of the improvements that were made to it in 2019.

Who should be applying for this card, and under what circumstances is it worth spending money on the card? This is a card that I applied for last year and currently have, and it’s one that lots of other people would benefit from as well, in my opinion.

Note that if you’re looking to earn Avios with a US credit card, there are two other options — the Iberia Visa Signature^® Card and Aer Lingus Visa Signature^® Card.

In this post:

British Airways Visa Card Basics For January 2021

There is lots to love about the British Airways Visa Card. The card has a big bonus of up to 100K Avios, it has a reasonable annual fee, it offers statement credits when you pay carrier imposed surcharges, and it earns points that can be useful whether you’re looking to redeem for premium cabin international flights or domestic economy.

Let’s take a look at what you need to know about this card, and what the best alternatives are.

Welcome Bonus Of Up To 100K Avios

The British Airways Visa offers a bonus of up to 100,000 Avios. That bonus is tiered, as follows:

Earn 50,000 bonus Avios after spending $3,000 within the first three months
Earn an additional 50,000 bonus Avios after spending a total of $20,000 within the first year of account opening.

Personally I value Avios at ~1.3 cents each, so to me 100,000 Avios are worth ~$1,300.

Those 100,000 Avios don’t include the points you usually earn for spending, so that means:

Spending $3,000 will earn you a total of 53,000 Avios, which is nearly 18 Avios per dollar spent
Spending $20,000 will earn you a total of 120,000 Avios, so incrementally you’re earning nearly four Avios per dollar spent (for $17,000 of spending you’re earning an incremental 67,000 Avios)

Assuming you spend enough on credit cards to reach the $20,000 of spending, I think it’s absolutely worth it. There could also be big value in spending $30,000, because that earns you a Travel Together Ticket, which I’ll talk more about below.

Redeem your Avios to fly British Airways’ new A350

$95 Annual Fee

The BA Visa has a $95 annual fee. This is not waived for the first year, and there’s no additional fee to add authorized users.

Card Eligibility

The welcome bonus on the British Airways Visa isn’t available to those who currently have the card, or those who have received a new cardmember bonus on the card in the past 24 months.

You are eligible for this card if you’ve had the Iberia Visa Card and/or Aer Lingus Visa Card, despite the similarities between the cards.

All Chase cards are also subjected to the 5/24 rule, whereby you likely won’t be approved for a card if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months. Then it’s worth being aware of Chase’s other general policies on card approvals.

Earning Avios With The British Airways Visa Card

The British Airways Visa Card has no foreign transaction fees and offers contactless payment, but does the rewards structure actually warrant putting spending on the card? It might, but only thanks to additional bonuses offered by the card.

Earn 1-3x Avios Per Dollar Spent

The card doesn’t have terribly exciting bonus categories. You earn:

3 Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL
2 Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations
1 Avios per $1 spent on all other purchases

There are lots of great credit cards for airfare purchases and hotel purchases. This isn’t a card I would be putting much spending on unless you’re trying to earn a Travel Together Ticket, in which case it could definitely be worth it. More on that below.

British Airways Executive Club is transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards, so it could make sense to put spending on one of those cards if you want to earn Avios at an accelerated rate.

Redeem Avios for travel in Cathay Pacific business class

No Foreign Transaction Fees

The BA Visa has no foreign transaction fees, so it’s potentially a great card to use for purchases abroad.

Contactless Payment

The BA Visa Card features contactless pay technology. This means you can pay using your card without even swiping it whenever you see the contactless pay symbol.

How To Redeem British Airways Avios

British Airways Avios are a unique points currency, given that they have a distance-based award chart. This means that Avios are valuable for many types of award tickets where other programs wouldn’t be useful (and conversely, aren’t useful when many other programs may be).

Here’s the award chart for travel on British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus:

Zone // Flight Distance	Economy Off Peak // Peak	Premium Economy Off Peak // Peak	Business Off Peak // Peak	First Off Peak // Peak
Zone 1 1-650 miles* *Not available in North America	4,000 // 4,500	5,750 // 6,750	7,750 // 9,000	15,500 // 18,000
Zone 2 651-1150 miles	6,500 // 7,500	9,500 // 11,250	12,750 // 15,000	25,500 // 30,000
Zone 3 1151-2000 miles	8,500 // 10,000	12,750 // 15,000	17,000 // 20,000	34,000 // 40,000
Zone 4 2001-3000 miles	10,000 // 12,500	20,000 // 25,000	31,250 // 37,500	42,500 // 50,000
Zone 5 3001-4000 miles	13,000 // 20,000	26,000 // 40,000	50,000 // 60,000	68,000 // 80,000
Zone 6 4001-5500 miles	16,250 // 25,000	32,500 // 50,000	62,500 // 75,000	85,000 // 100,000
Zone 7 5501-6500 miles	19,500 // 30,000	39,000 // 60,000	75,000 // 90,000	102,000 // 120,000
Zone 8 6501-7000 miles	22,750 // 35,000	45,500 // 70,000	87,500 // 105,000	119,000 // 140,000
Zone 9 7001+ miles	32,50 // 50,000	65,000 // 100,000	125,000 // 150,000	170,000 // 200,000

Then here’s British Airways’ award chart for travel on partner airlines, excluding Aer Lingus and Iberia:

Zone // Flight Distance	Economy	Premium Economy	Business	First
Zone 1 1-650 miles* *Not available in North America	6,000	9,000	12,500	24,000
Zone 2 651-1150 miles	9,000	12,500	16,500	33,000
Zone 3 1151-2000 miles	11,000	16,500	22,000	44,000
Zone 4 2001-3000 miles	13,000	25,750	38,750	51,500
Zone 5 3001-4000 miles	20,750	41,250	62,000	82,500
Zone 6 4001-5500 miles	25,750	51,500	77,250	103,000
Zone 7 5501-6500 miles	31,000	62,000	92,750	123,750
Zone 8 6501-7000 miles	36,250	72,250	108,250	144,250
Zone 9 7001+ miles	51,500	103,000	154,500	206,000

The basic things to be aware of include the following:

For the British Airways award chart, peak and off-peak pricing varies based on the day you’re flying
Pricing is per segment, so no matter what type of award you book, you’ll pay individually for each segment
Travel on British Airways and many partner airlines is subjected to carrier imposed surcharges, which is the frustration that many people have with the program

There are so many great ways to redeem Avios, especially for flying shorter distances, where other programs have disproportionately high award costs.

This includes short-haul business class within Asia on Cathay Pacific, domestic travel within the lower 48 US on Alaska and American, travel between the US mainland and Hawaii on Alaska, short-haul travel within Europe on British Airways, travel within Australia on Qantas, and much more.

I find Avios to be invaluable as part of my overall miles & points strategy, as they’re useful in areas where other currencies aren’t.

Redeem Avios for travel on Cathay Pacific

The Value Of Household Accounts

Often one of the big challenges people have with points is figuring out how to pool them, since you typically need enough points in a single account for a redemption. One of the cool features of the British Airways Executive Club program is that you can form household accounts. This allows you to pool the Avios you earn with up to six other people registered at the same address as you.

This is especially awesome in the context of a credit card sign-up bonus, since you can pool a ton of Avios in a single account if you have two people sign-up for the card in a household, etc.

British Airways Visa Card Benefits

There are some benefits to the British Airways Visa Card that could alone justify having this card. For some people, it will be worth spending money on the card to unlock some perks, while for others just having the card and not spending money on it offers sufficient benefits.

Let’s look at how those benefits work.

10% Discount On British Airways Flights

One of the benefits of the best benefits of the British Airways Signature Visa is that it offers a 10% discount on British Airways flights starting in the US. To take advantage of this, just book through ba.com/chase10, and use your card to pay while using promotion code CHASEBA10.

If you fly British Airways with any frequency, this could cover the annual fee over and over. See this post for everything you need to know about the British Airways Visa flight discount.

Save on British Airways business class tickets with this benefit

Reward Flight Statement Credit

This perk was added to the card in 2019, and it’s potentially awesome. One frustration many people have with British Airways Executive Club is the high carrier-imposed surcharges that apply to many award tickets. Having the British Airways Visa can take some of the pain out of that.

If you have this card and redeem Avios for a reward flight, you can receive up to $600 in statement credits annually. You can earn up to three statement credits, as follows:

Earn a $100 statement credit for an economy or premium economy booking
Earn a $200 statement credit for a business class or first class booking

There are some basic terms to be aware of:

You have to pay for the taxes, fees, and carrier-imposed surcharges with the British Airways Visa in order to get the statement credits
The booking must be for a transatlantic itinerary originating in the United States with the transatlantic portion of the ticket on British Airways (though it’s fine if a connecting flight is on a partner airline)
One-way or roundtrip travel seems to be eligible
The reservation must be made out of the primary cardmember’s Executive Club account, though it’s fine if someone else is traveling
The statement credit will post within 45 days of the eligible reservation being made, and will be reversed if the ticket is canceled

The statement credit can take some of the sting out of award redemptions

British Airways Travel Together Ticket

One of the potentially great perks of the British Airways Visa is that you can earn a Travel Together Ticket when you spend $30,000 on the card in a calendar year.

This companion ticket will be deposited in your Executive Club account four to six weeks after you’ve completed the required spending.

The voucher will appear in your Executive Club account

With this certificate, you can book a British Airways award ticket at the full cost of Avios and carrier imposed surcharges, and then for the second person, you just have to pay the surcharges.

While British Airways has hefty surcharges for travel on its own flights, this can still represent a great deal for first & business class travel, given how much those tickets would otherwise cost.

This isn’t for everyone, though it has the potential to represent a good value, and I know it’s a feature that many value.

It could be especially worthwhile to go for this the first year. In order to unlock the full sign-up bonus you need to spend $20,000, so at that point, it’s just an incremental $10,000 worth of spending to get the companion ticket.

See this post for everything you need to know about the British Airways Visa companion voucher.

The Travel Together Ticket can be worth it for first class travel

Is The British Airways Visa Card Worth It?

The British Airways Visa Card is offering an excellent sign-up bonus. This can be worth it regardless of if you’re a big spender who can easily knock out the $20,000+ worth of spending, or if you just plan on qualifying for the 50,000 Avios after spending $3,000.

Personally, this isn’t a card I would use for everyday spending, since you can earn British Airways Avios at a better rate with other American Express or Chase cards.

However, I absolutely think this card is worth holding onto if you fly British Airways with any frequency:

The value of saving 10% on British Airways flights will add up quickly
The up to $600 in credits for carrier-imposed surcharges can cover the annual fee on this card over and over, if you redeem Avios for travel on British Airways that originates in the US with any frequency
If you redeem Avios on British Airways, the Travel Together Ticket could be well worth it, especially the first year, when you’re spending $20,000 anyway to unlock the full sign-up bonus

For me the BA Visa more than justifies the annual fee

What About The Aer Lingus Card & Iberia Card?

There are three Avios currencies, all belonging to International Airline Group (IAG) airlines — there’s British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia. There are also two other US-based credit cards that directly earn Avios. Specifically, we’re talking about the Iberia Visa Card (review) and Aer Lingus Visa Card (review).

Which of these cards should you select? They have a lot in common:

They have the same annual fees
They all offer welcome bonuses of up to 100,000 Avios
They all have the same bonus categories
If you meet certain conditions, you can transfer Avios between all programs at a 1:1 ratio

The differences mainly come in the form of the perks associated with just holding onto the cards, and also the perks associated with spending $30,000 on the cards in a calendar year:

The British Airways Card offers 10% off British Airways flights and up to $600 in reward flight statement credits; you can get an award companion ticket for any class if you spend $30,000
The Aer Lingus Card offers priority boarding for Aer Lingus flights; you can get an economy companion voucher on a paid ticket if you spend $30,000
The Iberia Card offers 10% off Iberia flights; you can get a $1,000 companion flight discount voucher if you spend $30,000

The best card to select comes down to which benefit you value most. Also remember that you’re eligible for all three of these cards, should you be interested, so you don’t necessarily have to choose between them.

See here for a full comparison of cards earning Avios.

Aer Lingus also has a co-branded US credit card

Best Alternatives For Earning Avios

If you want to earn British Airways Avios, I’d recommend getting a card that earns either Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards points:

Both of these points currencies can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to British Airways Executive Club
Many American Express and Chase cards offer bonus categories that can earn you points at an accelerated rate
Sometimes we even see transfer bonuses to British Airways; for example, in 2019 we saw a 40% transfer bonus from Amex and a 30% transfer bonus from Chase

With that in mind, which cards should you consider? Here are some of my favorites:

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (review) offers 3x points on dining and travel
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review) offers 2x points on dining and travel
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® (review) offers 1.5x points per dollar spent on everyday purchases
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (review) offers 3x points on the first $150,000 spent per cardmember year on travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable and phone services, and advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines
The American Express® Green Card (review) offers 3x points on dining, travel, and transit
The American Express® Gold Card (review) offers 4x at restaurants, 4x points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 of spending per calendar year), and 3x points on airfare
The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (review) offers 2x points on the first $50,000 spent per calendar year

British Airways Visa Card Summary

The British Airways Visa is one of the best co-branded airline credit cards out there, in my opinion. The card offers an excellent sign-up bonus, and it can be worth spending money on the card to earn a companion ticket.

Beyond that, the card can be worth having for the discounts offered on both paid tickets (up to 10% off) or award tickets (up to $200 in statement credits), which can cover the annual fee over and over.

However, when it comes to earning British Airways Avios long term, personally I’d much rather earn Amex or Chase points, and transfer them to British Airways. Not only does this allow you to earn points at a much faster rate, but it also gives you a lot more flexibility with your points.

If the BA Visa isn’t yet in your wallet, I would seriously consider it…

If you want to learn more about the British Airways Visa Signature Card or apply, follow this link.