British Airways Card Reward Flight Statement Credit

Link: Apply now for the British Airways Visa Signature® Card

The British Airways Visa Signature® Card is one of the more useful co-branded airline credit cards out there. In this post I wanted to focus on one specific benefit of the card, which makes award redemptions with British Airways Executive Club more affordable. When you combine this with British Airways’ Reward Flight Saver scheme, you can cross the Atlantic on British Airways using Avios while paying minimal fees.

Why the British Airways Visa is worth it

There are lots of great reasons to pick up the British Airways Visa Card. Among other things, the $95 annual fee card offers:

• A generous welcome bonus
• A 10% discount on paid (cash) British Airways flights when originating in the United States
• A Travel Together Ticket (companion voucher) when you spend $30,000 on the card in a calendar year; this allows a companion to fly with you on an award ticket, and you just have to pay the taxes, fees, and surcharges for them
• Reward flight statement credits of up to $600 per year when redeeming Avios, which I’ll cover in more detail in this post

If you fly British Airways with any frequency, then it really is worth picking up this card. Even if you don’t fly British Airways much, the card’s bonus will get you lots of value, given all the great ways to redeem British Airways Avios (or Aer Lingus Avios or Iberia Plus Avios, as you have the ability to transfer Avios).

Read a full review of the British Airways Visa Card.

British Airways Visa award surcharge rebate

One major pain point of the British Airways Executive Club program is the existence of carrier imposed surcharges that apply when redeeming Avios. Nowadays these aren’t consistently that bad due to Reward Flight Saver, which allows you to book awards with lower fees. Even so, there’s a great opportunity to save on award tickets if you have the British Airways Visa Card.

Those with the card receive up to $600 in statement credits each calendar year for taxes, fees, and carrier imposed surcharges on award reservations:

• You can get a $200 reward for a flight in British Airways first or business class
• You can get a $100 reward for a flight in British Airways premium economy or economy

You’re capped at a total of three credits per year, for up to $600 in statement credits. In other words, if you used the credits for three economy tickets you’d be capped at $300, while if you used the credits for three business class tickets you’d be capped at $600.

How the BA reward flight statement credit works

How do you go about taking advantage of the reward flight statement credits offered by the British Airways Visa Card? Here are some details and 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; there’s no registration required
• The booking must be for a transatlantic itinerary originating in the United States with the transatlantic portion of the ticket on British Airways (though a connecting flight may be included on another airline)
• You can only get one statement credit per itinerary, regardless of how many travelers there are; so with multiple travelers, it could make sense to book each person on a separate reservation
• One-way or roundtrip travel is eligible, though only if originating in the United States
• 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
• The statement credit can even be earned on Reward Flight Saver itineraries, which feature lower carrier imposed surcharges
• In the event that the ticket is canceled, the statement credit will be reversed

Is the BA award reward flight statement credit worth it?

While the fees sometimes frustrate people, there’s merit to traveling on British Airways across the Atlantic using Avios:

• British Airways has an award seat guarantee, and makes at least four business class award seats available on each flight, so it’s nice to be guaranteed award availability
• If you want to travel direct to & from London, you can’t beat British Airways’ network, as the airline has a global network, and even serves all kinds of secondary cities that don’t see much transatlantic service
• British Airways’ premium experience has improved considerably, as the Club Suites business class is much better than the old product, and is now available on many long haul aircraft

The good news is that with Reward Flight Saver, you can pay significantly lower surcharges than you would have paid in the past. This is available on all British Airways metal redemptions across the Atlantic when booking through Executive Club, with the exception of first class awards.

For example, a one-way British Airways first class award from Boston to London will cost you 68,000 Avios plus over $1,000 in taxes, fees, and carrier imposed surcharges, because this isn’t eligible for Reward Flight Saver. With the British Airways Visa Card statement credit offer, you could save up to $200 on that cost.

What’s equally awesome is that you could use this credit in conjunction with Reward Flight Saver. For example, a one-way British Airways business class award from Boston to London booked with Reward Flight Saver would cost you 80,000 Avios plus just $350 in taxes, fees, and carrier imposed surcharges.

While the number of Avios required is higher, you’re saving massively on surcharges. Best of all, with the British Airways Visa Card statement credit offer, you could save an additional $200 on that cost, bringing the redemption down to just $150 in taxes, fees, and surcharges.

So between Reward Flight Saver and the statement credit opportunity, you can fly British Airways across the Atlantic without spending much out of pocket.

Bottom line

The British Airways Visa Card offers up to $600 per calendar year in reward flight statement credits. This comes in the form of a $100-200 per ticket statement credit, depending on the cabin you’re booking. This can offer huge cost savings, and can be particularly attractive in conjunction with Reward Flight Saver.

This is only one of the many great benefits of the card, as it also offers an excellent welcome bonus, a 10% discount on British Airways flights, a companion voucher in conjunction with spending, and more.

If you’ve used the British Airways Visa reward flight statement credit, what was your experience like?