…..only to be told what I already knew (but forgot). That being that you can’t change an Avios award within 24 hours of departure. Better yet, the time on hold approximately equals the length of the flight I was calling about. If you saw my post yesterday, you know the basics of how and why I booked an award trip for a 250 mile flight. I did not share my reason for needing to be in North Carolina in the first place. MJonTravelMom is in the hospital. She is much improved, but it doesn’t look like she is going to be released from the hospital quite as rapidly as initially thought, so I need to stay an extra night or two. Of course, this revelation was unknown until less than 24 hours before my planned flight back home to DC.

You can’t change an Avios award online so I dialed up BA, and waited. Then I waited some more. And then some more waiting, and finally they answered. Award space is available on the flight I want, but I was quickly reminded that it is within 24 hours of departure so my flight cannot be changed, hospitalized parent or not, thank you very much. So…do I blow 4500 more Avios on another award, or just take a $200 dollar Southwest nonstop into BWI and Super Shuttle myself home? Time will tell. I haven’t made up my mind yet. At least we aren’t talking about losing an enormous wad of points here, but it still annoys me just a little. But in truth, do a few points really matter when you’re talking about MJonTravelMom or anyone being in the hospital? Not really. Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I found out late last night that I would need to travel to Raleigh (RDU) today. I priced various airline options and found fares ranging from $700 to $900 dollars roundtrip. I might pay that to fly somewhere, but certainly not for a 50 minute flight on an RJ from Washington, DC (DCA) to Raleigh. Yes, I have miles, but I just couldn’t bring myself to consider using miles for a 50 minute flight. I settled on Amtrak for $100 bucks, and booked the ticket this morning before 6am. I packed and dropped by my office to pick up my work laptop and tie up a few loose ends. While there, the thought of a 5 hour plus train ride began to weigh on me. Yes, I could spend that time getting some work done, but it really seemed to defeat the purpose of a last minute trip. I really needed to get to NC sooner rather than later.

I took a look at AA.com and sure enough, they had seats at the 12,500 mile one-way level for a flight leaving in 2 hours. Great! I immediately cancelled my train ticket, and started booking a mileage award ticket. I could figure out the return later. $2.50 and 12,500 miles and I was done. And then it hit me. What the heck was I thinking?!?!?! I could have transferred some Ultimate Rewards points earned through my Chase Sapphire Preferred card to my British Airways Avios account and booked an award on AA that way!!! Ugh! Oh well, life goes on, and things have turned out so well in NC that I can now think about making plans to get back home to DC.

This time, I searched for availability using ba.com. I found 2 flights that would work for me with award availability. 4,500 Avios and $2.50. You can’t shake a stick at that!! Heck, I could buy 5,000 Avios for under $200 dollars. Could it be that the real beauty of Avios and the British Airways Visa Signature Card from Chase is using it on short-haul flights in the USA? I know I’ve had readers comment to that affect, and read similar thoughts from other bloggers. This experience has made a believer out of me. Now, I’d probably still prefer to use Avios on a long-haul premium class trip, even with their fuel surcharges, but Avios may be an ideal solution to short-haul flights that are priced way to high. This settles the “do I get the Avios Visa or not” question for me.

Chase Sapphire Preferred℠ Card

British Airways Visa Signature Card®

Disclosure: If you apply for and receive a credit card through the links provided here, I will receive a referral bonus. I appreciate your readership whether you apply for a card through my links or not.

Got a minute? Good. Let’s chat. I told myself I wasn’t going to apply for the new 100,000 Avios British Airways Visa from Chase, but it’s starting to taunt me. I am not a prolific credit card “flipper” like a lot of my more motivated blogging brethren, but 100,000 Avios is 100,000 Avios. Actually, it’s 125,000 Avios since you earn 1.25 per dollar spent and you have to spend $20,000 dollars to get the full bonus. Of course, BA charges hefty fuel surcharges on its awards, but when you figure the price of a premium cabin ticket vs paying the fuel surcharge, it makes me feel a little better.

What is it about the card that is calling my name? It’s not so much the 100,000 Avios as it is the possibility of 250,000 (or more) Avios IF MrsMJonTravel and I both procured the card. Since there are 2 of us, we can pool our Avios in a household account, and given MrsMJonTravel’s penchant for shoes and my spendthrift habits, there’s a good chance we can not only hit the minimum spend for the 100,000 Avios each, but one of us might even be able to hit $30,000 and receive a companion ticket that the card offers as well. However, that would require our dedicating all spending to this card…..and that’s the only thing holding me back right now….. but maybe not for long.

LINK: The British Airways Visa with Up to 100,000 Avios Bonus

Disclosure: If you apply for and receive the BA Visa through the link I provided, I will receive a referral bonus. I appreciate your readership whether you apply through my link or not.

OK…. It’s time. If you’ve got a little money to spend, and are interested in flying premium classes of service across the pond or even getting 4 American Airlines domestic coach class tickets for free, it’s time to apply for the Chase British Airways Visa. I’ve told my wife, my mother, my in-laws, my cousins, my friends, and anyone else I come across to get this card!!!! I previously posted about what a fabulous deal I think this is. And I haven’t even talked about the benefits of pooling your Avios together in a household account.

• You will get 50,000 bonus Avios after your first purchase
• 25,000 bonus Avios after you make $10,000 in purchases within the first year of account opening
• Plus an additional 25,000 bonus Avios after you make an additional $10,000 in purchases within the first year of account opening
• That’s enough Avios for one roundtrip business class reward ticket
• New: Smart Chip Technology allows you to use your card for chip based purchases in Europe & beyond, while still giving you the ability to use your card as you do today at home.
• Pay no foreign transaction fees when you travel abroad
• In addition to the bonus, you will also get 2.5 Avios for every $1 spent on British Airways purchases and 1.25 Avios for every $1 spent on all other purchases
• Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa card, you’ll earn a Travel Together Ticket good for two years

Apply here for this great offer.

BA does charge some hefty fuel surcharges for its awards, but their above average (at least when I’ve searched for it) premium class award availability combined with the fact that you can use their miles on Oneworld partners like Cathay, Qantas, and yes, even American, really make this card a compelling product for your travel wallet. That said, I must acknowledge that prior offers have been more generous than this as $20,000 dollars in spend is required to get the full bonus. On the other hand, I’m not sure how many miles or points we can reasonably expect to be given away. No matter what, this is a decent deal. It’s so decent that I’m going to do something no one else will do. Don’t trust me, or my affiliate links? Go here and apply for the same offer (not my affiliate link) directly with Chase. Yes, I’m that serious about your taking advantage of this opportunity.

Disclosure: If you apply for and receive a card through the links I’ve provided, I do receive a referral bonus except as noted as not my affiliate link. Of course, I’m very appreciative if you use my link to apply, but that’s by no means required. I appreciate your readership no matter what.

Sitting here on the front porch in NW DC pondering the day ahead over coffee and my MacBook Air. Of course, I’m flying out this afternoon for Ohio, but other than that, I’ve been perusing the blogs and message boards for information. The big news of the 50,000 point Amex Business Platinum was only good for one day (yesterday), but the bigger news was the reemergence of the 100,000 Avios British Airways Visa (now my affiliate link!) (Hat tip to Gary) 100,000 Avios is pretty snazzy, biz class across the pond anyone? Unless I change my mind, I won’t play this time. I’m pretty much loaded up with all the credit cards I can manage for the moment. But if you are in a good spot with your credit and spending, you should consider this offer.

You will have to do some work for it. You get 50,000 Avios with your first purchase, then 25,000 for the next $10,000 in purchases and the final 25,000 with the following $10,000 in purchases. In other words, you have to spend $20 grand in a year to get the full 100,000 Avios. The card does have some extra bennies that make it worth considering. Companion certificate, chip technology for spending abroad, and no foreign transaction fees. I could make the spend if I tried, but I just did a Citi AAdvantage application and am working on meeting the minimum spend for that card now. Not to mention I really want to hit $25K in spending on my US Airways MasterCard this year for the 10,000 preferred qualifying mile benefit. Living 15 minutes away from US Airways’ large operation at Reagan National (DCA), it’s just too handy to have US status, and anything I can do to keep it and build on it, I will. All this coupled with most of my dining/travel expenses being charged to my Sapphire Preferred card, and there’s only so much money I can throw around.  But that’s just me. If you’ve got the spending capability, I’d jump on this BA offer right now. You never know how long it will be out there.

In cruising news, Royal Caribbean has a pretty good deal available for a limited time. If you book by April 15, you can book a European cruise AND air fare starting at $1,349 dollars per person. Seriously, if I didn’t have a big vacation commitment this fall, I’d be on this one. As you know, I think cruising represents an amazing vacation value, especially in Europe. See fantastic sights, but use the ship for your “hotel and restaurant.” Cruising can also be a great way to sample the fabulous Mediterranean and Europe to give you an idea of where you might want to take your next land-based vacation.

Well, that’s all for my Saturday morning musings. Time to get ready for the airport. Next post will be from the Southwest Airlines elite lounge at BWI aka the Vino Volo with a cheese plate and wine.

Disclosure: The credit card links in this post are not my affiliate links and I do not receive any kind of referral bonus if you apply for and receive the card products mentioned. These simply represent the best available offers that I am aware of for the card. Updated on 4/11/12 to note that the BA Visa offer is now my affiliate link. It is the best offer available to my knowlege.

Believe me, my reaction was probably the same as everyone else’s when I glaced at the WSJ headline about Delta sniffing out the idea of a business deal for AA. “HUH?!” I’m not surprised that Delta, US Airways, and any other equity investment firms are doing their homework on the possibility of buying AA. Any smart businessperson should be looking at all possible scenarios, and my complaints about SkyMiles aside, I think Delta’s executives are among the smartest in the business.

That said, there are a lot of air miles between today and any kind of acquisition of AA by Delta or anyone else. Management has yet to present its own plan of reorganization which it has an exclusive right to do for several months. Then there’s the not so small issue of a Delta purchase of AA’s impact on the Oneworld alliance. The downlow on that – I don’t think there’s a snowball’s chance in hades that British Airways doesn’t find a way to keep AA independent and part of Oneworld as opposed to letting Delta buy the assets they can with the rest being parted out to other airlines. Long story short, no AA, no Oneworld, and I just don’t see it happening.

It’s going to be one heck of an interesting 2012.

Register in advance using promo code EUR11, and earn some serious bonus miles for premium class trans-Atlantic travel on American as well as Oneworld partners BA and Iberia. Earn 25,000 bonus miles for your first trip booked in purchased First, Business, or full fare Economy (Y, B, or H). Earn 35,000 miles for the second roundtrip, and 45,000 for the third roundtrip. That’s a total of 105,000 bonus miles after 3 roundtrips. Earn 45,000 bonus miles for each additional roundtrip flown during the promotion period. Register first, and travel between September 19, and December 31, 2011. Catch more details from AA here.

Makes me wonder what advance bookings for premium travel are looking like this fall and early winter?

Hat tip to AAdvantageGeek.

Certainly not under current law, but what about someday? This little snippet from The New York Times sure was interesting. What do you think? Let’s generate some discussion!

Seriously, jump on this.  And get your spouse/SO to apply too.  I don’t know what I’ve been thinking (or not).  (Hat tip to Gary)

You can win 1 million BA miles.  Love the joint contest with BA and AA.

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had people mention to me about how they fly American a little and Delta a little….and occasionally they have to go to Seattle or somewhere on the west coast a little and then look me in the eye and say, no mileage program is ideal.  I always respond with the same question, “have you thought about Alaska Mileage Plan?”  Usually, I get strange looks, or in the case of one close family member…..a look of “are you stupid?”

Well, the answer to that question, like all questions is…opinions vary.  That said, I’m right about this one.  I never cease to be amazed by the number of people who refuse to think ever so slightly out of the box when it comes to mileage earning.  Alaska’s Mileage Plan has a list of partners that is nothing short of impressive.  Become a member of Mileage Plan and earn miles on American, Delta, British Airways, Air France, and several more.  Better yet, burn those miles on the same partners.  And of course, Alaska has a pretty nice network on the west coast all on its own.

I have to admit, the Alaska Mileage Plan option is something I think about often.  I haven’t been able to justify a move from Delta and American into Mileage Plan just yet, but this is certainly something I think about every year….heck…..every day.  Right now, I fly Delta enough to justify crediting to SkyMiles to earn elite benefits with Dela.  I’m not sure that will last forever.  Alaska Mileage Plan is a viable option for many travelers, probably many more than are even aware that its a good option.  When you’re evaluating your options for mileage earning, don’t forget about Alaska Mileage Plan, no matter where you live.