British Airways and Chase are offering a 10% discount to British Airways Visa Signature cardholders on every British Airways round-trip flight booked through ba.com/Chase10 when you use your British Airways Visa Signature card with promotion code: CARDOFFERU. Flights must be booked with outbound travel commencing from now through December 31, 2013 and travel must originate in the US.

• Discount is off the total cost of the fare (including taxes, fees, and carrier charges).
• Choose from any of British Airways 300+ destinations.
• Travel in any cabin — World Traveller, World Traveller Plus, Club World or First.
• Book up to eight friends and family members travelling on the same flight.

T&Cs
Valid only for new bookings made by US residents paying in USD with a valid British Airways Visa Signature card issued by Chase, for travel commencing from the US to London and beyond. Cardholder must travel to qualify for the 10% discount. To take part in this promotion, eligible participants must log in at www.ba.com/Chase10, make a roundtrip booking between December 11, 2012 and December 31, 2013, and enter the promotion code provided in this offer into the marked box on the Price Quote page of the booking process. Offer is non-transferable and cannot be combined with any other offer. Outbound travel must commence by December 31, 2013. 10% discount will appear on the final payment page. Discount is valid on the total roundtrip purchase price, including taxes, fees and carrier charges, on mainline flights operated by British Airways. Discount is not valid for flights on code share or franchise carriers. 10% discount on British Airways flights is valid for flight purchase only and does not apply to excess baggage fees, seat assignment fees, purchasing Avios for rewards or rewards fees. Roundtrip open jaw bookings are eligible for only one discount. Example of open jaw booking: outbound JFK to LON and return PAR to JFK. All rules of purchased fare apply, including advance purchase, minimum stay, weekend-add-ons, and cancellation/refund rules. Other travel related restrictions may apply. Valid only for new bookings made by US residents paying in USD with a valid British Airways Visa card issued by Chase, for travel commencing from the US to London and beyond. Cardholder must travel to qualify for the 10% discount. Discount applies for up to eight passengers booked on the same British Airways flight. Refunds from previously purchased fare types not permitted. In the event of program fraud or abuse, British Airways may withdraw this promotion.

Chase British Airways Visa Signature® Card

The 100,000 British Airways card offer may be over but the current 50k offerhas a much simpler spending requirement of only $1000 within three months. Why should you take advantage of this offer if you live in the US and you know of BA’s ridiculous fuel surcharges? I recently went to Barbados round-trip on American for only $47.50 in taxes and 12,500 Avios points each way (instead of 17,500 AA miles).  BA offers amazing redemption opportunities on short-haul flights and points can be used for cheap awards on American Airlines award redemptions within North America, the Caribbean, and Hawaii. There are even some good long-haul opportunities that avoid the outrageous taxes and fees that BA has become known for.  Check out this post for the short haul opportunitiesand this post with the long haul opportunities. Also, remember that BA allows household accounts where up to 7 members residing at the same address can combine and pool their points together. There is a $95 annual fee for the card that is not waived for the first year.

• You will get 50,000 bonus Avios after you make $1,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
• Plus pay no foreign transaction fees when you travel abroad
• 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
• Chip with Signature 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

The first fully painted British Airways A380 made her debut earlier this week and she’s looking great!

Courtesy TheHUBRoutes

Courtesy TheHUBRoutes

The BA A380s will fly between London Heathrow, Los Angeles and Hong Kong with the following tentative schedules:

Video tour here:

Yes, it’s a lot of bonus miles, unfortunately to qualify you’ll need to fly full fare economy or business/first to qualify (“discounted” H also qualifies but is hardly cheap) . Here are the details of the promo:

You can earn 200,000 American Airlines AAdvantage^® bonus miles when you fly round‑trip to Europe on American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia or OpenSkies. From New York City (JFK or Newark), you can choose from up to 15 nonstop flights a day on American Airlines or British Airways to London — with options to fly to London Heathrow Airport and London City Airport. You can also fly nonstop on American Airlines to Barcelona, Manchester, Milan, and Paris; on Iberia to Madrid; and on OpenSkies to Paris Orly. Each round trip you’ll receive 20,000 bonus miles and on your fifth round-trip you’ll receive 100,000 additional bonus miles. Simply register prior to travel using promotion code EURAA, purchase a qualifying First Class, Business Class or select Economy Class fare ticket* and complete travel by May 31, 2013.

Now to only find some reasonable transatlantic fares!

Includes First Class and Business Class fares booked in F, A, J, R, D or I; Economy Class fares booked in Y, B or H on American Airlines operated flights; First Class or Club World fares booked in F, A, J, R, C, D or I; World Traveller Plus or full fare World Traveller booked in W, E, T, Y, B or H on British Airways operated flights; Business Class fares booked in J, C, D, R or I; Economy Class fares booked in Y on Iberia operated flights; OpenSkies Prem Plus (booking classes W, E, T, Z, A), OpenSkies Eco booked in Y, B, H.

Here are some new codes I’ve been meaning to post all week including discounts on British Airways and Frontier flights, S$40 to spend any way you like in each direction during a layover in Singapore, and Alitalia sign-up bonus miles.

British Airways – BA has teamed up with Visa to offer $65 off World Traveller (economy cabin) and $130 off World Traveller Plus (premium economy cabin) when you book a round-trip flight from March 15 and April 30, 2013 for departures between March 26 and June 26, 2013. This offer is available for British Airways operated round-trip flights from select U.S. gateways to or via London. Economy class Iberia or Open Skies operated round-trip transatlantic flights from select U.S. gateways to Europe that are booked and purchased through this dedicated link are also included (much lower fuel surcharges than transiting via London). Use this link to access the coupon.

Frontier – Frontier is offering 5% off your next flight purchase (one-way is OK) using promo code SPRING5 when you buy by March 18th and fly by June 8th. The promo can be combined with their special green sale going on right now. Green Sale details here.

Singapore Airport Changi Transit Program - Receive a S$40 Changi Dollar Voucher when you transit through Singapore through June 30th. You must have inbound and outbound flights on Singapore Airlines or SilkAir (with the 13-digit e-ticket receipt number beginning with 618 or 629). The vouchers are valid for one-time use at all retail, food and service outlets located at the transit and public areas of Terminals 1, 2 and 3, excluding outlets in the Arrival Baggage Claim Halls. They can also be redeemed for one-time access to the Ambassador Transit Lounge at Terminals 2 and 3 for up to six hours. The offer is only valid for tickets issued October 1, 2012 – June 30, 2013. The S$40 Changi Dollar voucher is valid all the way until March 31, 2014. You will receive a voucher for each leg of your trip (outgoing and return) and multiple vouchers can be combined for payment. There are only a select number of vouchers so the offer is open until they run out. Full details and t&cs here.

Alitalia – Register with the MilleMiglia program between March 8th and March 30th 2013 and receive a bonus of 2,000 miles following registration, 2,000 additional miles for taking a flight by April 30th, and an additional 2,000 miles for any further transaction where you earn miles in the MilleMiglia program. Full details and registration here.

Virgin America – Don’t forget the Virgin America 20% off Outlook promo from the post earlier this week.

In what might be the latest sign that TAM is prepping for a switch over to oneworld, TAM announced via their Facebook page that they are moving in with AA (and LAN) at JFK Terminal 8. They’ll join American, American Eagle, Air Berlin, Finnair, Jet Airways, LAN, and Qatar who already run their operations from T8. In other exciting T8 news, British Airways flight 116 (B777) to London will depart from T8 from March 4- 30, while BA executes a redevelopment plan over at T7. American has announced several times over the past few years that they are “exploring co-locating British Airways at JFK Terminal 8 for easier passenger connections to oneworld partners”. However, I wouldn’t expect any move until 2015 at the earliest, which is when BA’s lease on T7 expires. AA would also need to get approval and complete the original build-out plans for T8 in order to accommodate BA.

As I’ve mentioned before, BA Avios are of great value for their short haul redemption options. I was able to avoid the pending blizzard and escape to the Caribbean last minute using an AAdvantage MileSAAver award booked via British Airways Avios. The total cost was $47.50 in taxes and only 12,500 Avios points (instead of 17,500 AA miles) each way.

Remember, flights must have MileSAAver availability in order to be bookable for Avios redemptions. You can easily check award availability at AA.com before heading over to BA’s website for purchasing.

Check out the great JFK sunrise before the storm…

If you’re a corporate traveler and your company happens to book you into one of the semi-flexible Club World rates, you may be eligible for a first class upgrade when booking your ticket by January 29th for travel through March 22, 2013. Roundtrip flights booked in C, D, or R class are eligible and you must be a UK or Ireland resident to qualify (though one reader reports success after temporarily changing his address to his company’s London address). If you book the even more expensive fully-flexible J, you are eligible for the upgrade when booking all the way through March 22, 2013 for travel until April 14, 2013. Both offers are subject to availability. The upgrade offer is not eligible for bookings on BA’s website, all reservations must be made via a travel agent or by calling BA directly. Click here for full details. 

Terms and conditions - First class facilities listed may not be available on all our aircraft. This promotion is only open to Eligible Participants. An Eligible Participant is a person resident in the United Kingdom and/or Ireland aged 18 years or over who books and travels on a Qualifying Flight. BA reserves the right to verify the eligibility of Eligible Participants. A Qualifying Flight: (i) is a published fully or semi flexible return fare in Club World on a BA mainline service departing from the UK; and (ii) must comprise of one sector in A class and another sector in either C, D (semi-flexible) or J (fully flexible) class (or on selected semi-flexible R class routes), and only on certain fare basis codes (see full terms and conditions on ba.com). The promotion does not apply to R class booking on certain routes. See full terms and conditions. Travel in C, D and eligible R classes must be booked between 7 January 2013 – 29 January 2013 and outbound travel must take place between 7 January 2013 – 22 March 2013. Travel in J class must be booked between 7 January 2013 – 22 March 2013 and outbound travel must take place between 7 January 2013 – 22 March 2013. For all fare classes, inbound travel must take place by 14 April 2013. Flights on BA’s franchisees or Oneworld alliance members are excluded with the exception of certain American Airlines and Qantas operated flights. Eligible Participants must request the upgrade at the time of booking. The upgrade is subject to redemption capacity in the First cabin on your chosen flight. All Qualifying Flights must be purchased and ticketed in UK&I and started and finished in the UK. This offer cannot be used for bookings on ba.com; bookings with this offer must be made with a travel agent or by contacting BA on 0844 493 0787.

Frequent Business Traveler yesterday covered Air Berlin’s announcement of their new business class A330 long-haul product. Air Berlin, 29% owned by Etihad Airways, confirmed rumors that they are indeed installing the same seat used in Etihad’s business class cabins, a fully-flat direct-aisle access product. Check out the Frequent Business Traveler article for full details.

Some what did my favorite loyalty programs get me for my birthday this year??

Lufthansa’s Miles & More
Miles & More sent me a greeting with a link to a birthday puzzle.  Upon completion of the puzzle, I was emailed a link to apply for a Regus Businessworld Gold Card with unrestricted access to all 1,100 Regus business lounges and cafés worldwide, with free Internet access and complimentary tea and coffee. The card is valid for 12 months free of charge (usual price: €39/month), after which it will automatically expire if the contract is not renewed.   Not something I would normally purchase on my own, but definitely a nice gesture with some pretty cool locations in New York, including one in the Chrysler Building.

Delta SkyMiles
I received an email with an offer for Delta Vacations savings. We’d like to thank you for being a valued Delta SkyMiles member by helping you make the most of your birthday. When you book a Delta Vacations getaway you will save $100 on vacations of $599-$4,999 or $250 on vacations of $5,000 or more. This was actually a pretty big letdown considering last year I received 2500 SkyMiles and $100 off a vacation package:

Meliá Mas Rewards
I received an email with a great offer from Meliá, including two free nights for the price of 1 and a free bottle of wine upon arrival

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
I received an email from Alaska Airlines with the following discount: Surprise! We remembered your birthday is coming up. To help celebrate we’re giving you 10 percent off your next flight. So treat yourself to a well-deserved getaway for your birthday.

It was my co-worker Nate’s birthday a day later and he received these offers as well…

British Airways Avios
25% off any club world fare, only valid for flights during your birthday month.

Alamo Rent A Car
In honor of your special day, get a Free Day on your next rental. We hope it kicks off the festivities right.

There’s no guarantee that signing up for each program will ensure you receive the same offers, but it might be worth checking your marketing preferences with each program if you do wish to receive similar offers.  Though, a better present for some may be no emails at all!

Chase has once again resurrected the lucrative 100,000 mile sign-up bonus offer for the British Airways Visa Signature Card.  Unfortunately, the spending requirements are the same as the previous promotion, which are significantly steeper than the previous 2011 offer.

• You will get 50,000 bonus Avios after you make $1,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
• 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 also within the first year of account opening

However, there is still great value to be had with this offer, especially for short haul domestic travelers who would normally feel guilty redeeming their miles for such trips, international business travelers looking to take a weekend trip from their foreign based work location, international leisure travelers seeking to add another leg to their trip, and North American travelers looking to score a  getaway to the Caribbean or Hawaii.

The Short Haul Guilty Redeemers - One of the most common pieces of advice I give to friends, family, and Juicy Miles clients is to never waste their miles on short haul domestic trips.  Except for rare last minute travel, the value proposition in redeeming for short haul trips is normally appalling.  In full disclosure, I only redeem my personal miles for business or first class international travel, usually on airlines I normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to travel on.  I also redeem my miles for family vacations every holiday season to the Caribbean.  While this may appear to be a contradiction, 35,000 AAdvantage miles to the Caribbean is a great value when taking into account roundtrip flight prices during winter break.  With the Avios distance based redemptions, short-haul travelers no longer need to feel guilty when redeeming points for domestic itineraries.

New York – Miami
Cost using American AAdvantage MileSAAver Award -> 25,000 roundtrip
Cost when booked with BA Avios -> 15,000 roundtrip

Dallas – Cancun, Mexico
Cost using American AAdvantage MileSAAver Award -> 35,000 roundtrip
Cost when booked with BA Avios -> 15,000 roundtrip

New York – Toronto
Cost using American AAdvantage MileSAAver Award -> 25,000 roundtrip
Cost when booked with BA Avios -> 9,000 roundtrip

Avios required can be calculated on BA’s website using their easy to use calculator.  Remember that while the distance-based system makes short-haul trips more reasonable, it has increased the points required on several medium and long-haul routes.  More on ways around this below.

Weekend Trips and Add-Ons for International Travelers
Business Travelers - Another great use of Avios is for last minute travel when working abroad.  Let’s say you are working in London and want to explore another location in Europe for the weekend.  You may have no idea if you can take that weekend trip until late Thursday night and by that time even the discount airlines like Ryanair and EasyJet have outrageous prices.  The same goes for leisure travelers who need to book last minute travel when low fares have all but disappeared. I’ve been able to book several short hop trips from work locations to destinations all over Europe using the distance based awards we discussed above.  Some recent bookings include:

London, UK – Nice, France
Cost when booked with BA Avios -> 4,500 – 9,000 roundtrip (depending on how much tax you want to pay).

Helsinki, Finland – Moscow, Russia
Cost when booked with BA Avios -> 9,000 roundtrip

Madrid, Spain – Marrakech, Morocco
Cost when booked with BA Avios -> 15,000 roundtrip

Leisure Travelers - Leisure travelers can use the same approach if they decide last minute that they want to tack on an additional trip to their itinerary.  Consider:

Quito, Ecuador – Lima, Peru

Cost when booked with BA Avios -> 15,000 roundtrip

Sydney, Australia – Melbourne, Australia
Cost when booked with BA Avios -> 9,000 roundtrip

Of course, it’s important for both business and leisure travelers to review the prices for all airlines, including the discount carriers on the route prior to utilizing these short-hop awards. ITA & Skyscanner(includes discount airlines in Europe and Asia) are great sites for comparison shopping both inside and outside the US.

Hawaii & The Caribbean
For those of you on the West Coast, Avios offers some great redemption options to Hawaii:

Los Angeles – Kahului/Maui, Kona, or Honolulu
Cost using AAdvantage MileSAAver Award -> 45,000 (peak) and 35,000 (off peak)
Cost when booked with BA Avios -> 25,000 roundtrip

New York – St. Thomas, Antigua, St. Kitts, San Juan, or Turks & Caicos
Cost using AAdvantage MileSAAver Award -> 35,000 (peak) and 25,000 (off peak)
Cost when booked with BA Avios -> 20,000 roundtrip
 

Long Haul Redeemers - Given BA’s outrageous surcharges on flights to Europe, redemptions from North America to South America are a great value with no fuel surcharges on any LAN or American operated flights.

JFK – EZE (Buenos Aires, Argentina) or GRU (Sao Paulo, Brazil) or GIG (Rio, Brazil) on American-> 25,000 each way in coach (2X in Business and 3X in first) and $23.70 in charges.

JFK – LIM (Lima, Peru) on LAN -> 20,000 each way in coach (2X in Business and 3X in first) and $45.70 in charges

JFK – SCL (Santiago, Chile) on LAN -> 25,000 each way in coach (2X in Business and 3X in first) and $23.70 in charges

Another decent value proposition are Cathay and JAL awards to Asia.  On these redemptions it’s important to keep in mind that  AA awards normally require fewer miles on these routes and BA charges surcharges on both carriers.

YVR – HKG (Hong Kong) on Cathay -> 30,000 each way in coach or 60,000 in Business and $186.39 in charges

These same one-way flights on the exact date were $5130 in Business and $2989 in Coach.  If purchasing round-trip flights the itinerary is $8297 in Business and $5960 in Coach.

YVR – NRT (Tokyo, Japan) on JAL -> 25,000 each way in coach or 50,000 in Business and $337.29 in charges 

These same one-way flights on the exact date are $4989 in Business and $1029 in Coach.  If purchasing round-trip flights the itinerary was $5067 in Business and $1649 in Coach. While neither the HKG or NRT option are the best use of your points, they do present a significant savings if you were to outright purchase a business class fare. It’s also important to set a value for the BA Avios points you’ve received from the offer, keeping in mind that for 100k points you are charged the $95 annual fee (not waived) and are required to meet the minimum spend.

Now, one of the most popular award requests is for flights to Europe in the spring / summer. BA charges isnane fuel surchages so they are out of the equation. However, you can use your Avios for travel on Aer Lingus with minimum surcharges and fees. Using the distance based award chart, a flight from Boston to Dublin or Shannon costs 25,000 miles in coach or 50,000 miles in business — yes, that is North America to Europe for 25k! You can find availability easily by searching on United’s website (very good in coach and decent in business).

As mentioned above, BA is painfully expensive when redeeming for European travel, but when you take into account the prices in spring / summer, the business class redemptions aren’t so horrible…

BOS – VCE (Venice, Italy) flying on BA or Iberia -> 55,000 each way in business + $439.48 or 27,500 each way in Coach and $290.67 in charges

These same ROUND-TRIP flights on the exact same mid summer dates are $3780 in Business and $1366 in Coach.  At the one way prices above, you’d be using your miles AND paying $878.96 in Business and $581.34 for Coach.  A savings of $2901.04 in Business but only $784.66 in Coach. Yes, you are spending $878 for a ticket but the same ticket would cost almost $4000 on these dates.

To conclude, I’ll continue to use my Avios points for the short hops to the Caribbean and Hawaii as well as to South America (and potentially Asia).  However, when redeeming for business tickets on select routes or with Aer Lingus, you can certainly make a European trip next summer work for you.

NYC Dining Credits – MY FAVORITE NON MILEAGE PERK OF THE CARD!
If you are in the NYC area there is another great reason to get the card, the MICHELIN $100 back dining offer.  Essentially, you can use the card at any NYC MICHELIN star-rated restaurant during select promos and receive a $50 credit after you dine once and another $50 statement credit upon your second use as long as your bill is $50 or more.  I took advantage of this offer in 2011 and 2012.  If the offer returns in 2013, it completely offsets the $95 annual fee for the card.  You can also book your tables online at opentable.com to earn those points as well.

Free Companion Ticket
Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa Signature card (think Visa Vanilla / Paypal purchases), you will earn a Travel Together Ticket good for two years when you redeem for a flight on British Airways. For more details, check out this link.

The Card Specifics

• You will get 50,000 bonus Avios after $1,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
• 25,000 bonus Avios after $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 also within the first year of account opening.²
• The card includes smart chip technology and no foreign transaction fees (something I’ve taken full advantage of).
• You earn 2.5 Avios for every $1 spent on British Airways purchases, and 1.25 Avios for every $1 spent on all other purchases.
• The card comes with Visa Signature benefits including extended warranty coverage and purchase protection.
• The annual fee is not waived and is $95

In my opinion, though the spending is high and the $95 fee is not waived, the card is still a great value. You can check out the full details for the limited time offer here.

Hilton HHonors is offering new members a special BA Avios bonus after just one stay at any of their properties before the end of 2013. The bonus increases based on your BA status – 1,000 Avios for Blue members, 1,500 for Bronze, 2,000 for Silver and 3,000 for Gold members.  Remember, one-way short-haul awards on BA are priced as low as 4,500 one-way.  Check here for some of the best BA short-haul award options.  The bonus Avios offer is valid for eligible stays completed after registration, at participating hotels between 19th October 2012 and 31st December 2013. Only stays booked after registration will be eligible for bonus Avios.

HHonors members choosing Fixed miles award will earn 500 base Avios per stay and the appropriate bonus Avios based on their Executive Tier status at the time of the first stay. HHonors members choosing Variable miles award will earn one Avios per USD spent and the appropriate bonus Avios based on their Executive Tier status at the time of the first stay. Customers must be an HHonors member to earn bonus Avios. Hilton HHonors members must have their earning preference set to ‘Points & Miles’ and must have ‘British Airways’ as the preferred airline partner.  Members must allow 4-6 weeks for the Bonus Avios to reach their accounts.

Also, don’t forget about last week’s post on Hilton’s Q4 Promo where you can earn 1,000 bonus points per night for every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday night you stay from November 1 through December 31, 2012. There is no limit to the total amount of bonus points that may be earned during the promotion.