topic Re: best sign up bonus airlines credit card? in Credit Cards

best sign up bonus airlines credit card?

codesingh — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 13:57:21 GMT

Hello all,

I am looking for airlines credit card with the best sign up bonus. i have delta/amex and I know there is a good sign up bonus for southwest and us airways, with signup bonus of a free ticket. any othere do you know?

What is the best one to apply for wihch has a very generous initial sign up bonus?

Re: best sign up bonus airlines credit card?

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 14:13:18 GMT

There's a targeted United MileagePlus offer floating around that gives 50k miles after 1k spend in 3 mo. Not as good as a free flight, but definitely a large bonus, esp. now that the card is more attractive with no foreign transaction fees.

Re: best sign up bonus airlines credit card?

Open123 — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 14:19:38 GMT

Right now, there aren't many "great" deals compared to the past.

All or most of the Airlines have scaled back to 30K bonuses, which after the 50K and 100K bonuses they were offering seems trivial. UA, SW or US Air are all offering at or around 30K miles. Citi has withdrawn it's AA's 50K bonus. Or, you could wait until after the AA/US Air merger to see if (1) Citi retains the program; (2) and, if they'll offer a new promo to launch a new card for the airline.

Non airline miles, there's the 40K bonus on the Arrival. Or, the 40k on the CSP, which is you best bet if you don't have it.

Sadly, I think we've probably seen the end of the great sign up bonuses.

Re: best sign up bonus airlines credit card?

Open123 — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 14:20:28 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
There's a targeted United MileagePlus offer floating around that gives 50k miles after 1k spend in 3 mo. Not as good as a free flight, but definitely a large bonus, esp. now that the card is more attractive with no foreign transaction fees.

Is this the one where it pops up when you have some miles in your FF account? If so, I don't think this works anymore.

Re: best sign up bonus airlines credit card?

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 14:48:07 GMT

Yup that's the one. I was able to get it to work a couple weeks ago when I was approved for the card. I've also read on a few sites that you can secure message Chase and ask them to match the 50k targeted offer. YMMV

Re: best sign up bonus airlines credit card?

Open123 — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 14:49:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Yup that's the one. I was able to get it to work a couple weeks ago when I was approved for the card. I've also read on a few sites that you can secure message Chase and ask them to match the 50k targeted offer. YMMV

I wasn't able to get it to work. Though, that might be because I had applied and gotten the bonus a couple of years ago.

To the OP - Definitely try this first! This would be far and away the best miles sign up offer currently.

Re: best sign up bonus airlines credit card?

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 21:59:02 GMT

Barclays has Lufthansa airlines promo going on right now. 50k miles for 5k spend. It's a really good deal if the 5k spend isn't going to be a problem. Lufthansa is part of the star alliance so you can book united, ANA, SQ, Air NZ and many other flights using those miles as well.

Re: best sign up bonus airlines credit card?

Open123 — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 23:53:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Barclays has Lufthansa airlines promo going on right now. 50k miles for 5k spend. It's a really good deal if the 5k spend isn't going to be a problem. Lufthansa is part of the star alliance so you can book united, ANA, SQ, Air NZ and many other flights using those miles as well.

Thank's for the head's up! In this environment, an excellent deal.

Re: best sign up bonus airlines credit card?

scenery_guy — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:55:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Barclays has Lufthansa airlines promo going on right now. 50k miles for 5k spend. It's a really good deal if the 5k spend isn't going to be a problem. Lufthansa is part of the star alliance so you can book united, ANA, SQ, Air NZ and many other flights using those miles as well.

Lufthansa has the best first class service out there but it takes a few more miles than that to get a seat on points

Re: best sign up bonus airlines credit card?

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 04:15:32 GMT

This lufthansa promo is making me regret that I applied for the Arrival lol.

As much as I want it, Barclays is definitely not going to approve me :/

Re: best sign up bonus airlines credit card?

CreditScholar — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 06:43:53 GMT

@Open123 wrote:
Right now, there aren't many "great" deals compared to the past.

All or most of the Airlines have scaled back to 30K bonuses, which after the 50K and 100K bonuses they were offering seems trivial. UA, SW or US Air are all offering at or around 30K miles. Citi has withdrawn it's AA's 50K bonus. Or, you could wait until after the AA/US Air merger to see if (1) Citi retains the program; (2) and, if they'll offer a new promo to launch a new card for the airline.

Non airline miles, there's the 40K bonus on the Arrival. Or, the 40k on the CSP, which is you best bet if you don't have it.

Sadly, I think we've probably seen the end of the great sign up bonuses.

+1 in that there aren't many good signup bonuses currently. Most of them seem to be fairly standard, and definitely nothing like the 75-100k bonuses we've seen over the past couple of years.

However I wouldn't say it's the end perse, but perhaps the end of huge public bonuses. I think we'll end up with more lucrative targeted offers, so it's not the end for everyone.

Re: best sign up bonus airlines credit card?

HiLine — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 15:24:17 GMT

People have mentioned Chase United and Barclays Lufthansa. In addition, I know that the Amex Gold Delta gives you 45k miles and the Citi AA gives you 40k miles. The Chase British Airways offers 50k miles.

Re: best sign up bonus airlines credit card?

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 06:12:31 GMT

I currently have the US Air card (Barclay's).I signed up for it because upon sign-up I got 40,500 bonus miles (after you use it one time). You also get companion passes every year (Buy 1 ticket at full price and bring 1 or 2 people with you for $99). I also have Legacy Credit Card which gives me the same bonus on my purchases.