It will certainly be interesting to see how this plays out. I'd considered both the Virgin and Alaska cards after the announcement of the merger, but after flying VA out of Boston that changed my mind quickly (gates for both airlines are in a section of a terminal completely apart from the rest of the terminal with their own security and extremely limited facilities - flying with small children makes going through security multiple times to make use of lounges impractical). We know Comenity and BOA have very different underwriting requirements (although both were the first to give me credit lines above the $15k mark), so it would be surprising to me to see the cards switched directly to Alaska cards. There's also the issue of differing annual fees between the 2 VA cards and the Alaska card. Also, the Alaska card typically has a much lower APR, right? Last I checked, the low end of Alaska was in the 12s and the high end was under 20. VA cards were 3-tiered with two of the tiers being higher than the highest BOA charges for the Alaska card.
Irish, if they do end up just doing a straight conversion at least you would have some options with your personal card and the converted VA. Two annual low-cost companion tickets if you kept both, or you could combine them into a gigantic $45k line and pick and choose the best combo of account age and APR.
I wouldn't mind getting my VA card converted to an Alaskan card from BofA, but I'd want to be eligible for that initial spend bonus, or at the very least I wouldn't want to be locked out of that bonus if I try to get the card in the future. If they don't offer the bonus I think I'd just ask to have the VA card closed rather than converted.
@Anonymous wrote:K - it looks as if you don't have any airline co-branded cards in your profile. Seeing as though VX and AS don't have a significant presence in Boston, just curious why you considered them over say, JetBlue or Delta?
Amazing that with that many cards and only a few being store cards that I am completely missing a major category of cards, right? I was considering them for the sign-up bonuses, ability to then get the Elevate to Alaska transfer bonus on top of that, and the ability to then use all of the Alaska Miles to fly on another airline to be honest. As it is, I can't really justify it to myself to grab an airline card from an airline I would likely never fly (again), but I think a lot of people do have the Alaska card to fly on other airlines. If I were on the west coast they'd be more of an option. I would say I fly Southwest domestic 75% of the time but I'm over 5/24 so no chance for the Chase Southwest cards; certainly an option for later. As it is now, I consider my 5x MR-earning AmEx Platinum to be my primary "airline" card. For international travel, I tend to pick the lowest cost airline that doesn't require a ridiculously long layover (or better yet nonstop), so something like the BA or Delta may or may not make sense. I'm sure I'm doing it wrong, but we (family of 4) usually only fly 1-2 times a year and drive 1-2 times a year for vacations, so I have prioritized SPG/Marriott for the time being.