Noob Q&A: A Little Weekend Credit Card Round-Up

Posted by Noob Master on Feb 24, 2013 in Noob Q&A, Uncategorized | 0 comments

Have a question? Don’t hesitate to email me. I don’t bite. Here are two questions more than a few readers have emailed me. Enjoy.

Q: Is the British Airways card going away?

I don’t know for sure, but British Airways emailed me (a long time ago) saying Feb. 27th would be the last day for the current offer. But, I can’t guarantee that it actually will be.

The British Airways offer is a pretty solid deal and one that Jordan has signed up for.  My app parties, however, have never lined up for me to be able to take advantage of the offer, but if they did…I sure as h#@$ would.

Jordan and I have used our Avios to fly to Chicago, Cancun, Miami, and many other places on the cheap, cheap. Sometimes I feel guilty about how cheap the domestic short haul trips can be.

We also have a flight booked to Dublin from Boston in business class that only cost us 25,000 Avios each. Stellar. I know Avios gets a bad rap from some people for the surcharges on long haul flights, but I’m a fan. And when the AA & US merger is complete, there should be more opportunities to use Avios on partner flights.

I’m also a huge fan of Avios because they are so easy to accumulate. British Airways is a transfer partner of Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards. Plus, there are usually a couple of transfer bonuses each year with Membership Rewards points.

And then there’s the credit card, which has a killer bonus, especially if you can meet the additional spending requirements. But we all know how easy minimum spending requirements have become.

Here are the details on the current offer if you’re looking to add a Chase card to your App Party, or just pop a quick application:

• 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 12 months of account opening
• Plus an additional 25,000 bonus Avios after you make an additional $10,000 in purchases also within the first 12 months of account opening
• Together, that’s enough Avios for one roundtrip business class award ticket
• 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
• 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
• Every year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa card, you’ll earn a Travel Together Ticket good for two years

Link: British Airways Visa Signature® Card (This offer is expired) 

Q: Are the Citi Hilton Reserve certificates good for category 1-10 properties?

Last week, Hilton announced that they were changing their award chart. Boo. Part of the new changes was the expansion form 7 hotel property categories to 10. This wasn’t cool for obvious reasons, but it also raised the question “what about the Citi Hilton Reserve certificates?” The 2 certificates that you receive after you met your minimum spend or $10k annual spending tier say they are good for category 1-7. Would Hilton screw us again and not let us use our certs on the higher level hotels moving forward?

Take a deep breath. Mommypoints confirmed that Hilton would be changing the terms on future certs and would be accepting them for all categories. So…nothing changes there, which is how it should be, but you never know.

The Citi Hilton Reserve card is still valuable and the 2 weekend certificates offer more stability than points after the devaluation, but I think the real advantage of the card is the Gold status that comes with holding it. Free breakfast, possible upgrade to club level room/lounge access, free wi-fi, and late check-out are all valuable perks IF you will be staying at Hiltons.

It’s also going to be harder to book-end your weekend certificates stays with point stays because of the devaluation. That’s something to consider as well.

My plan is to save my certificates for a rainy day, but I’m unsure if I will be keeping the Citi Reserve card for another year. If I do decide to cancel my Reserve card, I will definitely burn my certs before, so I can utilize my Gold status.

Link: Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Reserve Card

[Disclosure: I do receive a referral for the cards mentioned in this post. Only apply through my links if you're satisfied with the service I provide. Thanks for the support if you do!]

— Noob Master