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The Bank of America Asiana credit card hasn’t had an attractive bonus since September 2014. The intervening 2 years have seen limp 10,000 mile bonuses.
Doctor of Credit reports on a new 30,000 mile offer. Direct application link here (not an affiliate link).
The offer:
- Get 30,000 Bonus Miles after you make $3,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days of account opening
- 3 miles for every $1 spent on purchases with Asiana Airlines
- 2 miles for every $1 spent on gas and at grocery stores
- 1 mile for every $1 spent on all other purchases
- 10,000 Bonus Miles Certificate awarded annually [this is limited to awards on Asiana only and must be manually requested after ticket issuance]
- Automatic $100 annual rebate on Asiana Airlines ticket purchases
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
The annual fee is $99 and is NOT waived the first year.
Learning a new award program is a big deal, is it worth it for Asiana?
The upside:
- Bank of America is generous with card approvals
- Offer does not require booking Asiana flights as did the 2014 offer
- 2x earning at gas and grocery can juice earnings
- Asiana Club is a viable Star Alliance status (and lifetime status) option
- Asiana Family Mileage Plan allows up to 5 household members to pool their miles
- Award chart is generous for mile prices
- Korean regulatory rules require generous advance notice of program changes
The downside:
- No idea how long this offer will stick around, though a good sign is that it is a public offer on the BofA website
- Business version of the card still only has 10,000 miles bonus, let’s watch for 30k
- Only US transfer partner is SPG
- High fuel surcharges on many awards
- Misleading routing rules: says up to 7 stopovers, reality is that may mean up to 8 segments on a ticket, each priced individually
To dig in further read View from the Wing’s The Hidden Value of the Asiana Award Chart and the Asiana American Express and 2014 update.
The new 2nd best Bank of America credit card?
The Alaska card is the first choice from BofA for many travelers. Since BofA often will approve 2 cards on the same day, there is a continual search for second best. Usually that is Virgin Atlantic, a program that similarly has many awards with high cash surcharges, along with some good value awards. Asiana is now back as a contender.
Readers, what is your experience with Asiana Club?
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@john – sounds odd. Are the pulling the same credit report as the other banks? Maybe an issue on one of your reports? Since Capital One pulls all 3 that may explain that one. Capital One also doesn’t approve as easily if you have one of their cards, and not at all if you have 2. Do your open BofA accounts have high credit limits? That is most often the issue with them. You can call to reduce credit or why you apply, call in and offer to move credit. BofA monthly 2 personal + 1 business should be fine.… Read more »
what has been your experience with BOA approvals? Its been a few years since I got cards from them and this year I tried for an alaska personal card. They gave me the crappy one instead… I have two accounts open with them for many years. Anyway that really annoyed me and put me off going for more. Chase, Citi, and Amex keep giving me cards with high credit limits so what gives with BOA? Capital one is the same btw, I applied for a card and got denied and I only have one card with them with like 1K… Read more »
[…] carrier as well. I am not an expert in this program, but Rapid Travel Chai does a good job of listing the pros and cons. There are some quirks but some sweet spots as […]
very funny for a credit card review.