More Reasons to Love the Barclays US Airways Credit Card

One of my favorite credit cards is the Barclays US Airways credit card (Flyertalk link), which is one reason why I’m considering adding (another) one to my next round of credit card applications.

The sign-up bonus is decent (most recently at 35k miles), but it’s great because it’s a bonus after first use, so there’s no minimum spend requirement. In addition, you get a 5k discount on redemptions solely on US Airways metal, which can make some of the off-peak redemptions ridiculously affordable (it’s sad that the off-peak Envoy class redemption to Europe is gone). And the credit card is churnable, albeit not as easily as in the past, but it’s definitely possible to get multiple versions of the same card without having to wait a year in between applications.

But what I really love about the Barclays US Airways credit card is the periodic promotions that they run. It’s relatively common for cardholders to get a promo of 15,000 bonus miles after spending $750 for each of three consecutive months, so it’s almost like the sign-up bonus is really 50k miles after spending $750 in each of three months. And people have just reported getting a targeted bonus for spending in certain categories for Q4.

Today, I received yet another promotional offer that’s quite generous: a 25% rebate on award redemptions made by November 30, 2013 for travel before March 31, 2014. Some people on Flyertalk are reporting receiving offers of rebates of 50%, which is downright crazy.

This means that a roundtrip business class award to North Asia is effectively only 67,500 miles, and if I were to buy all of those miles via the Share Miles promo, that means that I could essentially buy a roundtrip business class ticket to North Asia for only $750. This seems like an offer that’s too tempting to refuse.