British Airways Visa Signature® Card review

Quick highlights

• Annual Fee: $95
• APR: 21.49% - 28.49% Variable
• Cash advance APR: 29.99 percent variable

As with many airline-specific rewards cards, the British Airways Visa Signature Card offers the most rewards for purchases made through the airline. Cardholders can 3X Avios on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL as well as 2X Avios on hotel rooms when purchased directly with the hotel and 1X Avios on all other purchases.

Keep in mind, you will be required to pay taxes, fees and carrier charges on this companion ticket, which may be costly depending on the flight. For example, economy travelers flying return from Los Angeles to London may have to pay around $651 in taxes and fees per adult for an economy ticket and around $1,985 per adult business class ticket. You have two years to use the Travel Together ticket once it’s issued.

The $95 annual fee seals the deal on this card being designed for frequent swipers. If you don’t use your credit card often, you can end up losing money on this card. Based on Bankrate's current reward valuation of 0.7 cents per Avios, you’d have to spend about $4,524 on British Airways purchases in the first year to earn enough rewards to recoup the annual fee. However, you could more than make up for the fee by using the card's other travel perks.

• International travelers won’t have to pay a foreign transaction fee.
• Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa Signature card, you will earn a Travel Together Ticket good for two years.
• Earn up to $600 in annual statement credits when you book a reward flight to London and pay the taxes, fees and charges with your card (up to three $200 credits each year for Business and First Class flights, or up to three $100 credits each year for Economy and Premium Economy flights).

Unless you mainly travel on British Airways, then there’s no real reason to get this card. It’s truly designed for the ardent British Airways flier, as they will get the maximum rewards for their purchases through the airline. The $95 annual fee means that you need to spend at least several hundred dollars per month on the card to get value; so if you’re traveling on British Airways often then you could end up with some valuable rewards come year’s end, such as a free companion ticket.

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The information about the British Airways Visa Signature® Credit Card has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.