Inexperienced overseas travelers who did a good job booking cheap airplane tickets and discount hotel rooms are often surprised upon their return home to find out that their credit card company added a 3 percent surcharge for all purchases made overseas. Most U.S. issued credit cards charge a foreign transaction fee that typically ranges between 2 to 3 percent even on purchases made in dollars abroad.
Effective in November Chases British Airways (BA) Visa Signature Card is no longer charging its 3 percent fee on purchases made outside the U.S.
Although Chase asserts that its BA card is the first co-branded airline card to drop foreign transaction fees, two other travel-related Chase cards, Priority Club Select and Hyatt, also waive these fees. Chase is currently running an ad campaign that points out that airline miles are not worth as much as users have been lead to believe and Chase cards have additional advantages.
Currently Chase is giving new card members who sign up for a British Airways Visa up to 50,000 bonus British Airways miles, which is half what they offered people who signed up for the same card last fall. Still 50,000 BA miles is enough for a transatlantic flight, depending on frequent flier seat availability.
Travel experts have observed that the most valuable redemptions using BA miles are not for British Airways flights; instead they are for Oneworld Alliance partner awards with unlimited stopovers.
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