Question
Hi all,
I live in Pittsburgh so the USAir visa card makes sense for me. I already have the "Visa Classic" version and I'm considering upgrading to the "Visa Signature" version.
The only benefits I see are:
$75 discount on new US Airways Club membership
US Airways Club pass for one complimentary visit
10,000 miles towards Preferred Status when you purchase $25,000 or more in a year
Double miles on US Airways purchases
Two annual $99 companion certificates
Preferred Check-In and Boarding
Unlimited standby upgrades for purchase
Are these benefits worth the additional $40 a year? I got the 5000 bonus when I first signed up. Would I be eligible for the new 15000 bonus or have I already lost my sign-up bonus by taking the first one? How useful are the companion certificates? Can you use them online, or do you have to go to one of the USAir offices? How does the preferred check-in work? Are you classified as a preferred level come boarding time?
Any answers to any of these questions would be most appreciated! :)
Matthew
Answer
Well I cant speak for the rest for sure, but the priority checkin/boarding I can:
Priority checkin pretty much means you can goto the Business / First Class line to checkin and just flash the card (useful if its a long line and you're not a Preferred Member).
The Priority Boarding is the same thing. When they call "Preferred and First Class customers", you go into the line as well.
One of the immediate benefits to the sig card would be (if you fly before Aug 31) the triple Preferred Miles (see USAir forum) you can get for any USAir ticket. That what I plan on doing, and with the 15,000 Bonus miles (not sure if you're eligible.. you'd have to call or wait for another response on here), the fee makes up for itself in just miles alone.
Gagan
Answer
I got the 5000 bonus when I first signed up. Would I be eligible for the new 15000 bonus or have I already lost my sign-up bonus by taking the first one? How useful are the companion certificates?
I believe that you get the difference between the Sig sign up bonus (15,000 miles) and the miles you've already gotten (5,000 miles) when you upgrade, so you should get 10,000 miles posted to your account when you upgrade. You should probably ensure this by contacting US, or maybe someone who's upgraded will post as well.
Answer
Thanks for your comments... Does anybody else have any thoughts that they would like to offer?
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Seems that this is really a matter of whether the "perks" are worth it to you personally or not. We primarily travel on Delta, with two or three round trips per year on USAir. Figured I might as well make some miles at places that don't accept AMEX, but the preferred check in and boarding are worth the fee for me personally regardless. I will never fly USAir enough to make even the minimum elite status, so checking in in the short line and boarding with zone 2 makes my trips a bit less stressful (at least here at MSY the check in at most of the airlines tend to be a complete zoo).
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Just as fyi, I never received the free pass to the club. The check in lines are nice, but for me, not enough to justify the fee.
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well i am a usairways signature card holder, and let me tell you its well worth it! I did recieve everything promised, and if nothing else the new card is very stylish! Go for it, the $99 companion tickets are the best!
Answer
You also have many of the other perks upgraded - the insurance for instance is $100,000 on the classic card and $1,000,000 on the Signature. You also have no annual limit on the number of miles earned with the Signature card.
In the end it depends on how much you use the perks as to if it is worth the extra fee. Obviously you don't fly US enough to get elite status (if you have that the checkin and preboarding aspects of the sig card are useless because you already have them with elite status).
My site has a comparison table of all major FF cards including the USAir ones. See http://www.andrewcram.com/frequentflyerCC.html
Note also that USAirways/America West has signed a deal with Juniper Bank to issue the new US Airways Credit Cards for the merged airline from next year so your BofA card(s) will have to be cancelled or changed to another airline / program and a new Juniper card applied for if you want to keep earning Dividend Miles - of course you will get the full signup bonus from Juniper regardless of what you had previously gotten from BofA (and it is likely there will be special offers to current BofA cardholders to attract them to signup with Juniper).