Compare the Features and Benefits of British Airways Visa Signature Card and
Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business℠

On top of a generous sign up bonus, the British Airways credit card by Chase earns 3x Avios on British Airways, Iberia, LEVEL, and Aer Lingus and 2x Avios on hotel accommodations booked directly with the hotel. Avios can be shared between any Avios program, which also includes Qatar Airways (home of the QSuite) and you can redeem British Airways Avios for award tickets on oneworld airlines like American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Cathay Pacific, and more.

Award tickets on short-haul American Airlines are actually a major sweet spot of the British Airways Avios program with flights like New York to Miami in coach going for just 9,000 Avios and $5,60 in tax.

More importantly, you’ll receive 10% off all British Airways flights that originate in the United States. (Must book through a special website provided with your new card.)

And then, after your first year, you can earn a Travel Together Ticket (a.k.a. Companion Ticket), good for bringing a companion for just the taxes and fees when you redeem a reward flight for yourself, when you spend $30,000 in a calendar year. Don’t have a companion to bring? You can use it for half off the points of an Avios award flight instead.

Finally, you’ll also receive up to a $600 statement credit on bookings for Reward Flights as described above in Unique Card benefits.

If you fly British Airways frequently, this airline credit card is truly compelling.

Keep in mind, from a pure points earning perspective, that the Chase Sapphire Reserve also earns 4X Chase Ultimate Rewards points in airfare booked directly with an airline (and 8X if booked at Chase Travel℠) which can even be transferred to Avios if needed – as well as a range of other travel partners, like World of Hyatt which offers excellent and outsized value.

So if you are getting the card for the points alone, you may want to rethink it. If you are getting it for the benefits, your head is in the right place.

Keep in mind that British Airways Avios expire after 36 months of inactivity, though that won’t be a problem if you are spending on this credit card!

If you don’t primarily fly BA, you might want to look at other airline credit cards or bank cards with transferable points.

Note: Per Chase’s 5/24 Rule, you will only be approved for a Chase card like the British Airways Visa card if you have applied for fewer than 5 personal credit cards within the last 24 months from any issuer. (Business cards do not count against the total, except for Capital One Spark Cash Select and Spark Miles plus Discover, but are subject to the policy).

💳 This card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Chase often runs transfer bonuses where you can get even more points when you transfer to airline or hotel partners at designated times. Transfer bonuses are awesome. Get 20%, 30%, 40% or more bonus miles when you transfer points at the right times. But they are easy to miss!

You can see all past Transfer Bonuses from Chase Ultimate Rewards here.

Even better? Get notified when a new transfer bonus comes out and again before it ends (either or both, your choice). Sign up for free alerts right here. 🔔

The Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business is clearly marketed at very high spending businesses that value the benefits and statement credits on offer. That’s why it has a high spending pay-in-full limit that also has Flex for Business, a credit line which allows payments over time with interest.

If you need a less powerful but still amazing Chase Business credit card, you can still get the Chase Ink Business Preferred® card with just a $95 annual fee.

However, I want to highlight one underrated feature that sets this card apart for any business owner with a super high level of ad spend. I want to highlight that the card earns 3X points on social media and search engine advertising. Before you say “so does the Chase Ink Business Preferred® card!,” let me remind you that the Ink Preferred is capped at $150,000 a year on all 3X spend combined.

If you spend a million dollars a year (and I know many small growing businesses that spend in the millions on social media and search engine advertising), you are earning 3 million Chase Ultimate Rewards points which we value at 1.75 cents per point due to the power unlocked with their airline and hotel transfer partners. So using our valuation, $1MM in annual spend on this category is worth $52,500 a year in rewards value. Now to be clear that is an average value for your points, but this card has Points Boost where you can redeem at 2 cents a point for a variety of (always changing) luxury oriented air and hotel redemptions in the Chase Travel℠ portal. Used that way, $1MM in social media and search engine advertising is worth $60,000 in Points Boost travel.

That’s, well, insane…. and if you are a high spender in those categories, you’ll probably want this card now before I go further.

Let’s say that’s not your reason, though.

When you look at the features and benefits outlined above, it’s easy to see how this card provides great value for the right small business owner. The $300 annual travel credit is valid on any travel and is therefore extremely easily used. That brings it down to a level where you are looking at $95 more in value to break even or come out ahead – maybe way ahead. We firmly believe that high annual fees are simply an opportunity to see if you can get more value from the fees – with minimal effort – than you are paying. And the annual fee on a small business card should be a deductible expense for your business (not financial advice).

It’s hard to see not being able to get $100 from the bi-annual $50 credit for GiftCards.com, for example. Between that and the $300 travel credit, we are only looking to offset $395 more to make the annual fee worth it.

I’ll make it simple: look at the Unique Card Benefits section and Annual Statement credits sections above, add to that the lounge access for your and 2 guests, and see if you are ahead before breaking out a pen and paper. If so, this card is a match for you. If you really struggle to see what you’d use, then maybe not…

But don’t forget the bonus categories. In addition to the 3X on social media and search engine advertising purchases, you’re getting 4X on airfare and hotels booked directly. That’s the highest multiplier we know of for a business card when booking directly in these categories. And if you don’t mind booking via Chase Travel, then it’s even better with all travel earning 8X points.

Here’s a reminder on where you can transfer your Ultimate Rewards points besides redeeming via Chase Travel / Points Boost:

The bottom line is this card is packed with opportunities to absolute crush it in value whether through the bonus categories, card benefits, and statement credits. If this card is for you, you already know it.

Note that you cannot product change into this card from any other Chase card. You can only apply outright.

This card is also mentioned in the article Business Credit Cards That Don’t Report to Personal Credit Bureaus.