Small sign-up bonus
You get 10,000 Asiana Club miles after your first purchase. This is very modest compared to most airline co-branded cards, which offer sign-up bonuses of 20,000 miles or more. On the bright side, at least it’s enough for a domestic round-trip flight in Korea.
The card does reward loyal cardholders for their ongoing membership. You receive a 10,000 mileage discount coupon every year for as long as you carry the card.
Excellent earning scheme
The Asiana Airlines card comes with one of the best earning schemes among airline cards. You get 3 miles for every dollar you spend on Asiana Airlines purchases, 2 miles per dollar on gas and groceries, and 1 mile for everything else. Gas and groceries are two very lucrative earning categories. Offering twice the miles on these types of purchases should enable most cardholders to build up a large amount of miles simply from using the card on an everyday basis.
Fair award rates and good availability
Asiana Club offers good rates and excellent availability on flights between the U.S. and Asia. Thanks to Asiana’s partnership with 26 Star Alliance airlines, Asiana miles not only get you to Korea and surrounding countries, but can be redeemed for rewards tickets to most major destinations, with excellent coverage around the globe. On the downside, flights with partner airlines can’t be booked through Asiana’s website. Instead, you have to call a reservations agent. But at least there’s no fee for phone reservations.
Asiana does add fuel surcharges to its award flights originating outside Korea, but they are relatively low – around $200 per round-trip flight between the U.S. and Korea.
Good airline perks
The card comes with a few good airline perks. The most valuable of these is the $100 annual rebate, which you receive after purchasing an Asiana Airlines ticket. The rebate will be credited to your credit card account within one to two billing cycles after the transaction.
You also receive two Asiana lounge passes at U.S. airports annually in the month of your anniversary date.
Low foreign-transaction fee
The Asiana Airlines American Express card adds a foreign-transaction fee, but it’s only 1 percent. However, if using a credit card abroad is important, keep in mind that unlike Visa and MasterCard, American Express doesn’t have a strong presence in many countries abroad.
Reasons to get it:
- You frequently fly on Asiana Airlines
- You value the lounge passes.
- You don’t care about the annual fee, because the $100 rebate cancels it out after the first flight.
How to use it:
- Pay for your flights with the Asiana Airlines American Express card to make sure you maximize the earnings and get the $100 rebate.
- Use your card to buy gas and groceries so that you can take advantage of double miles.
- Avoid redeeming Asiana Club miles on airlines with heavy fuel surcharges (such as most European airlines, including British Airways, Lufthansa and others) for transoceanic travel.
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