More credit card deals (cash, British Airways miles, etc.)

The crazy credit card deals continue, following the 100,000 points on Capital One (expired), 100,000 miles on American Airlines (technically expired, but still working), and 50,000 miles on Continental (valid till May).  Here are some current deals:

• British Airways: The deal for 100,000 miles on British Airways is back.  Sure, you get the whopping bonus (received after spending $2,500 on the card in 3 months) that you can redeem on American Airlines and avoid British Airway's high fuel surcharges.  But you also get a redeem-one-get-one-free offer for award travel (after spending $30,000 on the card), but you can end up flying first class to Europe for just your bonus miles plus fuel surcharges -- no way to avoid fuel charges on this one.
• Lufthansa: Barclays Bank offers the Lufthansa credit card with 50,000 Lufthansa miles, which is a Star Alliance airline (redeem on United, Continental, and US Airways).  But the miles do expire, and unlike most American programs, you can't extend their life by having activity on your account.  Yes, my Lufthansa miles expired on me and I am bitter. 
• $200 from Chase: If you don't like the idea of all these miles, you can also get some cold, hard cash back.  Chase offers $200 as a sign-up bonus for spending $1,500 in 3 months.

British Airways 100,000 miles bonus is back

The British Airways credit card offer of 100,000 bonus miles is back through this sign-up link.

Virgin Atlantic 65,000 bonus miles

(expiration unknown)

The British Airways offer of 100,000 bonus miles for signing up for their Chase credit card seems to have ended last week, although there is still one working link left (try at your own risk).

Virgin Atlantic, not to be outdone, upped their first-year bonus to 65,000 miles for the Virgin Atlantic American Express card issued by Bank of America: 45,000 after your first purchase (significantly more than their standard offer of 20,000), 5,000 for adding 2 card holders, 7,500 for $15,000 in spending, and another 7,500 for hitting $25,000 in spending.  Not as good as the British Airways offer, but still a sizable bonus beyond the standard offer of 20,000 miles.

If you don't travel much to Europe, you can still make use of Virgin's miles on U.S. carrier partners Continental Airlines, U.S. Airways, and Hawaiian Airlines. The initial 50,000 bonus miles (45,000 initial bonus plus 5,000 for additional cards) is enough for:

• A first-class trip in the continental U.S. (45,000)
• 2 Economy tickets in the continental U.S. (50,000)
• Economy to Hawaii (35,000)
• Economy to Europe (50,000)

Whopping 100,000 British Airways miles for $75

(expires November 30)

There's new British Airways credit card from Chase that gives you a whopping 100,000 British Airways miles in just 3 months.  That's the biggest payout I've ever seen for doing practically nothing.  Well, almost nothing.  You have to spend $75 on the annual fee for the card.  This offer is not available to current or past BA credit card holders. Even former BA/Chase cardholders are eligible.  Here's the run down:

• 50,000 miles for opening the account
• 50,000 miles for spending $2,000 in the first 3 months
• 1.25 miles per dollar spent
• 2.5 miles per dollar spent on British Airways
• If you spend $30,000 in a year, you get a free companion ticket for any class of service, redeemable through a convenient booking site

The 100,000 miles is good for 2 tickets to London (50,000 per ticket) or 1 ticket to South Africa (90,000 per ticket).  But before you're frightened off by the prospect of transiting in Heathrow and paying BA's hefty award surcharges, know that you can use your miles on any oneworld carrier, like American Airlines.  The 100,000 miles will take you to Hawaii almost 3 times (35,000 per ticket):

Don't worry if you don't have a British Airways Executive Club account (the name of their frequent flier program), which you can usually only get after you fly on BA once.  Now you can get an account when you sign up for the card, but according to the Flyertalk thread, non-members will need to wait 2 weeks before this card is opened up to them.  And BA has family accounts, so you can your pool miles easily and redeem for travel sooner.