British Airways Instant Avios Game

British Airways is running an Instant Avios giveaway here by simply 'pulling' the lever. Two winning combinations will get you prizes. If you get Avios Logo + Avios Logo + Avios Logo, you get 1,000 Avios (30 of these available).  If you get British Airways Logo + British Airways Logo + British Airways Logo, you win the grand prize of 60,000 Avios (enough for a roundtrip from North America to Europe).  All other combinations will not win any Avios. This game ends on May 13, 2013 so remember to play everyday for your chance to win!

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

With numerous valuable transfer partners, no foreign transaction fees and a waived first year annual fee, this is quite simply one of the most valuable cards out there in the market today . The Chase Sapphire Preferred card (referral link here) offers a great initial bonus (currently 50k points) which can be transferred to a number of valuable transfer partners such as Southwest, Hyatt, United Airlines etc. and you can get an additional 5k points for adding an additional cardmember.

While I wouldn't suggest transferring to partners like IHG or Marriott, the ability to transfer to one of the airlines in each of the 3 main airline alliances and also to Hyatt offer tremendous value. In addition, earning double points on airlines, hotels, car rentals and dining with no foreign transaction fees means this is pretty much the go-to card for travelling and eating out.

Chase British Airways Card

British Airways is once again back with their 100,000 Avios point bonus although slightly less lucrative this year due to the heavy spend requirement. Additionally, due to the revaluation of the new BA Avios miles, this deal is not as good as last year particularly if you don't live in a Oneworld hub city or you tend to fly long distances (as their new award charts are more based on distance).

At the current redemption chart rates and assuming you can accomplish the $20k spend, you can still get 2 roundtrip tickets from the continental US to London for 50k Avios each.  Flights with partners though can get pretty pricey as the distance begins to go up.