20,000 Miles After 1st Purchase From the LANPASS Card

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    Update:   This offer is no longer available.  Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers. 

    You get 20,000 miles after your 1st purchase from the LANPASS Visa Signature card from US Bank.  The sign-up bonus is easy to get and the annual fee is waived for the 1st year.  But I’d only recommend this card to certain groups of people.

    If you’re new to miles and points there are much better cards available from the Hot Deals tab.  But if you’ve already got most of the cards, the LANPASS Visa Signature card could be interesting.

    LANPASS Visa Signature Card

    Link:   LANPASS Visa Signature Card

    Link:   LAN Airlines

    You get 20,000 LAN miles after your 1st purchase with the LANPASS Visa Signature card.

    With the LANPass Visa Signature Card you also get:

    But the LANPASS Visa Signature card has a 3% foreign transaction fee.  There are better cards to use outside of the US.  I always use a card that does NOT charge foreign exchange fees.

    Where You Can Go With 20,000 LAN Miles

    Link:   LAN Award Chart

    Link:   LAN Award Chart for Flights Within Chile, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, and Columbia

    Link:   LAN oneworld Partner Award Chart

    The 20,000 LAN miles sign-up bonus isn’t enough for a round-trip award ticket from the US to anywhere that LAN flies.  And you can NOT use LAN miles for 1-way award tickets.

    You need 48,000 LAN miles for the cheapest round-trip coach award ticket from the US to:

    But as part of the oneworld alliance, LAN miles can be used on partner airlines like British Airways and American Airlines.  And when you use LAN miles on partner airlines, LAN uses a distance based award chart with each way of your round-trip priced individually.

    Let’s say you wanted to fly from Chicago to New York.

    Chicago to New York is 1,149 kilometers each way.  It costs 10,000 LAN miles 1-way for flights between 1,000 to 1,300 kilometers.  So a round-trip coach award ticket would cost you 20,000 LAN miles (10,000 X 2).

    You Can Use LAN Miles for Short Distance Flights

    2X LAN Miles

    You also get 2X LAN miles on LAN tickets purchased directly from LAN Airlines.  You also get 2X LAN miles on TAM Airlines and affiliated airlines.

    LAN and TAM affiliated airlines include:

    Purchases made through travel agents and online travel agencies such as Priceline.com, Orbtiz, and Expedia do NOT earn 2X LAN miles.

    Three 1-Way Upgrade Coupons Each Year

    Link:   Upgrade Coupons

    You get three 1-way upgrade coupons which can be used to upgrade to the next LAN flight class 2 to 48 hours before your flight.  So you could upgrade from “economy” to “premium economy.”  However, some flights (US to South America) require more than 1 upgrade coupon.

    You Could Use All 3 Upgrade Coupons to Fly in Business Class to Argentina

    You get 3 additional 1-way coupons each year IF you spend at least $15,000 a year.

    4,000 LAN Miles Each Year

    You get 4,000 LAN miles when you renew your card each year.

    4,000 LAN miles isn’t enough miles for a short distance flight on American Airlines.  So it’s not worth paying the $75 annual fee.  But you should do the math and decide what’s best for you.

    20% Discount on 1st LAN Purchase up to $1,000

    You can get a 20% discount on your 1st LAN purchase up to $1,000 each year you have the card.  You have to buy your ticket from LAN Airlines, TAM Airlines, an affiliate airline (listed above), or by calling LAN at 866-435-9526.  Note that calling LAN may not be a smooth experience.

    So if you wanted to fly from Los Angeles to Buenos Aires on September 13, 2014, to September 20, 2014, you could buy a round-trip coach ticket for $1,153 (~$1,441 coach round-trip ticket – 20% discount of ~$288).

    You Can Save 20% On Your First LAN Ticket Each Year

    However, you only get the 20% discount on your 1st LAN ticket purchase each year with your card.

    25% Flight Miles Bonus

    You get a 25% flight mile bonus on accrued miles flown on LAN Airlines and affiliate airlines (listed above), except TAM Airlines the 1st year you have the card.  After your 1st year, you have to spend $15,000 in a calendar year to keep the 25% flight mile bonus.

    However, you earn miles based what type of ticket you buy.  So cheap tickets earn less miles than expensive tickets.

    So on your Los Angeles to Buenos Aires flight you would earn 23,163 LAN miles.

    You can calculate how many LAN miles you’ll earn for your flight here.

    However, 23,163 LAN miles isn’t enough for a round-trip award ticket from the US to anywhere that LAN flies.  And you can NOT use LAN miles for 1-way award tickets.

    Even if you add the 23,163 LAN miles from your Los Angeles to Buenos Aires trip to the 20,000 LAN miles you get from the sign-up bonus, you are still 4,837 LAN miles short of an award ticket (48,000 LAN miles needed for a round-trip coach award ticket from the US – 43,163 LAN miles from Los Angeles to Buenos Aires trip + 20,000 LAN miles sign-up bonus).

    So I’m not too excited about the 25% flight mile bonus.

    Note:   You could get approved for the lesser version of the card (LANPASS Visa) that only gives you 15,000 LAN miles after your 1st purchase and has different perks which I’ll explain below.

    LANPASS Visa Card

    Link:   LANPASS Visa Card

    As mentioned above, some folks might get the LANPASS Visa card which gives you less of a sign-up bonus and doesn’t offer the same perks.  But there’s no way to be certain of which card you’ll get until you apply.  I really don’t like it when banks do this!

    You get 15,000 LAN miles after your 1st purchase with the LANPASS Visa card.

    With the LANPass Visa Card you also get:

    Bottom Line

    You get 20,000 LAN miles after your 1st purchase with the LANPASS Visa Signature card.

    However, 20,000 LAN miles can’t get you a flight from the US to anywhere that LAN flies.  But you can use LAN miles on oneworld partner airlines, like American Airlines.  And 20,000 LAN miles can get you a short distance round-trip flight.

    Be careful because you could get approved for the lesser LANPASS Visa card that only offers 15,000 LAN miles.

    I’m not too excited about the LANPASS Visa Signature and LANPASS Visa card, but it could be useful if you’ve run out of cards to apply for.

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