Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well. As part of my October 2020 App-O-Rama, I applied for the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card on October 25, 2020. At the time, the credit card was offering 40,000 Alaska Airlines Miles, a $99 Companion Fare, and a $200 statement credit after spending $2,000 in 3 months. Long story short, I completed the $2,000 minimum spend requirement on December 14, 2020, and received the 40,000 Alaska Airlines Miles and $99 Companion Fare on January 6, 2021, but the $200 statement credit was nowhere to be seen (or spent). I then spent the next 6 months waiting and following up with Bank of America regarding the $200 statement credit. This post documents the timeline of events.
As part of my application process for any new credit card or bank account, I take screenshots of the offer and terms & conditions just in case I do not receive the bonus as promised. Here is the screenshot of the Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card that I applied for on October 25, 2020.
I create a spreadsheet for each new credit card to track my progress toward the minimum spending requirement. I completed the minimum spending requirement on December 14, 2020, and received the 40,000 Alaska Airlines Miles and $99 Companion Fare on January 6, 2021.
I assumed that I would receive the $200 statement credit on the same statement where I received the 40,000 Alaska Airlines miles, but that $200 statement credit never showed up. I then looked at the small print regarding the $200 statement credit (this is why you keep screenshots of every application). The small print said to wait 10-12 weeks after the qualifying transactions post to your account. I assumed December 14, 2020, was day 0 and then calculated that 12 weeks later would be March 8, 2021.
March 8, 2021, came and went without any $200 statement credit. I then called Bank of America on April 8, 2021, claiming that I never received the $200 statement credit. The agent gave me a reference number and said I would hear back from Bank of America in 7-10 business days. 10 business days came and went without any communication (email or letter) from Bank of America.
I called Bank of America again on April 27, 2021, and the rep said that Bank of America did some research and found out that I was eligible for the $200 statement credit and that I would receive a letter with the details. The rep also said that the $200 statement credit would post in 1-2 billing cycles (aka 1-2 months later).
On May 3, 2021, I received this letter from Bank of America that was dated April 23, 2021. This is the most pathetic looking letter ever – basically, Bank of America received your inquiry and resolved your inquiry, without providing any details in the letter.
On June 23, 2021, the $200 statement credit finally posted to the Corporate Account of my Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card. The $200 statement credit is being used to offset 2 seat purchases of $267.98.
If you look at the Account Summary of the employee card, you will not see the $200 statement credit, so make sure you are looking at the Corporate Account.
Moral of the story: take good screenshots, keep good records, and follow up with Bank of America if the $200 statement credit does not post to your account. If you have any questions about this process, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
Had the exact same experience; applied for personal in July and business in October. Started complaining in December so was only a few months ahead of you. Opened CFPB complaint in April and they paid within two weeks. Incredible they just expect you to roll over and die and take the “L”. Insult to injury, because they took so long dragging out paying my signup bonus when I finally got paid and was able to angrily close the card they refused to refund the annual fee.
If I wasn’t making out hand-over-fist churning these cards with BOA over the years I’d have some real complaining to do, lol
I’m sure the majority of customers don’t even notice that the $200 statement credit never showed up. My parents signed up for the BofA Alaska Airlines personal credit card a few months ago and said the $200 statement credit showed up automatically, so maybe it was a bug that BofA finally fixed.
Same experience as you except I didn’t do anything about it. Your post reminded me about it so I just logged into my account and I got a $200 SC dated 6/23 (same date as you).
Hey Paul, I’m glad you got your $200 statement credit. Maybe my inquiry made BofA look into other accounts that did not receive the $200 statement credit :)
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Same saga here on cards for P1and P2, no results after calling, but both recently posted. Thanks for post Grant.
Hi Rich, glad the $200 statement credits finally posted for you and your P2. Better late than never :)
Wow, you guys are lucky, I still haven’t received ANYTHING! No bonus miles, nothing. Hit the requirement sometime between March and April statements, with my April statement posting on the 14th. We are now just 10 days away from being 90 days since the statement I spent enough under, posted. There’s literally nothing online about who to contact (BofA or Alaska Air?) and I can’t find anyone who’s had the same problem. This is the only thing I found the was close to my issue.
Hi Brandon, that is really frustrating. You need to call BofA and ask them to look into the issue. Have you received any of the miles from your spend (not including the 40k sign up bonus)? Did you have an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan number before signing up for the credit card? Did you enter that number on the credit card application? If not, BofA might have created a new Alaska Airlines account for you and deposited the miles into that new account. Check that the mileage account on your credit card matches that account you are looking into for your miles. I hope that helps :)
Thanks Grant for this post! 5 days ago approved Visa and booked tickets. Clicked $200 30K offer. I can’t find email from AA or BoA talking about offer and rules. I sure hope in a few months after spending $2K that I don’t have to hunt them down! Darn It! I should have taken that screen shot!
Hi Kurt, you should be ok. I think Bank of America fixed this issue so your $200 credit should post automatically after you spend $2,000.
In June of 2022, I signed up for a BOA Alaska Milage Plan credit card with the promotional bonus being 40,000 Alaska miles and $200 statement credit after spending $2000 in 90 days. I met the requirement and was awarded the 40,000 miles; however, the $200 statement credit never posted. I called BOA in December and was told that I did meet the requirement, and my case would be escalated to “research.” I received a letter in the mail 3 weeks later with a case number with instructions to call 855-359-9459 but no other details included. When I called that number, the outcome was that I met the spend requirement but none of my transactions were with Alaska Airlines which they claim was another stipulation for the $200 credit. I unfortunately do not have any screenshots of my original promotion so I called the main 800-552-7302 line to see if a representative could confirm what the fine print on my original offer was. The representative explained the offer as 40,000 bonus miles after $2000 spend in 90 days but failed to mention the $200 statement credit entirely. When I questioned her on the $200 bonus, she confirmed that that is also mentioned (why didn’t she originally include this?), and I should have qualified (this was the same outcome of my call in December). She said she would also escalate to “research” and when I explained that that was already done, she then said she does see that documented about needing to have a transaction with Alaska Airlines. I asked her why she all of a sudden could see this information when she omitted it before when I questioned about additional stipulations. Her response was that it was under a “different section” of my account. I find it suspect that I would qualify for the 40,000 miles but not the $200 statement credit – why would the qualifying criteria be different when the marketed promotion is bundled all together as “miles + statement credit”? I am asking that BOA mail me the original fine print on my promotion because I’m usually very careful about fine print and doubt it was there. It very well could be my own oversight, but my interactions with representatives at BOA and this forum give me reason to suspect that they are not being fair to their customers.
Hmm, if you are getting tired of waiting for Bank of America to finish their “research,” I would submit a CFPB complaint and explain the issue. Hopefully you get your $200 statement credit bonus soon.