New cardholders who sign up for the British Airways Visa Signature card by Feb. 27, 2013 can receive up to 100,000 bonus Avios points. The spending threshold to receive the full bonus, however, is quite high. Cardholders will receive 50,000 bonus Avios after spending $1,000 in purchases within the first three months of account opening. Spend $10,000 within the first year of account opening and you’ll receive an additional 25,000 bonus Avios. Plus, you can receive another 25,000 bonus Avios when spending another $10,000 within the first year, for a total of 100,000 Avios.

Cardholders receive 2.5 Avios for every $1 spent on British Airways and 1.25 Avios for every $1 spent on all other purchases. The British Airways Visa card also waives the foreign transaction fee when making purchases abroad and every calendar year that you charge $30,000 in purchases to the card, you’ll receive a companion award ticket for travel on British Airways. Book an award ticket and you can use the companion ticket to bring a friend for free. On a roundtrip flight between New York and London, the average taxes, fees and carrier charges are about $650 in economy, which you will still need to pay for the companion. Visit http://insideflyerus.wpengine.com/link/?7891 for more information and to apply for the card.

Bottom line: Credit card bonus offers of 50,000 bonus points are common these days, but you don’t often see offers for 100,000 bonus points. You’ll have to spend a total of $20,000 in the first year to get the full bonus and the $95 annual fee is not waived the first year. In addition to the 100,000 bonus Avios, you’ll also receive 25,000 Avios for the $20,000 in purchases since the card offers 1.25 points per $1 spent instead of the usual one point per $1.