The first travel card to introduce the 100,000 points bonus has brought it back. The Chase British Airways Visa Signature card now offers 50,000 bonus Avios points after your first purchase, another 25,000 bonus Avios points after you reach $10,000 in spending within your first year of membership and a final 25,000 bonus Avios points if reach at least $20,000 in spending within your first year, for a total of up to 100,000 bonus Avios points. It’s a lot of spending, to be sure, but it’s also a lot of points.

In addition to its hefty bonus, the card has the following features:

• Earn 1.25 Avios per dollar on every purchase and 2.5 Avios per dollar spent on BA purchases
• No foreign transaction fees
• Earn a “travel together ticket” when you spend at least $30,000 on your BA Visa. This companion ticket allows you to bring a companion along on your next reward flight for free (though you do pay taxes). Each companion ticket you earn is good for two years.
• Smart chip technology — especially useful for trips to Europe where merchants may require a chip-based card

Even if you don’t fly BA, you can still use your Avios to redeem for awards through British Airways’ Oneworld alliance partners, which include airberlin, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, JAL, LAN, Malev Hungarian Airlines, Mexicana, Qantas, Royal Jordanian, and S7.

Because of the high taxes and fees that BA charges on international flights, one of the better values redemption-wise for your miles will be domestic flights on American Airlines. You can check award availability by going to AA.com and searching for Milesaver awards, as those are the flights that you will be able to book with your Avios. Milesaver awards cost roughly 25k miles or even less for some short-haul trips, meaning it’s possible to get up to 4 round-trip domestic award flights with your 100,000 miles. Alternatively, 100,000 miles is also enough for one round-trip business class ticket.

The card does carry a $95 annual fee.

Update 1/23/13: The 100,000 bonus Avios offer is no longer available.