Jan 1, 2014, 5:45 am
Last edit by: EsherFlyer
Current sign-up, referral, spend promotions and retention offers
New member sign ups
British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card:
Collect 25,000 bonus Avios when you spend £3,000 within the first three months of card membership.
British Airways American Express Credit Card:
Collect 9,000 bonus Avios when you spend £1,000 within the first three months of card membership.
Referrals
If you are already a BA American Express card holder (either BA card) and introduce a friend to the BA American Express card, you'll receive a 4,000 Avios bonus once your friend's application is approved.
If you are already a BA American Express card holder (either BA card) and introduce a friend to the Premium Plus card, you'll receive a 9,000 Avios bonus once your friend's application is approved.
If your friend achieves the spend required for the welcome offer on either card they'll receive an additional 1,000 Avios. I.e. 26,000 or 10,000 total bonus Avios for the Premium Plus and Credit Card respectively.
Promotions
Retention offers
Voucher eligible spend
Pretty much everything counts towards the £10,000 (or £20,000) required to earn a 2-4-1 Companion Voucher, including the following which might be unexpected:
A few things that don't:
The online total to the right of the card summary is pretty up to date, and far more useful for tracking spend than what the statements show.
Insurance
Both standard and Premium Plus cards include insurance benefits for goods and services purchased on the card. Full details here and here respectively. Summary of Premium Plus benefit are shown here, with standard card offering same cover unless alternate figure is shown in parentheses:
New member sign ups
British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card:
Collect 25,000 bonus Avios when you spend £3,000 within the first three months of card membership.
British Airways American Express Credit Card:
Collect 9,000 bonus Avios when you spend £1,000 within the first three months of card membership.
Referrals
If you are already a BA American Express card holder (either BA card) and introduce a friend to the BA American Express card, you'll receive a 4,000 Avios bonus once your friend's application is approved.
If you are already a BA American Express card holder (either BA card) and introduce a friend to the Premium Plus card, you'll receive a 9,000 Avios bonus once your friend's application is approved.
If your friend achieves the spend required for the welcome offer on either card they'll receive an additional 1,000 Avios. I.e. 26,000 or 10,000 total bonus Avios for the Premium Plus and Credit Card respectively.
Small print:
You must refer your friend via the referral link provided above to be eligible for this offer.
You may recommend as many friends or family members as you wish but you can only receive a maximum of 45,000 Avios per calendar year for those approved for a Card.
You will receive 4,000 bonus Avios if your friend applies and is approved for the British Airways American Express Credit Card. Your friend will receive 4,000 bonus Avios after they have been approved and spent a minimum of £1,000 on goods and services purchased and charged to their Account within three months of Account opening.
You will receive 9,000 bonus Avios if your friend applies and is approved for the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card. Your friend will receive 19,000 bonus Avios after they have been approved and spent a minimum of £3,000 on goods and services purchased and charged to their Account within three months of Account opening.
When completing the referral form, you must
(i) select the Card you hold from the list at Step 1 and
(ii) select a card to recommend from those listed at Step 2. If you do not follow this process, you and your friend will not be eligible for the bonus.
If your friend has already applied for any of the British Airways American Express Credit Cards without using this referral, you and your friend will not be eligible for the bonus Avios.
All introductory offers are subject to change, can be withdrawn at any time and are not available if your friend currently holds or has held any other British Airways American Express Credit Cards in the past six months.
You must refer your friend via the referral link provided above to be eligible for this offer.
You may recommend as many friends or family members as you wish but you can only receive a maximum of 45,000 Avios per calendar year for those approved for a Card.
You will receive 4,000 bonus Avios if your friend applies and is approved for the British Airways American Express Credit Card. Your friend will receive 4,000 bonus Avios after they have been approved and spent a minimum of £1,000 on goods and services purchased and charged to their Account within three months of Account opening.
You will receive 9,000 bonus Avios if your friend applies and is approved for the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card. Your friend will receive 19,000 bonus Avios after they have been approved and spent a minimum of £3,000 on goods and services purchased and charged to their Account within three months of Account opening.
When completing the referral form, you must
(i) select the Card you hold from the list at Step 1 and
(ii) select a card to recommend from those listed at Step 2. If you do not follow this process, you and your friend will not be eligible for the bonus.
If your friend has already applied for any of the British Airways American Express Credit Cards without using this referral, you and your friend will not be eligible for the bonus Avios.
All introductory offers are subject to change, can be withdrawn at any time and are not available if your friend currently holds or has held any other British Airways American Express Credit Cards in the past six months.
Promotions
Retention offers
Voucher eligible spend
Pretty much everything counts towards the £10,000 (or £20,000) required to earn a 2-4-1 Companion Voucher, including the following which might be unexpected:
- Foreign transaction fees
A few things that don't:
- Annual membership fee
- Interest payments
- Transactions under £1 (although you can earn the single Avios
)
The online total to the right of the card summary is pretty up to date, and far more useful for tracking spend than what the statements show.
Insurance
Both standard and Premium Plus cards include insurance benefits for goods and services purchased on the card. Full details here and here respectively. Summary of Premium Plus benefit are shown here, with standard card offering same cover unless alternate figure is shown in parentheses:
- Purchase protection: £2,500
- Refund protection: £300 (£200) per item
- Flight delay / cancellation / overbooking / missed: £200 (£0)
- Baggage delay (6+ hours): £750 (£0)
- Baggage delay (48+ hours): £1,000 (£0), additional to 6 hours benefit
- Accident: £250,000 (£75,000)
- Hijack (24+ hours): £1,500
- Hijack (72+ hours): £3,000, additional to the 24h benefit
BA American Express credit card
Jun 10, 2014, 10:55 am
#151
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: BAEC Gold, LH M&M Member
Posts: 2,705
Pitifully small credit limit - can I pre-pay?
I've had my PP card for a few weeks now and am already running up against by credit limit. Is it possible to 'overpay' the credit card so it holds a positive balance?
e.g. if my credit limit was £2,000 and I wanted to spend £3,000 could I pay £1,000 into my account before I went shopping? I don't mind paying the bill twice in one month, but I will occasionally need to pay a large hotel bill and want to prepare for it before I travel.
(Supplementary question, how long is it before they allow a review of the credit limit? I assume six months but don't want to jinx it by asking them straight away).
e.g. if my credit limit was £2,000 and I wanted to spend £3,000 could I pay £1,000 into my account before I went shopping? I don't mind paying the bill twice in one month, but I will occasionally need to pay a large hotel bill and want to prepare for it before I travel.
(Supplementary question, how long is it before they allow a review of the credit limit? I assume six months but don't want to jinx it by asking them straight away).
Jun 10, 2014, 11:02 am
#152
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,146
No.
I tried an overpay just before we went to the US last month, as I had bought a bunch of BA booking and wanted max headroom on the account. Online system refused it. Instead I had to reluctantly pay the end of month bill a few days later, from iPad on hotel wifi.
I tried an overpay just before we went to the US last month, as I had bought a bunch of BA booking and wanted max headroom on the account. Online system refused it. Instead I had to reluctantly pay the end of month bill a few days later, from iPad on hotel wifi.
Jun 10, 2014, 11:23 am
#153
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Staffordshire
Programs: BA Gold, IHG Platinum Amb
Posts: 150
There was no break in using the card, I could still use my blue card online and in shops, then on the Friday my black card arrived in the post. activated it online and have been using it since. Very straight forwards, same PIN and credit limit.
Brian
Jun 10, 2014, 11:25 am
#154
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC Silver, ITA Club Executive, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 3,599
No phone call required, I live in the midlands. I upgraded my BA Amex blue card last Wednesday to the premium plus card. Logged onto my Amex account and one of the tabs at the top of the webpage says something like apply for new card or similar. Selected the premium plus card, went through a few pages of details, they did ask for income and employer details. I received an email saying a decision would be made within 10 days if I was eligible. The next day I logged onto my account again and saw the picture of the blue credit card at the top of the screen had changed to a black credit card, with a new card No.
There was no break in using the card, I could still use my blue card online and in shops, then on the Friday my black card arrived in the post. activated it online and have been using it since. Very straight forwards, same PIN and credit limit.
Brian
There was no break in using the card, I could still use my blue card online and in shops, then on the Friday my black card arrived in the post. activated it online and have been using it since. Very straight forwards, same PIN and credit limit.
Brian
Jun 10, 2014, 12:50 pm
#155
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,146
Agreed with hanmer on all the details ... mine was back in November, so details long forgotten (as what I ate yesterday, wife's birthday, etc)
Jun 10, 2014, 1:07 pm
#156
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: BA Gold, AA Lifetime Gold 1.8mm, IC Spire Ambassador, Hilton Diamond, SPG Gold et al
Posts: 4,350
I actually mistakenly paid my bill twice a few months ago and they both credited to my account. It took Amex several days to refund after I called them to point out my mistake.
Jun 10, 2014, 3:31 pm
#157
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: usually LON
Programs: BA Gold (OWE), Tesco Blue, TK Elite (*G), Oyster Diamond Jubilee edition
Posts: 1,546
While I've also been unable to overpay through the Amex site, I don't recall ever having a problem when I pay direct from my bank account.
I actually mistakenly paid my bill twice a few months ago and they both credited to my account. It took Amex several days to refund after I called them to point out my mistake.
I actually mistakenly paid my bill twice a few months ago and they both credited to my account. It took Amex several days to refund after I called them to point out my mistake.
You can easily repay several times during the month, but the single bill over limit is a problem...
NeverFirst, I think asking for credit limit increase is the only sensible option. I would expect they have some space for increase, so I would completely repay current spend and ask.
Jun 10, 2014, 10:58 pm
#158
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: BA Gold, AA Lifetime Gold 1.8mm, IC Spire Ambassador, Hilton Diamond, SPG Gold et al
Posts: 4,350
As it happens, my account currently has a four figure credit (and a negative Avios earned balance) because of a couple of refundable flight cancellations. I will be very surprised if I receive a money refund to my bank account.
That said, I agree that a credit limit increase is probably the way to go for the OP.
Jun 11, 2014, 1:38 am
#159
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 5,797
Easy to do it if you have direct debit set up. Pay off the full bill manually a few days before the direct debit is due and it will still collect the DD as normal. I've only done it a couple of times by mistake but its never been flagged.
Jun 11, 2014, 3:39 am
#160
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: BA Gold, AA Lifetime Gold 1.8mm, IC Spire Ambassador, Hilton Diamond, SPG Gold et al
Posts: 4,350
Jun 11, 2014, 4:15 am
#161
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
I've been in a similar position: Because of a BA refund and my current preference for using my Diamond Club Amex, my BA Amex has had a significant four-figure credit balance for the majority of the past year. Amex has made no attempt at all to give me any cash back.
Jun 11, 2014, 4:40 am
#162
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: BAEC Gold, LH M&M Member
Posts: 2,705
Amex has made no attempt at all to give me any cash back.
Jun 11, 2014, 4:51 am
#163
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,146
* 241 already received
Jun 11, 2014, 5:16 am
#164
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: YVR/LBA
Programs: BA Exec Club (Gold)
Posts: 329
It does sound like the online process is going to be similar - as you still basically apply for a new card they just transfer the old card once it is approved. I think the chance of a hard credit check may be higher online as no doubt the T&Cs for the online application will allow for one - on the phone at least you can query this in advance during the process.
Jun 11, 2014, 6:06 am
#165
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
I'm sure Amex would have done the same. But the point is that Amex didn't show any signs of being unhappy about there being a significant credit balance on the account for a long time. They didn't proactively push the credit back to the bank account that I've always used to pay the Amex bills, nor did they get in touch to ask what I wanted to do with it. As far as I can see, they were happy (as was I) to let the credit sit in the account.