spmd2

All,

I apologise if this has been asked/debated before, but do people think it is worth buying non-£ tickets with your Premium Plus Amex?

By way of example, I have just bought 2x ex-EU (Oslo to Sydney) tickets in Club (going via HongKong and switching to Cathay for the HKG-SYD-HKG legs). The total cost with the BA shareholder discount came to 40,166 NOK (£3,930 or £1,965 pp) - a bargain, I thought.

I paid with my BA Amex thinking that i would like the 12k avios (£4k x 3). The fx fees amounted to £118. My alternative would have been to pay using a Santander Card i have which has no fx charges but obviously no avios.

Presumably, then the question is whether 1) i want to buy avios per se and 2) whether £118 for 12k is good value?

1) i must answer myself but can anyone help me with 2)?

If the answer to 1) is no, then perhaps the next best solution is to get one of these cards with no fx fees? A good idea perhaps for regular high-spend Ex-EU ticket buyers? - http://www.headforpoints.com/2014/05...t-card-review/ (courtesy of Raffles!)

Calchas

If you telephone the UK BA office you can pay in GBP.

SteveF

One other thing to bear in mind is whether you need to use an Amex for your travel insurance cover to be valid.

I must admit that a combination of laziness and reliance on the Amex Plat insurance means that I almost always pay for foreign hotels, flights and car hire on an Amex, either the BA PP or the Plat. Occasionally I will use an Amex at hotel reservation and check-in with the intention of using a fee-free card at check-out, but I often can't be bothered or forget.

spmd2

Ah, thanks. I didn't know that was possible without fees etc., but that seems like a nice easy way around it assuming they convert into £ at the prevailing rate.

Roger

It depends on your own situation, how badly you need the Avios and how you want to spend.

If I calculate correctly, your 12,000 Avios cost just under 1p each (0.983333p) which is close to the roughly 1p per Avios value that some of us calculate as reasonable value. That's cheaper than buying direct from BA or avios.com.

So it's neutral.

Calchas

Yes, the airlines use an interchange rate that is very close to the spot rate.

There will be a booking fee for telephone issuing (£5) and a card fee (£5).

However, the ticket will qualify as issued in the UK, if you are hoping to make use of a Euro bonus accelerator or something.

LTN Phobia

However, I do not think shareholder discount as used by the OP can be used for bookings made on the phone.

BA6501

Doesn't this mean you need UK POS availability?

Calchas

Can the OP hold a shareholder reservation using the new "hold" feature, and then call and pay?—if the system provides him/her with a reference number in the usual way this should be possible. However OP might not get the £10 back, depends how it works.

Can a BA ticketing desk do the shareholder discount?

If the reservation is also made in the UK, yes. In my experience, EU and UK POS availability doesn't differ enormously, but I suppose it could in principle.

KARFA

Just to add that I think someone has posted before that the uk call centres will look at EU pos as well if they can't get the fare you have found under uk pos. So I don't think if you call the uk line you are completely restricted to uk pos availability only.

LTN Phobia

I believe shareholder discount is strictly online only, although I may be wrong.

I also suspect it might not offer the option to hold? I haven't had a look at it so I don't know but someone may have done can verify that?

chris1979

an alternative is the Lloyds AMEX Avios card which has no FX fees and offers double Avios for 6 months (so 2.5 (usual is 1.25) per £1). Only a little bit below the AMEX 3 Avios per £1.

Additionally, you also get an upgrade voucher after spending £7k on the card (though no idea how that works in practise as only just got one (personally, largely for said 6 month bonus, the FX fee free element and also to have an opportunity to earn Avios in places where they don't accept AMEX (it comes with a mastercard where you earn 1 Avios per £5 spend - not great at all but 'every little helps').

Roger

The Lloyds AmEx card is interesting. Be aware that it links to avios.com rather than BAEC Avios. No problem in transferring between the two, however the upgrade voucher relates to avios.com reservations only.

chris1979

didnt know that. Can I move Avios from my BAEC account to Avios.com so that I can make a booking on there and then use the voucher? Or should I leave / collect enough on Avios.com to have for redemption there?

presumably this means, jokers and others BAEC 'features' can't be combined with an Avios.com booking?

Calchas

Yes. Also only upgrades WT+ to CW (or WT to WT+, ET to CE) so, at least in my view, limited usefulness. BA flights only, excluding ex-LCY.

I have one as well, not sure what I will spend it on.