Originally Posted by
sjrk1
In answer to your questions:
1/2: In my experience it will depend on if your are charged in GBP or not. If you're charged in GBP you will not be charged 2.99% FX fees and will get x2 points. If you are charged in EUR for example, then you will be charged 2.99% but you will still get the airline bonus and the foreign transaction bonus too. So, in that case you'll get x3 points
3: This is entirely up to you if you want to spend £60 in fees but get extra points in exchange. What's more important to you, £60 or 4000 points? IMO if you're needing the extra for a specific trip go for it, if not, save the £60 (that's 15-20 holiday pints!!), assuming you can hit the 20k bonus on your return
FYI the above is based on using my card which is the no longer openly available gold charge card but I can't see them changing the system for what is basically the same card but with the facility to carry a balance over
Thanks for the reply.
I just spoke to customer services (so friendly & helpful!).
They've said the foreign usage and airline purchases do not stack. So if I bought for example Qatar tickets to fly out of AMS, I would be charged in Euros; incur a 2.99% fee; receive double points (not triple or quadruple).
If the airline charged me in GBP/Sterling then there would not be a 2.99% fee but I would still receive the double points.
So that's that sorted then.
Hoping others can jump in with their opinion on whether it is worth incurring a £60 fee for spending £2000 overseas to receive 4000 reward points, if the aim is to get the 20k points bonus as quickly as possible and immediately move onto another card.
Thanks.