As an existing Barclays account holder, I pay £4 a month for blue rewards, and get a return of £12 (having a Barclays mortgage), so I am paid £8/month to bank with them. If I change to Premier and the Avios rewards, I would lose my £8/month net inflow and have to pay £12/month - so £20/month for 2,200 avios. (Including the 700 for having a mortgage) That works out at buying the avios at 1.1p each. Of course I'd get a BRUV voucher, but as my wife and I are managing to earn at least a pair of Amex 241s a year, and have a buffer of 3 unused (as well as 3 bookings using 4 vouchers overall, tied up as bookings, with a likelihood of one becoming a FTV in the very near future) that is a valueless piece of e-paper.

However, If I wasn't with Barclays for my mortgage, the net benefit of blue rewards would be £3/month, and thus the cost of the 1,500 monthly avios would be £15 (£12 plus forgoing £3/month "profit" from blue rewards.) or 1p each. On that basis it may be worth while for a new/switching customer, but I can't see the benefit for anyone triggering a regular 2 year validity Amex voucher.

Unless this is upgraded some way in terms of the avios or other additional benefits to match the usual packaged account benefits from the competition, it's a no from me.