British Airways Premium Plus Card After 241
Apr 26, 2015, 1:32 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Hertfordshire, UK
Programs: BA Gold Guest List, Miles & More Gold, IHG Platinum, Starwood, Marriott, Hertz Presidents Circe
Posts: 52
British Airways Premium Plus Card After 241
Dear All, I have been a BAPP card holder since Feb 2015, and took advantage of the spend £3000.00 within 3 months and obtain a 25000 avios points bonus. This was achieved within a few weeks and then 8 weeks after joining, I managed to pass the £10,000.00 spend mark to get to the issuing of the 241 flight voucher. My question is, does anyone know if there are any other levels or awards to go for with this card, or would it be advisable to look for another deal? I am currently getting 3 avios for every £1 spent with BA and 1.5 avios for other purchases. The annual fee for the card is £150.00. There are also other benefits associated with this card, like the insurance cover etc.. I have tried to look at other cards to make a comparison, but it is rife with pros and cons. Any suggestions please? Kind regards, Ron
Apr 26, 2015, 4:02 am
#2
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 183
Dear All, I have been a BAPP card holder since Feb 2015, and took advantage of the spend £3000.00 within 3 months and obtain a 25000 avios points bonus. This was achieved within a few weeks and then 8 weeks after joining, I managed to pass the £10,000.00 spend mark to get to the issuing of the 241 flight voucher. My question is, does anyone know if there are any other levels or awards to go for with this card, or would it be advisable to look for another deal? I am currently getting 3 avios for every £1 spent with BA and 1.5 avios for other purchases. The annual fee for the card is £150.00. There are also other benefits associated with this card, like the insurance cover etc.. I have tried to look at other cards to make a comparison, but it is rife with pros and cons. Any suggestions please? Kind regards, Ron
If you haven't already held an MR earning card in the last 6 months you could look at the Platinum or Gold Amex, They each have different benefits so without knowing your travel and spending patterns it's hard to recommend one over the other. Unfortunately the gold has just had it's earning devalued but it still offers 2 points per £1 on airline spend and 3 points per £1 on spend with Amex travel.
If you get a referral for these cards you would earn 22,000 miles for the gold and 35,000 for the platinum. (subject to hitting spend requirements) So it's worth getting them just for the sign up bonus. These also offer a pro rata refund.
The spg Amex is also an option, if you've had an MR card in the last 6 months, for a 10,000 points bonus that can be converted to 10,000 miles in lots of different airlines.
Apr 26, 2015, 5:02 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Hertfordshire, UK
Programs: BA Gold Guest List, Miles & More Gold, IHG Platinum, Starwood, Marriott, Hertz Presidents Circe
Posts: 52
I would definitely call Amex and downgrade to the free BA card, you will get a pro rata refund of the £150 fee and there are no benefits to keeping the premium card once you've triggered the 241 (other then the extra Avios earning).
If you haven't already held an MR earning card in the last 6 months you could look at the Platinum or Gold Amex, They each have different benefits so without knowing your travel and spending patterns it's hard to recommend one over the other. Unfortunately the gold has just had it's earning devalued but it still offers 2 points per £1 on airline spend and 3 points per £1 on spend with Amex travel.
If you get a referral for these cards you would earn 22,000 miles for the gold and 35,000 for the platinum. (subject to hitting spend requirements) So it's worth getting them just for the sign up bonus. These also offer a pro rata refund.
The spg Amex is also an option, if you've had an MR card in the last 6 months, for a 10,000 points bonus that can be converted to 10,000 miles in lots of different airlines.
If you haven't already held an MR earning card in the last 6 months you could look at the Platinum or Gold Amex, They each have different benefits so without knowing your travel and spending patterns it's hard to recommend one over the other. Unfortunately the gold has just had it's earning devalued but it still offers 2 points per £1 on airline spend and 3 points per £1 on spend with Amex travel.
If you get a referral for these cards you would earn 22,000 miles for the gold and 35,000 for the platinum. (subject to hitting spend requirements) So it's worth getting them just for the sign up bonus. These also offer a pro rata refund.
The spg Amex is also an option, if you've had an MR card in the last 6 months, for a 10,000 points bonus that can be converted to 10,000 miles in lots of different airlines.
Sorry to be thick, but what is a MR card?
Last edited by mia; Apr 26, 2015 at 8:09 am Reason: Combine consecutive replies
Apr 26, 2015, 6:06 am
#4
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 183
An MR card is a card that earns points in Amex's own currency, membership reward points, rather than direct airlines miles. You can use these points for a number of things including transfer to BA avios and many other airline miles at a rate of 1MR point to 1mile.
I have a blog that focuses mainly on Virgin but I do review both MR cards on it, under the earning miles tab, have a read for more information as they are equally useful for collecting avios.
http://milesvirgin.com
For full disclosure if you asked me for a referral through the site (you can't apply from my page) I would receive bonus points for the referral. Alternatively there is a sticky at the top of the Amex flyer talk page where you can pm people for a referral.
Head for points is an excellent blog (i have no affiliation with it) for info on avios earning and burning.
I have a blog that focuses mainly on Virgin but I do review both MR cards on it, under the earning miles tab, have a read for more information as they are equally useful for collecting avios.
http://milesvirgin.com
For full disclosure if you asked me for a referral through the site (you can't apply from my page) I would receive bonus points for the referral. Alternatively there is a sticky at the top of the Amex flyer talk page where you can pm people for a referral.
Head for points is an excellent blog (i have no affiliation with it) for info on avios earning and burning.
Apr 26, 2015, 6:13 am
#5
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 183
Hi Pol, many thanks for your quick reply. I currently do 1 to 2 European returns a week with BA in Club Europe. The points are a godsend. I recently spent about 75,000 avios and £180.00 for 6 returns to Faro for the summer. Possibly not the best deal, but for a family holiday, I am not too concerned with what the point value for avios is. The thing I am trying to do is for 2016 Summer is to get 6 long haul (SE Asia) returns booked with avios and using my 2 upgrades (4 passengers) plus certainly 1 if not two 241 vouchers as well as activating one of the Gold Guest List redemptions for the year. Even with the Faro spend, I have approximately 250,000 avios, which took about 2 years to accumulate. It was only at the beginning of the year that I decided to get an AMEX for work use for travel etc which has seen the Avios build at a more rapid speed. I guess in the nicest sense it is like the rock and hard place way of thinking. In addition to this I have a number of points for various hotel schemes that there are around. Maybe I am being a little greedy by hoping for more if I spend more. Kind regards, Ron
I would still look at getting an Amex gold charge card for other, non BA, spending though. It only earns 1 point per £1 for general spending but does offer 10,000 bonus points for spending £15,000 in a year. Spending this £15,000 on you BA card (excluding BA flights) would only get you an extra 7,500 points for the extra 0.5 avios per £ so you would still be up. It is also fee free for the first year, so costs you nothing to have, even if you only get it for the 22,000 point sign up bonus and then cancel for a pro rata refund. It also gives 2 points per £1 for spending in a foreign currency, which may be useful if you spend so much time abroad.
Apr 26, 2015, 4:07 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Hertfordshire, UK
Programs: BA Gold Guest List, Miles & More Gold, IHG Platinum, Starwood, Marriott, Hertz Presidents Circe
Posts: 52
Wow, that's a lot of BA flights. It may well be worth you keeping the premium card for the 3 avios per £1 you get on these.
I would still look at getting an Amex gold charge card for other, non BA, spending though. It only earns 1 point per £1 for general spending but does offer 10,000 bonus points for spending £15,000 in a year. Spending this £15,000 on you BA card (excluding BA flights) would only get you an extra 7,500 points for the extra 0.5 avios per £ so you would still be up. It is also fee free for the first year, so costs you nothing to have, even if you only get it for the 22,000 point sign up bonus and then cancel for a pro rata refund. It also gives 2 points per £1 for spending in a foreign currency, which may be useful if you spend so much time abroad.
I would still look at getting an Amex gold charge card for other, non BA, spending though. It only earns 1 point per £1 for general spending but does offer 10,000 bonus points for spending £15,000 in a year. Spending this £15,000 on you BA card (excluding BA flights) would only get you an extra 7,500 points for the extra 0.5 avios per £ so you would still be up. It is also fee free for the first year, so costs you nothing to have, even if you only get it for the 22,000 point sign up bonus and then cancel for a pro rata refund. It also gives 2 points per £1 for spending in a foreign currency, which may be useful if you spend so much time abroad.