darthlemsip

Following my thread earlier about HHA where I was helping my folks spend their 100k Avios on a trip to SFO in CW, it occurred to me that they must have either spent some serious money to build them up that quickly (as the only BA flights they've done in the last two years have been LCY/LGW-FAO and back) or had been recommending some people and building up the points that way.

Except it's neither.

Popped round on my way home from work to sort out combining our accounts into one HHA and asked how they'd got all those points and my old man informed me "Both of us return to Faro, a bit of spend, and Amex gave us 82,000 points" - which confused me somewhat.

They were happy to let me refer them so I could get 22k points (yes, I was a good son and told them they could get 40k and some cashback through Quidco, but they chose not to) so were expecting 42k points. We logged into their membership rewards account, and what do you know, at the point that the £1,500 spend was triggered, there were two bonus additions, one for 42k as a referral bonus, and one for 40k as an American Express bonus.

The jammy, jammy sods

ian_s

Does anyone know how long it takes for amex to send your card to you after acceptance? Looking at booking flights soon and would rather use the new card.

Raffles

Big changes to referral bonuses, I'm afraid.

The full details are here
http://headforpoints.com/2012/07/05/...-new-criteria/

but basically:

Amex Plat - sign-up now 50,000 points with £100 Quidco. However, you must be a new Amex customer to qualify, that includes not having a BA Amex. Target income to get the card raised to £40k from £30k.

Amex Gold - fee waiver in Year 1 now not available if you have an Amex charge card already. 20,000 MR points only given to new Amex customers which excludes BA Amex holders. Quidco doubled to £20.

Overall - not good for card churners (and aren't we all!). Now it will be more about referring our partners for cards, although a lot of us already have a BA Amex for our partner as well.

I will update the first post.

EDIflyer

Thanks for the update - it was nice while it lasted! I guess referrals may still be worth considering if/when the Quidco offer ends, but otherwise that's us for now!

chistery

Or 52k/25k MR points if you refer. maybe better than quidco if you are referring a partner who has no card.

mdj1

To be honest, i've never churned and it's no wonder they've stopped it to be honest.

britbronco22

Darn, I was just about to refer my Mum for the Gold Card, no point now as she has a BA Amex

PanGalactic

I've never churned either, but I did like the idea of it, the trouble is I always seem to have a 241 booked a year in advance and don't want to have any issues with it. Oh well

What they should do to discourage churning is offer a bonus 10,000 points or something on payment of the card renewal fee or something as they do with the gold.

mdj1

That's the same reason here. And a good idea as well re the loyalty points.

nh1980

Gutted, having now got my 2-4-1 earnt with my BA Amex I was just about to apply for this but now find the bonus 50k will not apply - the only reason I waited so long was that I have recently cancelled an old Halifax credit card and was waiting for that to update on my credit profile so that it doesn't look like I have too many credit cards out there (even though my balances are small and I meet the income requirements easily!)

I wouldn't have been a quick churner but I can see why they have done it...what are the next best alternatives?

PanGalactic

As I understand, you can transfer MR's between accounts, so what's to stop people offering 1/2 their referral commission as kickback?

Raffles

£15 fee for the transfer - http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/co...-benefits.html

May be against FT T&C's although happy for a mod to clarify

In any event, the block on any bonus being paid to someone with any existing Amex cards, inc the BA Amex, will drastically limit demand for this promo from this board going forward!

pauldb

You also have to have the transferrer and the recipient on the phone together, which is hard with an internet "friend".

nh1980

The attractiveness for me has gone completely as it stands. I can't kill my BA Amex as have a 2-4-1 on that which I don't wish to lose and I already have lounge access with BA Silver status. I would only now consider paying the £450 for this card in the event I lost Silver and could get oneworld lounge access via the CX gold card via Plat. I would probably want to have made good use of my 2-4-1 as well if I wanted to cancel the BA PP to get the Plat MR award.

PanGalactic

I think it should be OK as long as it's the sender of the points who pays for the fee and not the receiver.

I doubt if Amex would charge you to receive would they?