removed, blond moment worked out, remembered someone in the US didn't take AMEX!!!!

1.25 Avios per £5 on the Mastercard I think - I've not used mine, it's sat in the filing cabinet.

Is it double in the US as that would explain the 500

Yes, I think so.

A question. If you refund a transaction on the Amex, is the money refunded available for spending on the Mastercard? ie are the accounts totally separate or not?

I was thinking about loading up on refundable Amex transactions, safe in the knowledge that I could trigger refunds when Mastercard-able tax payments come round later in the year.

Well T and C states bonus Avios will post within 30 days. clearly this is not the cause so its time to put pen to paper.!

It's exactly the same account, just with two cards.

As far as I can see the back-end of the system treats the Amex/MC transactions the same with no separation.

Are you assuming that as long as you aren't triggering significant refunds back to your bank, they won't subject your account to special scrutiny and clawback your 9x bonus?

Yes. I think as long as you have positive NET monthly spend then you should be OK. In any event, it is a no risk proposition since the worst than can happen is that they remove the Avios which I wouldn't otherwise have earned anyway.

Great idea.

To do a refund in a foreign currency would be tempting and the exposure to a shift in the fx rate possibly worth the risk HOWEVER, how would they process the refund?

Would it be debit $100 take a 3% slice, refund $100 take a 3% slice so you lose 6% on top of any fx movement.
Or debit $100 take a 3% slice, refund $100 and re-credit the 3% slice so only exposure is to fx movement

(Ignore!)

Thanks. Best just stick to GBP stuff then.

For anyone with pets, you can always stock up on dog food etc at zooplus.com. It's the euro version of the .co.uk version. Some prices seem different so check whether it's worth it (some items I checked we're either the same or cheaper on the .com site). It also may not work with topcashback or their usual vouchers etc.

Raffles, I actually have a different experience. In November after the Avios changes, I cancelled a booking and then rebooked on the same day (to take advantage in a drop in the redemption amount). The underlying CZK amount to hit my card was exactly the same for the refund and the charge, the exchange rate was the same, the comission was the same, and the £ amount was the same!
So in that case they added back the commission. I'm not sure if this was a one off mistake, an exception for reward bookings, or something else? However my one data points indicates it is not a problem.

However if you do get charged 6%, it means you are buying the additional 12.5 miles at around 0.5p per Avio. So arguably it is still a good deal.

Assuming they don't take back those bonus miles. Which is a big assumption.

They can't have it both ways. Either it's a refund, in which case the total amount should be returned. Or it's a repayment, in which case the Avios should stay.