Jan 1, 2014, 5:45 am
Last edit by: EsherFlyer
Current sign-up, referral, spend promotions and retention offers
New member sign ups
British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card:
Collect 25,000 bonus Avios when you spend £3,000 within the first three months of card membership.
British Airways American Express Credit Card:
Collect 9,000 bonus Avios when you spend £1,000 within the first three months of card membership.
Referrals
If you are already a BA American Express card holder (either BA card) and introduce a friend to the BA American Express card, you'll receive a 4,000 Avios bonus once your friend's application is approved.
If you are already a BA American Express card holder (either BA card) and introduce a friend to the Premium Plus card, you'll receive a 9,000 Avios bonus once your friend's application is approved.
If your friend achieves the spend required for the welcome offer on either card they'll receive an additional 1,000 Avios. I.e. 26,000 or 10,000 total bonus Avios for the Premium Plus and Credit Card respectively.
Promotions
Retention offers
Voucher eligible spend
Pretty much everything counts towards the £10,000 (or £20,000) required to earn a 2-4-1 Companion Voucher, including the following which might be unexpected:
A few things that don't:
The online total to the right of the card summary is pretty up to date, and far more useful for tracking spend than what the statements show.
Insurance
Both standard and Premium Plus cards include insurance benefits for goods and services purchased on the card. Full details here and here respectively. Summary of Premium Plus benefit are shown here, with standard card offering same cover unless alternate figure is shown in parentheses:
New member sign ups
British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card:
Collect 25,000 bonus Avios when you spend £3,000 within the first three months of card membership.
British Airways American Express Credit Card:
Collect 9,000 bonus Avios when you spend £1,000 within the first three months of card membership.
Referrals
If you are already a BA American Express card holder (either BA card) and introduce a friend to the BA American Express card, you'll receive a 4,000 Avios bonus once your friend's application is approved.
If you are already a BA American Express card holder (either BA card) and introduce a friend to the Premium Plus card, you'll receive a 9,000 Avios bonus once your friend's application is approved.
If your friend achieves the spend required for the welcome offer on either card they'll receive an additional 1,000 Avios. I.e. 26,000 or 10,000 total bonus Avios for the Premium Plus and Credit Card respectively.
Small print:
You must refer your friend via the referral link provided above to be eligible for this offer.
You may recommend as many friends or family members as you wish but you can only receive a maximum of 45,000 Avios per calendar year for those approved for a Card.
You will receive 4,000 bonus Avios if your friend applies and is approved for the British Airways American Express Credit Card. Your friend will receive 4,000 bonus Avios after they have been approved and spent a minimum of £1,000 on goods and services purchased and charged to their Account within three months of Account opening.
You will receive 9,000 bonus Avios if your friend applies and is approved for the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card. Your friend will receive 19,000 bonus Avios after they have been approved and spent a minimum of £3,000 on goods and services purchased and charged to their Account within three months of Account opening.
When completing the referral form, you must
(i) select the Card you hold from the list at Step 1 and
(ii) select a card to recommend from those listed at Step 2. If you do not follow this process, you and your friend will not be eligible for the bonus.
If your friend has already applied for any of the British Airways American Express Credit Cards without using this referral, you and your friend will not be eligible for the bonus Avios.
All introductory offers are subject to change, can be withdrawn at any time and are not available if your friend currently holds or has held any other British Airways American Express Credit Cards in the past six months.
You must refer your friend via the referral link provided above to be eligible for this offer.
You may recommend as many friends or family members as you wish but you can only receive a maximum of 45,000 Avios per calendar year for those approved for a Card.
You will receive 4,000 bonus Avios if your friend applies and is approved for the British Airways American Express Credit Card. Your friend will receive 4,000 bonus Avios after they have been approved and spent a minimum of £1,000 on goods and services purchased and charged to their Account within three months of Account opening.
You will receive 9,000 bonus Avios if your friend applies and is approved for the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card. Your friend will receive 19,000 bonus Avios after they have been approved and spent a minimum of £3,000 on goods and services purchased and charged to their Account within three months of Account opening.
When completing the referral form, you must
(i) select the Card you hold from the list at Step 1 and
(ii) select a card to recommend from those listed at Step 2. If you do not follow this process, you and your friend will not be eligible for the bonus.
If your friend has already applied for any of the British Airways American Express Credit Cards without using this referral, you and your friend will not be eligible for the bonus Avios.
All introductory offers are subject to change, can be withdrawn at any time and are not available if your friend currently holds or has held any other British Airways American Express Credit Cards in the past six months.
Promotions
Retention offers
Voucher eligible spend
Pretty much everything counts towards the £10,000 (or £20,000) required to earn a 2-4-1 Companion Voucher, including the following which might be unexpected:
- Foreign transaction fees
A few things that don't:
- Annual membership fee
- Interest payments
- Transactions under £1 (although you can earn the single Avios
)
The online total to the right of the card summary is pretty up to date, and far more useful for tracking spend than what the statements show.
Insurance
Both standard and Premium Plus cards include insurance benefits for goods and services purchased on the card. Full details here and here respectively. Summary of Premium Plus benefit are shown here, with standard card offering same cover unless alternate figure is shown in parentheses:
- Purchase protection: £2,500
- Refund protection: £300 (£200) per item
- Flight delay / cancellation / overbooking / missed: £200 (£0)
- Baggage delay (6+ hours): £750 (£0)
- Baggage delay (48+ hours): £1,000 (£0), additional to 6 hours benefit
- Accident: £250,000 (£75,000)
- Hijack (24+ hours): £1,500
- Hijack (72+ hours): £3,000, additional to the 24h benefit
BA American Express credit card
Feb 2, 2020, 10:41 am
#2056
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: London
Programs: KLM, BA Silver, Etihad
Posts: 918
Qaa11
oh I’m glad I read this, just booked a BA holiday and only paid the £150 deposit. I should go and pay the remainder now; I trust BA holidays qualify?
Last edited by RockyRobin; Feb 2, 2020 at 10:50 am
Feb 2, 2020, 10:58 am
#2057
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: London
Programs: BAEC | qantas | IHG | Hilton Honors | Priority Pass | Nandos
Posts: 868
Feb 2, 2020, 2:51 pm
#2058
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: NCL
Programs: BAEC and Hilton mostly
Posts: 655
Feb 3, 2020, 12:30 am
#2059
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: London
Programs: KLM, BA Silver, Etihad
Posts: 918
Indeed when I logged back in I could choose the amount to pay so just upped it to £303.
when I made my first payment it looked like £150 or the total bill. Not that I was thinking about the £300 offer at the time anyway
Feb 5, 2020, 6:48 am
#2060
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: London
Programs: KLM, BA Silver, Etihad
Posts: 918
Well it turns out I'm not eligible for this deal so I've done all that for nothing. Not a happy bunny at all. Already cancelled my Amex Platinum with them this week as their travel insurance was a joke.
Feb 10, 2020, 12:04 pm
#2061
Join Date: Dec 2016
Programs: BAEC GGL/CR; Hilton Diamond; Mucci des Puccis
Posts: 5,610
This is a bit niche, for avgeeks mostly.
There's a 25% refund on buyagift on amex cards - this was from a week or so ago I think. This stacks with a 14 avios per pound spent promo in the e-store.
Why is this of interest? Because buyagift is an experience reseller, and one of the experiences they resell is a 70 minute flight in a Dragon Rapide sightseeing over London, from Duxford, for £255. You also get entry to the collection at Duxford which is well worth a look. There is also a 150% price difference promise if you don't use vouchers, and ClassicWings sell the same package for £26 less (£229), so in principle a further discount of £39, but I haven't tested that yet. There are some vouchers floating about too, you automatically get one for £10 for signing up in the first place.
So the result is a very substantial discount on something that looks like a lot of fun. You get a voucher to redeem for pretty much when you want as far as I can see, and there's also a 60 day refund policy. If anyone else signs up let me know and it may be possible to coordinate something. The Amex offer triggered immediately, and the e-store tracked the next day for me.
There's a 25% refund on buyagift on amex cards - this was from a week or so ago I think. This stacks with a 14 avios per pound spent promo in the e-store.
Why is this of interest? Because buyagift is an experience reseller, and one of the experiences they resell is a 70 minute flight in a Dragon Rapide sightseeing over London, from Duxford, for £255. You also get entry to the collection at Duxford which is well worth a look. There is also a 150% price difference promise if you don't use vouchers, and ClassicWings sell the same package for £26 less (£229), so in principle a further discount of £39, but I haven't tested that yet. There are some vouchers floating about too, you automatically get one for £10 for signing up in the first place.
So the result is a very substantial discount on something that looks like a lot of fun. You get a voucher to redeem for pretty much when you want as far as I can see, and there's also a 60 day refund policy. If anyone else signs up let me know and it may be possible to coordinate something. The Amex offer triggered immediately, and the e-store tracked the next day for me.
Feb 17, 2020, 2:35 am
#2062
Join Date: Jul 2010
Programs: BD Silver, HH Gold, BA Silver, CX Gold
Posts: 443
I had a cleared transaction on the 13th for £300.50 but did not get the usual AMEX 'You used this offer' email but it shows as Expired, rather than Claimed in my offers thing. Has anyone elses cleared?
Feb 17, 2020, 3:27 am
#2063
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: UK
Programs: BA GGL, BA LTG/GFL, Honors Diamond, Accor Platinum, Bonvoy Silver
Posts: 718
For the bigger bonuses I’ve taken to adding £1 to the spend requirement, so £301 in this case, and screenshooting the ‘loaded to card’ offer and the charge notification, in the app, as a couple of years back the spend £x get y,000 avios, up to 3 times, only tracked on 2 of 3 spends. All fixed after several phone calls, but a faff. I was advised to add the £1. Whether that additional £1 is an urban legend or has validity, no idea.
Feb 18, 2020, 10:37 am
#2064
Join Date: Jul 2010
Programs: BD Silver, HH Gold, BA Silver, CX Gold
Posts: 443
Mine took 5 days from transaction to email. Usually I get the ‘you used’ email within a few minutes from the qualifying transaction.
For the bigger bonuses I’ve taken to adding £1 to the spend requirement, so £301 in this case, and screenshooting the ‘loaded to card’ offer and the charge notification, in the app, as a couple of years back the spend £x get y,000 avios, up to 3 times, only tracked on 2 of 3 spends. All fixed after several phone calls, but a faff. I was advised to add the £1. Whether that additional £1 is an urban legend or has validity, no idea.
For the bigger bonuses I’ve taken to adding £1 to the spend requirement, so £301 in this case, and screenshooting the ‘loaded to card’ offer and the charge notification, in the app, as a couple of years back the spend £x get y,000 avios, up to 3 times, only tracked on 2 of 3 spends. All fixed after several phone calls, but a faff. I was advised to add the £1. Whether that additional £1 is an urban legend or has validity, no idea.
Feb 18, 2020, 2:39 pm
#2065
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: London
Programs: BAEC | qantas | IHG | Hilton Honors | Priority Pass | Nandos
Posts: 868
Feb 27, 2020, 3:05 am
#2068
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 136
Morning all – Booked my 241 voucher last week and now wanted to change Amex cards to not incur the annual charge but pay it on the days I had it.
Can go back to Blue however as some have mentioned before, more beneficial could be to change to Gold as no annual charge for the first year.
However when I called Amex customer service they mentioned that you cannot easily change from the premium plus card to gold. I would need to do a new application for a gold card and therefore have two accounts – unless I closed my premium plus account. It was easy changing from BA Blue to premium plus, so thought it would be the same for gold.
I thought id ask here to make sure this is correct? Or if anyone has done this of recent.
Can go back to Blue however as some have mentioned before, more beneficial could be to change to Gold as no annual charge for the first year.
However when I called Amex customer service they mentioned that you cannot easily change from the premium plus card to gold. I would need to do a new application for a gold card and therefore have two accounts – unless I closed my premium plus account. It was easy changing from BA Blue to premium plus, so thought it would be the same for gold.
I thought id ask here to make sure this is correct? Or if anyone has done this of recent.
Feb 27, 2020, 3:25 am
#2069
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: England
Programs: BAEC: Bronze; Marriott: Gold
Posts: 399
The differenmce is that the BA Blue and BA Premium Plus are botrh BA cards. The rules state that you can only have one or the other and tranferring betweent he two is very simple. Amex Gold is a totally differenet card with no connection to BA (other than you have the ability to exchange Amex points to Avious points). The same goes for any other non-BA Amexs, they are different cards which require the full application process to be completed and will not automatically close any other cards.
Mar 4, 2020, 4:20 pm
#2070
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Scotland
Posts: 128
I’m sure this has been asked but I can’t see the wood for the trees when I search this forum ....
My wife has a UK BA PP Amex and we have two 2-4-1 trips coming up that will exhaust our Avios for a while. I have the same card too, and we don’t think we need two separate cards any more as I’m ready to pull the trigger on my final £600 of spend to trigger another 2-4-1 voucher - long story short, my wife’s card seems like the card we don’t need renewed.
Her renewal is April 28th and our trips start/end on March 17/23rd and May 9/19th respectively. Is it possible, wise or indeed stupid to attempt to downgrade the card ahead of the second trip to avoid paying the £195 renewal fee (?). Or, should I just settle myself and pay this fee, and then downgrade as soon as we return for an 11/12th refund of fee (?)
Sorry if this was an easy answer to find ... I didn’t manage to find it - and thanks for any help.
My wife has a UK BA PP Amex and we have two 2-4-1 trips coming up that will exhaust our Avios for a while. I have the same card too, and we don’t think we need two separate cards any more as I’m ready to pull the trigger on my final £600 of spend to trigger another 2-4-1 voucher - long story short, my wife’s card seems like the card we don’t need renewed.
Her renewal is April 28th and our trips start/end on March 17/23rd and May 9/19th respectively. Is it possible, wise or indeed stupid to attempt to downgrade the card ahead of the second trip to avoid paying the £195 renewal fee (?). Or, should I just settle myself and pay this fee, and then downgrade as soon as we return for an 11/12th refund of fee (?)
Sorry if this was an easy answer to find ... I didn’t manage to find it - and thanks for any help.