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 Ł3,000 within the first three months of card membership.
British Airways American Express Credit Card:
Collect 9,000 bonus Avios when you spend Ł1,000 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 Ł10,000 (or Ł20,000) 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 Ł3,000 within the first three months of card membership.
British Airways American Express Credit Card:
Collect 9,000 bonus Avios when you spend Ł1,000 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 Ł1,000 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 Ł3,000 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 Ł1,000 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 Ł3,000 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 Ł10,000 (or Ł20,000) 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 Ł1 (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: Ł2,500
- Refund protection: Ł300 (Ł200) per item
- Flight delay / cancellation / overbooking / missed: Ł200 (Ł0)
- Baggage delay (6+ hours): Ł750 (Ł0)
- Baggage delay (48+ hours): Ł1,000 (Ł0), additional to 6 hours benefit
- Accident: Ł250,000 (Ł75,000)
- Hijack (24+ hours): Ł1,500
- Hijack (72+ hours): Ł3,000, additional to the 24h benefit
BA American Express credit card
Feb 8, 2017, 5:50 am
#1366
Join Date: Jun 2003
Programs: BA, IHG, 5C
Posts: 4,413
Her referral bonus should appear in just a couple of days (if you don't get an automatic acceptance of your application, the first you'll probably know of an offline acceptance is the arrival of her bonus). So if there's not a pressing need to downgrade her I would wait a few days to avoid any potential hassle.
Feb 8, 2017, 11:22 am
#1367
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: UK (currently)
Programs: BA Gold (and many other greater and lesser distinctions)
Posts: 7,207
Her referral bonus should appear in just a couple of days (if you don't get an automatic acceptance of your application, the first you'll probably know of an offline acceptance is the arrival of her bonus). So if there's not a pressing need to downgrade her I would wait a few days to avoid any potential hassle.
Feb 8, 2017, 11:38 am
#1368
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: UK (currently)
Programs: BA Gold (and many other greater and lesser distinctions)
Posts: 7,207
In addition to my last question in the post above how would this scenario work out: Mrs FF99 has had a PP card for years and has just referred me for a PP card (I have not had one for years). When I get my card we will downgrade her card by applying for a Blue card for her and thereby trigger the automatic cancellation of her PP card.
What would happen if she applies for the Blue card on the basis of a referral from my newly opened PP card ? I can't see another round of bonuses kicking in for her 'new' Blue card, but just maybe ?? Or will this definitely not work ?? Would it make any difference if we called up to close her PP card before I refer her for the Blue card from my new PP. I am sure I am overthinking this !!
What would happen if she applies for the Blue card on the basis of a referral from my newly opened PP card ? I can't see another round of bonuses kicking in for her 'new' Blue card, but just maybe ?? Or will this definitely not work ?? Would it make any difference if we called up to close her PP card before I refer her for the Blue card from my new PP. I am sure I am overthinking this !!
Feb 8, 2017, 12:47 pm
#1369
Join Date: Jun 2003
Programs: BA, IHG, 5C
Posts: 4,413
Her referral points will appear on the Amex avios balance until they are swept over monthly like any other avios earned on the card.
You referring her for the downgrade is a neat idea. It shouldn't work by why not chance it. Cancelling shouldn't either as she's meant to let six months elapse but again who knows. Does she have a voucher outstanding: that might be put at risk by cancelling. If not , why downgrade at all. Just cancel and get the six months rolling.
You referring her for the downgrade is a neat idea. It shouldn't work by why not chance it. Cancelling shouldn't either as she's meant to let six months elapse but again who knows. Does she have a voucher outstanding: that might be put at risk by cancelling. If not , why downgrade at all. Just cancel and get the six months rolling.
Feb 14, 2017, 3:25 pm
#1370
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: UK
Programs: BAEC, IHG, LeClub, HHonors
Posts: 599
Feb 15, 2017, 2:07 am
#1372
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: All good weekends in the UK begin at Heathrow :)
Programs: Amex MR, A3, BAEC
Posts: 195
Is there a discussion anywhere (on FT or elsewhere) about combining a BA 241 with a Lloyds card upgrade voucher? We will soon be a family of 4: 2 adults, 1 child (2-11) and 1 infant (< 2).
Feb 15, 2017, 2:25 am
#1373
Join Date: Jun 2003
Programs: BA, IHG, 5C
Posts: 4,413
Note that adults need to be "opposite" cardholders, though you may get around this on by forming an avios.com HH account, if you get caught out by it.
I have managed to do exactly this for our family - it's an efficient solution for 3 ad/ch but a bit of a faff! Booking the Lloyds voucher at 355 days is trickier if you need to do that.
Feb 15, 2017, 2:38 am
#1374
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: All good weekends in the UK begin at Heathrow :)
Programs: Amex MR, A3, BAEC
Posts: 195
Ad hoc discussion! You'd have to make 2 separate bookings: one through BAEC for the Amex cardholder and the child, and one through avios.com for the Lloyds cardholder. The infant can go on either.
Note that adults need to be "opposite" cardholders, though you may get around this on by forming an avios.com HH account, if you get caught out by it.
I have managed to do exactly this for our family - it's an efficient solution for 3 ad/ch but a bit of a faff! Booking the Lloyds voucher at 355 days is trickier if you need to do that.
Note that adults need to be "opposite" cardholders, though you may get around this on by forming an avios.com HH account, if you get caught out by it.
I have managed to do exactly this for our family - it's an efficient solution for 3 ad/ch but a bit of a faff! Booking the Lloyds voucher at 355 days is trickier if you need to do that.
Is there no blog page somewhere that explains the whole process?
I have an Avios.com account (obviously - given the LL card), but will need to create a Household account I guess. Seems like the avios site has issues though - it's stuck on some strange pop-up window asking me to update my details. No matter what I enter, after clicking 'submit my details', it says there is a problem and there is no way to close the window!
Feb 15, 2017, 3:42 am
#1375
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: UK (currently)
Programs: BA Gold (and many other greater and lesser distinctions)
Posts: 7,207
Q question regarding the Amex Offers. I have just gone through the process of Mrs FF99 referring me for a new BAPP card, and was planning to cancel hers.
However I am hesitating about cancelling her card, as she had some very good offers on her card (Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Connaught, Cote, etc) before Xmas, and with those offers we recouped most of the annual fee. Maybe that was something of a one off, and I don't really know that as I have never previously paid much attention to the offers.
On my new BAPP card there are currently no offers. My question is whether offers have to be earned by spend / length of card-membership, and whether PP offers are better than/ different from Blue Card offers. Or are the offers pretty much the same all across the board ?
However I am hesitating about cancelling her card, as she had some very good offers on her card (Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Connaught, Cote, etc) before Xmas, and with those offers we recouped most of the annual fee. Maybe that was something of a one off, and I don't really know that as I have never previously paid much attention to the offers.
On my new BAPP card there are currently no offers. My question is whether offers have to be earned by spend / length of card-membership, and whether PP offers are better than/ different from Blue Card offers. Or are the offers pretty much the same all across the board ?
Feb 15, 2017, 5:10 am
#1379
Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club, easyJet and Ryanair
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: UK/Las Vegas
Programs: BA Gold (GGL/CCR)
Posts: 15,922
Feb 15, 2017, 5:52 am
#1380
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: North of Carlisle
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 1,538
Yes, re the balance and pro rata refund. If your balance doesn't transfer across (it should) a short email to customer services will do the trick. I had to do something similar when my wife had a Ł52 refund applied to her zero balance account on her PP / downgraded blue card. This is a summarised version of what I sent in addition to the above via PM, fairly straightforward to many on here but fwiw;
I've just reapplied for the Amex gold rewards cards for both of us (both cards were previously cancelled last year) and that's just generated a serious amount of Amex rewards (avios) points. Imo, the benefits / offers are excellent on the gold card, including 2 lounge passes per card. Used 2 of our vouchers at Edinburgh on Saturday (easyjet flight to Madrid) at the Aspire (very impressed at the breakfast offering). Insofar as the blue card is concerned, not as many offers (as expected) but it's now sitting with a zero balance until the 6 months is up and we'll reapply again and cancel mine. We have 3 x 241 vouchers on our accounts and, unfortunately, we will see one expire in August without being able to use it due to other holiday plans this year - that's painful. Kids are now 21 and 18 so not the same demand to use them.