londinense

Following the imminent demise of the BMI cards as Avios earners, I have just applied for the no-fee BA Amex card. However, I note that the Amex gold card is a better Avios earner, since it gives double points on all airline purchases (not just BA I assume). I believe there is a 6 month rule re these cards, so I would need to cancel the BA card after earning the sign-up bonus and then wait six months before applying for the gold card.
My question is: how long should I wait before cancelling the BA card once I have earned the rather measly 9,000 Avios points? 3 months, say, or a full year?
By the way, I have the Lloyds duo as well, but it rather looks as though the Amex there would NOT disqualify one from gaining Avios sign ups bonuses, since it's not marketed by Amex direct. Correct?
Any thoughts much appreciates.

heronb

You can have both cards simultaneously

londinense

Indeed one can. However, the T&Cs for the gold card state:
All introductory offers are subject to change, can be withdrawn at any time and are not available if you currently hold or have held any other Membership Rewards enrolled American Express Cards in the past six months.

flibbly

The BA Amex is not a "Membership Rewards enrolled American Express Card" though, so as stated you can have both and get the signup bonus on both.

alwayswanttoturnleft

I have both and as stated above because the BA Amex is an avios only earner it is not classed as a memberships rewards card and you can earn on both and get bonuses etc on both at the same time as long as you have the required spending etc.

:D!

If you have a partner/spouse, then the best thing to do is for one person to get the Gold Amex and cancel between 6-12 months later, but just before, refer the other person, then repeat.

For maximum benefit you would cancel after 6 months so that when you reapply you are exactly 6 months from your earlier cancellation; but you also get a bonus for spending 15K in a year which is what we occasionally do (now on our 6th iteration of this)


Having the Gold Amex does not impact having the BA Amex in any way except that Amex will consider you an existing customer and Amex may not credit-check you when you apply; but if your declared financial circumstances don't support having both cards then it can also make it harder to get.


If you are going to spend 15K, it may be better to get the BAPP rather than free BA Amex, but we don't as the 241 is not useful to us.

madfish

Raffles wrote an interesting article about this recently on headforpoints.
http://www.headforpoints.com/2016/08...-express-card/

rhivolution

I applied for and received exactly the two cards you're considering in the last 6 months or so. As others have said, you can hold both and gain introductory offers on both as the BA card earns avios and the Gold earns membership rewards.

If I was you, I'd focus all spend on the BA until you meet the criteria for the sign-up bonus, then apply for the Gold and focus all spending on that. I cancelled the BA Amex after about 4 months. In (roughly) 6 months' time I will apply for a BA Premium Plus (depending on sign-up bonus at the time), meet the required spend, cancel... rinse and repeat.

G-ARVE

Remember that the Gold card avios rate is halved after 12 months, ie the end of the intro period. Or that was the case 5 or so years ago when I had both Gold and the black BA cards.

londinense

Many thanks for the helpful replies. I have now applied for the Amex Gold Card, but it has not been automatically approved. There was a similar delay when applying for the BA one, so I am not concerned.
Does the three months to reach required spend apply from date of card issue or from when it's activated? I have not activated the BA card yet, since it was sent to my UK address, and I won't be there for another ten days.
Am I right in thinking something like John Lewis gift cards can be purchased to reach the spend required? (I won't have any problems reaching the requirement on the gold card, as I can use that to buy BA and other airline tickets in the next three months!
BTW, I didn't see anything in the T&Cs for the gold card reducing points after 12 months. But I will keep an eye skinned.

parklife

Gift cards will count towards the required spend.

The gold card earnings have been reduced in the last few months so no longer double points in supermarkets and travel (there were more categories). Petrol spend at supermarkets would even trigger x3 or x4 points.....ah the good old days! This was only for the first year.