Amex BA Premium Plus - new fee policy or a mistake???
Feb 8, 2017, 10:28 am
#16
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Canada, USA, Europe
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 31,452
Feb 8, 2017, 10:40 am
#18
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Canada, USA, Europe
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 31,452
That seems to contradict information just received in late-December.
My most recent correspondence in this matter was from July 2016 in which Amex wrote to me:
"To make sure we can continue to offer the existing range of rewards and benefits linked to your Card, we are increasing the membership fee from £150 to £195 per year. Please note that this fee only becomes payable if you no longer hold an applicable Companion Charge Card alongside your British Airways Card."
My most recent statement includes the following wording:
"Fees > No annual cardmembership fee is payable for so long as you hold an Amex companion card. Otherwise an annual fee of £195 will become payable."
"To make sure we can continue to offer the existing range of rewards and benefits linked to your Card, we are increasing the membership fee from £150 to £195 per year. Please note that this fee only becomes payable if you no longer hold an applicable Companion Charge Card alongside your British Airways Card."
My most recent statement includes the following wording:
"Fees > No annual cardmembership fee is payable for so long as you hold an Amex companion card. Otherwise an annual fee of £195 will become payable."
Feb 8, 2017, 11:24 am
#19
Join Date: Jun 2003
Programs: BA, IHG, 5C
Posts: 4,413
Same letter for me today, despite last year's exemption. Again the suggestion I no longer hold the companion card is bogus as the £30 fee (rather than £0) was specifically because I held a credit card, and I've had the Plat credit card since then like the OP.
Feb 8, 2017, 11:29 am
#20
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Northern England
Posts: 1,535
To be clear, are you saying that in your conversation with Amex they confirmed that those members holding aa companion charge card, who had the annual fee waived, will now be paying it?
That seems to contradict information just received in late-December.
Nothing in the post today, but I guess we'll see.
That seems to contradict information just received in late-December.
Nothing in the post today, but I guess we'll see.
Feb 8, 2017, 1:47 pm
#23
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 623
I got this letter too. Spoke to CS and they said it was because I cancelled my Gold card (about 6 months ago). I've been churning the Gold card for a few years now without it impacting my BAPP fee. I've held the Platinum Cashback card for 20 years, which I always believed was my 'companion card'. They seem to think the code was applied by mistake and they've caught up on this now, stating as others have here that it has to be a Charge card. This is not in the T&Cs as far as I can tell. Rather confusingly they suggested that if I still had the gold card then I would have remained on the reduced fee?
Feb 8, 2017, 1:48 pm
#24
Ambassador: Emirates Airlines
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 18,619
I got my AMEX Plat in around 2005, and have always got the BAPP for free.
Feb 8, 2017, 2:41 pm
#25
Join Date: Jun 2003
Programs: BA, IHG, 5C
Posts: 4,413
Turns out my recollection was a bit off. My companion card was an Amex Blue. This was replaced with a Platinum cash back credit card some time after 2010. So technically I no longer hold the companion card but only because Amex unilaterally upgraded me. I wonder if this happened to the OP too, as thinking about it now I don't think the Plat credit version existed much before 2010.
Feb 8, 2017, 4:37 pm
#26
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: London
Programs: BA Bronze, Amex Plat (UK)
Posts: 32
FWIW, I've had a Platinum charge card for about a year and just recently opened the BAPP, and was charged £195.
I wasn't even aware of a potential fee reduction, and nothing in the T&C (which I admittedly skimmed) seemed to reference it.
So, confirmed I guess?
I wasn't even aware of a potential fee reduction, and nothing in the T&C (which I admittedly skimmed) seemed to reference it.
So, confirmed I guess?
Feb 8, 2017, 5:33 pm
#28
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: London N3
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; VS Lifetime Gold
Posts: 222
I got this in today's post, too.
Gave AMEX a call to discuss. The problem I have is that BA's availability is so flaky and the TFCs so high on long haul, that I'm not going to pay £195 for the voucher.
Very helpful agent explained that the fee wouldn't be levied until a few months time and confirmed I could drop down to the free card, and keep the two vouchers I have.
I suggested we just switch over to the free card now, to which he responded by saying he would offer me an extra Avios per £ spent for the next three months, then I could call back to switch over.
Strangely, I though I was getting the discount off the back of my old Amex Platinum credit card that gives Membership rewards. He thinks it was off a charge card that I cancelled back in 2011. Oops....
Gave AMEX a call to discuss. The problem I have is that BA's availability is so flaky and the TFCs so high on long haul, that I'm not going to pay £195 for the voucher.
Very helpful agent explained that the fee wouldn't be levied until a few months time and confirmed I could drop down to the free card, and keep the two vouchers I have.
I suggested we just switch over to the free card now, to which he responded by saying he would offer me an extra Avios per £ spent for the next three months, then I could call back to switch over.
Strangely, I though I was getting the discount off the back of my old Amex Platinum credit card that gives Membership rewards. He thinks it was off a charge card that I cancelled back in 2011. Oops....
The letter says the subscription fee can no longer be waived as I no longer have a companion card. However, I have always held either an AmEx Platinum or Amex Gold card since first getting the BA AmEx card in 2004.
When I called, they said these are no longer deemed "companion cards" but offered (when I asked what would justify the additional fee of £195) 3-month increase in the base earning rate from 1.5 to 2.5 Avios per £ spent and a drop to the subscription-free "Classic" card that earns 1 Avios per £1 spent. NB: If this doesn't appeal, beware dropping BA Amex card(s) altogether, since BA will cancel any 2-for-1 vouchers where no BA Amex card is held.
Feb 8, 2017, 10:46 pm
#29
Join Date: Jun 2003
Programs: BA, IHG, 5C
Posts: 4,413
No. The reduction hasn't been given to new cardholders in at least 5 years, maybe 10, and hasn't therefore been in the t&cs. But it has been grandfathered to older cardholders since then. So your experience is consistent, not telling.
Feb 8, 2017, 10:50 pm
#30
Join Date: Jun 2003
Programs: BA, IHG, 5C
Posts: 4,413
Presuming your pay zero fee? Going back to the original fee structure, the Plat card gets you £0 but the Gold only £30. Technically I can see that if you switched Plat to Gold, after the structure changed, you now longer held the Companion Card for your £0 grandfathering.