ademanuele

I have trip to NY booked with a 241 in August and suspect (hope) it will be cancelled. I have a the British Airways Amex Premium Plus card and the 241 voucher was earned in November 2019.

If I do not renew my BA Amex card in July and the flight in August is cancelled, what happens to the voucher, can I still use it and will it still have what's left of 2 years (plus 6 months extension?) to use it?

Also, similar scenario but what happens if I downgrade to the free BA card?

crazyarmadillo

Generally speaking you are supposed to use the amex card to pay taxes when using the 241 voucher. I have on occasion been asked by BA agent, to use the same card, but not always.

I don't know how strict ba are though on that. I'm sure others will tell you shortly. If they are strict, then get a voucher instead of a refund, if flight is cancelled.

peck

I downgraded recently to the free card and was told my earned vouchers were safe and could be used as normal (with the 2 years + 6 month extension). To be honest in your situation I would take this route - still having a card will at least allow you to interact with American Express if you need to...

Downgrading is very easy and quick. It took me about 5 minutes on the phone and the replacement card arrived a week later. I suggest you just do it now and you’ll get a few quid back on the fee too.

fruitcage

The rules say you have to use the original Amex card to book a flight with a 241 but BA can’t tell Amex cards apart so any Amex card is fine.

vintagepilot

The rules don't actually say 'the original Amex card' - although it could be implied. We cancelled and re-booked a 241 trip (pre-Covid) after the original card had been cancelled. Everything was refunded with no problem, although we had to get Amex to shift the refund from the closed card to our current one. The re-booking was done with the original voucher and fees were paid from the new card without any issues.

BTW, if you intend to 'downgrade' to the free card you don't have wait until the renewal date - you can do it any time and with Amex you get a pro-rata refund of the card fee.

Editted to add: You can also cancel the trip yourself if you wish, although you would lose £35pp as a cancellation fee. Clearly, if you wait until the flights are cancelled you would get it all back - but they might not be cancelled. But - depending on when (or if) you want to re-book, the sooner you get the points and 241 voucher back, the sooner you can re-book, with maybe more chance of availability.

JohnnyCarmello

is there any impact on credit limit when you downgrade? I had hoped to buy a house later this year, and although it's likely to be 2021, I still don't want to take any unnecessary hits to my credit score right now.

peck

They do say they go through the process of re-approving you but I can’t believe that’s what happened in my case. My credit limit stayed the same. I have had an Amex for a decade now though

SteveF

I downgraded this morning. According to the agent the account number, pin, etc. all stays the same, but I didn't ask about the credit limit. Does it count as a new credit application and have an effect on your credit score? I don't know, but I've just checked my account and the downgrade is already showing and the credit limit is the same so I suspect not.

JohnnyCarmello

Cheers - that's what I thought. I think HfP ran an article 6 months ago saying it shouldn't impact credit rating, just wanted to check with people's personal experience.

ademanuele

I downgraded, credit limit stays the same (I asked) and interestingly if/when I decide to go back to the premium card then 241 spend will transfer to the Premium card i.e. if I spend £14k on the basic card, as soon as I upgrade I will receive a 241 voucher immediately… Also called Amex Platinum with a view to cancelling and they are actually offering an incentive in the form of Rewards. I may still cancel if the lockdown looks like it will continue (I will review July/August when hopefully we will know more about SARS-CoV-2) and the 2 Avios per/£1 spend is a good deal... I should add that customer service with AMEX is invariably excellent...

SteveF

The agent did mention to me that she can't guarantee that I would be accepted for the PP if I reapplied later, but I'd be very surprised if I wasn't given my history with Amex. If I'm not then fine, I can live without it.

Me too; I'm only hanging on because I've still I've got one holiday lined up and may need the insurance, although I expect that to be cancelled soon. I don't expect to be travelling within the next 12-18 months so I'll be binning the Plat before July when the fee is due. I may reconsider if the incentive is good enough, but I doubt that it could make up for £450 in 12 months. If I'm not using the travel insurance, lounge access and rental car insurance it just doesn't make sense to me.

I couldn't agree more. They've always been brilliant.

AJA_

I thought the annual fee for the Platinum card had gone up to £575?

SteveF

I forgot about that particular benefit coming my way at renewal along with the metal card (which I would probably have to stop carrying because all I carry is three cards and max £20 cash in the back pocket of my jeans). I guess I'll be saving even more than I thought then.

mikeday1983

I believe they take historical account information and "cached" credit information to make the decision so it is unlikely to show up as a search on your credit file. I have done this a few times over the years and it has never resulted in a dedicated search