Echo J

Most of my flying -especially longhaul - is now on BA, but I'll still be flying SK every now and then shorthaul. But just because I'm not flying *A very often doesn't mean I want to stop racking up miles with them

Anyone have any opinions on the M&M UK AmEx? No annual fee is nice, and 2 miles/£ doesn't seem bad.
Anyone know what the travel insurance is like with this card?

I've also been considering the bmi Plus AmEx, which also gives 2 mi/£ and has a welcome bonus 4x that of the M&M one. But it comes with a £60 annual fee, and the uncertainty of bmi's future...
I'm also a bit less-than-knowledgable on the burn rates of LH vs BD.

Any opinions or input are much appreciated!

Roger

There's a lot of info on the BD and LH cards in the bmi forum, especially in the Stickies.

The feeling over there is that the BD AmEx will ultimately be subsumed within the LH AmEx following the LH takeover of BD, so short term you might want to open a BD AmEx (BD Diamond Club generally reckoned to be far superior to Miles and Less but possibly not with us for the longterm). If you haven't already got an MBNA miles card, you stand to get a 6,000 mile bonus.

I have the BD Mastercard (no longer available for new accounts) and the LH AmEx and Visa. I believe the insurance is unspectacular and rely on AmEx (the real AmEx, that is).

For the first six months, LH AmEx offers 3 miles per £.

NewbieRunner

I recently signed up for an M&M AmEx card and am on a spending spree to take advantage of the 3 miles/£ offer. Although the BD AmEx sign-up bonus seemed very attractvie I've decided I had far too many cards already and resisted the temptation to sign up for one. Before switching to MBNA AmEx, M&M in the UK used to offer a choice of MasterCard/Visa with or without an annual fee (2 miles/£ or 1 mile/£). If you don't fly a lot on *A, having a credit card is a good way of preventing M&M miles from expiring.

Because of the type of travelling I do, I never depend on any travel insurance that's bundled with a credit card and always take out a separate annual travel insurance which is actually not that expensive. Next year I'll be switching to a travel insurance that comes as part of my bank account but the level of cover will be similar to a standalone insurance I currently have.

You can read all about BD vs LH earn/burn rates elsewhere on FT (in brief BD wins hands down), but I'm a firm believer in sticking to the FFP of the airline one flies most with and I don't fly enough to maintain Gold status with more than one airline or alliance. The only problem with any AmEx card is the number of retailers which do not accept it, so I still have to use my Tesco credit card and collect Air Miles from time to time.

Savage25

As a UK resident, can I apply for the UK M&M Amex card, while still keeping my M&M account tied to my US address?

NewbieRunner

I'm no expert on these matters but I would have thought if you have a UK address, UK bank account and other UK credit cards already, where your M&M account is registered shouldn't be an issue. As far as I can remember all you need to enter is your M&M account/card number. MBNA is only interested in your credit history/rating, so you will obviously be asked about your other credit cards and credit limits among other things but I don't think they are interested in whether you receive your SEN Christmas present or not.

I applied online late at night and the speed in which the response including the credit limit came back (i.e. as soon as I clicked the last submit button) was scary.

NewbieRunner

Thanks to Roger for posting this unwelcome news in the BMI forum.

Roger

M&M Visa and AmEx cards are still unavailable for new applicants in the UK. https://wwwa.mbna.co.uk/UKCCapp/static/error.html

Is there a hidden message, I wonder?

NewbieRunner

As I mentioned in the bmi forum, LH AmEx credit cards have not been available to new UK applicants since the summer.

http://www.miles-and-more.com/online...en&cid=1000243

Time for me to get a BMI AmEx card!

Raffles

The BMI 20k for a new sign-up offer can't be long for this world ... I'm surprised you waited so long. The new BMI family accounts means that you should be persuading your nearest and dearest to get a BMI credit card too!

NewbieRunner

I know, I know. I'd better get my cat to sign up as well.

seattle29

Had a letter off MBNA today. As of the 1st February, we'll only get 1.5x miles per £1 instead of 2x miles. As a way of apologising, they'll give us 3000 award miles if we make at least one purchase on the card in January.

Not good news

Roger

Gosh, you have a month's extension! My date was 1.1.10.

Toli

If you can also produce documentary proof of its membership of your family

A related (to cards, not cats) question: any chance for a non-UK resident who does have a UK bank account to get any of those co-branded cards?

NewbieRunner

Mine is 01.01.10 as well.

seattle29

I guess I'm lucky then I've only had the card 3 months so maybe they're extending the grace period...