Discuss the BA Amex credit cards
Former_MSE_Alana
Posts: 252 Forumite
This thread is to discuss the BA Amex credit cards.
Please read the Airline Credit Card guide for full info about all the top flight reward cards.
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Comments
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I've had a BA Amex card for a number of years. At the time I applied for it, AMEX reduced the £150 pa fee to £30 as I had an AMEX Platinum Cashback card (no annual fee on this one). I've been paying £30 pa ever since. I'm not sure if this offer is still valid, but its worth calling them to find out.0
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No, grandfathered rates are no longer offered, so it's the full £150 if you take the PP card now.
IMO the BA AmEx cards are better suited to travellers, especially BA and OneWorld travellers, who can combine earnings from flights with those from the credit card. Add in miles from Tesco Clubcard, and it's an inviting proposition, but better for regular travellers.0 -
The article doesnt mention that you can get £45 cashback on this via quidco! or £10 for the card without the annual fee.0
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The BA Amex card is the only one that gives a free companion ticket without any annual fee, but you need to spend over £20,000 in a year to get it.
Again not a very well researched article. The Virgin Atlantic Amex Credit Card (White) also gives a free companion ticket (for travel on virgin) without an annual fee, and your required spend is less at £15,000. A premium economy upgrade is available with a £10,000 yearly spend. Better than the BA card
The Virgin Amex black card is similar to the better BA card, its a cheaper annual fee to BA, with £115, compared with £150 for BA, and you get the companion ticket with an annual spend of £7,500.
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/creditcard/index.jsp?mc=VAA-WEB-51366-637080 -
THe BA premuim card gives your a free companion ticket for spending over £10,000 in one year. Also you get the excellent customer service from AMEX instead of the cheap MBNA serivce.0
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THe BA premuim card gives your a free companion ticket for spending over £10,000 in one year. Also you get the excellent customer service from AMEX instead of the cheap MBNA serivce.
Yes, and the premium Virgin Amex card, with £115 annual fee compared to £150 (BA Amex Fee), gives you a free companion ticket for spending over £7,500.0 -
The article makes it clear that there's a danger that the flights you want are not available - and this is (a) true and (b) much more a problem than it used to be. (We've had the card and used the companion vouchers for years.)
For instance, this year we had the Miles and the voucher for us both to go to Oz business class - but there was NO availability on any route near the weeks we wanted although I tried to book six months ahead. In the end, we had to use the Miles and voucher to go business to Singapore and first class back - and pay about £5000 for two business class returns Singapore to Sydney.
I suspect we can use Trailfinders and such to get the whole trip with reputable airlines at much the same cost....
Cheers - Eric0 -
steadysaver wrote: »Yes, and the premium Virgin Amex card, with £115 annual fee compared to £150 (BA Amex Fee), gives you a free companion ticket for spending over £7,500.
Yes but if you fly BA all the time its pointless getting virgin points.0 -
Yes but if you fly BA all the time its pointless getting virgin points.
Agreed, but its great if you do prefer to fly with Virgin. However my beef was more with the inaccurate journalism and clear lack of research when they claimed the BA card was the only card available with free companion tickets without a fee, it is not. Infact the article is just plain wrong when it says the BA card is best overall for longhall. Virgin card requires less spend, and the premium virgin card also has a lower fee. (I feel like I have come over all Ian Hollaway)
Surely you would fly with whoever is cheaper anyway. As you only need to spend on the card and not fly with the air line to get the points anyway.
I was just pointing out that you are able to get a free companion flight without having to spend 20k in a year on a credit card, granted 15k isn't much less, but if people do spend just over 15k then there is an option.0 -
EricDeeson wrote: »The article makes it clear that there's a danger that the flights you want are not available - and this is (a) true and (b) much more a problem than it used to be. (We've had the card and used the companion vouchers for years.)
For instance, this year we had the Miles and the voucher for us both to go to Oz business class - but there was NO availability on any route near the weeks we wanted although I tried to book six months ahead. In the end, we had to use the Miles and voucher to go business to Singapore and first class back - and pay about £5000 for two business class returns Singapore to Sydney.
I suspect we can use Trailfinders and such to get the whole trip with reputable airlines at much the same cost....
Cheers - Eric
Agree completely that getting companion tickets, or even single person tickets, to popular destinations is very difficult. We have been twice to Sydney in Economy Plus in the last ten years but trying to get tickets in the last year (and we also have enough for business class) has been a nightmare. Eventually we did make it for Economy Plus eleven months in advance and then extended it for another two weeks a few months later. It takes patience and logging on after midnight, usually on a Monday or Tuesday, to see if an opportunity has occurred. Apparently BA put the airmiles tickets on in batches, but no one knows precisely when or how many. They claim a fixed proportion of all classes for all flights (not sur of the figures) but I do not believe them as Business Class is unavailable for many routes at any time.
But, if you can land the long routes, it is worth it.0
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