Virgin Atlantic AmEx cards (MBNA)

eagle

Has anyone seen the Virgin Atlantic cards from MBNA - they are both AmEx cards and are quite similar to the BA Amex cards, only the offers look better. The most appealing seems to be the Black card, which has a cheeky £115 annual fee. It offers free class upgrades on Virgin flights and free companion tickets, just like the BA Amex cards. The annual spend limits are much lower than the BA Amex card, but I suppose it boils down to which airline you use most. The white card is free (no annual fee) and has less perks.

What are people's thoughts on these cards?

You can find details of these on the Virgin Atlantic site, under "credit cards" (link on the left hand pane).

Scully's_Girl

I just received mine yesterday. We had the Virgin Atlantic Mastercard, but soon that will cease accruing miles, so we converted. I asked about the difference between the two on another thread: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=229208
Martin is clear that a card is only as good as its points, and its hard to decipher what a point actually is. Its not exactly black or white (pardon the pun)
I also emailed Pointschecker to see if these new cards can be added to the list (as they only show the mastercards at the moment).

Right now we have the white card. We're still contemplating converting to the black if it turns out to be beneficial, considering our spending patterns. I'm waiting till more people can see them & write on the boards.

eagle

Thanks for the reply, Scully's Girl. I had not seen the earlier post, so thanks for the link for that one too.

I currently have the Amex platinum for the cashback, which is OK for my use. However, I may have some extra trips abroad soon, so the VA card looks a little attractive. There's also the top BA card to consider (Premium Plus). The advantage the BA card has over VA is you can fly to more destinations with the BA than with VA. The only disadvantage it has is that you don't get upgrades to premium classes available!

Scully's_Girl

Thats certainly true. The fact that youre taking trips abroad struck a cord. We travel to the states at LEAST twice a year, and travel within Europe as well. My husband, who first got the Virgin card long ago when we were courting (overseas romance & all that) insisted up & down that there was no load. He should have just fessed up & admitted he didnt know. I call Virgin (the miles are important to us since we mainly travel to & fro from the states, but your point on BA is definately valid) and asked them what Load we are paying. 2.95%! this means, everything you buy on the card that is in any currency other than Sterling adds 2.95% on top of that. Hence, we got a Nationwide card for all our overseas spending. You can pretty much tuck it into your passport, which is what we do. We put our China/Australia holiday coming up in September on it for the 9 months 0% interest, and then we'll do all our spending on the card. 2.95% doesnt sound like much, but it adds up.
So it might be a good idea to stick with your miles cards for within GB, but outside get a Nationwide card with no load, because I think the miles you get on the card are vastly overshadowed by 2.95% load. There isnt a card out there that reimburses you that much on spending, I dont think. Worth thinking about.

eagle

Scully's_Girl wrote:

Thats certainly true. The fact that youre taking trips abroad struck a cord. We travel to the states at LEAST twice a year, and travel within Europe as well. My husband, who first got the Virgin card long ago when we were courting (overseas romance & all that) insisted up & down that there was no load. He should have just fessed up & admitted he didnt know. I call Virgin (the miles are important to us since we mainly travel to & fro from the states, but your point on BA is definately valid) and asked them what Load we are paying. 2.95%! this means, everything you buy on the card that is in any currency other than Sterling adds 2.95% on top of that. Hence, we got a Nationwide card for all our overseas spending. You can pretty much tuck it into your passport, which is what we do. We put our China/Australia holiday coming up in September on it for the 9 months 0% interest, and then we'll do all our spending on the card. 2.95% doesnt sound like much, but it adds up.
So it might be a good idea to stick with your miles cards for within GB, but outside get a Nationwide card with no load, because I think the miles you get on the card are vastly overshadowed by 2.95% load. There isnt a card out there that reimburses you that much on spending, I dont think. Worth thinking about.

I have the Nationwide card and intend to keep it for as long as I have to! I agree, the 2.75% loading charge is just another stealth tax and particularly dirty. I'm surprised not many other card companies follow Nationwide's lead. It would be so good for their marketing.

Also just found out on the AmEx thread that they will be stopping the 2% upper cashback rate from October, making the Platinum credit card a lot less attractive than it used to be. I am thinking of getting a BA card now along side a Blue Amex.