British Airways American Express CC thoughts?

WelshDragon2013

Hello,

I'm interested in signing up to the BA American Express CC to boost my Avios from my daily spending.

I was wondering whether people would recommend the card and service?

Thanks in advance.

[Deleted User]

Which card are you thinking of applying for, the free one or the one with the annual fee?

If you have a healthy avios balance - or are willing to put in the work to build one up - then the paid card is the better choice. Many people are unwilling to pay the fee, however, so it's up to you if the benefits are worth it.

In a nutshell:

Paid card:

1.5 Avios earned with each pound spent (3 for spending with BA)
Companion voucher unlocked at £10k annual spend.
Sign-up bonus of 18,000 avios.

Free card:

1 Avios earned per pound spent.
Companion voucher requires £20k annual spend.
Sign up bonus of 3,000 avios.

Whichever card you choose, I would advise that you hold off for now. Amex goes through patterns of increasing and then decreasing the sign-up bonus for these cards. Currently they are low but in a couple of months the free card will probably go back up to 9,000 and the paid card 25,000.

In the meantime, consider applying for the Amex Gold card to boost your avios. You earn Amex Member Rewards points with this card but these can be converted to avios at a rate of 1:1. You earn double points on your supermarket/travel/foreign spend so if you shop at Tesco, for example, and convert your clubcard points to avios you are effectively earning 4.4 avios to the pound - this rate is unbeatable.

The gold card comes with a 20,000 MR point (and therefore avios) bonus if you spend £2k in the first three months and has no fee for the first year. The fee is £125 a year after the first but you can simply close the card to avoid having to pay for this. You get a higher sign-up bonus (22,000) if you are referred by an existing cardholder (me for example!). Let me know if you'd like a referral.

Razorbite

I went for the free BA Amex last year. I am now 11 months in and my spend on the card has gone over 10K. Am kicking myself that I didn't go for the premium card,would have got a 2 for 1 ,if I had chosen more wisely.

shazzer22

I too got the free card last year and have so far spent £16k on it (all paid off in full every month) at the time I didn't know there was another card! It seems good, obvious disadvantage is that not too many places accpet Amex, but thankfully our biggest spend (fuel) does and we tend to fill up at Tesco and collect Clubcard points too to then convert to BA Exec Avios points, (just did Booster this morning for 3000 Avios)

OllyM

Razorbite wrote: »

I went for the free BA Amex last year. I am now 11 months in and my spend on the card has gone over 10K. Am kicking myself that I didn't go for the premium card,would have got a 2 for 1 ,if I had chosen more wisely.

I'm pretty sure that if you upgrade to the Premium Plus card your eligible spend is carried over so you will immediately trigger the voucher.

Razorbite

How do you mean "Booster for 3000 Avios" ? Is there a conversion bonus CC to Avios?

thesaver79

OllyM wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that if you upgrade to the Premium Plus card your eligible spend is carried over so you will immediately trigger the voucher.

So I've read on other forums!

[Deleted User]

OllyM wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that if you upgrade to the Premium Plus card your eligible spend is carried over so you will immediately trigger the voucher.

If anyone does this I'd be interested to know if it's true.