To Amex...or not to Amex!

Nick_C

lisyloo wrote: »

Most restaurants we go to (zone 1 central London) don’t take it and not all theatres either.

If you a regular theatre goer, it's worth noting that the TKTS booth in Leicester Sq does not take Amex. But they do take Theatre tokens. You can buy these on line as e-tokens, and they are available t0 use immediately.

The website does not allow you to pay with Amex, but you can pay with Paypal, Paypal will charge this to a linked Amex.

https://www.theatretokens.com/

You can also buy Theatre Tokens at large Tesco stores using Amex.

Gift Cards and Paypal get around retailers like B&Q and lots of small on line retailers who don't take Amex directly.

Nick_C

stevenhp1987 wrote: »

... would make it poor value unless you can get Avios elsewhere.

But of course there are loads of ways to earn Avios. Tesco, NatWest Rewards, Hotels.com, Top Cashback, BA shopping portal, Laithwaites Wine, car hire.

I believe some people even earn them from flying!

lisyloo

I have a query about Amex cashback calcs (curious).
I bought milk and bread (non vatable) for £3.10 and cashback was 0.14.
This doesn't match the full £ amount or the non VAT amount either.
Second transaction was 2.52 on £56.
Any known reason it's 4.5% and not 5%??

Ben8282

Yes. During the bonus period the 0.5% and the 4.5% are awarded separately.
You first get the irregular 0.5% then the 4.5% to make it up to the 5%.

stevenhp1987

Nick_C wrote: »

But of course there are loads of ways to earn Avios. Tesco, NatWest Rewards, Hotels.com, Top Cashback, BA shopping portal, Laithwaites Wine, car hire.

I believe some people even earn them from flying!

To earn enough Avios to fly regularly business to say NYC each year on a 2-4-1 does require quite a bit of spend. We're talking thousands per year on holidays in general.

We're flying to Tokyo next year on a 2-4-1 in J, and actually have enough Avios to fly there again on another 2-4-1... We fly regularly long-haul with BA and have status.

Most people won't be going on holidays at all (or only once per year!), let alone with the spend required to get enough Avios to make the 2-4-1 voucher and annual fee worthwhile. If you fall into the later, then I'd say cashback is better than a 2-4-1 Avios voucher. Especially for families where finding more than 2 redemption tickets would become a pain!

People should do the Maths on what they'd get from each card, and choose appropriately.

SCUD

stevenhp1987 wrote: »

To earn enough Avios to fly regularly business to say NYC each year on a 2-4-1 does require quite a bit of spend. We're talking thousands per year on holidays in general.

We're flying to Tokyo next year on a 2-4-1 in J, and actually have enough Avios to fly there again on another 2-4-1... We fly regularly long-haul with BA and have status.

Most people won't be going on holidays at all (or only once per year!), let alone with the spend required to get enough Avios to make the 2-4-1 voucher and annual fee worthwhile. If you fall into the later, then I'd say cashback is better than a 2-4-1 Avios voucher. Especially for families where finding more than 2 redemption tickets would become a pain!

People should do the Maths on what they'd get from each card, and choose appropriately.

Is that 241 voucher triggered automatically?

Also my wife’s idea is that we keep our spending normal and we keep earning Avios.

When we decide to travel we have a look at our balance. If it gives us a decent bargain we go for it.
Otherwise we go in our holiday as normally on any other airline company etc.

So the concept is we get the BA premium Amex. We don’t spend on it just for the sake of getting Avios points. We let the points balance build and build build until we get a good amount of points to use them.

How does that sound?

stevenhp1987

SCUD wrote: »

Is that 241 voucher triggered automatically?

Also my wife’s idea is that we keep our spending normal and we keep earning Avios.

When we decide to travel we have a look at our balance. If it gives us a decent bargain we go for it.
Otherwise we go in our holiday as normally on any other airline company etc.

So the concept is we get the BA premium Amex. We don’t spend on it just for the sake of getting Avios points. We let the points balance build and build build until we get a good amount of points to use them.

How does that sound?

It largely depends.

How much do you spend per year on food, petrol, clothes, holidays etc?

That will largely determine how many Avios you get per year.

Paying for a premium card if you can't spend enough to trigger the voucher or even use it to get more than the value than the fee of the card would mean wasting your money.

Without a plan, you'll potentially be throwing the £195 annual fee down the toilet. Especially if you don't use the voucher!

And, yes, the voucher is triggered automatically.

Dr_Crypto

Mrs C and I both have the fee charging BA AMEX. We spend about £20k a year each on them so get 2 2-4-1 vouchers which we use on long haul business class. If we are short of Avios we buy them in the regular sales that BA offer. This gets bonus Avios itself as it is BA spend. The fee paying card also has a better earning rate for Avios than the free one.

Nick_C

Dr_Crypto wrote: »

Mrs C and I both have the fee charging BA AMEX. We spend about £20k a year each on them so get 2 2-4-1 vouchers which we use on long haul business class. If we are short of Avios we buy them in the regular sales that BA offer. This gets bonus Avios itself as it is BA spend. The fee paying card also has a better earning rate for Avios than the free one.

Are you sure about that?

According to https://www.headforpoints.com/2019/03/18/what-is-the-cheapest-way-to-buy-avios/

"Note that the purchase is handled by an external company and does not appear as ba.com on your card statement. This means that you do NOT receive double Avios points for charging the purchase to a British Airways Premium Plus American Express card."

Dr_Crypto

Nick_C wrote: »

Are you sure about that?

According to https://www.headforpoints.com/2019/03/18/what-is-the-cheapest-way-to-buy-avios/

"Note that the purchase is handled by an external company and does not appear as ba.com on your card statement. This means that you do NOT receive double Avios points for charging the purchase to a British Airways Premium Plus American Express card."

Not sure, no. Just checked a statement and the points sale was by another vendor but it is showing a BA spend on my summary even though I didn’t buy any BA flights on that statement?