BA AMEX or B’card Avios?

Borrower71

I currently have a BA Amex CC which I obtained in order to collect Avios points. The annual fee is £250. However, I am now getting a B’card Avios Mastercharge (which more retailers are likely to accept v’s Amex) and will be able to collect my Avios points that way. 

Will I lose out in any way with BA if I then ditch my BA Amex card and save myself the annual fee?

Maple08

The main thing going for the BA Amex card you've got is the 2 for 1 voucher. 

Sandtree

Maple08 said:

The main thing going for the BA Amex card you've got is the 2 for 1 voucher. 

Barclaycard also give a voucher but its an upgrade rather than 2 for 1

Borrower71 said:

I currently have a BA Amex CC which I obtained in order to collect Avios points. The annual fee is £250. However, I am now getting a B’card Avios Mastercharge (which more retailers are likely to accept v’s Amex) and will be able to collect my Avios points that way. 

Will I lose out in any way with BA if I then ditch my BA Amex card and save myself the annual fee?

AmEx and Barclays both have two offerings... a fee free one for 1 Avios per £1 and £20k to get a voucher or a fee incurring card for 1.5 Avios per £1 and £10k for the voucher. There is only £10 difference in the annual fee.

AmEx do offer double Avios on BA Holidays and Flights 

The main difference is the Barclays voucher is an upgrade on a Reward flight booking whereas AmEx is a 2-4-1 voucher on a Reward flight... so it really depends if you'd rather get a bump to Business/First or have someone come along with you for no points... the later in most cases will be the better value.

2ilent8cho

My strategy is to have the BA Amex Premium and pay the £250 as my main Avios earning card and have the Barclaycard for the few places I cannot use Amex coupled with the Barclays Premier Bank account added too for the extra voucher and 1500 Avios a month. 

Unless you travel by yourself the BA Amex is the better offering generally, though your individual circumstances will differ. The Amex Voucher has a few advantages over the Barclaycard one.

1) As Maple08 says, its a 2 for 1 voucher, so you get more value out of it Avios wise generally.
2) The Amex voucher can be used on First Class Avios reward seats the Barclaycard cannot (though these rarely come up)
3) The Amex voucher has access to additional Business Class seat availability for Avios bookings
4) The Amex voucher is a return for 2 people, the Barclaycard is return for 1 or 2 oneway upgrades.
5) On either Barclaycard or Amex you are getting 1.5 instead of 1 Avios per £1, so if you compare both cards you are getting getting the advantages above for £10 more a year on Amex, so thats why I think its better to have that as the fee card, and Barclaycard as the free one. 

Borrower71

Thank you all so much for your sage advice - much appreciated.