Help With Credit Card Schemes

TractorFactor

Can someone assist with the credit card schemes out there?

We've been using an American Express CC for the past few years (originally Gold but now the free Blue one), gaining points, which we planned to convert to Avios points.

A family member is all in with Virgin and seems to get to the US fairly cheaply with their credit card spends & points combo.
I looked at the Virgin cards and they seem fairly straight forward - even going so far as saying we'd need 6000 points for a one way trip to New York, which is a good starting point (although I suspect it to be a good bit higher when we get into details). But not sure if we should convert our existing 100,000+ Amex points to Virgin and ditch Avios or switch to an Avios specific card?

We haven't been abroad in years, although next year plan to travel to Poland (2ad). In a few years, we're planning a trip to New York (2ad) and the year after to Florida (2ad, 3ch).

What credit card would suit us?
I know the American Express BA Premiun Plus card has announced cuts to it's earning power but we wouldn't use the companion voucher within the 2-year expiry anyway.
Would the free American Express BA card suit us, then upgrade to the Premium Plus in a few years to then earn the companion voucher for all classes of travel?

It seems the Barclaycard Avios card (assume the paid one) is popular, even more so now the earning power of the Amex is smaller. The bonus of this is it's accepted everywhere. We rarely can't use the Amex card though so may not affect us.

We're looking to close our Halifax Clarity Credit card soon anyway, although the Barclaycard Avios Premium card doesn't include fee free spending abroad, which is a shame.

I know there's a Head for Points forum but no where specific to post this question as they're all a little specific.

Thanks

FromFrancetoUK

I think it depends how much you spend each year, and if any of it is with BA. The other issue is how much award availability there actually is, and how flexible you can be in choosing dates/times etc.

I have a lot of Avios, but struggle to use them. Especially if you want Premium seats.

TractorFactor

We probably wouldn't be that flexible on dates and won't be spending anything with BA until we come to book flights in 3/4 years time - I appreciate a lot can change in that time.

It's a shame you can't use the points to pay for seats instead of cash - is the Virgin flying club like this?

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6677137/help-with-credit-card-schemes

You are very mistaken about the number of miles needed to book a return ticket on VS. Looking at a random pair of dates in August to JFK from LHR its currently 41,000 miles for a return Economy trip plus £309

To pay cash it would be £826 for the same flight, so your points are saving you £517 or a 1.2p value per point which is better than the normal 1p or less available on other cards but you'd likely get more with higher tier cabins.

MR are great because you can switch the points to whichever airline flies the route you want. The VS card, BA card etc do give better earning potential, particularly with companion vouchers, but you are then locked into an airline group. In many ways I prefer VS to BA but I would have to choose BA because VS flies to so few places I will be going when I am paying for it myself.