Amex paid cards upgrade Q?

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    peter19
    Participant

    Afternoon All,
    I suspect I know the answer but I’m going to put the question out there anyway. British airways Amex currently has 20K spend on the basic card to reach the 2-for-1 voucher and the premium has 10k for 2-for-1. The question is – if your about to reach the 10K on the basic card can you upgrade your card/account half way through the year to the paid premium and keep your yearly spending amount intact or do you reset to 0 spending?


    coudntthinkofaname
    Participant

    Hi Peter19
    Yes, my understanding is that if you’re close to spending the £10k, this will count if you upgrade from the BA basic to the BAPP card.
    C

    (edited for clarification)
    ps this is backed up by Raffles’ excellent blog – headforpoints.com in which he says:

    “If you decide that the BA Premium Plus card is now the better choice, you have two options. You can ring American Express and upgrade instantly (your spend to date on the free card will count towards your 2-4-1 voucher). “

    This is taken from the page located at http://www.headforpoints.com/2014/06/21/british-airways-american-express-free-card-versus-premium-plus/


    peter19
    Participant

    Thanks for that. I was looking on HFP but couldn’t find that exact line which confirmed it so thanks for digging it out.

    Now i just need to add up to see if its worth it once i work out the Avios spend since the devaluation and having to spend more Avios. cheers


    AnthonyDunn
    Participant

    Peter,

    HFP makes clear that using the BA Amex (£150 annual fee) Premium card is the best deal in the market place. Assuming, that is, you use it as a charge card and do not ever pay the 60% (or so) APR. The latter has to take into account the annual fee. HFP did a recent calculation showing that you can generate something like a 10.5% return (that is a gain rather than a cost) from using the 2-4-1 voucher on a LH premium cabin return – also assuming that you have the Avios to use in the first place.


    Raffles99
    Participant

    I did – see here:

    http://www.headforpoints.com/2013/10/30/the-best-credit-card-bonuses-for-long-term-spending/

    The logic is subjective, of course, but it does work well.

    More importantly, I am convinced that NO-ONE should have the free BA Amex if they intend to hit the 2-4-1 voucher.

    On the free card, you spend £20,000 to get a voucher valid for a year.

    On the £150 card, you spend £10,000 to get a voucher valid for TWO years.

    As you earn an extra 0.5 Avios per £1 on the paid card, anyone with the free card should dump it. You then have 3 strategies:

    a) spend £10k on the paid card and use the ‘freed up’ £10k of spend to hit the spend target a different travel card, perhaps the upgrade vouchers on the Lloyds Avios cards

    b) still spend their whole £20k on the paid card but benefit from a TWO YEAR voucher AND an extra 10,000 Avios due to the higher earn rate

    c) get a Premium Plus card for self and partner, put £10,000 of spend through each and get TWO 241 vouchers each year, each valid for 24 months


    peter19
    Participant

    thanks guys and raffles (I’m a frequent reader of the HFP site as well so have seen the calculations just missed the upgrade note). I would never aim for the 20K as you say its just not worth it. I normally split across cards to maximize some benefits of other cards but it just so happens I’m near the 10K mark on the BA one this year and have plenty miles to use…


    MrMichael
    Participant

    I have the free BA Amex card, my question is this. Is the 2 4 1 voucher for travel from places such as Oslo or do you have to depart a UK airport?


    ViajeroUK
    Participant

    Flights booked using the 2-4-1 voucher must originate and return to UK, according to BA rules and restrictions item 21.


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    I think most of these offers are country specific. My voucher offer from Amex with Swiss is only valid for flights ex Switzerland.

    It does though raise the question under EU law should it be valid in all EU countries?


    peter19
    Participant

    As an update to this post I’m on the spending limit to upgrade my card to the BA premium. However I’m in two minds as to if its actually worth it or not. Yes i can get a 2-4-1 voucher and have it valid for 2 years, however I’m just wondering whether or not i want to spend 150k-200k miles on a redemption in a business or first ticket.
    I am chasing status next year as I’m on a new tier year and my leisure travel plans (at the moment) don’t really fit in with my planned trips. Business trips are corporate booked and mixed so doesn’t apply.

    If i look at a first ticket to japan for instance at 200K plus tax (say £600.00 – £1200 for two), then great, got a ticket as low cost for the travel class (at the expense of avios).
    However, i just booked a £700 business trip Boston with 30K avios..clearly a much better deal and use of miles, earning tier points in the process. I’m not a millionaire avios holder but I have plenty and target upgrading sectors or Short haul redemption’s as i see them best value if it works out.

    I guess its the downside since the devalue, I could take the offer of the upgraded card, get the 2-4-1and then downgrade the card to standard again saving a bit on the £150 fee as it’s pro rated.

    Whats people thoughts on past experience?


    Raffles99
    Participant

    I agree with your logic – it is OK having the voucher but you also have to generate enough Avios each year to justify them.

    If you can comfortably generate 100,000 Avios per year (and remember you can get 49,000 just by getting Amex Gold and then referring your wife for Amex Gold – something you can repeat 6 months after you cancel) then the 2-4-1 has value.

    If you earn less than that then you may prefer to keep the free card until a time when you see a need for the 2-4-1 on the horizon.

    On the other hand …. even if you just end up using a 2-4-1 for, say, 2 Club Europe tickets to Spain you will have saved 30,000 Avios which justifies the £150 fee – and that is before you add in the value of earning 1.5 per £1 rather than 1 Avios per £1.

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