British Airways moves credit card fees to a flat 1% …. as Virgin Atlantic scraps them

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• reader says:

  18 Nov18 November 17:29

  OT/ Was refused the 15 quid allowance at the T5C Starbucks today, did BA scrap this benefit for silver members?

  • Mike says:

    18 Nov18 November 18:39

    April 2015: https://headforpoints.com/2015/04/26/british-airways-free-starbucks/

• Duncan Stevenson-Price says:

  18 Nov18 November 18:18

  I always thought it was ridiculous that BA didn’t waive the fee for BA Amex holders, but to now increase the fee dramatically is just insanity. Ok so the travel/holiday industry seems addicted to credit card fees, but surely for their own card holders they shouldn’t be charging this.

  Crazy!

  • the real harry says:

    18 Nov18 November 18:22

    they’re drastically reducing the fee for most people, I think you’ll find

    work out the % of tickets that cost less than £500 vs those that are £500+

• Egg says:

  18 Nov18 November 19:48

  Is 1% really a problem if paying with a BA AMEX as you get double avios anyway?
  Ok, your effectively buying AvIos! but at least its not ‘dead’ money

  • Rob says:

    18 Nov18 November 21:46

    Only a BAPP is double Avios.

• Kiran says:

  18 Nov18 November 20:53

  I have been saying this for a while but it was hard to dump BA when I was living in London. The convenience of taking direct flights was too convenient. However, now that I live in the bay area, it isn’t hard for me to dump BA and/or even trying to chase status with any airline for that matter. I have Amex Plat which gets me into a goodly number of lounges. I can find the cheapest business class flight which often tends to be a pretty decent airline. Most airlines have a better business class seat than BA anyway. If I do have business class tickets, I can get into their lounges. Within the US though,, the airline lounges so crappy that I don’t really care for them anymore. It is worthwhile to buy a cheaper ticket somewhere and spend the money you save on a decent meal/drink at the airport. When I need peace and quiet, I will use one of the Amex or priority pass lounges. This is actually quite liberating. So dear British Airways, once I use up my 2-4-1 voucher, I will have to part ways with you and let you convince me to fly with you again. I don’t suppose you (BA) care much either way but your loss is someone else’ again.

  • Talay says:

    19 Nov19 November 13:58

    To maximise Amex Reward Points (assuming 2 people and min spends can be achieved in a week).

    I am trying to map this in Excel and I wonder whether the best strategy needs you to refer and cancel ASAP or to keep open a while ?

    Person 1 referral for Plat by 3rd party = 35000

    Person 1 refers Person 2 for Plat = 18000
    Person 2 receives referral from Person 1 for Plat = 35000
    Person 1 refers Person 2 for Gold = 9000
    Person 2 receives referral from Person 1 for Gold = 22000
    Person 2 refers person 1 for Gold = 9000
    Person 1 receives referral from Person 2 for Gold = 22000

    Person 2 refers Person 1 for Plat = 18000
    Person 1 receives referral from Person 2 for Plat = 35000
    Person 2 refers Person 1 for Gold = 9000
    Person 1 receives referral from Person 2 for Gold = 22000
    Person 1 refers person 2 for Gold = 9000
    Person 2 receives referral from Person 1 for Gold = 22000

    Assuming a quick referral you only need your Platinum open long enough to refer your other half for a Platinum and Gold and receive your rewards don’t you ? Perhaps only a month or two ?

    Person 1 referral for BAPP by 3rd party = 9000

    Person 1 refers Person 2 for BAPP = 9000
    Person 2 receives referral from Person 1 for BAPP = 26000
    Person 2 refers Person 1 for BAPP = 9000
    Person 1 receives referral from Person 2 for BAPP = 26000

    So is the maximum theoretical per “cycle” 230,000 MR points and 70,000 Avios ?

    If you open in Month 1 and refer and receive in Month 2 then cancel in Month 3 then you can re-apply in Month 9 I assume, making a theoretical 4 cycles in 3 years ?

    As you would have times when you were without an Amex MR card, you would presumably either have to stagger the Plat / Gold applications to overlap ?

    What about the business Plat card with 45k ? Can you churn that to get extra MR ?

    • Tilly71 says:

      19 Nov19 November 14:23

      Platinum annual memberships I thought were now non refundable, so you pay the entire years fee, if this is still correct your paying £900.

      • Tilly71 says:

        19 Nov19 November 14:24

        That was based on 2 x people taking out amex plat.

        • Rob says:

          19 Nov19 November 15:53

          No, fully refundable pro-rata.

          Only in the US can you no longer get a fee refund.

    • Rob says:

      19 Nov19 November 15:56

      You can’t get a bonus on a business card if you have a personal card.

      • Talay says:

        19 Nov19 November 16:35

        So no bonus on any business card if you have any personal card ?

        But swapping out the plat personal for the plat business would add 10k to each application I guess or 20k per cycle.

        However, further thinking it out, if you want to benefit from the continual referrer’s bonus for platinum, one of you would need to have a plat card all the time as you cannot refer for a platinum from any “lower” card. Whether that extra 18/36k is worth the additional pro rata fee I don’t know as I haven’t yet finalised an application / cancellation / re-apply timetable.

        I just feel we are missing out when loyalty to 2 x BAPP is wearing thin.

        The question still remains though where to put the majority of Amex spending – circa £150k per annum ? Even these account requirements would only suck up £20/30k of that. At the moment it goes into BAPP but I wonder whether a hotel points card might be better value given I was able to pick up Etihad business on LHR-BKK for £1166 the other week.

    • Cormac says:

      19 Nov19 November 23:23

      I didn’t think you could mix the Plat and Gold like this – my understanding was that you had to leave six months between them. Happy to be told that I’m wrong – it will give me another source for MR points.

      • Rob says:

        19 Nov19 November 23:33

        You need a clean 6 month gap between Plat OR Gold before you can get another Plat OR Gold.

• Rob says:

  18 Nov18 November 21:47

  Did this a few weeks ago, ok deal

• Talay says:

  20 Nov20 November 01:33

  So if you are playing with Plat then you never bother with Gold as the bonus is less ? If you need 6 months between holding either Plat or Gold, then why apply for Gold instead of Plat ?

  And if you can churn the business Plat, why bother with the regular Plat as the business bonus is 45k – assuming there is a referral for the business card ? If not then I understand the logic for using the regular Plat.

  How do you keep the MR points open if you are closing the accounts so often ?

  • mark2 says:

    20 Nov20 November 07:55

    Therein lies the rub! (W Shakespeare acknowledged).
    When you close the account you have to do something with the MR points. You can transfer them to another MR earning but you can only have one at a time so you will have to convert them to airline, hotel etc. points at each cancellation.

    • Talay says:

      20 Nov20 November 18:09

      Can you not keep a green card with MR benefits open and still get Gold and / or Plat bonuses ?

      • Alan says:

        20 Nov20 November 18:15

        Noo – you need to have your MR account closed for 6 months to get the sign-up bonus again.

        • Talay says:

          23 Nov23 November 10:53

          Thanks Alan, the closing of the MR account for at least 6 months makes complete sense rather than not having this card or that card etc.

  • Rob says:

    20 Nov20 November 11:07

    Opening a business card is more bother (Amex requires proof of your business, potentially including accounts) and the spend target is higher, at least on Plat.

• NFH says:

  20 Nov20 November 17:32

  I think this is the right thing to do. The previous system whereby the high percentage fee paid by cheap ticket buyers subsidised a low percentage fee paid by expensive ticket buyers fell foul of the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012, which says “A trader must not charge consumers, in respect of the use of a given means of payment, fees that exceed the cost borne by the trader for the use of that means”. If BA incurs a percentage charge, then it should pass on a percentage charge, not a fixed charge with some customers subsidising others.

  • Talay says:

    21 Nov21 November 21:36

    But as credit card charges have come way down and conversely debit card charges have gone up ! BA is charging way more than the cost at 1%.

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