Amazingly, the old bmi credit cards just got better!

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• JK says:

  15 May15 May 11:11

  I think I know the answer to this already, but I just have to ask… Is there NO WAY on earth for a new customer to sign up for one of these?! Surely, if the suspicion is that they’re re-vamping the product, surely they’d want lovely new customers like me!

  I’m gutted I don’t have one of these damn things! 5 Avios per £1 – Jesus H. Christ! That would net me well in excess of 1mm Avios per year!!

  I presume it’s illegal to sell on a credit card in your own name? (I kid, I kid…)

  • Rob says:

    15 May15 May 11:45

    No. It is against BA’s contract with Amex.

• Steve C says:

  15 May15 May 13:21

  This just doesn’t make sense to me. I’ve had the BMI Mastercard 1.5 per £1 card for absolutely yonks now and applied for the American Airlines card a couple of years ago (and still have it). At the time my credit limit was split between the 2 cards, fair enough but wildly in favour of the American Airlines card. I phoned to get the limits re-allocated and was told no can do, and have been told so repeatedly by them, as MBNA were looking to sell their UK business, this was not possible and yet here we are with new AA cards still being issued and tweaks to the existing BMI set up! Has MBNA been acquired or am I likely to be able to finally get my limits reallocated?!?! Surely this is a way just to burn their pool of DC/Avios to give to customers and close the cards completely. Why would BA allow a non-branded card to give better points (2-4-1 excluded)?

  • Rob says:

    15 May15 May 14:20

    Sales of MBNA was abandoned, Bank of America is now keeping it, including the UK arm.

    BA allows the non-branded card to give more points because MBNA is paying for them! BA couldn’t give a monkeys if MBNA gave 10 Avios per £1, as long as BA got their 0.5p (or whatever) per point.

    As per other comments, this is all posturing by MBNA as they attempt to win the BA Amex deal from Amex. Remember that MBNA already gives 2 miles per £1 on the Virgin Black Amex, so they are happy to pay up in order to win the contracts.

• simon says:

  15 May15 May 14:38

  I wish I had one of these – you lucky lucky sods.

  • Rob says:

    15 May15 May 15:33

    Ironically I’m not using mine at present because I have spend targets on new AA and Miles & More credit cards to hit!

    • simon says:

      15 May15 May 16:26

      Just got the AA card but have a stack of deposits to pay for work with airlines so I should be able to do it as quickly as I can clear it as they only gave me a 5k limit.

      Waiting a bit to get the SPG card as well as I really fancy a trip to the US asap 🙂 I think now I am in the points game the only thing holding me back is how quick I can get the cards without hurting my credit rating.

      Still waiting for a BA bonus for transfer at the moment. have 100k sat waiting to move over. Wish you could move AMEX to AA at 1:1 – gues you can go through SPG at 2:1

      • Rob says:

        15 May15 May 17:27

        Yes, Amex to SPG to AA is the best way to get them across. You can also go via Carlson or Hilton but the conversion rate is worse (a bit, with Carlson, a lot, with Hilton).

• Susan says:

  15 May15 May 16:02

  Only have the free BMI cards but still might be time to buy stand alone travel insurance so don’t need to use the Amex Platinum card to pay for travel.

• Chris Storrie says:

  15 May15 May 16:30

  Fairly new to this but do these BMI amex cards qualify for AMEX rewards? I’ve always had this BMI card to earn avios on my spend just trying to figure out if i’m also missing a trick with regards amex rewards

  • Sir Stamford says:

    15 May15 May 17:43

    These MBNA BMI AMEX cards DO NOT earn AMEX rewards.

    Only selected cards (such as Preferred Rewards Gold, Platinum) issued directly by American Express UK earn Membership Rewards points.

    Sir Stamford

• Rob says:

  15 May15 May 17:43

  Yes, should be, it goes through your card as British Airways.

• Sir Stamford says:

  15 May15 May 17:56

  I think you have just answered your own question.

  The AMEX Premium card provides a “2 for 1” voucher which could save you lots of Avios. For example, if you redeem the “2 for 1” voucher on a first class return BA flight to, say, SIN, you are potentially saving 210,000 Avios.

  Admittedly, you get a slightly better earn rate with the BMI card, but will you gain an extra 210,000 Avios?

  I concur with Raffles’ suggestion that you should consider spending the first £10k on the AMEX Premium card to trigger the 2 for 1 and then put all your subsequent spends to the BMI Amex card.

  Sir Stamford

• Simon says:

  15 May15 May 20:03

  How I regret finding this blog 2 weeks after the BMI cards closed to new applicants, I still have the apply now page bookmarked and check it every so often in case it gets re-enabled.

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