39,000 American Airlines miles post promptly from my MBNA card

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• Blackberryaddict says:

  24 May24 May 11:59

  I also go the statement and bonus miles – although I’ve just checked my AA account, and the miles aren’t there yet.

  • Flashware says:

    24 May24 May 12:05

    Normally takes a few days to post.

  • Flashware says:

    24 May24 May 12:45

    My points have posted.

    • flibbly says:

      24 May24 May 13:02

      Mine posted within a couple of days (although I still need to spend another £1100 this month to complete the bonus).

      I also noticed that BA flights booked via ba.com appear to count as AA flights for the 0% offer. There is an offer on this card to et 0% APR on any AA flights bought online via the AA website. I bought a BA flight via the BA website and there is a little icon next to that purchase on the statement indicating its interest free. I’m going to pay that off though and put another BA flight on this month to take me over the 5K spend. I will then probably enjoy the 0% APR on that one, once I don’t need to spend any more on the card.

      • Rob says:

        24 May24 May 14:31

        Yes, I’m doing a post on this over the weekend.

      • 21h21j says:

        25 May25 May 22:38

        KLM flights also posted against 0% apr rate.

• iantowns says:

  24 May24 May 12:33

  I’ve had my AAdvantage Card sine 1997 (through various providers; RBS, citi, MBNA, etc) and I can honestly say I’ve never had a single issue with miles and bonuses not posting. They’re the best there is, as simple as that.

• Tom says:

  24 May24 May 13:11

  Finally signed up for this deal..instant acceptance is amazing. I have never ever had that online for a card..props to MBNA!

  • Louie says:

    24 May24 May 13:23

    Same here. I had assumed being self-employed was the reason I’d never been accepted instantly before (and hubby didn’t get instant acceptance last month and he is self-employed too) but it seems not.

• Phil says:

  24 May24 May 13:50

  V impressed. Me too, and I have just had my corporation tax notice through too.

  Another way to put spend through I’m testing is through Oyster Card – for those in London/SE. Online you can prepay £50 onto your card per visit fee free via Visa or Amex (not sure what the limit is per day etc) and then the credit “waits” for you at a tube station to collect at the Oyster machine for 3-4 days after. If you don’t collect it then the credit gets refunded. I’ll let you know the results but if you did this a few times it could help you reach your goal.

  Also, season tickets (£4k is mine) can be a great way to get to your limit – and they are refundable – (although there can be a wait) but they are – and in my experience you can refund it onto a different card.

  Raffles – is there a way you can do a post on these creative suggestions soon?

  PS. Great work Raffles. You must get a great buzz from sharing your knowledge knowing luxury travel is a possibility for so many of us now…

  • Rob says:

    24 May24 May 14:32

    Remember also that, because AA flights bought at aa.com are interest free for 18 months, you could make a purchase, sit on it until your bonus miles post, then cancel it a couple of months later. No interest paid! Just make sure you don’t have a direct debit in place to pay your entire bill each month.

    • Baggageinhall says:

      29 May29 May 21:06

      Raffles,

      Firstly, thanks again for publicising this deal. My next VAT payment should generate the full 35k miles bonus. My question relates to the AA flight purchase 0% offer. The wording isn’t particularly clear in my view. I understand that the purchase must be within 12 months of opening your account, but on one reading, it seems to suggest that they will start charging interest on any AA.com purchase once you have had your card for a year. I wondered how you’d come to the view that purchases are interest free for 18 months?

      Thanks.

      • Rob says:

        30 May30 May 07:22

        18 months was either a typo by me, I think, or they changed the offer online, because it does clearly say 12 months now!

        My understanding is that the 0% ends on the 12th month from getting the card, so a purchase now will get 10-11 months interest free whilst a purchase in 9 months time would only be interest free for a couple of months.

  • Rob says:

    24 May24 May 14:34

    An Oyster refund will presumably reduce your spending target by £50, though, so it doesn’t really help. What you CAN do with Oyster is use auto top-up, which automatically recharges your Oyster via your credit card when it drops below £10. Very cool feature, I haven’t topped up my card manually for a couple of years now.

    If you have an Amex Gold, I understand that the clever thing to do is to top-up your Oyster manually in a Network Rail station. It will then be treated as ‘transport’ and qualify for double points, whilst auto top-up and underground stations do not count as ‘transport’ and only earn 1x.

    • AM says:

      24 May24 May 21:28

      I’ve always had this problem, but I’ve alwayas asked Amex to put the double points manually and they’ve always done it. They said it’s a problem with their system as LUL machines are not recognised as transport.

• Dan says:

  24 May24 May 14:43

  The maximum you can hold at any one time on an oyster pay as you go is £90?

  Re top-ups at tube and DLR stations, I almost always have to email Amex to get the double points added manually, which is a pain!

  • Flashware says:

    24 May24 May 14:45

    I’ve never had issues using the Gold Charge Card @ National Rail stations.

• Rob says:

  24 May24 May 22:11

  Of course!

• MattK says:

  25 May25 May 14:02

  Do you think you can do the sterling traveller cheque ‘trick’ with this card (the Amex one) and it will count towards the £5k spend?

  • Rob says:

    25 May25 May 14:06

    Absolutely not. It only works with Amex-issued Amex cards. This one is MBNA-issued.

    • MattK says:

      25 May25 May 20:33

      OK. Thanks very much for the prompt reply.

• Dominic says:

  26 May26 May 09:30

  This has been one of Raffles’ most helpful posts recently. I got the card, and had some expensive plane tickets to purchase, so hit the bonus in my first month. The points are already showing when I log on to AA’s pages. Quite wonderful to get in excess of 40K points for so little effort. As ever, Raffles, huge thanks.

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