The ‘official’ sign-up bonus for the British Airways American Express card is currently 3,000 Avios points. The £150 per year BA Premium Plus Amex is currently offering 18,000 Avios points.
However, British Airways has been emailing selected British Airways Executive Club members with a better offer.
This deal is effectively available to anyone who applies via the link above whether or not you received the email. It appears to have been very widely circulated given the number of copies forwarded to me.
The sign-up bonus offered in this email is the same one that was generally available from November to May:
9,000 miles when you get the free British Airways Amex card and spend £1000 within 90 days
25,000 miles when you get the £150 British Airways Premium Plus Amex card and spend £3000 within 90 days
The link to apply is here.
There is clearly a risk that you may not receive the higher bonus if you use the link above. In my view this is unlikely, given how widely this mailing has gone out, and in any event you are not receiving anything more generous than what was available publicly for the first 5 months of this year.
The deadline to apply for these offers is July 25th.
(To see our complete list of all current credit card bonuses, click here to visit our ‘Credit Cards Update’ page or use the link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)
About Head for Points
OT- I may have missed it, but have you a post planned on the current signup bonus for the EUR/USD Amex Platinum? 60k MR on your first spend (subject to the normal 6 month MR-enrolled card rule) seems pretty generous.
Can you add a link to the Amex page for this offer please
https://www.americanexpress.com/icc/eurodollar/personal-platinum.html
This looks pretty decent!
– Shame I’ve got the Gold card, looks like you cant get the sign up if you have had another rewards card int he last 6 months.
Ideal for somebody who only has the BA card which is Avios not Member Rewards.
This is not the case. The IDC card has a separate MR scheme and having a UK MR account doesn’t matter.
HOWEVER … this card is a pain to get. You need to provide bank references. You need to pay the bill by a transfer in Euros or Dollars – you can’t pay with a UK debit card or a cheque.
This offer has been running for a few months but I have kept putting off writing about it because people who apply are opening a can of worms.
Note also that it is NOT 1:1 into Avios. It is 3:2. The 60k only gets you 40,000 points.
Do you definitely get the bonus even if you have a uk platinum card? Can you keep both cards. My husband works in Amsterdam so has a Dutch bank account therefore spending and paying in euros would probably be advantageous for us rather than a pain.
I cannot give a 100 per cent guarantee but it is very highly likely.
Agreed. When I signed up the bonus was a reduced fee and my MRs were as compensation, but it’s a totally separate MR account so I can’t see there being much of a problem.
Rob, do you know anything about the hotel transfer partners? Specifically, Club Carlson is it also 1:3.
Also, can you get a pro rata refund on the membership fee if you cancel in <12 months as in the UK?
Thanks!
Ack never mind, I see its 2:3. 🙁
All the exchange rates are in a post I wrote last year on this – https://www.headforpoints.com/2013/07/16/50-bonus-on-your-entire-amex-membership-rewards-balance-when-you-get-an-amex-idc-card/
Not sure about the refund but I was under the impression this is a global rule because of accounting rules in the US.
The 60,000 Membership Rewards bonus points will be awarded to your account once you have been approved and you have used the Card to make a purchase within the first year of Cardmembership. All introductory offers are subject to change, can be withdrawn at any time and are not available if you currently hold or have held any other Membership Rewards enrolled American Express Cards in the last six months.
The first rule with Amex is not to believe what they say but judge them by what they do! For example it has been shown many many times that if you have a non UK MR account with Amex you will definitely get the bonus if you open a Gold or Plat UK charge card. This should be no different.
Thank you, Raffles.
The experience has been as follows: if it is a genuine US-based MR account, Brighton will not have access/be unable to see it. Likewise, US AMEX CS have no access to UK-issued card accounts.
However, this ICC account is managed in Brighton and the card is UK-issued. As your story with banker’s reference suggests this specialised team will be able to see which other UK cards you have or have had. MR team staff is likely to be shared, i.e., same people.
‘the last six months’ rule sounds like UK-specific rule and they will be able to point at it.
All true. This is why I haven’t pushed this. My gut feeling is that you WOULD get the bonus points but – given the card fee and the hoops you must jump through both to apply and pay the bill – anyone who does so will do it entirely at their own risk.
Both myself and Alan in the comments applied at a time when their was a refer a friend bonus on. We got a small (5000 points) bonus but there was no specific rule at the time about having any other MR account so the fact we got one does not prove anything.
See my other comment – I have kept putting it off because it is very complex and I’m concerned people might apply without thinking through everything!
Good advice, Rob – it took literally months for my application to get processed and required lots of authorised signatures on photocopies, bank letters, etc. – a massive PITA (although I at least got some MR out of them for the issues!). As you’ve covered before though, the other positives are the decent travel insurance (like pre-devaulation UK Plat) and the 1:1 transfer rate to SQ – however there are significant costs involved in paying USD bills from the UK so after using it the first couple of months to activate my MR account I’ve not used it since and just keep it for the benefits (including my parents as they still have the higher age cut-off on insurance).
Hi I’ve got the Premium plus card, could ui still apply for the standard card?
Thanks
You can apply, but you won’t get a sign-up bonus, I believe.
Having the BAPP dues not preclude you from applying for other cards such as the AmEx Gold or Plat cards and receiving the bonus provided that you have not held those cards for at least six months.
No, you can’t have both cards.
Oops, didn’t read the ops question properly, sorry
Do you get the Premium Plus Amex bonus if you already have a British Airways Amex free card?
You can’t get the Premium Plus Amex full stop. You are only allowed one of the two BA cards.
Of course you can get it full stop.
You can apply to upgrade your standard card to the premium plus card.
People often do if they have sudden expenditure coming up. The extra avios generated and the 2 year 2-4-1 companion voucher compared to the 1 year makes upgrade attractive for some.
You just can’t get the sign-up bonus
Thanks guys. If I close my free card, then wait 6 months, can I get sign up bonus for free card again? Or perhaps for the Premium plus?
Yes, under the current rules
You can upgrade but you cannot have a free BA Amex alongside the paid version.
Whilst better than the standard offer if this is for a partner then you are still better using a refer a friend option and picking up 9,000 + 19,0000 avios instead of 0 + 25,0000.
Hmm.
I’m just looking at the terms and conditions for the international currency cards:
https://www.aexp-static.com/intl/icc/eurodollar/pdf/Charge_Card_Agreement_Terms_and_Conditions.pdf
The gold card has very generous travel insurance for only £95/year. (Max trip 90days, excess £50),
The platinum card has the old condditions £300/year (no excess, max trip 120 days).
The big question is, is it possible to apply for an international currency card, denominated in sterling, from the UK? Its not available online, but could it be done by phoning?
Unlikely. The Dollar card is off-limit to US residents for example.
It won’t work automatically because of the way Amex has coded it. It might work if you retro-claim as those are processed manually. Nothing to lose, though, as you say.
I had the email offering the 25,000 points. I will easily spend £3000 in the next 90 days, however i haven’t go a clue if 25,000 miles is a good deal. What would I get with it?
Don’t apply unless you fully know what you are getting into. Read the Avios Redemption University articles for a primer -click link under Head for Points By Category at the bottom of the right hand margin.
If I applied is it likely I would get approved for the BA Premium Plus Amex (and 25k miles) if I currently have the Amex (Preferred Rewards) Gold?
Yes, if your income hasn’t gone below the threshold and you haven’t clocked up any bad credit history – they certainly seem to make quick approvals when you have a sister Amex card already.
Amex is happy to let you have up to 4 cards (2 credit and 2 charge) although of course they will also look at your income and their existing exposure to you. I have a Plat, BA Premium Plus Amex and SPG plus a Dollar card.
Same for me, but I have only had the Gold card for 2 and a bit months. Would I be likely declined given I haven’t had my existing card very long?
i’ve been approved for this card and i’ve only had the gold card for 2 months. also looks like i’ll get the bonus miles.
“Unfortunately this link cannot be used in conjunction with any refer-a-friend bonus.”
Very unfortunate – I’ve just had a BAEC e-mail inviting me to refer up to 5 people for the BA AmEx cards for bonus miles for everyone – 4k each on the basic card and 9k for me / 19k for them on the Premium Plus (£150) card.
Interestingly, when going to the referral page, there’s no mention of the fee for the BAPP card … just relying on you knowing I suppose.
I’d link to the page but I’ve a feeling it has a link to my e-mail in the address … let’s see whether Raffles gets it too & does a post about it tomorrow …
I can certainly see value in applying for a card in my wife’s name (she currently has a 2nd card on my account) and (finally) opening a BAEC Avios account for her to join the Household account.
We should hopefully be able to get through £3000 to trigger the 28000 miles in about 2 months, then cancel (or downgrade to basic) & get most of the £150 annual fee back.
Or perhaps hang onto it until we get the voucher …