Why the British Airways Premium Plus Amex is the best card for long-term spending

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

• Genghis says:

  23 Sep23 September 04:49

  To add a different perspective, the BAPP can also be churned.
  In our last churn, I got BAPP in Nov 15 and hit £10k spend in Jan 16. I referred my wife for BAPP. I applied 241 to a booking and then cancelled the card. My wife hit the £10k spend in April 16 and we applied the 241 to a booking and then cancelled the card.

  So we got 25k + 9k + 25k = 59k avios from sign up bonus, the avios from the spend (IIRC circa 36k avios across the 2 cards as about £4K spend was with BA) and 2 241s. All this was for a cost of about £75 (£150 x 3/12 x 2) (though would cost slightly more with £195 fee) and obviously the £20k spend.

  I will repeat this process when back from holiday in Oct.

  • Genghis says:

    23 Sep23 September 04:57

    In fact, add another 1k avios to my card as I was referred and another 1k to my wife’s card

  • fbrj says:

    23 Sep23 September 06:56

    Thanks – a useful reminder! Before cancelling, you have to transfer all MR points out – correct? Also your wife will next refer you? Do you run another “pair” too for churning?

    • Genghis says:

      23 Sep23 September 07:56

      BAPP earns avios which automatically transfers out every month to BAEC. I wait until the avios are transferred to them cancel the card.

      My wife currently doesn’t have a BAPP as she cancelled it. I decided best to get a refund on the card than keep the card for another referral to me.

      By another pair, what do you mean exactly? We do a similar thing with Amex and SPG cards.

  • Ash says:

    23 Sep23 September 08:42

    This was exactly what I was thinking. However is it true that you won’t be able to reschedule your redemption flight after you’ve cancelled?

    • Genghis says:

      23 Sep23 September 08:52

      Good question. I don’t think I’ve come across a concrete answer. Anyone?

      I’m prepared to take the risk for the ongoing sign up bonuses though. I’ve never had to cancel / reschedule a holiday in my life so pretty low risk I’m running IMO

• Roger says:

  23 Sep23 September 05:24

  For a family of four to make use of 241, I guess the only option is to have two cards, one for each parent and use two 241 voucher per booking. Is this allowed?

  What are the best redemption options for using this?

  • Genghis says:

    23 Sep23 September 05:29

    Not necessarily. 241s are valid for two years for BAPP so could get one 241 one year and another the next. The challenge though as you’ve highlighted is redemption availability for four. A min of 2Js and 4Ys on each flight released at t-355 though I have seen a lot more availability. Eg IIRC 7Fs on a flight I booked LHR-SIN in June. Have a play around on the award system.

    • Tom says:

      23 Sep23 September 07:49

      We did this recently and managed to get 4x in F to Seattle during the Easter hols next year. Pleased with that!

  • Yuff says:

    23 Sep23 September 06:41

    We have been doing this for the last 5 years and apart from last year( when I used our 241’s to Oslo) have managed to get 4 seats in F every year during school holidays.
    Dubai and New York have been our destinations 😉

    • angrey says:

      23 Sep23 September 08:25

      During the school holidays NY and Dubai are about the only destinations you can find availability unless you book a year in advance 🙁

  • Melvin says:

    23 Sep23 September 16:11

    As a family of five, redemption’s in Club are impossible and PE not easy either (not to mention that the maths don’t add up on 2-4-1’s).

    This is why I have switch my allegiance to Virgin Atlantic where there are far more PE seats and I can earn five upgrade vouchers through two Black CC’s and one white (£30k spend).

• Simon says:

  23 Sep23 September 05:56

  Can anyone confirm if I can refer my business for a card or is it just for personal applications?

  Thanks
  Simon

  • Rob says:

    23 Sep23 September 08:35

    There is a rarely mentioned Corporate BA Amex:

    https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/content/british-airways-corporate-cards/

    but no 241. If you work for yourself you can get a personal card and use that anyway (and, if you use it ONLY for business, deduct the fee as an expense).

    • Simon says:

      23 Sep23 September 10:50

      Thanks

• Scott says:

  23 Sep23 September 06:11

  Hi I’ve got the premium plus and have a companion voucher it’s up for renewal in a few days if I downgrade to the free one will I lose the voucher? Thanks

  • Genghis says:

    23 Sep23 September 06:21

    You will keep the voucher if you downgrade (and even if you cancel the card completely, despite what Amex say).

    • Scott says:

      23 Sep23 September 07:13

      Ok thanks for the info was worried I was going to lose it after spending so much to get it would be a waste of time

      • harry says:

        23 Sep23 September 07:15

        istr you will still need another Amex card (any will do) otherwise you will actually lose the voucher

        • Genghis says:

          23 Sep23 September 08:03

          Not quite. You do, however, need an Amex to pay the taxes on the 241, though it can be any Amex (eg a lloyds Amex)

        • RW says:

          23 Sep23 September 10:25

          Wow, I thought it was only Amex issued cards, another use for the Virgin card, I’ll use it to pay for my 241 and earn my Virgin upgrade voucher in the process.

• shd says:

  23 Sep23 September 07:04

  Ever since my doctor confirmed an acute allergy to paying too much YQ on a meh J product, I’ve not redeemed any avios on BA CW.

  Definitely feels better once you stop doing it.

• Johnnie says:

  23 Sep23 September 07:12

  If you change to the PP from the free card does the year to date spend on the free card count towards the 10k on the PP card?

  I think I saw somewhere that it did but can’t remember.

  • Polly says:

    23 Sep23 September 09:36

    Yes Johnnie, it does, l went through that process in a different post a couple of weeks ago. Let’s say you get the PP bonus v quickly, Then drop down to the free card, pro rata refund, till month 11, spend just under the 10k, upgrade again to the PP, and get the 241 when you go over the 10k spend. That’s only if you don’t want to trigger the 241 too quickly. Timing is important here. Then refer OH and repeat. It’s an Annual churn but more palatable. And you both end up with 26+9+26. Plus get the gold card , Or plat.

    I would caution against too frequently churning tho. My OH and l refer each other annually for both the BAPP and the Plat. But now we have the HSBC elite, including lounge key , we may just abandon the plat. We don’t need the guest element of the priority pass that comes with plat, and rarely use the hotel cards. We are seeing how it goes. We will keep the lloyds avios, fee £24 tho, due to forex fee free. V useful. Twice in the last 2 years tho, we have cancelled 241 on BA F to KUL to change them to J in QR sales, but still collecting Avios as useful for RFS.

• Joe says:

  23 Sep23 September 07:13

  I disagree with the maths slightly here – the voucher is worth £1k plus if you save 150,000 avios on a trip, but you won’t be able to do this unless you either spent significantly more than £10k on the credit card or get Avios from another source. This is because to save 150,000 avios from the second redemption being free, you need 150,000 avios to pay for the first ticket. This would take £100,000 of spending on this card. You can whittle this down from the sign up bonus, churning Amex charge cards etc but it’s still going to take a lot of work to get this many avios, unless you earn a lot of avios anyway e.g. from flying a lot for work.

  Personally I’d struggle to collect this many avios even once every 2 years, so this is why I use the IHG card instead, as once I’ve spent £10k on that card I get a free night without needing any extra points from anywhere else.

  I realise it’s up to everyone to work out what’s best for their situation, but I do think it’s worth being a bit more explicit that you won’t get a 10% return on spending £10k a year on it unless you earn a significant number of avios elsewhere too (or spend significantly more than £10k on the card).

  • harry says:

    23 Sep23 September 08:14

    but there are many wonderful ways to acquire Avios posted here every week on hfp!

    • Rob says:

      23 Sep23 September 08:38

      I agree the general point though – if you wont use the 241 it is a terrible card for £195 after Year 1. However, most HFP readers would be picking up the odd Amex Gold etc for themselves and their partner during the year as well …..

      • Leo says:

        23 Sep23 September 09:19

        I do sort of agree with Joe – can be hard to pick up the avios to justify the 241 vouchers for some – although we do as a couple pay for a couple J flights during the year – and sometimes fly J long haul for work. Situation might change if you could pay HMRC with Amex. Partner uses the BAPP and I use the IHG – I don’t really want that many 241s if I’m not going to use them. Also time to confess – I don’t really like churning. I do a bit but nothing like what others do here. Not a value judgement just doesn’t sit right. Probably change cards once a year. O/H sticks to the BAPP – completely churn-phobic.

        • The reader says:

          23 Sep23 September 10:55

          Good thinking here Joe. I don’t have the IHG card but would be interested in knowing:

          1. how much value can you squeeze out of the free night certificate (i.e. can you use that at a 5* interconti?)
          2. what rooms can you book (exec floor, suites?)

        • Rob says:

          23 Sep23 September 11:34

          Any hotel so, yes, IC’s are fine, even Bora Bora.

          Standard redemption room. This is almost always a basic room. Some Holiday Inn and other lower level hotels will occasionally offer suites or executive rooms.

        • Roger says:

          23 Sep23 September 12:48

          For a couple or very small family of 2 Adults + 1 Child most hotels may be available for point redemption but if you try to book 2A + 2Ch, it may not as I just discovered this morning.
          I say this as I am trying to redeem 20000 point a bog standard HI in Rotorua, NZ; Which advertise a family deal for NZ $225 per room in cash, but when trying to use reward night it says cannot be used for 2A+2C….What a joke!

          The same room is also available on Booking.com for much less and matches Rob’e value of .4p per IHG poing or thereabout.

  • CV3V says:

    23 Sep23 September 08:45

    Personally, I don’t earn too many avios via spend on the BA card and I don’t earn any avios from BA flights as I don’t pay for a cash ticket (my BA flights have always been redemptions). I earn avios through a whole load of different ways as flagged up though this website. So with this in mind, I have earned and redeemed over 1 million avios over the last 3 years, this includes first class return flights in December to KUL, and First/Biz class return flights to Sydney for next year – in each case using the BAPP companion voucher.

    • harry says:

      23 Sep23 September 08:53

      very similar situation to ourselves – you are doing better as 3 years of redemptions for us is only about 900,000 Avios (120 RFS flights @ 7500 Avios)

  • Nori says:

    23 Sep23 September 09:09

    I agree. You’ve to look at your actual annual spend. In comparison to most people on here my partner and I are a small spender. Lloyds Avios cards work best for us. We would definitely earn enough Avios for a Europen flight (and an upgrade to CE using the free voucher after spending £7k). So effectively our annual flight to the Canaries in CE costs just £24 x2 for both of us.

    (Yes, I know It’s not that simple and Avios do cost money but I’m comparing it for the sake of the argument and simplicity).

  • Bryan says:

    23 Sep23 September 14:24

    That is a good point. I have collected about 120’000 avios so far in just over a year using the various recommendations from this site but I will probably wait until they build up a bit more before applying for the BA Premium card and then getting the 241 voucher.

• Tom H says:

  23 Sep23 September 07:26

  I be just cancelled my BAPP on the hope of just being able to trigger a new sign up bonus in Feb even though this will be a little short of 6 months. Anyone have any experience of churning in under 6 months?

  • Rob says:

    23 Sep23 September 08:39

    Too risky, because you won’t know until after you’ve applied and done the spend. And if you don’t get it, you need to cancel and wait another 6 months.

    Best to wait until May/June when a 25k offer will probably have come back again.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.