Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

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

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With the sign-up bonus on the British Airways American Express Premium Plus (BAPP) card increased to 25,000 Avios until February, I thought it was worth taking another look at why I rate this card for long term spending.   I have a BAPP and my wife has her own too.

This is especially important given the recent fee hike to £195 per year which may have made you reconsider the value you get from the card.

BA Premium Plus American Express card BAPP

British Airways American Express Premium Plus card

The representative APR is 139.2% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 30.7% variable.

British Airways American Express card

The representative APR is 30.7% variable.

A lot of the credit card posts on Head for Points are focussed on sign-up bonuses.  Get a card, spend the minimum required to trigger the bonus, cancel the card, move on.

That works fine for some people.  However, if you are a high to medium spender then the few thousand pounds of card spend required each year to hit your sign-up bonus targets will not be a stretch.  You need to consider where to put the rest of your annual spend.

Many credit card issuers offer incentives for spending £10,000+ per year on their cards.  The value of these perks is often underestimated – they are often worth far more than the points for your normal spend and can be more valuable than the sign-up bonus, especially as you can earn them year after year.

Here are the key cards which offer annual benefits for spending a large sum:

  • British Airways American Express Premium Plus – 2-4-1 voucher on Avios redemptions for spending £10,000
  • British Airways American Express – 2-4-1 voucher on Avios redemptions for spending £20,000
  • American Express Preferred Rewards Gold – 10,000 Membership Rewards points for spending £15,000
  • Lloyds Avios Rewards American Express & Visa – upgrade voucher for spending £7,000
  • Virgin Atlantic Black American Express & Visa – upgrade vouchers at £5,000 and £10,000
  • IHG Rewards Club Premium MasterCard – free night voucher for spending £10,000
  • Hilton HHonors Platinum Visa – Hilton HHonors Gold status for spending £10,000
  • Starwood Preferred Guest American Express – free night voucher for spending £25,000

By a substantial margin, the most valuable of these is the 2-4-1 voucher offered on the British Airways American Express Premium Plus.

A potential 10% return on your spending

When you spend £10,000 on the BAPP card, you get a voucher which gives you two Avios redemptions (on BA planes, ex-UK only) for the miles of one.  You still need to pay the full taxes and charges on both tickets, however.

On an average redemption (two Club World tickets to San Francisco on a peak day, say), this saves you 150,000 Avios points.  On a First Class flight or a longer Club World trip, the saving could easily exceed 200,000 Avios.

I have a very conservative valuation of Avios points of 0.75p.  Most readers value them more highly.  However, even at 0.75p, the 2-4-1 voucher is ‘worth’ £1,100 if it saves you 150,000 Avios points on a trip.

£1,100 of value for spending £10,000 on the card is an excellent return.  Even when you factor in the £195 annual fee, you are still getting a £900 net return on your £10,000 of spending.

Why I prefer the Premium Plus card to the free British Airways American Express

As I wrote in this article, I am NOT a fan of the free British Airways American Express card if you plan to earn the 2-4-1 voucher.

This is the despite the fact that you would save £195 in annual fee by taking out the free BA card instead of the Premium Plus.

Why is this?

The 2-4-1 voucher on the BAPP card lasts for two years, whilst the voucher on the free card only lasts for one year.  This is very important since, on busy routes, you may need to book 11 months ahead to guarantee the seats you want.

You earn an extra 0.5 Avios per £1 spent, which outweighs some of the £195 fee

You only need to spend £10,000 and not £20,000 to trigger the voucher.  Even if you can easily do £20,000 of American Express spending per year, it would make more sense to get a 2nd Premium Plus card for your partner and put £10,000 through that as well – so you generate 2 x 241 vouchers each year, each valid for two years – rather than put £20,000 through the free card.

My full review of the British Airways American Express Premium Plus can be found here.

The official Amex website and application form is here


best travel rewards credit cards

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – October 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

10,000 points bonus – plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback when you spend at least £2,000 per month.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

Get 1% cashback when you spend at least £2,000 per month* Read our full review

Comments (171)

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

  • Genghis says:

    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:

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

    • fbrj says:

      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:

        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:

      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:

        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:

    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:

      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:

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

    • Yuff says:

      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:

        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:

      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:

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

    Thanks
    Simon

  • Scott says:

    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:

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

      • Scott says:

        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:

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

          • Genghis says:

            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:

            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:

    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:

    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:

      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:

    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:

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

      • Rob says:

        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:

          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:

            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:

            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:

            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:

      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:

        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:

      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:

      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:

    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:

      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.

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