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BIG NEWS: American Express blocks multiple sign-up bonuses, starting immediately

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American Express unveiled massive changes to its UK card sign-up bonuses last night.

This will effectively end card churning for most people.

Before I go on, I want to stress one thing.  The new rules on bonuses do NOT stop you applying for any of these cards.  They simply influence whether or not you will qualify for a sign-up bonus when you do.

It is also worth remembering that, even if YOU no longer qualify for a particular bonus, your partner or other adult family members might.

What is changing?

Until today, American Express sign-up bonuses followed two basic rules:

Cards were grouped into families based on reward type (Membership Rewards points, Avios, Starwood points, Nectar points) and your eligibility for a bonus depended on whether you had recently had a card in the same ‘family’

There was a six month restriction in place between cancelling an American Express card and being able to re-apply – with a new bonus – for a card in the same ‘family’

This is what is changing for the personal American Express cards:

The concept of ‘families’ has gone for most products.  The eligibility rules now span ALL personal American Express cards in most cases.

The look-back period increases from six months to 24 months

Whilst there are two exceptions, in simple terms you cannot get a sign-up bonus on a personal American Express card if you have held ANY personal American Express card in the last 24 months.

Are there any exceptions to these new rules?

Yes.  There are a few exceptions to the above:

The British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card is only impacted by the change in the look-back period to 24 months.   The old rules on eligibility remain – you cannot have had either of the two British Airways American Express cards in the previous 24 months BUT American Express does not count any other card you may have had.

(In plain English: if you’ve had a Platinum / Gold / Starwood / Nectar / Platinum Cashback card in the last two years, but NOT either of the BA Amex cards, you are eligible for the bonus on the Premium Plus card – but not the free BA Amex)

The Platinum Card is only impacted by the change in the look-back period to 24 months.   The old rules on eligibility remain – you cannot have had a Preferred Rewards Gold, Green, Platinum or American Express Rewards card (all of which earn Membership Rewards points) in the previous 24 months BUT American Express does not count any other card you may have had.

(In plain English: if you’ve had a BA / Starwood / Nectar / Platinum Cashback card in the last two years but NOT a card offering Membership Rewards points, you are eligible for the bonus on the The Platinum Card – but not Preferred Rewards Gold)

Small Business and Corporate products are not impacted at all.  The existing rules apply for those.  Importantly, the six month rule continues to apply for these cards.

(In plain English: if you’ve not had any personal or business card offering Membership Rewards points in the past six months, you are eligible for the bonus on the American Express Gold Business and American Express Platinum Business, assuming you own a qualifying small business)

Can you summarise this by card?

Here you go:

If you currently have the free British Airways or British Airways Premium Plus credit card ….

You would need to cancel and wait 24 months before you can get a bonus on Platinum Cashback, Platinum Cashback Everyday, British Airways, British Airways Premium Plus, Preferred Rewards Gold, Starwood Preferred Guest, Nectar, American Express Rewards

You can get a bonus NOW on The Platinum Card IF you have not held a Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card, Green or American Express Rewards card in the previous 24 months

You can get a bonus NOW on American Express Gold Business or American Express Platinum Business IF you have not held a Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card, Green, American Express Rewards, American Express Gold Business or American Express Platinum Business card in the previous six months and meet the qualifying criteria for having a small business

If you currently have Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card or American Express Rewards credit card ….

You would need to cancel and wait 24 months before you can get a bonus on Platinum Cashback, Platinum Cashback Everyday, British Airways American Express, Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card, Green, Starwood Preferred Guest, Nectar, American Express Rewards

You can get a bonus NOW on British Airways Premium Plus IF you have not held a British Airways or British Airways Premium Plus card in the previous 24 months

You would need to cancel and wait six months before you can get a bonus on American Express Gold Business or American Express Platinum Business, assuming you meet the qualifying criteria for having a small business

If you currently have a Nectar or Starwood Preferred Guest credit card ….

You would need to cancel and wait 24 months before you can get a bonus on Platinum Cashback, Platinum Cashback Everyday, British Airways American Express (free version), Preferred Rewards Gold, Starwood Preferred Guest, Nectar, American Express Rewards

You can get a bonus NOW on The Platinum Card IF you have not held a Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card, Green or American Express Rewards card in the previous 24 months

You can get a bonus NOW on British Airways Premium Plus IF you have not held a British Airways or British Airways Premium Plus card in the previous 24 months

You can get a bonus NOW on American Express Gold Business or American Express Platinum Business IF you have not held a Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card, Green, American Express Rewards, American Express Gold Business or American Express Platinum Business card in the previous six months and meet the qualifying criteria for having a small business

If you currently have a Platinum Cashback or Platinum Cashback Everyday card ….

You would need to cancel and wait 24 months before you can get a bonus on Platinum Cashback, Platinum Cashback Everyday, British Airways American Express, Preferred Rewards Gold, Green, Starwood Preferred Guest, Nectar, American Express Rewards

You can get a bonus NOW on The Platinum Card IF you have not held a Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card, Green or American Express Rewards card in the previous 24 months

You can get a bonus NOW on British Airways Premium Plus IF you have not held a British Airways or British Airways Premium Plus card in the previous 24 months

You can get a bonus NOW on American Express Gold Business or American Express Platinum Business IF you have not held a Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card, Green or American Express Rewards card in the previous six months

Discussion of the American Express sign-up bonuses changes continue in a further articles here.

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earns points from credit cards

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – May 2025 update

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

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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

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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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 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:

The American Express Business Platinum Card

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

The American Express Business Gold Card

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card

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

Category

American Express Gold card, American Express Membership Rewards, American Express Platinum card, Amex Rewards Credit Card, British Airways American Express, Marriott Bonvoy American Express

Comments (1165)

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

  • Alan Cairns says:
    21 Mar21 March 12:29

    Like a few others on here, I think this stops my Points collection. I don’t do enough flying to earn enough points for a free flight or even an upgrade. This means I’ll be cancelling all my Am Ex cards. Only upside is I’ll be looking to use another airline for flights – Qater, Etihad, Emirates ??
    Wonder how many card cancellations Am Ex are processing today ? and how BA feels about it ?

    • TGLoyalty says:
      21 Mar21 March 12:31

      Probably no more than other.

      I wouldn’t be so hasty just cancelling cards because of this.

    • Alan says:
      21 Mar21 March 12:47

      Maybe not straight away but I would expect a considerable number of cancellations may come over the next month or so. I know that my wife’s cards will be getting binned for a start!

  • Taylor says:
    21 Mar21 March 12:32

    I’m in a bad position. Just redeemed 241 for USA West Coast In F. Avios balance now tiny. Partner has took out BAPP to earn a 241 for next year. I won’t be able to apply for any amex now for 24 months. May as well cancel the BAPP for a refund as we won’t be able to earn enough points to redeem the 241

    We simply don’t buy enough revenue tickets to earn enough avios nor do we spend a million pounds a year in Tesco.

    The game is up for us now. Sad! 😭

    • Chris L says:
      21 Mar21 March 12:36

      If anything the 241 is now more valuable than ever given it’s now harder to collect Avios. Remember, there’s nothing wrong with using one for a short-haul redemption. Also, you’re still free to cancel your booked redemption if you really need to make a change. Alternatively, go and enjoy it!!

    • Lady London says:
      21 Mar21 March 12:50

      This is another case where us singles are sorely disadvantaged. For anyone in a couple, thé 24 months waiting périod is immediately cut to 12 by working together.
      Us singles have to wait thé full 24 months.

      Definitely worth putting spend on other cards once targets are reached.

      • Steve says:
        21 Mar21 March 15:02

        An Avios dating site? *lightbulb*

      • Andy Sparrow says:
        21 Mar21 March 15:05

        dry your eyes

      • guesswho2000 says:
        21 Mar21 March 23:17

        Not cut to 12 when some of us were doing both partner’s churns simultaneously. I was struggling to find things to do in the six months we were waiting, and that was all combos of MR, Avios and SPG/Marriott cards including referrals.

  • Alex D says:
    21 Mar21 March 12:42

    I have the BAPP Card and Amex Gold currently so no bonus for me anytime soon – I will still be keeping my BAPP for the 2-4-1. Potentially putting more through the Virgin Card and then waiting to get Platinum in 23months time. Some USA style benefits would really be awesome though – Perhaps some credit to travel?

  • Shoestring says:
    21 Mar21 March 12:45

    A lot of you who didn’t really get Avios + Money a couple of years ago will now have to keep it front of mind when you’re buying tickets, esp in Europe. Sure – when the cost of ‘buying’ the Avios back from BA was 0.8p/ point or so, you might have thought ‘what the hell, I’ll burn my Avios and keep my cash, thank you very much, 0.8p isn’t exactly cheap cheap’ – now the equation is more about the difficulty of getting a decent stash of Avios into your Avios bank account, ready for 2-4-1 opps etc.

    Similarly, no easier way to accumulate 300,000 Avios than buying them for 1p/ point from BA or Iberia – no longer quite so shameful to do this now that Amex have put up the barricades.

    • Optimus Prime says:
      21 Mar21 March 12:55

      Agreed, Harry. I took your advice earlier this year and that’s how I booked our Easter and Christmas trips.

      • Shoestring says:
        21 Mar21 March 13:00

        nice one 🙂

        • Spurs Debs says:
          21 Mar21 March 16:00

          Me to, I thought you had a valid point about kickstarting or boosting your balance. I’m planning on 3 big trips next year for my 60th and for me your advice made sense, and I bought some with the 50% bonus I think it was, which tipped my balance to just about covers all my plans.

    • BJ says:
      21 Mar21 March 12:57

      And also UUA, especially if they keep dishing out avios on these too (is this still happening?). Obviously not as good as flexibily of a 100% redemption but these can still be changed, usually around £180 on a longhaul flight with the £35 avios change fee on top too.

    • Shoestring says:
      21 Mar21 March 13:20

      —> and here could lie the answer for some of you who are lamenting ‘no more 2-4-1s’.

      It’s not the £10K or £20 spend on the BA Amex cards that will stop you using 2-4-1s, it’s the future difficulty of accumulating enough Avios.

      Well, you now have an easy bit of math to consider: with your 2-4-1 opps, is it worth buying Avios points @1p to get the free companion flight? I’d suggest it probably *is* worth it in many cases. Just not as good as when you got so many free/ cheap churned MR points.

      Not having enough Avios – the reason many people are giving – doesn’t need to stand in your way. His ‘n hers a/cs at BAEC and Iberia can easily get 1.2m points pa @1p/ point with the regular +50% bonus promos. And sometimes the promos repeat during the year, giving you the chance to buy 2.4m Avios @1p/ point.

      • Darren says:
        21 Mar21 March 13:46

        Didn’t we have that conversation last week!

        ….waiting for the next avios purchase bonus….

      • RussellH says:
        21 Mar21 March 16:25

        Shoestring says: 21 March 2019 at 13:20

        > It’s not the £10K or £20 spend on the BA Amex cards that will stop you

        I think I could manage £20, just not the £10K
        🙂

  • Emma says:
    21 Mar21 March 12:48

    I applied at the weekend, I’m waiting for the approval as it wasn’t instant. Will I get the bonus points under the new or old rules once approved?

    • Optimus Prime says:
      21 Mar21 March 12:50

      Should be old rules since those were the T&C’s you signed up to.

      • Nathan says:
        21 Mar21 March 12:52

        I am in same position. Referred wife for platinum card last week – been over week and not approved yet. Spoke to them yesterday and said they needed proof if ID etc. Wife last had card over 6 months ago so would have been eligible for sign up bonus when I applied, but looks like she will be approved under new rules.

        I am hoping they honour original terms

  • Bonglim says:
    21 Mar21 March 12:52

    I think some people are being a little hasty and dramatic to say it is the end for them.

    I agree so far the process of generating points has been pretty easy, but as things evolve so do the choices and opportunities. For example I have steered clear of some borderline practices (paying Amex with Curve) because I felt the risk of ‘losing Amex’ and losing the sign up bonuses too high. But I might consider that a more acceptable risk now.

    I imagine over time the value of bonuses will increase. Most of us, if we cannot apply for a platinum card for 2 years, will find that the bonus next time will be far far higher. If (for example) to bonus was 4x higher every 2 years, or the same level every 6 months, one might consider the new system not quite as big a down-step as someone fears today.

    I am sure Rob et al will have a much more complicated job, but I for one will still be reading to make sure that I don’t miss out on future opportunities – even if they are harder to execute..

    • BlueHorizonuk says:
      21 Mar21 March 12:59

      Yes very dramatic. Including those who are predicting the demise of HfP.

      Not sure Rob ever wrote articles about churning so not sure why the churners were coming here every day if that was the only reason they were visiting the site.

      All very odd.

      • Alan says:
        21 Mar21 March 13:34

        The site was very good at letting you know the best way to spend those “churned” avios/points etc. With fewer churned points around there may well be fewer people that need to know how to spend them.

        I sincerely doubt this will cause HfP to close but there may be fewer active members. Then again, it may not make the slightest difference!

    • riku2 says:
      21 Mar21 March 13:55

      it might be news to you but some of us earn points from actually travelling rather than just credit card sign up bonuses or shenanigans with the Curve card, so the site still remains useful. And if there are fewer redemptions from those who earn points just from credit cards then that’s good news from my point of view.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        21 Mar21 March 14:59

        the USA card issuer are still printing points like confetti

      • Leo says:
        21 Mar21 March 15:08

        Exactly – look how many people actually spend real money at IHG to hit Accelerate and the like. This site has never just been about avios or Amex. I’m just looking forward to more comments being ON topic lol.

  • Nick says:
    21 Mar21 March 12:57

    What about the 6,000 Avios award some have reported when upgrading from the free BA Amex to the Premium Plus Card?

    • Rob says:
      21 Mar21 March 13:20

      That has been paid for ever to most, not all, and no-one ever knew why!

      • Nick says:
        21 Mar21 March 14:02

        I’m thinking though as I currently have the free BA Alex Card and since it would take 24 months now to obtain the sign up bonus I’d be better off just applying to upgrade to the BA Premium Plus? Or just cancel the free version and stick with my Amex Gold?

      • Wongster says:
        21 Mar21 March 14:36

        Rob, do we upgrade via the phone or online via a new application? Thanks!

  • Taylor says:
    21 Mar21 March 13:02

    I think a big part of the shock is also that a lot of future plans have just gone out of the window. I had a churn strategy for this year and next to redeem for a big birthday coming up.

    I will have to keep a much closer eye on sales/cash prices now. I think this inevitably is going to have a substantial impact on the avios programme.

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