Get a refund to your American Express card? Here’s how it impacts your vouchers and bonuses

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• Toto says:

  6 Jan6 January 09:44

  Sorry if this has covered elsewhere before…

  What happens when you decide to downgrade your BAPP card after the voucher is triggered, when you actually try to use it to book a flight? Do they enforce the rule that you must use the BAPP card to pay for the cash element, or is it still ok as long as its a Amex?

  • lumma says:

    6 Jan6 January 09:58

    You can pay with any AMEX, doesn’t need to be a BA one or even in your name.

  • Grimz says:

    6 Jan6 January 15:27

    Don’t need to downgrade just cancel the card. As long as you or a friend have an Amex card to use when redeeming the voucher.

    • Toto says:

      6 Jan6 January 22:30

      Thanks! Yes, makes more sense to cancel outright and reapply in 24m for the bonus!

• Patrick says:

  6 Jan6 January 10:12

  Say you take out a new card on 1 Jan with a 3m sign up bonus requiring a £3k spend. In the last week of March, as your first purchase, you spend £3001 on flights and trigger your welcome bonus. It also forms part of your exact £10k spend for the year, triggering a 241. In February the following year you are due to fly but a snow storm (light dusting) closes LHR for 2 days. With no sensible reroutes available you accept a refund from the airline. Is it correct to say:

  – you will have broken your welcome bonus terms from the previous year and the welcome points will be taken back, most likely resulting in a negative balance
  – in the current (second) year you will now need to spend £13,001
  – your 241 will remain valid despite the previous year total spend coming down to £6999

  • Rob says:

    6 Jan6 January 10:21

    Yes, yes, yes.

    In practice, I would guess that at some point the system loses track of the original transaction so the first ‘yes’ may not happen, but you should assume it will.

    • jjoohhnn says:

      6 Jan6 January 10:34

      I’m sure BA would be more than happy to give your a voucher for the value rather than cash to avoid this problem though!

      • Patrick says:

        6 Jan6 January 10:38

        Thanks guys. Handy to be aware of any unintended consequences that could arise over the years.

• Slonik says:

  6 Jan6 January 14:26

  It’s a similar thing with the Virgin credit card. I had a holiday cancelled during Covid which resulted in a large refund. They didn’t deduct the miles they already credited to me from my Virgin miles account, but they wouldn’t then credit me any more miles from card spend until I had cleared the deficit. So, eg, if you get a refund for £100 for which you have already received the air miles, you then won’t receive any more air miles until you have re-spent that £100. It took me ages to work out why I wasn’t being credited any new miles….

• Save East Coast Rewards says:

  6 Jan6 January 15:14

  Obviously now BA book with confidence is no more you can’t just request a voucher for any booking, but are you allowed to request a voucher in times where you would otherwise get a cash refund? It might be useful if you don’t want the refund to hit your card.

• Dickie H says:

  6 Jan6 January 19:28

  So I don’t think this question has yet been covered:
  Suppose you cancel your card on 1 January.
  But a transaction is then refunded to your cancelled card, say on 1 March.
  Does this reset the date on which you’d next become eligible for a sign-up bonus if you reapplied for the card (i.e. in this example, from 1 Jan 2025 to 1 March 2025)?

  • Rob says:

    6 Jan6 January 20:29

    Very good question … so niche I have no idea.

  • Alan says:

    6 Jan6 January 23:57

    No as I understand it the SUB eligibility is related to the date of account closure in the letter Amex send you.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    7 Jan7 January 00:42

    No. The activity after the card closes doesn’t count.

    • Dickie H says:

      7 Jan7 January 16:06

      Thanks all! That’s exactly the situation I find myself in – in fact my refund came through almost a year after I’d cancelled my card. I wouldn’t want to have to wait * another * 2 years if I got it wrong!

• Stu says:

  7 Jan7 January 03:18

  I don’t quite understand how anyone who can afford a £250 a year card can struggle to hit £10K annual spend in this day and age of rocketing prices? My year runs from mid-August and I’ve usually hit my spend target by December!

  • MrMcBurger says:

    7 Jan7 January 19:58

    Because they have more than reward card & may want to collect points for something else? I still have Barclays HH card for example as well as Virgin Card. I kind of plan long haul holidays a good 2 years in advance to give me chance to collect miles, etc. I loved collecting Marriot/SPG, but that run has come to an end. Still, looking back, I had a 5 nights in SF staying at the Westin on Union Square. 5 nights comped for xmas markets in Innsbruck & travelling by the free bus to the surrounding ski resort & was in Munich for the Beer Festival this year that cost me £2 + 39,000 avios & 5 nights in East Munich Marriott!!! Still have 45k Marriott points.

• Nick says:

  12 Jan12 January 10:42

  Am I correct in thinking that if I hit the £3000 spending target on BAPP card and receive the bonus, this cannot be taken away if I get a refund that takes be back under £3000 spending. I understand the AVIOS for the refund amount can be taken but the bonus Avios can’t be? Thanks I’m advance

  • Rhys says:

    12 Jan12 January 11:43

    Yes. See our recent article: https://www.headforpoints.com/2023/01/06/how-does-american-express-handle-refunds/

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