BIG NEWS: BA Amex annual fee AND voucher qualifying spend to rise sharply

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• kiran_mk2 says:

  10 Apr10 April 10:51

  I guess AmEx have done their sums, but it doesn’t immediately add up to me:

  Moving the spend target to £15k will cause a decent chunk of holders to either cancel in the next 12 months (those that don’t like the fee increase, doesn’t think they will reach the new spend thresholds) followed by another chunk in the following 12 months (those that thought they could meet the new spend thresholds, but found they didn’t and couldn’t guarantee they would going forwards). Each user that does cancel will cost AmEx a lost revenue of £250-300 per year (depending on whether the cancelling customer would have paid the additional fee or not) plus whatever transaction value fees those customers would have generated (£1-200 per year for a £10k spend with 1-2% transaction fees)

  Another chunk of customers who currently spend £9,999 and then put the card in a drawer will now presumably spend £14,999 and put the card in a draw. If AmEx takes 1-2% of the transaction value in fees this only adds another £50-100 of revenue per person.

  Finally, those that are high spenders with no thought of redirecting excess spend to other loyalty cards will probably make no changes to their spending so no change to AmEx revenues.

  Does this imply that BA are now “charging” AmEx more for Avios and 241 vouchers?

  For myself: the fee increase is annoying but not deal breaking, but the increased spend threshold is likely it for me with this card. I probably do spend £15-20k per year, but a large chunk of this is at places that don’t take AmEx so pushing on with the card is a gamble. After all, by the time I realise I won’t make the £15k threshold will likely come too far into the year to get much back in pro-rata refunds…

  • TGLoyalty says:

    10 Apr10 April 15:30

    They obviously have lots of data on their BAPP holders spend they don’t need to guess what % don’t spend £15k a year or hit £9,999 in 6 months etc.

    Best guess £50 fee increase covers the lost revenue from the % that will drop away because they won’t hit £15k and the rest is covered because some more will hit £15k when potentially they stopped just shy of £10k for months.

    • kiran_mk2 says:

      10 Apr10 April 18:01

      I’m sure they do. However, it just doesn’t make sense from a financial viewpoint – this is only going to loose AmEx BAP customers (and the revenue they generate ). Perhaps the fees charged by BA for Avios and 241 vouchers have gone up.

  • BBbetter says:

    10 Apr10 April 15:59

    I like how random people suddenly become bean counters for Amex.

• d3vski says:

  10 Apr10 April 10:51

  £2.8k spend to go … out comes the card from the drawer. Original plan to wrap up the spend during the Xmas period for the end of Jan annual anniversary.

  £15k is easy enough … luckilly my favourite wine broker accepts it as a payment option.

  Whether spending £300 plus £700 is worth it for 2 people on a CW redemption.

• Josh B says:

  10 Apr10 April 10:52

  The single flyer option is a good benefit tbh. We usually use ours in biz as a couple but a recent unplanned trip across the pond saw me using it singly and finding availability in first (good luck doing that as a couple)

  • Rob says:

    10 Apr10 April 10:56

    I use my Virgin card vouchers for solo trips – 35k Upper Class to New York (plus fees etc) can’t be argued with, especially as you won’t get a good cash deal for a midweek trip – which it will be, if done solo.

    • Josh B says:

      10 Apr10 April 11:55

      That’s a good shout actually – not an environment I usually work in but have a few thousand miles trapped there so might be worth a look, thanks Rob!

• Colin_MacKinnon says:

  10 Apr10 April 11:07

  Thoughts from the provinces:

  BA via LHR is just a pain: we like to go away somewhere warm in winter, and so are more prone to the weather issues that lead to hassles with domestic connections.
  (short haul is lo-co, obviously)

  Transatlantic: Now it is our daughter in Washington rather than son in Colorado, thinking direct flights to the eastern seabord from EDI are appealing, even if not in business. Now semi-retired, so even looking at Cunard – £800 per person for a cibin and food for a week, and no jet lag on the way back!

  Eastbound: Qatar. Took our first flights with them home from Auckland last year. AKL-DOH-EDI. No LHR – fabulous (and so much better than CW was out to SYD). Agree with BJ about Finnair and Qatar heading east.

  Finally, the one use for a 241 – Iberia from Madrid. With Mrs Mack being Spanish, that’s the one attraction for S America (and maybe Tokyo for the Expo next year).

  Final thought:

  Until now, with low interest rates, we have just paid council tax etc right away. April = council tax, May= car and house insurance, Jun = corp tax, Jul = aircraft insurance etc.

  But following comments yesterday about 5% interest rates – and using interest money to buy Avios – perhaps I can save paying the £300 BA Amex fee by paying many of our expenses by installments, and the Avios gained will offset the loss of the 241?

  • IanT says:

    10 Apr10 April 11:15

    If you have the time, then Cunard is a fantastic way to travel to/from New York.

    It certainly beats any business class airline travel and can often be cheaper.

    • CarpalTravel says:

      10 Apr10 April 11:29

      That is my hope and dream, one day! Just need to have the time…

  • Joe G says:

    10 Apr10 April 11:31

    Agree to all that, living in the Central belt of Scotland BA is increasingly unappealing for Avios redemptions.

    No point at all travelling with them short haul as most European destinations are covered with direct flights from Glasgow or Edinburgh and I would rather fly direct with Easyjet or Ryanair than waste time connecting via Heathrow to the same destination which is a poor cash/avios proposition to begin with anyway.

    For us It was a nice luxury flying to Florence direct from Edinburgh on avios a couple of years ago and it would be great if more options like that opened up.

    For long haul as you are connecting anyway I think Qatar via Doha, Iberia ex Madrid and Aer Lingus ex Dublin will all be preferable options for us.

    • Stuart says:

      10 Apr10 April 14:35

      Jet Blue from EDI too, can credit to Qatar

• lumma says:

  10 Apr10 April 11:19

  My favourite redemption, off peak Iberia to Latin America is 42,500 with a 241 for a solo traveller. Seriously thinking of saving the £300 and not having to spend the £15k each year. Barclaycard accepted everywhere and could buy at least half of the points I need with the saving on the card fee. Might go back to the BAPP after 24 months for another sign-up bonus

• Dave R says:

  10 Apr10 April 11:33

  Surely Amex can’t change the spend target terms in the middle of your card year though? My card year runs from march-march and I’ve just paid the annual fee. Moving the goalposts mid-term seems very shady to me.

  • kiran_mk2 says:

    10 Apr10 April 11:43

    I’m in the same position. I’m going to hold on for a few months to see if I can better forecast whether I will be spending £10k by 30 Oct (or £15k by 15 Mar-25) and looking for any row-back from AmEx. I can see one of two things happening based on the pushback.
    1. The rules are changed so current membership years will retain the £10k threshold
    2. You will be able to get a full (not pro-rata) refund if you cancel the card within x months of paying your last fee (likely from 1 Nov-23, which are the last people who would have a “mid-year” threshold change)

• Ash says:

  10 Apr10 April 11:37

  Hopefully a new sign up bonus will make its way shortly to make it worthwhile 🙂

• Nick P says:

  10 Apr10 April 11:38

  It appears that the fee on the Accelerating Business AMEX remains £250.

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