Reply To: Dropping BA Amex for a few years ….

[JDB]

Not Long Now… wrote:

Having just returned from our latest 2-4-1 flight to JNB, I found myself doing some light arithmetic to fill the time waiting for a delayed departure. With my ‘new style’ 2-4-1, the same trip in January 2023 will be a total of 137,500 Avios + £1492.52 + voucher from London, or 155,750 Avios + £993.56 + voucher form AMS. I price this, with 1 Avios @ 0.8p, an alternative of a 1% CB card, to be a grand total of £2822 from London, and £2469 from AMS (including the outbound positioning to AMS).
Being fairly flexible in our dates, and indeed destinations, I can’t help but conclude that if, as we do frequently, we book flights whenever we find an attractive sales price, aiming for an Amex 2-4-1 each year makes no financial sense. Closing and reapplying will change this equation due to the bonus Avios, but even then the financial difference is marginal.
I fully agree that especially ongoing, the flexibility of Avios bookings is a plus, but we generally don’t need to change our plans.
So my point? How many people actually cost up their ‘reward’ tickets, and does anyone actually make a tangible saving using them? Presumably someone who nabs a peak school holiday flight to a hugely popular destination, but people with more flexibility, where is it an actual saving?

On this route, for £350 or so I would rather go direct on the BA A380, rather than the hassle of changing in AMS (with two tickets (or 24hr gap) if you don’t want to pay APD and the risks that entails) vs the KLM 777 where the cheaper flight is usually the daytime one which means dep from London at about 06.30 and thus paying for a hotel in JNB as well as a day wasted in transit.