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Hi all,
I have a few ideas in my head and would like to verify / get corrected on a few points.
To give some background. I personally applied for BAPP this February when the 70k offer ran, got it, got the voucher. I have FULLY exhausted my BAPP’s benefits until 2024 Feb’s renewal. I have received the voucher and the points are sitting on my BAEC account, shared in a household account.
Now, a new offer is up for 60K which my partner would be interested to take on. However, this raises a few questions..
Q1 – As I have received the voucher and it’s on my BA account, we will be using this for Las Vegas next September / October. If I were to downgrade / cancel my BAPP, would that affect the ability to use that voucher? Taxes would be paid by my partner’s BAPP card, rather than mine who originally earned it.
Q2 – We will now focus on her BAPP rather than mine, which means we do not need 2 of the same cards individually. What are my options? Should I cancel completely, downgrade? If I cancel before October, will I be able to get some pro-rata refunds before their terms change?
Thanks – let me know your thoughts.
Before others who are more experienced than me responds, I’d like to remind two things:
1. Generally, further you fly more you save. And you need a lot of Avios to fly further. BAPP’s earning rate is great for this. Think about it before cancel. That’s I disagree that you can possibly exhaust AlL benefits of BAPP. You still earn Avios relatively generously. I think it is completely worth it. I’d never downgrade for that reason.
2. Cancel/downgrade and apply game is becoming more problematic. Amex makes errors and there is no guarantee anymore that they’d approve you with the same limit. There is a lot of posts about it here — happened to me, too.
Before others who are more experienced than me responds, I’d like to remind two things:
1. Generally, further you fly more you save. And you need a lot of Avios to fly further. BAPP’s earning rate is great for this. Think about it before cancel. That’s I disagree that you can possibly exhaust AlL benefits of BAPP. You still earn Avios relatively generously. I think it is completely worth it. I’d never downgrade for that reason.
2. Cancel/downgrade and apply game is becoming more problematic. Amex makes errors and there is no guarantee anymore that they’d approve you with the same limit. There is a lot of posts about it here — happened to me, too.
We would not be without a BAPP. There is just simply no need for both of us to pay £250 / year for the same card when we can consolidate and pool our spending. It’d be the same setup as now. 1 primary and 1 supplementary. So just to have 2 cards (1 primary and 1 supplementary each) seems a waste of £250 / year.
Regarding point 2, yes.. that’s a slight risk but we’d never be without a card in the household.
Sure, if you don’t need two vouchers, why bother?
@simey there is risk, however small, that cancelling your card puts you in breach of the term requiring you to be eligible for the promotion at the time of travel. Downgrading obviates that risk and saves paying the fee, but clearly doesn’t reset the clock. There is also the question as to whether the current 24 month fallow period will remain as low; the US experience would suggest otherwise, but who knows.
It’s just a matter of understanding and accepting the risks.
Sure, if you don’t need two vouchers, why bother?
Indeed – it’s just the 2 of us. I already have 1 voucher, and she’ll have another generated for another travel up to 2026 or thereabouts if we strategically trigger the 10K.
I am more interested in some knowledgable people answering how to navigate this.. regarding not having the card that earned the voucher or using a different BAPP to book the voucher with actually etc.
Sure, if you don’t need two vouchers, why bother?
Indeed – it’s just the 2 of us. I already have 1 voucher, and she’ll have another generated for another travel up to 2026 or thereabouts if we strategically trigger the 10K.
I am more interested in some knowledgable people answering how to navigate this.. regarding not having the card that earned the voucher or using a different BAPP to book the voucher with actually etc.
There is no longer any issue about potentially needing the BAPP to pay. The terms have been changed to allow the use of any Amex, but see post re other potential risks above.
Sure, if you don’t need two vouchers, why bother?
Indeed – it’s just the 2 of us. I already have 1 voucher, and she’ll have another generated for another travel up to 2026 or thereabouts if we strategically trigger the 10K.
I am more interested in some knowledgable people answering how to navigate this.. regarding not having the card that earned the voucher or using a different BAPP to book the voucher with actually etc.
There is no longer any issue about potentially needing the BAPP to pay. The terms have been changed to allow the use of any Amex, but see post re other potential risks above.
Oh yes, I remember that. I knew there was SOME change, but forgot that it was to make it easier and not more difficult. So that’s no longer a concern. That is a valid point to keep in mind, but me (personally) would rather hold the Platinum, whilst my partner could hold the BAPP and diversify like that. So that is the longer game plan – this offer did come a lot earlier than I anticipated so it’ll just accelerate that change.
If I were to say, close my AMEX card, would my AMEX profile and things like that still exist so that in the future I could re-apply or try to become a personal customer AGAIN, rather than a brand new customer in their eyes?
Yes but they need to see your current status, income etc. And who knows how their algorithm will change?!?
I learned it the hard way: cancelled my BAPP and applied for it 8-9 months later with higher income. Got a lower credit line, which complicated a lot of things and, more importantly, cost me so so much time to fix. And I was with Amex for many years.
Don’t be like me 🙂
Yes but they need to see your current status, income etc. And who knows how their algorithm will change?!?
I learned it the hard way: cancelled my BAPP and applied for it 8-9 months later with higher income. Got a lower credit line, which complicated a lot of things and, more importantly, cost me so so much time to fix. And I was with Amex for many years.
Don’t be like me 🙂
Noted, thank you. I’ll consider that, but given current situations throwing money into AMEX’s pockets for little return is not in my budget!
There’s a very recent thread where a couple of people have reported that their vouchers have disappeared from their accounts after closing their cards. It’s not clear whether this is some sort of glitch or a deliberate move by Amex/BA. I wouldn’t make any major decisions until more information emerges about this.
https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/companion-voucher-missing-from-my-account/
There’s a very recent thread where a couple of people have reported that their vouchers have disappeared from their accounts after closing their cards. It’s not clear whether this is some sort of glitch or a deliberate move by Amex/BA. I wouldn’t make any major decisions until more information emerges about this.
https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/companion-voucher-missing-from-my-account/
Hmm, yes I see. Perhaps downgrading to keep me as active customer is the best bet. I wonder if this is a bug or anything else though..
If it’s an official policy change (or actually implementing what the policy was anyway), it’s pretty huge. Hopefully the HFP team will get to the bottom of it …
If it’s an official policy change (or actually implementing what the policy was anyway), it’s pretty huge. Hopefully the HFP team will get to the bottom of it …
Is anyone aware whether this is supposed to work like this and it’s just been now enforced OR it’s a totally new thing altogether.
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