BA American Express Premium sign up bonus rules changed?

[everyonenow]

I applied for a BA American Express Premium Card earlier in the year. I have a Amex nectar card, but have not held any other Amex cards for at least four years. I applied through a link on the Amex website that said I would get a sign up bonus (I think it was 50,000 Avios) if I met the spending thresholds in the first three months.

I met the spending thresholds comfortably. I got the companion voucher, but no sign up bonus. I called Amex and they said that it was because I had a Nectar card. They said it’s clear from the Ts and Cs that this means no sign up bonus. I have checked the terms and it does state clearly that “Introductory offers are not available if you currently hold or have held any personal American Express Card product in the past 24 months.”

But the the Head for Points review of the BA Premium card says “You will definitely receive the bonus if you have had (or still have) a Gold, Platinum, Marriott or Nectar American Express card, or a Business card, in the last 24 months. As long as you haven’t had one of the British Airways American Express cards, you’re OK.”

Have Amex’s terms changed recently, or is the Head for Points article wrong? Or am I missing something? Any suggestions much appreciated!

Thanks.

[Rob]

That’s complete nonsense.

The rules are (cut and pasted 30 seconds ago from the Amex website) “I understand I will not be eligible for any Welcome Bonus award if I hold or have held any personal British Airways American Express® Card product in the past 24 months.”

However, you mention 50k. There has not been a public 50k offer for many years so I suspect you have applied for a private offer aimed at what we call a Closed User Group.  Amex can obviously change the rules for private offers if it wishes.

By definition these private offers are, well, private and Amex does not let us promote them.