BA Amex to BA Premium Plus – should I upgrade?

[nickd19]

So, I think I know the answer to this… but, I’m just coning up to £10k spend on my free BA Amex. I’m likely to hit £12k before end of membership year so will trigger the voucher in any case, and much to everyone’s bemusement, I’m unlikely to travel in any class other than economy given I have two small children….. but, am I being totally daft not upgrading to the premium card, taking the voucher that at least allows me to use for club and then downgrading back to the free card? Also, anyone know of any avios bonus for upgrading?

[AJA]

I’d upgrade to get the voucher valid for 24 months if not for the ability to book in Club and (First).

The economy only voucher from the free Amex is only valid for 12 months.

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

What @Aja said!

You can upgrade using this link: https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/benefits/upgrade/ba-premium-plus-credit-card/

You won’t get any kind of welcome bonus offer but your current spend on the free BA card will carry over and count toward the £10k target for the Premium BA card’s superior companion voucher.

If you are not keen on the annual fee then the tactic is to only upgrade just BEFORE you hit the £10k spend to trigger the voucher. You can then decide whether to keep the Premium card and pay the annual fee or downgrade / cancel and get a pro-rata refund on the £250 fee.

If you do go for the downgrade / cancel route, the recent experience is that the Amex agents will tell you that you’ll lose the voucher. However, this does not seem to be current practise and once it is in your BA Exec Club account it will stay there. You do need to pay for any flight where you use the voucher with an Amex card but at present there seems BA does not or cannot monitor whether you are using the card that earned the voucher or not (indeed several on here have reported successfully using cards of friends and family to complete such bookings!).

No guarantees that this practise won’t change in future but that’s the game we are playing… Good luck 😁

[Ori]

I’ve always had the premium card. Didn’t realise that on the standard card you can’t use the 241 on business fares.

My gf has the basic card so should she upgrade and will it uograde the vouchers or only new vouchers?

[AJA]

Ori wrote:

I’ve always had the premium card. Didn’t realise that on the standard card you can’t use the 241 on business fares

That changed in Sep 2021. Until then you had to spend £20k to get the voucher but it was valid for Club seats. It changed to only needing to spend £12k on the free card but only for 2-4-1 tickets valid in economy.

I’d upgrade before hitting £10k spend on the free card.

[Vit]

I would and I just did. Have the voucher in my baec now but not sure how soon I can call to cancel or downgrade the card. Last year I think the Cs told me i would have to wait for a month. I have some large payment coming through so not to fussed as it is 1.5 avios rate but then not keen on paying more than a month fees.

[Aerotec]

Good info folks thanks! I downgraded Dads card 6 months ago but he had to pay an £11k bill for Mums new hip and the hospital payment portal accepted Amex! Clicked the link and upgrade was immediate. Paid the bill. Await the 241 voucher. Then will downgrade again!

Perfect timing as Dad and I plan to go back to the US in July 24 for the Oshkosh airshow so this 241 will be parked for that purpose. That frees up my 241 for a trip with the other half. Win win!

[Tariq]

Agreed, just done the upgrade myself and was really easy using that link.

[carrotjuice]

To downgrade back from premium to ‘regular’ card, is there a link that we can do so, or will it require a phonecall to Amex? And is the downgrade immediate?

[lifelessordinary.xyz]

I am looking to downgrade too but.. just adding up my cashback offers i’ve received over the last 12 months.. the card has almost paid for itself on that alone- I am wondering if there is wisdom in sticking with the Premium if those offers don’t get promoted to standard cards as frequently. Main reason for downgrading is spend is being focused on the Avios BC Target so want to avoid two lots of card fees..Maybe someone knows? If not, a sub-thread or collection of Data points that compare the cashback offers over time between the free/premium when they come out might be useful (if it doesn’t exist already elsewhere.)

Anyone had any experience of BC Avios cashback scheme.. is it worth registering.. can’t find definitive list of vendors. I assume it isn’t as generous as the amex offers.