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Hi there,
I have been an Amex customer for around 7 years on and off (my member since number)
I currently have a BA blue card held for the last 1.5 years. We have spent more than enough to achieve the companion voucher (Now showing in my BAEC account).I’m thinking that only earning avios may not be the best use of this card spend going forward for a variety of reasons and would like the flexibility to spend points in multiple ways that the membership rewards programme offers.
I have ben told by Amex that I cant upgrade to Platinum from BA blue as they are different card families, rather I’d have to apply for a new card (have both) then close the BA card.My question is this, As I see it there is little benefit to moving to the Gold card as no signup bonus is available. The platinum card offers a signup bonus (as the offer is available if you have NOT had another membership rewards card in the last 24 months) so if I apply for this use it for a year then downgrade to gold would I get another year fee free?
Also , I have not yet used the companion voucher. If I cancel the BA card will the voucher be void?
Open to ideas here.
Best
BB
No, if you cancel the card you still keep the voucher if it is already in your BAEC account. Only thing to watch out for is that when redeeming it you need to pay the taxes on an AMEX. Not necessarily the one you earned the voucher on, and not necessarily in your name, but an AMEX nonetheless. Your plan of moving to Platinum would therefore keep the voucher valid and redeemable.
You are also correct that you’ll qualify for a SUB on Plat but not gold, and that a big perk of either is the flexibility of MR across multiple airlines and hotel chains.
Really comes down to you and what you want from it though. Is there a particular flight/airline you’re after that isn’t redeemable through Avios/BA partners? Remember that 241 vouchers can now be used on Iberia and Aer Lingus, and Avios (but not voucher) also on Qatar- meaning most parts of the world are very accessible on Avios.
DO NOT cancel the blue BA card. There have been many postings here where cancelling a BA Blue or BAPP causes the 241 to be removed from your BAEC account. The voucher should be safe if you still hold either of the BA cards. The blue card doesn’t cost anything, so just keep it.
You should have upgraded to the BAPP before triggering the 241 voucher. The voucher from BAPP is much more useful than the blue 241. After triggering the voucher you could have down-graded back to the blue card.
Good luck with the PLAX application, if you think you’ll use the benefits, in addition to the huge SUB.What @SteveCroydon posted is actually directly against the advice in this forum but is what Amex agents will tell you.
Once the voucher is in your account, it will not go away. However you do need access to an Amex card to pay fees.
The Platinum is a poor card to spend on, the Gold card much better. These non-Avios points you’re interested in are? I wouldn’t build up a hotel stash without a plan, you need rather a lot to really get much from them.
I’d be looking at the Plat for the SUB, but fairly quickly switching to the Gold for ongoing spend. Gold offers +1 on airline spend, +1 on FX spend (subject to 3% FX fee), bonus 2.5K points for spend of £5K up to £25K. If you use Deliveroo and want a small number of longe accesses the Gold near pays for itself. Also based on my own experience over a few years the Cashback offers on the Gold are greater in number and more useful than the Platinum or BA cards.In regard keeping the BA voucher after cancelling, whilst it’s conventional wisdom you keep it, there have been a few posts suggesting otherwise which may or may not concern you.
DO NOT cancel the blue BA card. There have been many postings here where cancelling a BA Blue or BAPP causes the 241 to be removed from your BAEC account. The voucher should be safe if you still hold either of the BA cards.
There were 2 reports of this from posters who never returned to confirm whether it just happened to be an IT glitch or the vouchers really were gone. Yet to see any confirmed reports of a voucher being removed from someone’s account TBH.
DO NOT cancel the blue BA card. There have been many postings here where cancelling a BA Blue or BAPP causes the 241 to be removed from your BAEC account. The voucher should be safe if you still hold either of the BA cards.
There were 2 reports of this from posters who never returned to confirm whether it just happened to be an IT glitch or the vouchers really were gone. Yet to see any confirmed reports of a voucher being removed from someone’s account TBH.
There were four reports (at least one of which was reconfirmed) and it has been reported elsewhere, it’s what Amex says will happen and they are on a trend of tightening up on abuse/practices that cost them money, so people should at least be aware of the risk of cancelling vs downgrading to stay within the terms.
I’m not really sure why those not doing this upgrade/downgrade routine would support those evading the annual fee that most of us expect to pay since you end up paying for their evasion.
@JDB I only see two unconfirmed reports per this thread, neither posters have returned since, where are the other two reports?
https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/companion-voucher-missing-from-my-account/page/2/#post-538524Yoyoing between cards is within Amex’s power to stop if they like, I disagree fundamentally with expecting a cardholder to keep paying the fee until they use a voucher they’ve earned, potentially 2 years fees down the line, that’s shady business practices by Amex to me (e.g. neither Virgin nor Barclaycard expect the same for their vouchers), YMMV, hence I’ve no concerns with downgraders/other Amex holders. Yoyoers on the other hand Amex can quickly fix should they choose.
@SteveJ downgrading does not require anyone to continue to pay the fee, so nothing shady. Shady is parasitic cardholders leaching off others. Amex allows it as a downgrade counts in their world as a new customer acquisition.
If you don’t believe that cancellation may now have consequences, that’s fine but at least you should nuance your comments so people should be aware of the risk.
I’m amazed you don’t think people should pay and play by the rules but I guess we have different mores.
@JDB so spending 10k on the BAPP in a week then downgrading would be OK with you as it’s “playing by the rules”? Strange take on morals. The OP has a free card, expecting them to hold on to it for upto 2 years just to use the voucher is not industry standard. Even more so now with granting credit tightening up, people need to be able to release themselves of credit limits they aren’t using, I’m surprised you don’t see this.
The ‘rules’ have to date not been enforced. Happy to read all about the confirmed reports of this having changed, until then my comment mentioned the 2 unconfirmed reports, there really is no more nuance to add.
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