BAPP transaction refund after getting bonus

[inman]

Hi All

I’m new to the BAPP card. I’m on track to get the sign-up bonus of Avios this is mainly due to a few flights I’ve booked on the card to the end of the year. My travel plans are unpredictable and I always buy fully refundable tickets (bonus or not).

What happens if I cancel some of those flights AFTER getting the sign-up bonus (which is very likely)? I’m not too worried about the avios linked to the transactions but does/can Amex clawback the bonus points in any way?

Thank you in advance.

[NorthernLass]

Amex will clawback the bonus if a refund takes you back below the target spend. If you’ve already had the avios transferred to your BA account, you’ll end up with a negative points balance which you’ll need to “earn” back if you’re keeping the card.

Someone posted fairly recently that they had an unexpected refund after triggering the bonus, and also after the earning period was up, so there was no way to recoup it apart from through normal earning rates.

[Swiss Jim]

NorthernLass wrote:

Amex will clawback the bonus if a refund takes you back below the target spend. If you’ve already had the avios transferred to your BA account, you’ll end up with a negative points balance which you’ll need to “earn” back if you’re keeping the card.

Someone posted fairly recently that they had an unexpected refund after triggering the bonus, and also after the earning period was up, so there was no way to recoup it apart from through normal earning rates.

Or closing the card with a negative balance (which won’t get clawed back). After a reasonable period simply reapply for the card. You won’t get the bonus but they won’t reinstate the negative balance. Don’t take the p*** though…

[NorthernLass]

The person posting lost the points because they hadn’t transferred them to another scheme before the refund hit (it was an MR card, IIRC, so points had not swept over automatically).

You’d have to be more unlucky for this to happen with the BA cards, but it could still happen, and OP doesn’t say how close they are to triggering the SUB/end of eligible earning period.

But yes, if you’ve got the points in your BAEC account, you can close the Amex with a negative balance, hence I said “if you’re keeping the card”.