Cancelling BAPP (and applying for a new one)

[nm5673]

Hi

I am new here. I apologise if these questions are obvious or have been answered already. I have searched the forum and browsed quite a few topics but could not find the answers.

I have a BAPP card, as does my wife. I have had mine for several years and am happy with it. Recently my wife applied for a card. Within the last few months, we have both obtained and booked 2-4-1 flights using vouchers, so at the moment the cards are just useful for earning Avios.

First, I am not sure whether we must keep, or downgrade and keep, these cards active, given that we have booked flights for 2024 using the vouchers. This is slightly different to the situation others are in, where they have earned vouchers but not yet used them. If necessary, we are happy to downgrade because we will both obtain a fairly considerable pro-rata refund. Is this required, or can we just cancel?

Second, is there any bar to cancelling the cards and applying again, in order to reset the spending counter to £0 and try to qualify for new 2-4-1 vouchers? If not, is it theoretically possible to apply for a new card, trigger the 2-4-1 voucher, cancel, and redo the process, or is this forbidden (whether at all or if done within any time period)? I appreciate that signing bonuses are not available in this scenario, but I am not concerned about bonuses. The 2-4-1 vouchers are most useful given that we are fortunately able to accumulate sufficient Avios through spending on these cards and a Barclays Avios card.

Thanks if anyone is be able to help (or point me in the right direction).

[jek]

No. That will not work.

[can2]

It was a big trouble for me when I did that. There is no guarantee that they’d issue you another card and sometimes you may need to wait couple months to reset your counter.

We are in a similar position, Player2 keeps the card and simply uses it to earn more avios and justifies it as a “credit score premium” rather than rinse-repeat.

If used and timed cleverly, having two cards can give you vouchers that can last really long time..

A lot of people still use the vouchers for CE, especially during school holidays

[nm5673]

Thanks. I appreciate the replies.

@can2, what is CE please?

It looks like a lot of hassle to try this. I do not really have the time to pick up the pieces if it goes wrong (or rather I place more value on my time than the time it might take to follow up with Amex).

Given that, we may just keep both BAPP cards. I have a free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard (with my wife as a secondary cardholder) and she may apply for a Barclaycard of her own. With a bit of work we could accrue two 2-4-1 vouchers and two upgrade vouchers each year, which would be great.

[SteveJ]

CE is Club Europe, i.e. short haul

[Froggee]

It may be possible to downgrade and then upgrade but if doing this:
(1) be aware BA might not let you have the premium card back
(2) spend some time searching and read the various posts here on doing this so you don’t mess it up.

Restarting the clock might be theoretically possible after e.g. a three month hiatus but I think it would be very high risk indeed.

I think of the BAPP as paying £250 per annum to allow an Avios saving. The lower this Avios saving, the more borderline a decision it is to keep the card. If you are saving 25,000-30,000 Avios each year I’d say it is a breakeven proposition.

If you’re saving 200,000 Avios each year for that £250 fee then I would just keep the card and be thankful for having it!

As someone who lives in Edinburgh, I also benefit from better reward availability from the provinces so unless we get another global pandemic or we have more children (ugh) which would stop us travelling for a bit I’m a long term holder.

[nm5673]

Thanks for the further explanation and suggestions @SteveJ and @Froggee.

I agree the BAPP is a good deal at higher Avios levels. When not using the vouchers we tend to fly with BA (occasionally in a package) so the Avios fortunately accumulates, given the higher accrual when using the BAPP on the BA web site.

I have settled on the view that sometimes it is better to appreciate a good thing from which we are fortunate to benefit somewhat and not chase for more!

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Remember that you can use avios to help discount the cost of BA hols. The rates start good but soon become worse and worse but it’s an option.