Card swapping within a couple

[Rachelism]

Hello,

We recently got the ba amex premium card and the Barclaycard avios plus with the generous bonus offers

I have now hit the spend requirements for both the amex and the Barclaycard, got my 241 voucher

My husband has also done the same with the amex, but we are still working on the Barclaycard

We go yearly to Mauritius (where I’m from), as a family of 4, schools holidays with BA in Economy (I will not fly higher due to costs and ecological concerns).

What is the best way to downgrade the cards such that our family holds one Amex and one Barclaycard backup?

I’m considering, as a one off to get a Marriott card as I’ve just acquired silver status and may get to gold if I go to a Marriott in Mauritius. . This will only be for one year

We don’t generally travel very far during school holidays, maybe a Novotel in France or some such, so all of our points are destined for Mauritius spending (typically 60 to 80k avios for a return per head, so 240k to 320k for a family of 4, or half that with two 241 vouchers)

I hope this makes sense

[NorthernLass]

You can theoretically downgrade from the BAPP to the free BA card, though there have been a couple of reports of Amex refusing this recently. Bear in mind as well that not retaining the card that earned your 241 voucher could potentially cause problems in future (lots of discussion on this in other threads). With the free card you could continue to earn a 241 to use in economy each year.

With the Barclaycard you can wait and see if one of you gets the offer to downgrade to the free version, so you can continue to collect avios and the upgrade voucher, and just cancel the other one?

I don’t rate the Marriott card that much as it’s £75 per year, only gives you Silver which doesn’t get many benefits, and I think they cut the earning rate some time ago. If I wanted to get back to Marriott gold again I’d consider applying for the Amex Platinum when one of us becomes eligible for the SUB again (though see also the recent thread on income criteria!)

I used to know a Mauritian chap who ran a care home in Burnley – a bit different from his home country, I would imagine!!