Companion Voucher missing from my account?

[tanvir]

I received a companion voucher from hitting the 10k spend limit on my BA Amex Premium Plus card, I opened the account in February and subsequently closed my account to receive the pro rata’d refund. This is assuming I would still be able to use my companion voucher on my BA executive club account using a gold card I still have under my name when it comes to booking a ticket with the voucher. However, upon closing the account, I’ve noticed the companion voucher has been removed, I spoke to a rep and they said this is stated under the t&c but I had always assumed you can still use the voucher with another Amex card still under your name, in this case, it would of been my gold card.

Any insights into this? I’ve since re-opened the account to get my comp voucher back as they allow you to re-open upto 48hours from closing.

Thanks, any help is appreciated!

[e14]

Where has the Voucher been removed, it will most certainly disappear from your Amex account but are you checking your BA Exec Club Account ? Unlikely it has been removed from there.

[tanvir]

Yeah it’s been removed from my BA executive club account

[Reney]

Can I ask when was the voucher awarded to you in the first place, what day did it land on your BA account (sounds like your physically saw it there), what day did you close your BAPP?

When did you reopen the account and did they give you back the voucher? Thanks, additional information on the sequence of event will help us all.

[e14]

tanvir wrote:

Yeah it’s been removed from my BA executive club account

Can you check the following

My Executive Club
Manage My Account
My eVouchers
View eVouchers

You should see

eVouchers you can use
eVouchers used/expired

I can see in my account an eVoucher issued on the same day as I received an email from BA EXEC ClUB titled ‘Congratulations E14, your Companion Voucher is here.’

[tanvir]

Reney wrote:

Can I ask when was the voucher awarded to you in the first place, what day did it land on your BA account (sounds like your physically saw it there), what day did you close your BAPP?

When did you reopen the account and did they give you back the voucher? Thanks, additional information on the sequence of event will help us all.

Hey, I received an email on the 2nd June saying my Comp Voucher is here, I closed my account a week ago and thereafter it disappeared from my account. I’ve since re-opened it but I’m yet to see it appear back into my BA executive club account. I’ve checked under ‘View eVouchers’ but it’s not there either.

[Imran]

tanvir wrote:

Reney wrote:

Can I ask when was the voucher awarded to you in the first place, what day did it land on your BA account (sounds like your physically saw it there), what day did you close your BAPP?

When did you reopen the account and did they give you back the voucher? Thanks, additional information on the sequence of event will help us all.

Hey, I received an email on the 2nd June saying my Comp Voucher is here, I closed my account a week ago and thereafter it disappeared from my account. I’ve since re-opened it but I’m yet to see it appear back into my BA executive club account. I’ve checked under ‘View eVouchers’ but it’s not there either.

@Rob Are these worrying signs of an upcoming change from Amex?

[Mark Peterborough]

I am about to hit my spend target to trigger a voucher , and in all honesty I don’t think I can justify spending £250 when my membership year renews to keep the voucher “alive” , so I was planning to downgrade my card before October and get a couple of months of membership fees refunded

So my question is – has anyone else had their voucher removed when they have closed their BAPP account ?

[simonjones]

Omg I’ve just checked from reading this article and mine has gone too

I received mine Jun, closed account jul , checked this morning it’s not there (my Barclaycard voucher is still showing)

Is there an it issue somewhere or have the removed it

[marshy11]

OH downgraded from BAPP to blue about two months ago. 241 is still in his BAEC.

[FFoxSake]

Sounds like closing BAPP completely might now be triggering voucher removal, whilst a downgrade to free BA keeps it alive.

A sensible but unwelcome enforcement of the T&Cs by Amex/BA if true.

[NorthernLass]

It would be interesting to know whether OP has had their voucher reinstated. I closed my BAPP in June as decided we don’t need 2 going forward with moving to QR for flights east and no signs of QR accepting the 241. I earned the 241 shortly beforehand and it’s still in my BAEC account.

[JDB]

NorthernLass wrote:

It would be interesting to know whether OP has had their voucher reinstated. I closed my BAPP in June as decided we don’t need 2 going forward with moving to QR for flights east and no signs of QR accepting the 241. I earned the 241 shortly beforehand and it’s still in my BAEC account.

Things have moved on quite a bit since June in Amex land. Downgrading has always been the safer option so as to retain the ‘eligibility for the promotion’ requirement in the voucher T & Cs. Downgrading rather than cancelling also suits Amex more as, in their world, the former counts as a new customer acquisition, so they will probably continue to offer a pro-rata discount for downgrades as they do in the US. I’m not sure what happens if you downgrade and then cancel.

Obviously some people prefer to cancel so as to reset the clock but that may not only put your voucher at risk but there can be no certainty that you will actually be eligible for a new SUB after 48 months even if they accept your application.

[Froggee]

@JDB how does the whole “voucher at risk” thing reconcile with the changes Rob referenced in this article?

https://www.headforpoints.com/2023/07/01/a-positive-change-to-the-british-airways-american-express-2-4-1-companion-voucher-rules/

[JDB]

@Froggee you will find that the content of the original article was originally kindly attributed to me when it was emailed on 1 July so my comment above was made advisedly. There were two specific provisions in the terms, one of which was that you needed to use the card which has now been dropped per the article. The other provision that “Cardmembers must remain eligible for this promotion at the time of travel” remains. If you downgrade you remain eligible, if you cancel you do not.

PS I never responded to your flash mob invitation re AirTags where I’m sorry so few people materialised, but if you tell us where you are next on holiday, I shall alert the Candid Camera team to prove that putting an AirTag in your hire car isn’t as effective as you hope. Your boys will however, enjoy running between the different car parks only to find a poo cone where your iPhone says the car is/was.

[Froggee]

@JDB you’re not huffing at me are you!?

So is Rob’s article wrong where it says this:

“It also means that there is no longer any requirement to still hold your British Airways American Express card when you redeem your voucher. This was never a stated rule in the first place (unless you interpret clause 32 to mean this) but was of course implied by the rule saying that you needed to pay with your BA Amex.

It’s not clear if this change is just American Express / British Airways being nice, or if there was some regulatory pushback (you were being forced to keep a financial product to utilise a benefit you had already earned) or if this is linked to the ending of pro-rata refunds on cancelled American Express credit cards from 2nd October.”

I’m struggling to see where eligibility is determined by holding a BA Amex?

As for AirTags, I’d be fascinated to know how you think they can be out by that distance given that it isn’t the AirTag that is reporting its location but my phone which saw it from centimetres away before it left the AirTag to guard the car.

I mean so far I’ve had 100% success with it. I’ve been astounded at the accuracy to the point I haven’t even had to do the whole car keys above head and press unlock while looking for flashing lights thing. And new phone = UWB which is laser-tag-tastic. But I guess you lack the ability to put yourself in other people’s shoes and ipso facto because you see no use for AirTags they therefore must have no use whatsoever.

QED?

[davefl]

I seem to remember someone mentioning a link to downgrade to the free card? Can someone please repost it as I’d really rather not talk to a human.

[JDB]

@Froggee – yes, I disagree with Rob’s interpretation of clause 32. If you cease to be a cardmember prior to travel you are no longer eligible for the 241 promotion at the time of travel. Amex/BA didn’t change that when they changed the requirements for payment and it’s there because it was difficult to justify making someone pay two years of card fees to use the voucher at the end of its validity but if they offer a free card instead, that’s fine. It hasn’t been enforced hitherto, but then they have been incredibly lax on so many fronts that much is now changing. Maybe it will be fine, but if people elect to cancel, then they should at least do so in the knowledge of what might happen.

Re the AirTags – if the Candid Camera (still very popular in China and Mexico) team move your car from the Purple Car Park to the Orange Car Park without an iPhone present nearby, your own iPhone will not show the car has moved. For fun, they will switch on an iPhone when you get to the original location so you can dash to the other car park to find the poo cone as they have moved the car again. I don’t have anything against AirTags and I love technology, but they do have their limitations, notably in developing countries as I and others have mentioned.

[Froggee]

!!!

So the argument is that I shouldn’t rely on AirTags for the location of my rental car because someone might steal it?

@JDB you are the autistic brother I never had.

[NorthernLass]

What in God’s name is a poo cone in a car park, is it some kind of Pokemon-type game or something to do with the new W hotel in Edinburgh?

@davefl, it used to be that you just applied for the free card and your account was automatically transferred to it, but I’m not going to say that’s still definitely the case!

[dougzz99]

It’s just a silly emoji you can assign to a particular AirTag.

[Froggee]

It looks a bit like this:

🚗🛻🛻💩🍦🏎️🚓🚗🛻🚛🚙

Basically @JDB is 🦆💨 because it troubles him to the core that people take comfort from having AirTags in their luggage when he has determined that they are of such minimal use as to be worthless.

I love @JDB to bits and he has the patience of an angel in helping people out offering a near infinite supply of sage legal and life advice.

But on AirTags?

🤡

[NorthernLass]

Well I did not know that about the air tags but OH has just informed me that he assigns a palm tree, beach and suitcase (very original) to ours. Thankfully no poos! I appreciate that @JDB (or Justin Drew Bieber as I am compelled to think of him) will find this unutterably trivial.

We are also at the point of needing new batteries for ours which reveals how much comfort we derive from them 😂 🏝

[strickers]

@NorthernLass Be wary of the Duracell batteries that are Baby Secure, the coating prevents them from working unless you wipe it off. One way is to lick them, not something I will be doing twice.

[JDB]

Froggee wrote:

!!!

So the argument is that I shouldn’t rely on AirTags for the location of my rental car because someone might steal it?

@JDB you are the autistic brother I never had.

@Froggee – it’s just that you are much cleverer than me and I bow to your CFA so I cannot conceive that you have ever ‘mislaid’ a hire car any more than I have! I’m sorry you didn’t like my Candid Camera idea.