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Just completed my £3000 spend and got the 70,000 showing in my account. Ive read other threads on here saying i should wait until it transfers over to BAEC and then cancel. From what i’ve read on here, the points transfer over automatically once a month and i can’t transfer them manually?
Since BAPP is my first card, im not sure what to do next. I know im going to spend at least another £1000 on things i need to order…
1) Can i downgrade my BAPP to another AMEX card and still get a sign up bonus Or possibly a card that still accrues points? ( i definitely won’t hit the AMEX Platinum £4000 spend if thats my only option)
2) Or Should i go for a Mastercard SUB? If thats my only next viable option for a SUB, would people recommend i got for the BARCLAYCARD AVIOS MASTERCARD?
I definitely can’t spend £3000 in 3 months on an American Express card again, not enough places accept them. I maybe be able to spend more on a mastercard but im not sure which card to go with next. Any help will be welcome!
Thanks
Don’t you want the companion voucher at £10k spend?
Don’t you want the companion voucher at £10k spend?
I won’t hit the £7000 spend over the next 11 months for that sadly, or i would have gone for it. The pain is that Amex isnt accepted everywhere, it’s been a bit of a hassle getting this £3000 done tbh
Where do you shop? Supermarkets, most major retailers and fuel stations all take Amex, there are also plenty of businesses which take PayPal and don’t realise that the underlying payment is Amex! I’m not a massive spender by HFP standards but easily manage to trigger companion vouchers on 2 BAPPs each year.
*No you can’t transfer your avios manually.
What do you intend to do with your approx 74.5k avios?
If you aren’t going to use your BAPP for much longer, then you need to find something to spend your Avios on.
Without the benefit of a companion voucher, this is not worth as much as you might think when it comes to flying beyond Europe.
You can get probably get somewhere around £500 worth of Nectar points I suppose.What I’m suggesting is that you should continue using the BAPP until you hit the £10k spend to trigger the companion voucher.
It isn’t as difficult as you may think, especially if you check through articles on this site.
There are methods, some more dubious than others but I dare not summon @JDB @JDB @JDB from his Argentinian slumber.If I’ve read your post correctly, you will shortly have spent £4k. That means you need to spend another £6k over 10 months to get your 2-4-1 voucher – that’s only £600 a month. Are you really sure you can’t manage that?
Put as much spending on Amex as possible – dont use cash or debit cards. Move utility accounts to Octopus and pay it by Amex. Buy fuel or train tickets, and most (all) supermarkets accept Amex. Many restaurants do as well. Are you not planning at least one flight on BA in the next 11 months?
I’m the same as @NorthernLass, my OH, and I manage to get two companion vouchers a year between us.
Where do you shop? Supermarkets, most major retailers and fuel stations all take Amex, there are also plenty of businesses which take PayPal and don’t realise that the underlying payment is Amex! I’m not a massive spender by HFP standards but easily manage to trigger companion vouchers on 2 BAPPs each year.
*No you can’t transfer your avios manually.
Sorry i think i reported you by mistake!
I tried to spend on car insurance and gas/electric bills neither accepted amex and it was a lot of hassle having to re-set up the direct debit etc. Also a new computer i wanted to buy, didnt accept Amex. The day to day supermarket stuff my mum does, but even getting her to take the card and spend on it was effort, she forgot it at home twice! I did do some stuff on paypal like you said, which was a way around some of the spending.
What do you intend to do with your approx 74.5k avios?
If you aren’t going to use your BAPP for much longer, then you need to find something to spend your Avios on.
Without the benefit of a companion voucher, this is not worth as much as you might think when it comes to flying beyond Europe.
You can get probably get somewhere around £500 worth of Nectar points I suppose.What I’m suggesting is that you should continue using the BAPP until you hit the £10k spend to trigger the companion voucher.
It isn’t as difficult as you may think, especially if you check through articles on this site.
There are methods, some more dubious than others but I dare not summon @JDB @JDB @JDB from his Argentinian slumber.I have 150,000 avios, because i took out a BAPP in my dads name and have just finished the £3000 spend on that too (i probably should have just spent it all one one card, for the 2-4-1 right? But i thought getting more points was the way to go, so i did the 2nd card instead, maybe that was a mistake)
is it worth spending £250 on the BAPP for a year to get a 2-4-1 voucher? wouldnt the cost of the card (£250) negate the benefit of having a 2-4-1 voucher, because id then still need to also spend more to purchase a holiday/flights?
Maybe i’ve understood the 2-4-1 voucher incorrectly
is it worth spending £250 on the BAPP for a year to get a 2-4-1 voucher? wouldnt the cost of the card (£250) negate the benefit of having a 2-4-1 voucher
You can cancel for a pro-rata refund as soon as the companion voucher hits your BAEC account.
id then still need to also spend more to purchase a holiday/flights?
You are going to need to spend cash as well as Avios regardless.
£700 or more (per person) in addition to Avios if flying longhaul in business or first.
Though the recent RFS changes seem to have made other combinations of cash + Avios available (and not necessarily for the better) but be prepared to pay cash for the ‘taxes and charges’.is it worth spending £250 on the BAPP for a year to get a 2-4-1 voucher? wouldnt the cost of the card (£250) negate the benefit of having a 2-4-1 voucher
You can cancel for a pro-rata refund as soon as the companion voucher hits your BAEC account.
id then still need to also spend more to purchase a holiday/flights?
You are going to need to spend cash as well as Avios regardless.
£700 or more (per person) in addition to Avios if flying longhaul in business or first.
Though the recent RFS changes seem to have made other combinations of cash + Avios available (and not necessarily for the better) but be prepared to pay cash for the ‘taxes and charges’.Thanks, sorry for the late reply, had a busy few days and my partner was reading up on the 2-4-1 voucher, as so many of you are advising to go for this we decided to have a re-think and maybe go for it.
One thing that confused us was when you said £700 + avios points for a long haul seat in business class. Having read the article/thread on here about the 2-4-1 voucher, and the table made by headforpoints, it seems that (for example) a flight to Barbados in business class would cost 100,000 avios + £225 per person?
Have we worked this out incorrectly? Because you said £700 in your previous reply. We are just trying to get our heads around how this voucher works and to see if its worth it/viable for us.
Thanks
If I’ve read your post correctly, you will shortly have spent £4k. That means you need to spend another £6k over 10 months to get your 2-4-1 voucher – that’s only £600 a month. Are you really sure you can’t manage that?
Put as much spending on Amex as possible – dont use cash or debit cards. Move utility accounts to Octopus and pay it by Amex. Buy fuel or train tickets, and most (all) supermarkets accept Amex. Many restaurants do as well. Are you not planning at least one flight on BA in the next 11 months?
I’m the same as @NorthernLass, my OH, and I manage to get two companion vouchers a year between us.
Sorry i tried to reply to this the other day but it wouldnt work for some reason. Thanks for the tip about Octopus, we are currently reviewing our spending and seeing if we can hit the extra £7000 spend as so many of you are saying its worth it. Using Octopus may help us hit that target more easily, so appreciate the tip!
We weren’t planning a flight on BA in the next 11 months though, but i thought the companion 2-4-1 vocuher was valid for 2 years?
Thanks
It is valid for 2 years – you have to have taken the outbound flight by the expiry date. All those details are in Rob’s articles.
With the new RFS pricing on long haul, a business class seat to Barbados and other destinations in that zone has a “headline” price of 180k avios plus £450, but there are a number of combinations and you can select the one which suits you best. Your 100k plus £225 sounds like one-way, peak. (BGI is one of the more difficult routes to get seats on, flexibility is key to success with avios bookings). So with the 241 that option would be 180k avios (off peak) plus £900 for the two of you.https://www.headforpoints.com/2022/12/07/reward-flight-saver-avios-club-world/
This is the article with Rob’s analysis of the new pricing structure. As always, the higher the cash price on a particular route, the more value you are going to get from a redemption.
It is valid for 2 years – you have to have taken the outbound flight by the expiry date. All those details are in Rob’s articles.
With the new RFS pricing on long haul, a business class seat to Barbados and other destinations in that zone has a “headline” price of 180k avios plus £450, but there are a number of combinations and you can select the one which suits you best. Your 100k plus £225 sounds like one-way, peak. (BGI is one of the more difficult routes to get seats on, flexibility is key to success with avios bookings). So with the 241 that option would be 180k avios (off peak) plus £900 for the two of you.https://www.headforpoints.com/2022/12/07/reward-flight-saver-avios-club-world/
This is the article with Rob’s analysis of the new pricing structure. As always, the higher the cash price on a particular route, the more value you are going to get from a redemption.
Thanks@northernlass
We didn’t spot that the table/chart on here was for one way flights, thanks for clearing that up. When you say flexibility is key, do you mean with the dates we want to book? Or with destinations and dates (in order to get business class seats)?
We can be quite flexible with destinations, in order to get a business class seat, but might find it harder with dates (as having to book time off work etc)
Is there a method to searching for destinations/dates/seats? I did a quick look last night and there didnt seem to be any business class seats available (to use with avios) in November. Is there a specific time of year that all the seats get released?
Is it just a case of searching one by one on the BA.COM website, for the dates we want and to see if there is business class availability going to a variety of destinations? (which would be quite time consuming!) or is there another trick to doing this?
I saw a website called seatspy, do people use this to help them search?
Thanks
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