Inspired by Steve Belkin….

[Philondon]

Inspired by Steve Belkin of Miles Maniac book…..

I’m thinking of getting the BA Premium Plus AmEx for the 70,000 bonus points but I normally only spend about £1000 a month on my credit card. So I was thinking of enlisting family members to use it for any online shopping that they plan to do to try and get the £3000 spend within 1 month making it more financially beneficial if I’m only paying 1/12 of the card fee when I cancel the card.

Obviously I fully trust them to send me the money once they’ve made a purchase/bill arrives but my question is, do Amex monitor IP addresses and would it flag up that purchases have been made from different places in the South East within a short space of time? I don’t want the card or payments cancelled if they think fraud is happening. Would this work?

And another related question, if I buy a flight with Virgin Atlantic from LAX to LHR on the AmEx credit card, but I am in the UK, would I be charged a foreign transaction fee as the fare would be priced in USD? I’m assuming AmEx know I am in the UK and so not charge the fee?

[yonasl]

Amex doesn’t care what your IP is (unless it is weird and could be flagged as some scammer using your card). You will just need to synchronize with whomever is using your card so you can give them the sms code if the website asks for an additional layer of security.

Similarly, if you try to book something in USD from UK Amex doesn’t really care much. If you do not want to pay the FX charge try to see if buying the ticket through an agent (like Expedia or similar) allows you to price the flight in GBP.

[FatherOfFour]

Surely it’s easier to get them supplementary cards?

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

Surely if you’re inspired by Steve Belkin you should be using disabled Thai masseuses and rice farmers to do this instead of your family?!

[Philondon]

FatherOfFour wrote:

Surely it’s easier to get them supplementary cards?

Not really when I want to ask any of 5 people to use the card and then hopefully ditch the card after a month.

[Philondon]

FatherOfFour wrote:

Similarly, if you try to book something in USD from UK Amex doesn’t really care much. If you do not want to pay the FX charge try to see if buying the ticket through an agent (like Expedia or similar) allows you to price the flight in GBP.

But then I wouldn’t earn airline points. Just wondered if I’d be charged a foreign transaction fee.

[Philondon]

Philondon wrote:

Surely if you’re inspired by Steve Belkin you should be using disabled Thai masseuses and rice farmers to do this instead of your family?!

Haha! 😀

[YC]

U would still earn airline points if booked on third party site (same as directly). However, if u call them, I have found that they are able to convert the cost into GBP at close to market rates (not sure if it’s only for partner redemptions or cash tickets work too)

[Rui N.]

For that amount of money just buy a few gift cards for places (supermarkets, netflix, etc.) where you usually shop. You can do the spending in one day, no need to bother more people.
Also, don’t be inspired by Steve Belkin, he seems quite the entitled a-hole.

[Alex G]

You should add one supplementary card to your account. 3000 Avios points for no extra cost.

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/benefits/supplementary-cards/

Would you not get any value from keeping the card and earning a 241 voucher? The voucher is worth at least £1000 if two people travel to the US in J or F.

[Philondon]

Rui N. wrote:

For that amount of money just buy a few gift cards for places (supermarkets, netflix, etc.) where you usually shop. You can do the spending in one day, no need to bother more people.
Also, don’t be inspired by Steve Belkin, he seems quite the entitled a-hole.

Sadly I don’t have £2000 spare in my monthly salary, and I’d prefer not to take £2000 out of savings and then pay it back in over a period of time. It’s easy not to put it back in! My normal credit card spend is about £1000 a month. I literally use it on every spend except at my barber who only takes cash!

[Philondon]

Alex G wrote:

You should add one supplementary card to your account. 3000 Avios points for no extra cost.

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/benefits/supplementary-cards/

Would you not get any value from keeping the card and earning a 241 voucher? The voucher is worth at least £1000 if two people travel to the US in J or F.

Thanks for the info. I hadn’t thought about the companion voucher before as I’ve only ever had the free Amex Rewards Credit Card. Might be a good idea as my partner and I are probably going to LA for Thanksgiving. Is the voucher for a return trip or one way?

Maybe I’ll get my mum a supplementary card.

[NorthernLass]

If you’re going to go for the voucher, read Rob’s excellent series of articles about it as it can be difficult to get decent value out of it if you’re not clued up. For example, you can’t just decide you’re going to use it to go to LA at Thanksgiving, there are several other factors involved! In fact, if you want to use it for Thanksgiving you should probably aim to earn it quite soon …

[Crafty]

Philondon wrote:

Rui N. wrote:

For that amount of money just buy a few gift cards for places (supermarkets, netflix, etc.) where you usually shop. You can do the spending in one day, no need to bother more people.
Also, don’t be inspired by Steve Belkin, he seems quite the entitled a-hole.

Sadly I don’t have £2000 spare in my monthly salary, and I’d prefer not to take £2000 out of savings and then pay it back in over a period of time. It’s easy not to put it back in! My normal credit card spend is about £1000 a month. I literally use it on every spend except at my barber who only takes cash!

The answers are staring you in the face here.

Don’t involve friends and family in meeting your personal spending goals. You’ll regret it.

[NorthernLass]

I’m inclined to agree, unless they understand about avios they’ll just assume you’re up to something dodgy, and if they do understand they are probably collecting their own! Also it might well damage a future relationship with Amex if you cancel after only 1 month (can’t believe I am sounding like @JDB now😂). Do you have any other way of earning avios? If not, 70k plus 4,500k from triggering the sign up bonus won’t get you far. I would personally commit to spending your £1k pm on the BAPP, in 10 months you’ll have the sign up bonus plus 15k avios, plus the companion voucher. If you do your homework and use it wisely, you’ll more than offset the BAPP fee.

***NB, make sure you hit the £3k for the SUB at least a few days before the deadline as it has to clear to qualify.

[NorthernLass]

Plus 3k avios for a SUP plus any more from offers which may pop up over that period. You should be able to get 100k avios in a year.

[Scott]

I don’t intend this to be a criticism of the OP but going by recent posts on the site, this 70k bonus seems to have attracted a lot of new collectors who appear determined to cancel their cards as soon as they can to get a partial refund of the fee.
I’m guessing there have been articles in the mainstream media about it, perhaps with a mention of this site? I really hope we don’t see Amex ‘tightening up’ on current rules, due to negative unintended consequence of BA offering such a large incentive.

[NorthernLass]

Even with a 70k SUB, people are going to have to get seriously into “the game” to get good value out of them, especially now the “standard” pricing for a CW return is 180k avios plus surcharges. So I think there will be an initial flurry of interest before most people will decide they can’t be bothered.

[Philondon]

NorthernLass wrote:

If you’re going to go for the voucher, read Rob’s excellent series of articles about it as it can be difficult to get decent value out of it if you’re not clued up. For example, you can’t just decide you’re going to use it to go to LA at Thanksgiving, there are several other factors involved! In fact, if you want to use it for Thanksgiving you should probably aim to earn it quite soon …

Thanks. I’ve just found and read the beginner’s guide here:

https://www.headforpoints.com/2022/08/28/how-to-use-a-british-airways-american-express-241-companion-voucher-2/

I guess I need to do some good research. I guess if too late for Thanksgiving this year, maybe another long holiday somewhere else at a future time!

[Aston100]

NorthernLass wrote:

If you’re going to go for the voucher, read Rob’s excellent series of articles about it as it can be difficult to get decent value out of it if you’re not clued up. For example, you can’t just decide you’re going to use it to go to LA at Thanksgiving, there are several other factors involved! In fact, if you want to use it for Thanksgiving you should probably aim to earn it quite soon …

NorthernLass wrote:

Even with a 70k SUB, people are going to have to get seriously into “the game” to get good value out of them, especially now the “standard” pricing for a CW return is 180k avios plus surcharges. So I think there will be an initial flurry of interest before most people will decide they can’t be bothered.

All true.
I am sitting on a few companion vouchers, 2 of which are due to expire in the next few months, and also a bunch of Avios.
BHX is my nearest airport; I don’t have plans to travel within Europe or the Americas; the value of converting to Nectar has dropped.
As I can only travel during English school holidays, I get Q2 double Avios price gouged by Qatar (even if they did come back to BHX one day).

A cautionary tale for those who aren’t located conveniently to LON or MAN and who don’t want to fly westbound.

[Philondon]

NorthernLass wrote:

Even with a 70k SUB, people are going to have to get seriously into “the game” to get good value out of them, especially now the “standard” pricing for a CW return is 180k avios plus surcharges. So I think there will be an initial flurry of interest before most people will decide they can’t be bothered.

I’ll get the card = 70,000
1 1/2 Avios per £ = 4,500 for the £3000 spend
My partner will get the card = 70,000 (We have a BA Household account)
1 1/2 Avios per £ = 4,500 for the £3000 spend
I’ll get my mum a supplementary card = 3,000

Currently have just over 2000 Avios in our account after spending a big bunch recently.
I’ve got 4000 points in my Amex account. No idea how many my partner has.
So need 22,000 🙂

[Stu_N]

Lots of sound advice above.

Personally I’d earn the sign up bonus via natural spend – maybe look at supermarket vouchers or family spend towards the end of the three months if you’re a bit short. Sounds like a lot of hassle to manage the other people using your card to save a couple of months’ fee. Also, bear in mind that you will need to hold the card until the Avios sweep over to your BAEC account every month, they don’t become available straight away in same way Membership Rewards points do.

[Aston100]

Philondon wrote:

I’ll get my mum a supplementary card = 3,000

You and your partner should get a supplementary for each others card.

[Philondon]

Stu_N wrote:

Lots of sound advice above.

Personally I’d earn the sign up bonus via natural spend – maybe look at supermarket vouchers or family spend towards the end of the three months if you’re a bit short. Sounds like a lot of hassle to manage the other people using your card to save a couple of months’ fee. Also, bear in mind that you will need to hold the card until the Avios sweep over to your BAEC account every month, they don’t become available straight away in same way Membership Rewards points do.

Yes lots of great advice. Thanks people!

But following Alex G’s comment, I’m now thinking of keeping the card for the 241 companion voucher. Not sure I could meet the spend from year 2 onwards (without the sign up bonus) but would be a cheap flight this or next year.

Although just like Mr Belkin I’m good at keeping track of info on spread sheets!

[Philondon]

Aston100 wrote:

You and your partner should get a supplementary for each others card.

Would that affect the 2nd person getting their own card and the 70,000 sign up bonus?

And would the 1st person get a supplementary card if they have the original card 1st?