Platinum £200 Credit – better to buy flights with Amex Travel or BA direct?

[thewoat]

Hi there,

4 Return Flights to Japan is the question. All paid in cash, no point conversions on this one. But I’ve just had a Platinum Credit Card, so have £200 credit on it too. So what’s best to do here?

I personally am quite happy to sit on my own if the answer is buy 1 via Amex then the other 3 with BA etc.

Looking for maximisation of points etc while getting the £200 credit of course.

Thanks all.

[Rob]

You’d get double MR points via Amex Travel, so 2 per £1.

This beats the free BA Amex BUT the BAPP would get you 3 per £1 at ba.com.

Assuming the price is the same I’d be tempted to book the whole lot via Amex for an easy life (difference in Avios in marginal) UNLESS you need the BAPP spend towards your 241.

[MattB]

Sorry if its stating the obvious but have you already spent £6k to get the credit? I noticed you said you had ‘just’ had the card, but please tell me to go away if you have anyway 🙂

[zapato1060]

thewoat wrote:

Hi there,

4 Return Flights to Japan is the question. All paid in cash, no point conversions on this one. But I’ve just had a Platinum Credit Card, so have £200 credit on it too. So what’s best to do here?

I personally am quite happy to sit on my own if the answer is buy 1 via Amex then the other 3 with BA etc.

Looking for maximisation of points etc while getting the £200 credit of course.

Thanks all.

How long did it take you to get the £200. I got the 60k MR points near enough instantly but no sign yet of £200 AMEX travel credit.

[Ash]

£200 comes in 6th month

[thewoat]

Rob Burgess wrote:

You’d get double MR points via Amex Travel, so 2 per £1.

This beats the free BA Amex BUT the BAPP would get you 3 per £1 at ba.com.

Assuming the price is the same I’d be tempted to book the whole lot via Amex for an easy life (difference in Avios in marginal) UNLESS you need the BAPP spend towards your 241.

Yeah – sorry to all. Not had the credit. Totally misread that one.

But on this, what’s BAPP? I’m new to Avios, but have finished the Barclaycard platinum so have around 60k avios. Are you still suggesting it’s better to book through AMEX if the same prices and my payment options are the AMEX Platinum and well, the free Barclaycard Avios?

[Rob]

BAPP = the British Airways Premium Plus American Express, which earns 3 Avios per £1 on spending at ba.com.

Amex Travel is 2 Amex points per £1 (converts to 2 Avios) vs 1 Avios per £1 on the Barclaycard via ba.com (or indeed the Amex Plat via ba.com) so if everything else is equal I’d book all the tickets in one go via Amex Travel using the £200 credit.

Having separate bookings could also cause hassle in case of disruption as BA won’t know you are all one party.