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Hi, sorry I’m aware subtle variations of this questions will have been asked a thousand times, but I’m going round in circles thinking about it and would appreciate some sanity.
I currently have both the Barclaycard Avios (free version) and Amex British Airways (also free version) cards, having previously had the paid versions and downgraded. I’ve earned the sign up bonus and companion voucher on both of the paid versions (in different years) and taken trips with them. Now I’m at a loss on what to do next. I obviously am not eligible for sign up bonuses with either company at the moment, but the vouchers are of a lot of value. That said the Platinum card is there with it’s 75,000 point bonus until Jan 9 and that is very tempting, but it would suck up all my spending for the 6 months to make the bonus and I’d be unlikely to qualify for either voucher as a result. On the other hand it has a not insignificant array of other benefits as well… I’m having a hard time quantifying the value of each option and would appreciate any input.
Well if you’re making use of the companion voucher, is the companion someone you could refer for a card?
Nobody knows your travel patterns or frequency so nobody can give you a better answer than you yourself can come up with. For example we don’t know if the 2-for-1 is just a frippery where you take slightly unwanted short trips just to use it, or whether it allows you to book premium cabin Avios flights on an expensive route where you’d have otherwise definitely have had to pay the full premium cabin cash fare. It could be worth almost nothing or several £1000s to you based on these two scenarios.
Work out value TO YOU of a BAPP voucher.
Go through Plat card benefits and work out their value TO YOU; best estimate.Act accordingly.
Depending on your financial position and whether you will be taking out a mortgage in the near future. And if you think Amex would let you have the card. One option would be to cancel the Amex BA, tackle the plat bonus and open the amex BA when you are ready, the clock for the 241 would reset that way.
Only suggesting you keep the Barclays open as you can put the non amex spend on that card, not clear if you can meet the plat spend and barclays free card voucher spend together.
The plat is a good idea if you need more avios. For the (relatively) lower spender amongst us, earning the voucher is one half of the problem, the other is earning enough avios to use the voucher. It sounds like you will need the full six months to meet the spend so you will likely not get a pro rata refund so are you ok to pay the full £650 fee.
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