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I had a final payment on a holiday booking taken from the BAPP and triggered the voucher 9 months earlier than intended. Voucher currently of limited use as has plans to cover summer ‘26.
Any thoughts on options here… there is a duck it up lesson but can i cancel the card and reapply in say 2 months (and get all the benefits as a new card holder for that year … no SUB… but reading between the lines, you probably understand what I mean)?
BTW, I’m now a strong supporter of the voucher being valid for 2 years from anniversary date, means you don’t have to keep the card in a drawer (and also avoid payments getting taken even if card is in the drawer) and Amex is happy that spend goes through it…
Isn’t that just something someone suggested in a comment under yesterday’s article?! I wouldn’t bank anything on it.
You have 2 years to book and fly the outbound, and another 12 months after that to fly the inbound (subject to ticketing rules), so I’m sure all is not lost.
In theory you can cancel your card and reapply, but personally I would be slightly worried about not being accepted as it’s far from guaranteed these days. A better strategy might be to apply for the avios Barclaycard if you don’t have that, and get a SUB and start earning towards the upgrade voucher.
Its crazy that Barclays, that has the worst IT, can give you an option to trigger the voucher whenever you want after the required spending, but Amex doesnt.
I stupidly spent 9975 and put in the drawer but realised all the hotel offers are on my BAPP card! Face palm emoji.
Lesson learnt: leave a buffer of atleast 1000 to make use of the offers.Its crazy that Barclays, that has the worst IT, can give you an option to trigger the voucher whenever you want after the required spending, but Amex doesnt.
I stupidly spent 9975 and put in the drawer but realised all the hotel offers are on my BAPP card! Face palm emoji.
Lesson learnt: leave a buffer of atleast 1000 to make use of the offers.It isn’t an IT issue, it’s because Amex doesn’t want you to leave the card in a drawer! The 50% threshold increase will ensure cards stay in the drawer a bit less and avoids a bit of leakage to other cards that offer 1.5 Avios/£1.
@JDB Amex could quite easily change things, hit £10k/£15k and then have the option to trigger the voucher at any time between that point and renewal date. Even with the increase there will still be those that hit £14k in six months and then stick the card in the drawer.
Exactly, as strickers says, just adding the option on app or website like Barclays did wouldn’t take much time or cost. Clearly low priority for Amex.
@JDB Amex could quite easily change things, hit £10k/£15k and then have the option to trigger the voucher at any time between that point and renewal date. Even with the increase there will still be those that hit £14k in six months and then stick the card in the drawer.
But by doing that you are then increasing the likelihood of the voucher being used. Choosing to postpone triggering it is effectively extending the 2yrs. When the card was cheaper and my household was more passive about points collecting, P2 and I probably made use of 1 out of 3 vouchers earned, over the years. I don’t know if Amex still sees a cost if a voucher expires, but if they don’t then they will definitely prefer that to happen.
Obviously with the higher sub costs, there is no way we would let them expire now, the increase may possibly backfire as a result of others doing the same. I’d also wager that the drawer thing is performed by a tiny subset of those who take out the card, as are pro-rata refunds. Anecdotal, but none of my Amex owning friends knew they offer it. When I cancelled a card I had to “remind” the CS agent.
@CarpalTravel It’s very cynical to suggest that Amex don’t want us to use the vouchers? 😉
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