Genuine question - what do you mean by spend? I am new to credit cards entirely. How do you spend on a credit card? What do you spend on? Sorry if this sounds dumb!
Hi we have found this very clear and helpful. Me and my wifes aim is to fly out economy with BA in the next 2 years but fly back business the Amex BA premium seems to be the best bet to achieve this
I am completely new to all the points. And wondered if you could give me some advice. The next two holidays planned as a solo traveller would be to Australia and New York- but no time soon. Wondering if avios could help me get there? Though some of the rules might mean no availability etc. As a school teacher I don't have a lot of flexibility with flying dates. And not sure if I would hit the new spend limit for BA? Should I look at barcley card or another Amex? Or just look to another cash back options or the new offering of yonder?
New York is a very easy one to get to with points, always lots of business class availability and occasional first class due to the high number of daily flights. Both the BA Amex and Barclaycard vouchers would halve the number of avios you’d need for business class. Main advantage of the Amex over the Barclaycard is that the Amex voucher opens up additional availability and can also be used on first class unlike the Barclaycard voucher. That extra availability might be useful for you if you’ll always be travelling in school hols. But obviously that’s no help if you won’t comfortably hit the spend limit, so the Barclaycard could work. Getting availability for Australia can be a challenge though. I’ve got a video coming out very soon focusing on how to find and book flights with avios, so hopefully that one will be helpful for you.
I'm pretty sure the £15k spending requirement is too much for us now. We got a sign up bonus for joining this year, but I don't think we'll renew. One question though....if we do earn the companion voucher, do we have to keep the card until we use the voucher? Will the voucher be cancelled if we cancel the card?
I asked Amex that question yesterday and they told me that when using the voucher the terms and conditions state that you’re supposed to pay the taxes and charges with that card, so according to the T&Cs I think you’re supposed to keep the card to use the voucher. In practice however, I think the BA website just restricts it so that the payment must be made by an Amex in your name, and I believe it should still work if you were to just downgrade to the free version of the card and make the payment with that. Could be taking a slight risk with that approach though
Hi, really good videos very informative. Do you have a link to a video about best card to sign up to or any advice. It's a dream to take the family to Disney resorts in a few years time so not in a rush to build points, but this reward scheme is the best way. I'm not frequent flyer but can spend on the card. What is the best cards and Is it worth my partner having a card as well? Any tips or suggestions be really helpful.
Thanks Jon. Worth keeping in mind that you’ll need quite a lot of points to get a family out to Florida, although you can reduce that point amount if you have the 241 voucher with the BA card. If a partner does too then you could get a family of four for the price of two. The current sign up offer on the BA premium card is 60k avios, so that gets you a third of the way to one return business class flight (or two with the voucher). It would take a LOT of credit card spend to get the remainder of the points required so worth looking into other ways to earn points outside of flying too. My video about 8 ways to earn more avios might be a useful one to watch!
Good video, cheers Charles. I've decided to downgrade this year as the benefits didn't seem worth it, especially as I have a spare premium voucher and a Barclaycard voucher waiting to be used (but I have access to standby so I'm in a different situation to most people here!)
Thank you for the explanation Charles. I've just seen form the BA website they're offering 60,000 avios for new card holders for the Premium Plus Card, providing you spend 3k in the first 3 months. I currently hold the standard (free) Executive Club Card, I was wondering if I'd be classed as a new cardholder? I also have a cunning plan... if I signed up, earned 60,000 avios could I then cancel that card (save myself the £300 fee) and go back to the standard card and keep the avios....?
Great information. I have a quick question. If I spend 3000 pounds in the first three months and get the welcome bonus, and then cancel or downgrade to the free version. Can I get the Amex pro rate refund?
Genuine question - what do you mean by spend? I am new to credit cards entirely. How do you spend on a credit card? What do you spend on? Sorry if this sounds dumb!
Hi we have found this very clear and helpful. Me and my wifes aim is to fly out economy with BA in the next 2 years but fly back business the Amex BA premium seems to be the best bet to achieve this
I am completely new to all the points. And wondered if you could give me some advice. The next two holidays planned as a solo traveller would be to Australia and New York- but no time soon. Wondering if avios could help me get there? Though some of the rules might mean no availability etc. As a school teacher I don't have a lot of flexibility with flying dates.
And not sure if I would hit the new spend limit for BA? Should I look at barcley card or another Amex?
Or just look to another cash back options or the new offering of yonder?
New York is a very easy one to get to with points, always lots of business class availability and occasional first class due to the high number of daily flights. Both the BA Amex and Barclaycard vouchers would halve the number of avios you’d need for business class. Main advantage of the Amex over the Barclaycard is that the Amex voucher opens up additional availability and can also be used on first class unlike the Barclaycard voucher. That extra availability might be useful for you if you’ll always be travelling in school hols. But obviously that’s no help if you won’t comfortably hit the spend limit, so the Barclaycard could work. Getting availability for Australia can be a challenge though. I’ve got a video coming out very soon focusing on how to find and book flights with avios, so hopefully that one will be helpful for you.
I'm pretty sure the £15k spending requirement is too much for us now. We got a sign up bonus for joining this year, but I don't think we'll renew. One question though....if we do earn the companion voucher, do we have to keep the card until we use the voucher? Will the voucher be cancelled if we cancel the card?
I asked Amex that question yesterday and they told me that when using the voucher the terms and conditions state that you’re supposed to pay the taxes and charges with that card, so according to the T&Cs I think you’re supposed to keep the card to use the voucher. In practice however, I think the BA website just restricts it so that the payment must be made by an Amex in your name, and I believe it should still work if you were to just downgrade to the free version of the card and make the payment with that. Could be taking a slight risk with that approach though
Hi, really good videos very informative. Do you have a link to a video about best card to sign up to or any advice. It's a dream to take the family to Disney resorts in a few years time so not in a rush to build points, but this reward scheme is the best way. I'm not frequent flyer but can spend on the card. What is the best cards and Is it worth my partner having a card as well? Any tips or suggestions be really helpful.
Thanks Jon. Worth keeping in mind that you’ll need quite a lot of points to get a family out to Florida, although you can reduce that point amount if you have the 241 voucher with the BA card. If a partner does too then you could get a family of four for the price of two. The current sign up offer on the BA premium card is 60k avios, so that gets you a third of the way to one return business class flight (or two with the voucher). It would take a LOT of credit card spend to get the remainder of the points required so worth looking into other ways to earn points outside of flying too. My video about 8 ways to earn more avios might be a useful one to watch!
Good video, cheers Charles. I've decided to downgrade this year as the benefits didn't seem worth it, especially as I have a spare premium voucher and a Barclaycard voucher waiting to be used (but I have access to standby so I'm in a different situation to most people here!)
That makes sense, especially with having access to standby!
Thank you for the explanation Charles. I've just seen form the BA website they're offering 60,000 avios for new card holders for the Premium Plus Card, providing you spend 3k in the first 3 months.
I currently hold the standard (free) Executive Club Card, I was wondering if I'd be classed as a new cardholder?
I also have a cunning plan... if I signed up, earned 60,000 avios could I then cancel that card (save myself the £300 fee) and go back to the standard card and keep the avios....?
Unfortunately if you have the free BA Amex you won’t be eligible for the sign up bonus for the premium plus card.
@@charlesontravels there goes my plan 🥲
Great information. I have a quick question. If I spend 3000 pounds in the first three months and get the welcome bonus, and then cancel or downgrade to the free version. Can I get the Amex pro rate refund?
I believe so. They’ve been threatening to take away the pro rata refunds for about a year, but haven’t quite pulled the trigger on that yet.
Thank you for the information. 😊